Kathmandu is where a Nepal trip gets sorted. International flights land at Tribhuvan International Airport, about 6 km east of the old centre, and the city is where we collect permits, brief trekkers, change money and buy the down jacket you forgot. It is also a destination in its own right. The old core around Durbar Square and Asan was the seat of the Malla kings until 1768, when Prithvi Narayan Shah of Gorkha took the city and made it the capital of a unified Nepal. Temples, courtyards and shrines still turn up on almost every lane, often squeezed between a phone shop and a tea stall.
The city is easiest to read as a set of neighbourhoods. Thamel, a grid of lanes about 1 km north of Durbar Square, has most budget and mid-range hotels, trekking shops and restaurants. Durbar Marg and Lazimpat hold the older top-end hotels, embassies and airline offices. Boudhanath, 6 km east, is the Tibetan Buddhist quarter around its great white stupa, while Pashupatinath sits on the Bagmati close to the airport. Swayambhunath watches over everything from its hill to the west. Traffic is slow, so we group sights by side of town rather than criss-crossing the valley in a single day.
Expect a city still repairing itself. The 25 April 2015 earthquake brought down several Durbar Square temples; Kasthamandap, the wooden rest house that may have given Kathmandu its name, reopened after rebuilding in 2021, and the nine-storey Basantapur tower is still being restored. The September 2025 protests left burned buildings around the government district, so we check current advisories before every departure. Day to day, the weather is kind for most of the year: January runs from about 2 °C at dawn to 19 °C in the afternoon, and the monsoon months of June to September bring days of 20–29 °C with rain mostly in the afternoon and at night.
What to see and do
- Kathmandu Durbar Square
The old royal square, also called Hanuman Dhoka after the monkey-god statue at the palace gate, holds dozens of temples and shrines. See the Kumari Ghar, home of the Living Goddess, the rebuilt Kasthamandap and the huge black Kal Bhairav. Foreigners pay NPR 1,000 and SAARC nationals NPR 150; check current status before you travel.
- Asan and Indra Chowk bazaars
Six lanes meet at Asan Tole, where the small gilded Annapurna temple sits among sacks of spices, dried fish, beaten rice and brass pots. Walk south through the bead and shawl sellers of Indra Chowk to Durbar Square, or north to Thamel. Mornings from 7 to 10 am are busiest with local shoppers.
- Swayambhunath above the city
The stupa locals call the Monkey Temple sits on a hill about 3 km west of Thamel at roughly 1,420 m. Climb the long east stairway or drive to the western car park, then stay for the late light over the valley. Entry is about NPR 200 for foreigners; check current status before you travel.
- Pashupatinath and Boudhanath in one afternoon
The two great shrines of the east side are about 3 km apart. We see the ghats of Pashupatinath on the Bagmati first, then move to Boudhanath for the evening kora, when Tibetan families circle the 36 m white stupa clockwise, spinning prayer wheels and murmuring mantras. Allow about four hours for both.
- Everest mountain flight at dawn
A one-hour sightseeing flight in a fixed-wing plane, not a helicopter, leaves the domestic terminal around 6:30 am and flies past Langtang, Gauri Shankar, Cho Oyu and Everest at about 7,600 m. Every passenger has a window seat and a turn at the cockpit door. There is no landing.
- Garden of Dreams and Thamel evenings
The Garden of Dreams, a restored Rana-era garden from the 1920s at the edge of Thamel, is the quietest place in central Kathmandu for an hour with a book, for a small entry fee. After dark, the lanes of Thamel fill with live-music bars, momo shops and rooftop restaurants.
Experiences in Kathmandu
How to reach Kathmandu
Air
Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM) is Nepal's main international gateway. IndiGo, Air India and Nepal Airlines fly from Delhi in about 1 h 40 min, and there are direct flights from Mumbai, Bengaluru, Kolkata and Varanasi on some days; routes change, so check current schedules. Qatar Airways, flydubai, Turkish Airlines, Thai and Malaysia Airlines connect the rest of the world. The airport is about 6 km from Thamel, 20–40 minutes by car.
Road
Most Indian travellers who come overland cross at Sunauli–Bhairahawa (≈ 280 km · 8–10 h to Kathmandu) or Raxaul–Birgunj (≈ 7–9 h). Both routes finish on the Prithvi Highway through Mugling, where road works can add hours. Indian-registered vehicles need a Bhansar customs permit at the border, and we can meet you there with a Nepali car and driver instead.
Rail
No railway reaches Kathmandu. The nearest Indian railheads are Gorakhpur, about 100 km from the Sunauli border, and Raxaul, at the Birgunj crossing. We can meet your train with a car and driver, which turns a long rail-and-road journey into one manageable day with lunch stops on the way.
Where to stay
For a first visit we put most guests in Thamel or within a short walk of it, because the old town, restaurants and gear shops are on the doorstep and 3-star hotels are plentiful. Couples and families wanting calm book Dwarika's Hotel in Battisputali, built around a collection of salvaged Newar woodcarving, or Hotel Shanker, a former Rana palace in Lazimpat. Hotel Yak & Yeti on Durbar Marg and the Kathmandu Marriott in Naxal suit travellers who want a large full-service hotel close to the centre. Gokarna Forest Resort sits in a forest reserve about 10 km north-east of the centre: quiet and green, but a longer drive to the sights.
Tips from our trip managers
- Carry small notes, since taxis, temple tickets and street stalls rarely break NPR 1,000 notes, and Indian ₹200 and ₹500 notes are accepted only within the ₹25,000 limit.
- Agree a taxi fare before you get in, or use a ride-hailing app such as Pathao or inDrive, which most locals now use for short trips across town.
- Walk clockwise around stupas and temples, take off your shoes where others do, and ask before photographing people at prayer.
- Dust and traffic fumes are heavy from November to April, so pack a washable face mask for walks through the old town and Asan.
- Leave a spare day before an international flight home if you are flying to Lukla, Pokhara or Jomsom, because morning cloud often delays domestic flights.
