The three medieval cities of the Kathmandu valley, walked slowly and in the right order, with a guide who can read the carvings and a night on the rim at Nagarkot.

What the tour is

Four guided days in the Kathmandu valley, which holds seven UNESCO monument zones inside a bowl twenty miles across. Three of them are the royal squares of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, which were rival kingdoms until 1769 and spent three centuries trying to out build one another. That rivalry is the reason the valley looks the way it does.

Why the order matters

Most itineraries do all three squares in two days and they blur into one. We put Swayambhunath and Pashupatinath first so that the Hindu and Buddhist vocabulary is in your head, then the squares one a day, then a night on the rim to see the valley whole. By day 4 you are reading buildings rather than photographing them.

The guide is the trip

A carved strut in Patan is a piece of joinery or it is a three hundred year old argument about kingship, depending entirely on whether somebody tells you. We use licensed cultural guides who have worked the valley for years, and we pay them properly so that they stay.

Who it suits

Anyone who wants Nepal without a trek: first visits, families, people with a few days at the start or end of a longer trip, and walkers who have just come off the Everest trail and want the other half of the country. It works from one traveller upward.

Trip highlights

All seven of the valley's UNESCO monument zones, and a guide who explains why there are seven
Bhaktapur in the late afternoon, after the day trippers have gone back to their hotels
Patan's metalworkers and woodcarvers in their own courtyards, not in a showroom
Sunrise from the Nagarkot ridge, with the range from Ganesh Himal to Everest on a clear morning
The walk down from Nagarkot to Changu Narayan, which is the oldest temple in the valley

Five days, three medieval cities and one ridge

The valley in the order that makes sense: the two hills first, then the three royal squares, then a night on the rim and a walk down to the oldest temple of the lot.

Day	Route	Walking	Altitude
Day 1	Arrive Kathmandu	-	1,400 m (4,590 ft)
Day 2	Swayambhunath, Durbar Square, Pashupatinath	3 to 4	1,400 m (4,590 ft)
Day 3	Patan, then Bhaktapur	4	1,400 m (4,590 ft)
Day 4	Bhaktapur at dawn, then Nagarkot	3	2,175 m (7,140 ft)
Day 5	Nagarkot to Changu Narayan, and out	2 to 3, 8 km	1,540 m (5,050 ft)

Day 1
Route
Arrive Kathmandu
Walking
-
Altitude
1,400 m (4,590 ft)
Day 2
Route
Swayambhunath, Durbar Square, Pashupatinath
Walking
3 to 4
Altitude
1,400 m (4,590 ft)
Day 3
Route
Patan, then Bhaktapur
Walking
4
Altitude
1,400 m (4,590 ft)
Day 4
Route
Bhaktapur at dawn, then Nagarkot
Walking
3
Altitude
2,175 m (7,140 ft)
Day 5
Route
Nagarkot to Changu Narayan, and out
Walking
2 to 3, 8 km
Altitude
1,540 m (5,050 ft)

Itinerary

Day by day, with where you sleep and how far you walk.

We meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel. The afternoon is yours to sleep off the flight. In the evening we walk you round Thamel for an hour so that you can find your way back to the hotel on your own, and go through the plan over dinner.
Altitude
1,400 m (4,590 ft)
On foot
—
Night in
Hotel, Kathmandu
Meals
Dinner
Up the east stairway to Swayambhunath early, while the pilgrims are still going round and the valley is under mist. Kathmandu Durbar Square in the late morning, where the guide will spend most of the time on what the 2015 earthquake took and what has been put back. Pashupatinath in the afternoon, where cremations happen in public on the ghats and we will have told you what to expect before you arrive.
Altitude
1,400 m (4,590 ft)
On foot
3 to 4 hours on foot
Night in
Hotel, Kathmandu
Meals
Breakfast
A morning in Patan Durbar Square, which is the finest of the three and the least crowded, followed by the back lanes where the lost wax casters and the woodcarvers still work in family courtyards. After lunch we drive east to Bhaktapur and check in inside the old city, so that the square outside your window empties at five and belongs to the town again.
Altitude
1,400 m (4,590 ft)
On foot
4 hours on foot
Night in
Guesthouse inside the old city, Bhaktapur
Meals
Breakfast
Out at six into a square with nobody in it, which is the whole reason for sleeping here. Taumadhi, the Nyatapola, the pottery square and the Golden Gate, then the vegetable market as it sets up. After lunch we drive an hour up to the Nagarkot ridge at 2,175 m and spend the evening watching the light go off the range.
Altitude
2,175 m (7,140 ft)+775 m
On foot
3 hours on foot
Night in
Hotel, Nagarkot
Meals
Breakfast
Up before six for the sunrise, which on a clear winter morning runs from Ganesh Himal to the tip of Everest. After breakfast we walk down the ridge for two and a half hours to Changu Narayan, a fifth century temple on a spur that most visitors never reach, and drive back to the airport or your hotel from there.
Altitude
1,540 m (5,050 ft)−635 m
On foot
2 to 3 hours downhill
Night in
—
Meals
Breakfast

What's included

Included in the price

Airport transfers and all transport in a private vehicle with a driver
Four nights: two in Kathmandu, one inside old Bhaktapur, one at Nagarkot
A licensed cultural guide for the whole of days 2, 3, 4 and 5
Breakfast every morning, and dinner on the first evening
All monument entry fees for the seven sites, which come to about $55 on their own
The walk from Nagarkot to Changu Narayan, with the guide and a vehicle meeting you at the bottom
A valley map and a short written guide to what you are looking at

Not included

International flights and the Nepal visa
Lunch and dinner from day 2 onward, which in Kathmandu is cheap and worth choosing yourself
Drinks, tips and anything personal
Travel insurance
Optional extras: the Everest scenic flight, a cooking class, a rickshaw evening

What to bring

On your head

A sun hat. The valley is at 1,400 m and the sun is stronger than the temperature suggests
Sunglasses
A warm hat for the Nagarkot evening from November to February

On your body

Clothes that cover shoulders and knees, which is expected at every temple and appreciated everywhere else
One warm layer for Nagarkot, which is seven degrees colder than Kathmandu
A light waterproof, in any month, because the valley gets afternoon storms outside winter
Something respectable for the last dinner, if that matters to you

On your feet

Shoes with a grip that you can take off quickly, because you will at every temple
Socks you do not mind standing on a temple floor in
Nothing new. Four days on cobbles will find the seams

Health

A dust mask or a buff for the Kathmandu traffic, which is the one real complaint visitors have
Hand gel, and whatever you personally take for a bad stomach
Sun cream, factor 30 or above
Your own prescriptions in their original boxes

Bags

A daypack, which is all you will carry
A refillable water bottle, so that we are not buying plastic all week
Your camera, and a spare battery for the Nagarkot sunrise

Papers

Passport with six months left on it, and two passport photographs for the visa
Dollars in clean notes for the visa counter
Travel insurance details, on paper as well as on your phone

Getting there and back

The flights and the long drives this itinerary is built around, and what happens when one of them does not go.

Getting to Kathmandu

Tribhuvan International is the only international airport most people use. Connections come through Delhi, Doha, Dubai, Istanbul, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur and Singapore. There is no direct flight from Europe or North America and there never has been.

The visa on arrival

Fill the form at the kiosk before the queue, pay $30 cash for 15 days at the bank counter, then join immigration. Bring clean dollar notes. Indian nationals need no visa at all. The whole thing takes forty minutes on a quiet evening and two hours when three wide bodies land together.

Arriving late, leaving early

Day 1 asks nothing of you beyond arriving, so a late flight is fine. On day 5 we can drop you at the airport straight from Changu Narayan, which puts you there at about one in the afternoon. If your flight is in the evening, take the day room.

Adding a mountain flight

The Everest scenic flight goes at first light from the domestic terminal and is back by eight, so it fits before either of the two full days. It is weather dependent and refunded in full if it does not go.

Where you sleep matters here

Two nights in Kathmandu, one inside the walls of old Bhaktapur, and one on the Nagarkot ridge at 2,175 m. The middle one is the reason the tour works.

4 nights, and what each one is

Where	Nights	Type	Room	Bathroom
Kathmandu	2	Three star hotel, in or near Thamel	Twin or double	Private, hot water
Bhaktapur	1	Guesthouse inside the old city walls	Twin or double, some with a square view	Private, hot water
Nagarkot	1	Ridge hotel, north facing	Twin or double with a mountain view	Private, hot water

Kathmandu
Nights
2
Type
Three star hotel, in or near Thamel
Room
Twin or double
Bathroom
Private, hot water
Bhaktapur
Nights
1
Type
Guesthouse inside the old city walls
Room
Twin or double, some with a square view
Bathroom
Private, hot water
Nagarkot
Nights
1
Type
Ridge hotel, north facing
Room
Twin or double with a mountain view
Bathroom
Private, hot water

Heat, hot water, power and signal

Hot shower: Every night, in your own bathroom. Nagarkot runs on solar in places, so shower in the evening rather than at five in the morning.
Wifi: In all three hotels, and it is generally good. Nagarkot is the weakest.
Charging: Mains power everywhere, on Indian and European round pin sockets. Bring an adaptor.
Heating: Nagarkot has heaters in winter. Kathmandu and Bhaktapur mostly do not, and January nights indoors are colder than visitors expect.
Drinking water: Filtered water at all three hotels. Do not drink from the tap, and bring a bottle so that we are not buying plastic all week.
Luggage: Bring what you like. The vehicle carries it and you never walk with a bag beyond your daypack.
Laundry: Same day in Kathmandu, by the kilo and cheap.
Cash: Cash machines everywhere in Kathmandu and Patan, one in Bhaktapur, none at Nagarkot. Cards work in hotels and not much else.

What you eat

Meal	Time	Usually
Breakfast	7:00–9:00	Hotel buffet in Kathmandu, and eggs, toast and fruit at Bhaktapur and Nagarkot
Lunch	12:30–14:00	Wherever the day has taken you. The guide knows where the good dal bhat is, and will say so if you ask
Dinner	19:00	On the first night with us, then yours to choose. Kathmandu has the best restaurants in the Himalaya and it would be a shame to eat in the hotel
Tea	16:00	Milk tea and a samosa, usually standing up in a lane somewhere

Breakfast
Time
7:00–9:00
Usually
Hotel buffet in Kathmandu, and eggs, toast and fruit at Bhaktapur and Nagarkot
Lunch
Time
12:30–14:00
Usually
Wherever the day has taken you. The guide knows where the good dal bhat is, and will say so if you ask
Dinner
Time
19:00
Usually
On the first night with us, then yours to choose. Kathmandu has the best restaurants in the Himalaya and it would be a shame to eat in the hotel
Tea
Time
16:00
Usually
Milk tea and a samosa, usually standing up in a lane somewhere

If you eat differently

Diet	On this route
Vegetarian	Trivially easy. A great deal of Nepali food is vegetarian by default and the Newari repertoire is enormous.
Vegan	Straightforward in Kathmandu and Patan, a little narrower at Nagarkot. Tell the guide on day 1 and the restaurant choices change.
Gluten free	Manageable. Rice, dal, curry and grilled meat are safe. Say so clearly, because soy sauce and wheat flour turn up in places you would not expect.
Nut allergy	Tell us at booking. Kathmandu kitchens use peanut and cashew freely and this needs to be said to each restaurant, which the guide will do for you.
Halal	Available in Kathmandu. Tell us at booking and we will steer the lunches accordingly.

Vegetarian
On this route
Trivially easy. A great deal of Nepali food is vegetarian by default and the Newari repertoire is enormous.
Vegan
On this route
Straightforward in Kathmandu and Patan, a little narrower at Nagarkot. Tell the guide on day 1 and the restaurant choices change.
Gluten free
On this route
Manageable. Rice, dal, curry and grilled meat are safe. Say so clearly, because soy sauce and wheat flour turn up in places you would not expect.
Nut allergy
On this route
Tell us at booking. Kathmandu kitchens use peanut and cashew freely and this needs to be said to each restaurant, which the guide will do for you.
Halal
On this route
Available in Kathmandu. Tell us at booking and we will steer the lunches accordingly.

A day on this trip

Out early, a long lunch, and back before the light goes. Nothing about this itinerary is a route march.

A day on the trail

7:30Breakfast at the hotel, at a civilised hour on every day but the last two
8:30Out, in the vehicle, to the first site before the coaches arrive
12:30A long lunch, sitting down, usually in a courtyard
14:00The afternoon site, at a slower pace
17:00Back at the hotel, or in Bhaktapur watching the square empty
19:00Dinner, which from day 2 is yours to choose

How hard it is, and getting ready

One of the two easiest trips we sell. Three or four hours on foot a day, all of it at 1,400 m or a little above, with a vehicle never more than ten minutes away. The one thing that tires people is cobbles and temple steps.

1 of 5

Three to four hours a day on foot, on uneven stone rather than paths
Several hundred steps at Swayambhunath, taken at whatever speed suits you
One downhill walk of two and a half hours on the last morning, which is optional
No altitude worth the name. Nagarkot at 2,175 m is the highest you sleep
A vehicle and a driver with you all day, every day

Twelve weeks, and what to do in each of them

Written for somebody who walks a bit and does not train. If you already run or cycle regularly, start at the eight-week block. Nothing here needs a gym.

1
Before you book
Know what you are buying
This is a walking tour of medieval cities, not a trek. The days are three or four hours on foot with long sit down lunches. If you want height and distance, look at the Chisapani ridge walk instead, or add it on the end.
2
A month before
Your feet
The one thing that catches people out is cobbles. Four days on uneven stone in shoes you do not walk in at home will find every weakness. Wear the shoes you are bringing, a lot, before you come.
3
A week before
Read one thing
Anything at all about the Malla kings and why three rival cities exist six miles apart. Half an hour of reading turns the squares from pretty into legible, and the guide will thank you for it.

Month by month

There is no closed month here. There are months when you see the Himalaya from Nagarkot and months when you do not, and we would rather be straight about which is which.

Month	Day in Kathmandu	Night in Kathmandu	Day at Nagarkot		What it is like
January	+18°C	+2°C	+9°C	Best	Cold mornings, brilliant days and the sharpest mountain views of the year from Nagarkot. Bring a warm layer for indoors.
February	+20°C	+4°C	+11°C	Best	The same clarity with slightly softer mornings. Losar falls this month or the next and Boudhanath is worth rearranging for.
March	+25°C	+8°C	+16°C	Best	Warm, rhododendron on the Nagarkot ridge, and the festival season in full swing. The air begins to haze late in the month.
April	+28°C	+12°C	+19°C	Good	Hot in the middle of the day and hazy, so the Nagarkot view is a lottery. Bisket Jatra in Bhaktapur is the best festival in the valley.
May	+30°C	+16°C	+21°C	Good	Hot and dusty, with pre monsoon storms in the late afternoon that clear the air for an hour.
June	+30°C	+19°C	+22°C	Hard	The monsoon arrives. Green, humid and quiet, and the mountains are gone until autumn.
July	+29°C	+20°C	+22°C	Hard	The wettest month. It rains hard for an hour or two rather than all day, and the squares under rain are genuinely beautiful.
August	+29°C	+20°C	+22°C	Hard	Wet, cheap and empty. Indra Jatra falls in August or September and is the great Kathmandu festival.
September	+28°C	+18°C	+21°C	Good	The monsoon clears through the month and the last week is often the best air of the year.
October	+26°C	+13°C	+18°C	Best	The best month overall. Washed air, warm days, Dashain and Tihar, and the range visible from Nagarkot most mornings.
November	+23°C	+7°C	+14°C	Best	Clear, cool and still. Our favourite month for this tour and the busiest, so book the Bhaktapur guesthouse early.
December	+19°C	+3°C	+10°C	Best	Cold and very clear. Morning fog on the valley floor that burns off by ten, and Everest visible from the ridge.

January
Day in Kathmandu
+18°C
Night in Kathmandu
+2°C
Day at Nagarkot
+9°C
What it is like
Cold mornings, brilliant days and the sharpest mountain views of the year from Nagarkot. Bring a warm layer for indoors.
Best
February
Day in Kathmandu
+20°C
Night in Kathmandu
+4°C
Day at Nagarkot
+11°C
What it is like
The same clarity with slightly softer mornings. Losar falls this month or the next and Boudhanath is worth rearranging for.
Best
March
Day in Kathmandu
+25°C
Night in Kathmandu
+8°C
Day at Nagarkot
+16°C
What it is like
Warm, rhododendron on the Nagarkot ridge, and the festival season in full swing. The air begins to haze late in the month.
Best
April
Day in Kathmandu
+28°C
Night in Kathmandu
+12°C
Day at Nagarkot
+19°C
What it is like
Hot in the middle of the day and hazy, so the Nagarkot view is a lottery. Bisket Jatra in Bhaktapur is the best festival in the valley.
Good
May
Day in Kathmandu
+30°C
Night in Kathmandu
+16°C
Day at Nagarkot
+21°C
What it is like
Hot and dusty, with pre monsoon storms in the late afternoon that clear the air for an hour.
Good
June
Day in Kathmandu
+30°C
Night in Kathmandu
+19°C
Day at Nagarkot
+22°C
What it is like
The monsoon arrives. Green, humid and quiet, and the mountains are gone until autumn.
Hard
July
Day in Kathmandu
+29°C
Night in Kathmandu
+20°C
Day at Nagarkot
+22°C
What it is like
The wettest month. It rains hard for an hour or two rather than all day, and the squares under rain are genuinely beautiful.
Hard
August
Day in Kathmandu
+29°C
Night in Kathmandu
+20°C
Day at Nagarkot
+22°C
What it is like
Wet, cheap and empty. Indra Jatra falls in August or September and is the great Kathmandu festival.
Hard
September
Day in Kathmandu
+28°C
Night in Kathmandu
+18°C
Day at Nagarkot
+21°C
What it is like
The monsoon clears through the month and the last week is often the best air of the year.
Good
October
Day in Kathmandu
+26°C
Night in Kathmandu
+13°C
Day at Nagarkot
+18°C
What it is like
The best month overall. Washed air, warm days, Dashain and Tihar, and the range visible from Nagarkot most mornings.
Best
November
Day in Kathmandu
+23°C
Night in Kathmandu
+7°C
Day at Nagarkot
+14°C
What it is like
Clear, cool and still. Our favourite month for this tour and the busiest, so book the Bhaktapur guesthouse early.
Best
December
Day in Kathmandu
+19°C
Night in Kathmandu
+3°C
Day at Nagarkot
+10°C
What it is like
Cold and very clear. Morning fog on the valley floor that burns off by ten, and Everest visible from the ridge.
Best

Averages for the valley floor at 1,400 m, with the Nagarkot ridge figure alongside because the difference decides what you pack.

Who walks with you

Who is with you

One licensed cultural guide for the four working days and one driver with a private vehicle throughout. On the day 5 walk the guide comes with you and the driver meets you at Changu Narayan. From eight travellers we put on a second guide, because one voice does not carry in a crowded square.

What the guide does and does not do

They read the buildings, handle the ticket gates, keep the pace honest and steer you to lunch. They will not take you to a shop that pays them a commission, because we do not work with the ones that do. If you want to buy a thangka or a singing bowl, say so and they will take you to a workshop where you watch it being made.

Tipping

Not required and genuinely appreciated. Forty to seventy dollars a traveller, split between the guide and the driver at the end, is what most people give. Nobody will ask you.

Walking it responsibly

The entry fees are the point

Bhaktapur's NPR 1,800 feels steep until you see where it goes, which is into the restoration of the buildings you came to look at. Pay it at the gate, keep the ticket, and be glad the valley charges for its heritage rather than selling it.

Buy from the workshop, not the shop

Patan still has families casting bronze by lost wax in their own courtyards and carving windows by hand. The shops on the tourist streets mostly sell imports. The guide will take you to the courtyards, where the maker gets the money and the price is lower anyway.

Photography at Pashupatinath

Cremations are not a spectacle for a camera. Across the river, wide, without faces, is the convention and the guide will tell you where the line is. At the monasteries, ask before photographing a monk. Nobody minds being asked.

Water, and the plastic problem

Kathmandu has a serious plastic bottle problem and a serious water problem underneath it. Every hotel on this trip has filtered water you can refill from. Bring a bottle and you will save about twenty bottles across the week.

Booking and paying

How to start

Write to us or send a message on WhatsApp with your arrival date and the number of travellers. We confirm within a day, usually the same one.

The deposit

Twenty per cent to hold the hotels, the balance on arrival in Kathmandu or by transfer a week before. In October and November the Bhaktapur guesthouse wants confirming earlier than the rest.

If you cancel

More than twenty one days out, the deposit transfers to another date within a year. Inside twenty one days the hotels have been paid and we retain the deposit. There is very little to lose on a trip this short, which is one of its attractions.

Changing it while you are here

Easily. If Bhaktapur has you and you want a second day there, the guide will rearrange it over breakfast. This is a private trip and the itinerary is a proposal rather than a contract.

If you are adding a trek

Tell us at booking rather than after. Permits, guides and internal flights all want a few days of notice, and one itinerary priced together comes out cheaper than two bought separately.

Things you can add

Priced per person, arranged before you travel, and none of them included in the price above.

Everest scenic flight
$220
1 morning
An hour along the range with a guaranteed window seat, out and back from Kathmandu before breakfast. It slots onto day 2 or day 5 without moving anything else. It goes at first light or not at all, and if it is cancelled you get the money back.
A Newari cooking afternoon
$45
half a day
In a family kitchen in Patan rather than a hotel demonstration room. You shop in the market first, cook six dishes, and eat them with the family. It is the best value thing on this list.
Boudhanath at dusk, with a monastery visit
$55
one evening
The kora at lamp lighting, when several thousand people walk round the stupa at once, and evening prayers at one of the Tibetan monasteries behind it. Added to the evening of day 2.
Two extra days: Panauti and Namobuddha
$240
2 extra days
Out of the valley to the east. A Newari town nobody visits, a hilltop stupa with a very good monastery guesthouse, and a walk between the two. This is the add on we suggest most often.
Chisapani to Nagarkot ridge walk
$349
adds 3 days
Our five day ridge trek, joined to the end of this tour rather than sold separately. Shivapuri forest, two nights in lodges, and the Himalaya on your left the whole way.
Airport day room on departure
$35
same day
A hotel room held until the evening if your flight home is late. Worth it after four days on your feet.

Other ways to see Nepal without walking far

4 versions of this journey. They use the same guides and the same lodges; what changes is the length, the comfort and how much of it you walk.

Kathmandu Valley Cultural TourYou are here
The trip on this page. The seven monument zones and a night on the ridge.
5 days$447
Spirit of Nepal
The valley, Chitwan and Pokhara, with the Himalaya at the end of it. The full country in ten days.
10 days$1,187
Kathmandu Valley Day Hikes
The same base, four different hills, and a walk every day instead of a temple.
6 days$497
Holi and Festival Cultural Tour
The same cities on the one day of the year when everybody throws colour at everybody else.
6 days$497

Photos

A look at the trail, the villages and the mountains.

Reviews

4.9 24 reviews

The trip of a lifetime

Everything was handled for us from the moment we landed. Our guide read the group perfectly, slowed the pace when we needed it, and knew every village along the way. I never once worried about logistics.

Sarah M. AustraliaOctober 2025

Felt looked after the whole way

We travelled as a couple and the small group made all the difference. Comfortable lodges, honest advice about the altitude, and a team who clearly loved the mountains. Booking on our own dates was easy.

James & Kate United KingdomMay 2025

Well organised and genuinely local

You can tell this is run by people from here, not a call centre abroad. The itinerary had proper rest days built in, the food was better than I expected, and the whole thing ran to time.

Daniel R. CanadaMarch 2025

Common questions

12 of them, and they are the ones people actually send us. If yours is not here, ask and we will answer it and add it.

You need to be able to walk three or four hours a day on flat ground and cobbles, and up a few hundred temple steps. The only sustained walk is two and a half hours downhill on day 5, and if you would rather not do it the vehicle takes you round instead.

For the seven monument zones, yes, if you spend them well. What four days does not give you is the fourth and fifth layer: the bahals behind Patan, the Newari festivals, the hill temples. People who want that add two days and we are happy to build it.

Because Bhaktapur charges an entry fee at the gate, and everybody who paid it leaves at five. From five in the evening until nine the next morning the old city belongs to the people who live in it, and that is a different place entirely. It is the single best decision on this itinerary.

From October to March, usually, and in December and January almost certainly. In the monsoon, rarely. We tell you this honestly before you book rather than after, and if the morning is clouded we walk down to Changu Narayan anyway, which is worth the trip on its own.

Cremations happen on the ghats in the open and you will see one. Most people find it dignified rather than distressing once it has been explained, which is what the guide is for. Non Hindus cannot enter the main temple courtyard and photography of the pyres is not done. If you would rather not go we will happily spend the afternoon at Boudhanath instead.

Less than people expect. Most of Kathmandu Durbar Square has been rebuilt, Patan is largely finished and Bhaktapur came through better than either. Some buildings are still propped and a handful of temples are gone. The guide will show you the joins, which is more interesting than a set of undamaged buildings would have been.

About $55 a person across the seven sites, and they are inside your price. Kathmandu Durbar Square is NPR 1,000, Patan NPR 1,500, Bhaktapur NPR 1,800, Pashupatinath NPR 1,000, Boudhanath NPR 400, Swayambhunath NPR 200 and Changu Narayan NPR 350. We pay them at the gate in front of you.

It is a private trip by default. There is no group departure, the vehicle is yours and the guide works to your pace. Two people is the usual booking and we have run it for one and for eleven.

Yes, and a good many people do. The Chisapani to Nagarkot ridge walk starts an hour from your Kathmandu hotel, or fly to Pokhara and walk the Ghorepani circuit. Tell us at booking and we will make one itinerary rather than two.

October and November for clear air and warmth, December to February for the sharpest mountain views and cold mornings, March for the rhododendron and the festivals. April gets hazy. The monsoon is green, cheap, quiet and cloudy, and if you are here for the architecture rather than the range it is genuinely a good time to come.

Yes, and the pottery square at Bhaktapur and the monkeys at Swayambhunath do a lot of the work for you. Children under ten go free at every monument gate. Tell us their ages and the guide will pitch the day differently.

Shoulders and knees covered at the temples, shoes you can take off easily, and something warm for the Nagarkot evening, which is seven or eight degrees colder than the valley floor. Leather belts and bags are not taken into the inner Pashupatinath precinct.

Kathmandu Valley Cultural Tour

Overview