3 days in Kathmandu itineraryStones, Stupas & Sacred Smoke

6 stops · 09:00 to 18:30 · about 3.4 km between stops, in a straight line

Highlights: Swayambhunath — the Monkey Temple, Basantapur Durbar Square and Kasthamandap — the City's Founding Pavilion.

1. 1

   09:00about 60 min

   Arrive & Check In

   Touch down in Kathmandu and get settled at your hotel in the Thamel or Durbar Marg area — a short ride from the old city's heart. Rest your legs; there's a lot of pavement ahead.

2. 2

   10:30about 90 minSight

   Swayambhunath — the Monkey Temple

   Start the journey on a high note — literally. Hundreds of stone steps climb to Swayambhunath, rewarding every heaving breath with an increasingly dramatic panorama over the Kathmandu Valley. At the summit the great white dome rises beneath its gilded harmika, the painted eyes of the Buddha gazing in all four directions. Rhesus macaques, the reason for the 'Monkey Temple' nickname, clamber between prayer-flag lines, so keep food out of sight, while butter lamps flicker in the shrines below the stupa platform. Arrive in the morning when light hits the gold from the east and the pilgrims outnumber the tourists.

   

   About 2.1 km to the next stop

3. 3

   12:30about 60 minLunch

   Lunch at OR2K

   Head back toward Thamel for a long, unhurried lunch at OR2K, where cushioned floor seating and a laid-back Middle Eastern–influenced menu make it easy to linger. It's a good place to plan the afternoon over mezze and a fresh juice.

   About 1.3 km to the next stop

4. 4

   14:00about 90 minSight

   Basantapur Durbar Square

   Walk south into the old city to reach Basantapur Durbar Square — the ceremonial heart of medieval Kathmandu. The square is a dense concentration of pagoda temples, courtyards, and carved wooden windows that took generations of Malla-era craftsmen to build. Spend time reading the layered architecture: the Taleju Temple towering at the northern edge, the living goddess's courtyard, the erotic carvings said to ward off lightning. The 2015 earthquake left its mark, and the ongoing restoration work is itself part of the story. The foreigner ticket is valid for one day only, and Day 3 brings you back to the square, so take the ticket, your passport and a passport photo to the site tourist office and ask to convert it into a multi-day pass at no extra cost.

   

   About 100 m to the next stop

5. 5

   15:45about 30 minSight

   Kasthamandap — the City's Founding Pavilion

   Steps from the Durbar Square, the Kasthamandap is the mythical pavilion from which Kathmandu takes its name — said to have been built from the wood of a single tree. The rebuilding after the earthquake has re-anchored it as the symbolic centre of the city. It's a quieter, more contemplative stop after the bustle of the square.

   
6. 6

   18:30about 90 min

   Evening drink by Durbar Square

   End the first day close to where the walk finished. Cafés line one side of the open square near the site office, at the start of Freak Street, and from an upper-floor or rooftop terrace you get a good view over the temples. Pick one for a cold drink after a long day on your feet.

7 stops · 07:00 to 20:45 · about 2.5 km between stops, in a straight line

Highlights: Morning at Pashupatinath Temple, Guhyeshwari Temple and Boudhanath Stupa.

1. 1

   07:00about 120 minSight

   Morning at Pashupatinath Temple

   Be at the ghats by 7am, when the Bagmati River is wreathed in incense smoke and the first cremation fires of the day are being prepared. Pashupatinath is one of the holiest Shaivite temples on earth; non-Hindus cannot enter the main shrine but are welcome to walk the eastern bank and witness the rituals of life and death played out openly at the water's edge. Sadhus coated in ash sit in meditation, mourning families tend the pyres, and orange marigolds float downstream. Few places on earth condense so much of human experience into a single riverbank.

   

   About 450 m to the next stop

2. 2

   09:15about 45 minSight

   Guhyeshwari Temple

   A short walk from Pashupatinath's eastern gate brings you to Guhyeshwari, one of the valley's most important Shakti temples, set in a lush enclosure of trees beside the river. Again, entry to the inner sanctum is for Hindu worshippers only, but the approach, the atmosphere, and the carved stone gateway are absorbing in themselves.

   

   About 1.4 km to the next stop

3. 3

   10:30about 150 minSight

   Boudhanath Stupa

   The great stupa at Boudhanath is one of the largest in the world, and its scale only becomes clear once you are standing at the base of the mandala-shaped platform, craning upward at the thirteen-tiered spire and the all-seeing eyes. The surrounding lanes are lined with Tibetan monasteries, thangka workshops, and teahouses — this is the centre of Kathmandu's Tibetan Buddhist community. Walk the kora (circumambulation path) with the pilgrims, spinning prayer wheels, and take time to sit in one of the monastery courtyards.

   
4. 4

   13:00about 60 min

   Lunch around Boudha

   Stay on the east side of the city and stop for lunch in the lanes around the stupa square, rather than crossing back to the centre. It keeps the afternoon wander close at hand.

5. 5

   14:15about 60 min

   Free wander around Boudha lanes

   Spend an unscheduled hour exploring the lanes radiating out from the stupa — monastery courtyards are often open to respectful visitors, thangka painters work in open studios, and the smell of juniper incense follows you everywhere.

6. 6

   19:00about 90 minDinner

   Dinner at Café des Arts

   Return to Thamel for dinner at Café des arts on Bhagwan Bahal Marg, a bar whose menu runs from ramen, pasta and pizza to curries and local dishes, with vegetarian options. It's a good place to decompress after a day that asked a great deal emotionally and intellectually.

   About 600 m to the next stop

7. 7

   20:45about 60 minDrinks

   Nightcap at Shamrock Rooftop Bar

   Close the evening at Shamrock Rooftop Bar in Paknajol, on the northern edge of Thamel, where the neighbourhood's roofline spreads out below you and the night air carries the sounds of the city winding down.

4 stops · 09:00 to 15:15 · about 4.7 km between stops, in a straight line

Highlights: Morning at Patan Durbar Square, Hanuman Dhoka Palace and Asan Market & Indra Chowk.

1. 1

   09:00about 150 minSight

   Morning at Patan Durbar Square

   Cross the Bagmati into Lalitpur — Patan — and arrive at its Durbar Square early, before the tour groups arrive. Patan was once a rival kingdom to Kathmandu, and its royal square reflects that ambition: a remarkable concentration of seventeenth-century temples, the sunken Manga Hiti water conduit, and the Patan Museum (housed in the old palace) which is considered one of the finest museums of South Asian art. The craftsmanship here — in stone, wood, and metal — is extraordinary. Patan has long been the valley's centre of metalwork, and you can hear it in the workshops just off the square.

   

   About 3.9 km to the next stop

2. 2

   12:15about 60 minLunch

   Lunch at Kasthamandap Restaurant

   Head back across the river for lunch at Kasthamandap Restaurant on Yogbir Singh Marg, a few steps from Durbar Square, so the afternoon at the palace starts right outside the door.

   About 150 m to the next stop

3. 3

   13:30about 90 minSight

   Hanuman Dhoka Palace

   Return to the old city to explore Hanuman Dhoka — the palace complex at the heart of Basantapur Durbar Square, where the Shah kings lived until the royal family moved to Narayanhiti Palace in 1886. Nasal Chowk is the courtyard where King Birendra was crowned in 1975, and the guardian Hanuman at the main gate, draped in red cloth and shaded by an umbrella, has stood there since 1672. The palace buildings were badly damaged in the 2015 earthquake and parts have been closed for reconstruction, so ask at the gate which courtyards and galleries are open. This is the same ticketed zone as Day 1, so bring your multi-day pass.

   

   About 600 m to the next stop

4. 4

   15:15about 60 minSight

   Asan Market & Indra Chowk

   Walk north from the palace into the living medieval city — through Indra Chowk with its cloth vendors and bead sellers, and on to Asan, the old grain market where six lanes converge beneath the Annapurna shrine. This is Kathmandu at its most kinetic: porters, produce, pigeons, and persistent temple bells. It's a sharp contrast to the contemplative morning in Patan, and entirely worth the sensory overload.