Jawalakhel — usually shortened to Jawlakhel — sits at the southern edge of Patan and is best known as the home of the Tibetan refugee settlement established here in the late 1950s. The Jawalakhel Handicraft Centre still runs the carpet looms that have employed Tibetan refugees for over half a century, and the workshop is open to visitors who want to watch wool being hand-knotted into thick Tibetan rugs.
Around the carpet centre, the neighbourhood has a distinctly different feel from the rest of Patan: more spread out, with shops selling Tibetan jewellery and prayer flags, and a couple of monasteries quietly going about their business. Jawalakhel is also where you find the Central Zoo and most of the foreign embassies and aid organisations.