Things to do
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Bhaktapur Durbar Square
Brick lanes and timber workshops fill the third royal city of the valley, an hour east of the capital by road, where potters still work an open square and the five-tiered Nyatapola rises above the tea stalls. Vehicles are kept out of the core, which makes it the easiest of the three to walk. A single entrance fee covers the whole walled town, and it is collected at every gate.
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Boudhanath
One of the largest stupas in Asia anchors a circular plaza in the northeast of the city, ringed by monasteries, thangka shops and rooftop cafes. The Tibetan community walks its clockwise circuit at dawn and again at dusk, when butter lamps go on around the base. Late afternoon into dusk is the stronger hour for a visit, and the surrounding lanes hold the city's main Tibetan quarter.
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Chandragiri Hills
A cable car climbs from the valley rim southwest of the city to a ridge at roughly 2,550 metres, where a temple, a viewing deck and a hotel look north to the Himalaya on a clear morning. Winter and the weeks after the monsoon give the cleanest air. Cloud closes the view by midday for much of the year, so an early ride up is worth the alarm.
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Garden of Dreams
Behind a high wall at the edge of Thamel lies a restored neoclassical garden built for a Rana general in the 1920s, with pavilions, a sunken amphitheatre and a pond. It works as a quiet hour away from the traffic, and the cafe under the colonnade fills at lunchtime. Entry is ticketed, which keeps it calmer than the streets outside.
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Kathmandu Durbar Square
Royal palace courtyards, pagoda temples and the Kumari's residence crowd the square at the heart of the old city, once the seat of the Malla kings. The 2015 earthquake flattened several towers here and reconstruction continues, with scaffolding still part of the view. A ticket covers the square and the palace museum, and can be extended to cover repeat entry.
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Kopan Monastery
On a ridge above Boudhanath sits a Gelugpa monastery founded in the late 1960s, known for courses that introduced Tibetan Buddhism to a generation of travellers. Day visitors can walk the gardens and sit at the back of the prayer hall when classes allow. Residential courses run to a fixed calendar and fill months ahead, so booking early matters for anyone hoping to stay.
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Pashupatinath Temple
A riverside temple complex sacred to Shiva spreads along the Bagmati east of the centre, a warren of courtyards, ghats and resident sadhus. Cremations take place on the platforms in full view, and photographing them is discouraged. Entry to the inner temple is restricted to Hindus, so most visits work from the terraces on the far bank, busiest around the evening aarti.
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Patan Durbar Square
Across the Bagmati from the capital, the old city of Lalitpur keeps a palace square of Newar stonework, with a stone shikhara temple to Krishna that stands apart from the valley's usual brick and timber. Metalworkers and thangka painters still trade in the lanes behind. Two hours covers the square, and the museum in the restored palace wings rewards more than that.
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Swayambhunath
A whitewashed stupa crowns a wooded hill west of the old city, its painted eyes facing four directions above a ring of shrines and prayer wheels. Rhesus macaques patrol the steps, which climb steeply from the eastern gate and reward an early start before the haze thickens. Most visits run an hour or more once the circuit and the terrace views are included.
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Thamel
Trekking shops, bakeries, bookshops and live music stack up along the narrow lanes north of Durbar Square, in the district where most visitors to the valley end up staying. Gear can be bought or hired here for the Everest and Annapurna routes, and permit agencies sit on the same streets. Traffic is restricted in the core lanes during the evening, which is when the quarter is at its best.