Birtamode is the largest city in Jhapa district in eastern Nepal, close to the Indian border crossing at Kakarbhitta. It is primarily a transit hub: most travellers passing through are heading between India and Kathmandu or the hills, and the town has the practical infrastructure to match — hotels, banks, buses, and little more.
The Jhapa district around Birtamode is the heart of Nepal's tea country, with plantations spreading across the lowland foothills that were carved out of subtropical forest in the 19th and 20th centuries. The town of Damak, about 20 km west, is a more interesting stop with a functioning bazaar, tea gardens, and the Beldangi refugee camps that housed Nepal's large Bhutanese Lhotshampa community.
For most travellers, Birtamode is simply the entry or exit point for Nepal on the eastern border. The border crossing is straightforward. Onward connections to Kathmandu by bus take about 12 hours; to Ilam in the tea hills, about three.