Bungmati Khokana Village Tour – 1 Day

• Rato Machhendranath's Home Village: Bungamati, where the rain god lives for six months of every year.

• Newar Woodcarving Workshops: Carvers producing temple struts and windows by hand, as commissions rather than souvenirs.

• Khokana's Mustard Oil Mills: Seed pressed in wooden mills in a village laid out around a single main street.

• Community Reconstruction: See how two villages rebuilt themselves after 2015 in traditional brick and timber.

• No Entry Fees, No Tour Buses: Two working villages that have not been arranged for visitors.

Everything on these tours is reached by private vehicle with a driver, which matters more in Kathmandu than most cities — the traffic is heavy, the one-way system changes, and parking near the monuments is difficult. Your guide travels with you and the vehicle waits while you walk each site.

Distances look small on a map and take longer than they should. Boudhanath to Swayambhunath is nine kilometres and forty minutes in the middle of the day. The itineraries are sequenced to work with the traffic rather than against it, which is why the order of sites is not always the obvious one.

Every UNESCO site in the valley charges foreign visitors an entry fee, and they are included in your tour price — Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur Durbar Squares, Swayambhunath, Boudhanath, Pashupatinath and Changunarayan. Keep the ticket; Bhaktapur's is valid for several days and can be extended free of charge if you tell the office.

Photography is allowed in the squares and courtyards but not in most inner sanctums, and never at the Pashupatinath cremation ghats. Ask before photographing people, particularly sadhus, who will usually ask for money afterwards — agree it first or decline politely.

Comfortable shoes that slip off easily, since you will remove them at temples. Modest clothing covering shoulders and knees is expected at religious sites and appreciated everywhere. Leather belts and bags are not permitted inside some Hindu shrines, so carry a cloth bag on temple days.

Bring sunscreen, a hat and water; the valley sits at 1,400 m and the sun is stronger than the temperature suggests. Small notes are useful for offerings, tea and the occasional donation box. A mask is worth having between January and April when the valley air is at its worst.

October to March is the most comfortable, with clear air, mild days and, from the valley rim, mountain views. Early morning is the best time at every site — Boudhanath, Pashupatinath and the Durbar Squares are all at their most alive and least crowded before nine.

The monsoon from June to September brings heavy afternoon rain, though mornings are often clear and the light is dramatic. Festival dates transform the sites they belong to: Indra Jatra in September fills Kathmandu Durbar Square, Bisket Jatra takes over Bhaktapur in April, and Maha Shivaratri brings a hundred thousand pilgrims to Pashupatinath.

• Bungamati & Khokana Village Tour: The Complete Guide — Two working Newar villages ten kilometres south of Kathmandu — the birthplace of Rato Machhendranath and the valley's mustard-oil town.

• Patan Travel Guide: Newar Craft and the Valley's Finest Square — Twenty minutes from Thamel and routinely skipped — Patan has the best Durbar Square, the best museum in Nepal.

• Pharping & Dakshinkali Tour: The Complete Guide — Two of Nepal's most charged religious sites within a few kilometres of each other on the southern valley rim.

• Where to See Dashain Celebrations in Nepal: 9 Places Worth the Journey — Dashain is a family festival, so where a visitor stands decides how much of it they see.

• Animal Sacrifice at Dashain: What Travellers Should Know — On the eighth and ninth days of Dashain, goats, buffalo and birds are sacrificed at temples and in household yards across Nepal.

• Dashain Swings and Kites: Linge Ping, Rote Ping and Changa — Two things tell you Dashain has arrived before a single ritual has taken place: bamboo swings rising in the village fields and kites over the rooftops.