Kathmandu & Pokhara Tour

You land at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (1,400 m), where our representative meets you outside the arrivals hall with a name board and drives you to your hotel in Thamel.

Your guide meets you at the hotel in the early evening to walk through the week: three days in the valley, the drive west, and two nights in Pokhara with a mountain dawn at each end.

The rest of the day is yours to rest off the flight or wander the alleys of Thamel. Overnight in Kathmandu.

Swayambhunath first, up the eastern stairway to the hilltop stupa with its painted eyes and the whole valley below in the morning haze. The macaques are numerous and unbothered by visitors.

Down into the old city for Kathmandu Durbar Square: the Malla palace, the Taleju temple, and the Kumari Ghar where the living goddess appears at her window. Your guide will explain what the 2015 earthquake took and how the rebuilding has been done, which is much of the square's current story.

After lunch the day ends at Boudhanath, the largest stupa in Nepal. Arrive in the late afternoon and walk the clockwise kora with the Tibetan community as the butter lamps are lit, then take a rooftop table above the crowd.

Overnight in Kathmandu.

Patan Durbar Square in the morning — the stone Krishna Mandir, the sunken royal bath at Sundari Chowk and the Patan Museum, which is the best hour available anywhere for understanding Nepali iconography.

The lanes behind hold the metalworkers' courtyards, where bronze is still cast by the lost-wax method, and the Golden Temple with its rota of boy monks.

In the afternoon, Pashupatinath on the Bagmati. Non-Hindus view the golden pagoda from the eastern terrace, which also overlooks the cremation ghats where funerals take place through the day.

The road then climbs east out of the valley to Nagarkot (2,175 m) on the rim, arriving in time for sunset over the ridges. Overnight at Nagarkot.

Up before dawn for the Nagarkot viewpoint. On a clear morning the range runs from Ganesh Himal and Langtang across to the Everest massif on the eastern horizon, with the valley under mist below.

After breakfast the descent stops at Bhaktapur, the best preserved of the three cities and car-free inside its walls: the 55-window palace, the Golden Gate, the five-tiered Nyatapola and the potters' square where clay is still thrown and dried in the open. Try the juju dhau.

The afternoon is the long drive west on the Prithvi Highway, following the Trishuli through gorge country with terraced hillsides above and rafts on the water below.

Pokhara (822 m) arrives in the early evening on the shore of Phewa Lake. Overnight in Pokhara.

An early drive up to Sarangkot (1,592 m). The light hits Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) first, then works east along Annapurna South, Hiunchuli and the fishtail of Machhapuchhre, with Phewa Lake in mist below.

Back for breakfast, then the rest of the valley: Devi's Fall where the Pardi Khola vanishes into a sinkhole, and the Gupteshwor Mahadev cave opposite with its natural lingam.

The International Mountain Museum after lunch is better than most visitors expect — the history of Himalayan climbing and a genuinely good section on the peoples of the range.

The afternoon finishes with a rowing boat across Phewa Lake to the Tal Barahi temple on its island. Overnight in Pokhara.

A slower morning. The World Peace Pagoda on the ridge across the lake is the best remaining view, reached by boat and a twenty-minute walk through forest, or you can simply take the lakeside at your own pace.

Anyone wanting the mountains one more time can add a paragliding flight from Sarangkot, which lands beside the lake.

The drive east on the Prithvi Highway takes most of the afternoon with a lunch stop, or the 25-minute flight can be substituted.

You reach Kathmandu (1,400 m) in the evening, with Thamel for last shopping. Overnight in Kathmandu.

The morning is free for anything the week missed — Boudhanath again at first light is the usual choice — or for the shops around Thamel and Ason.

We collect you from your hotel three hours before your flight and drive you to Tribhuvan International Airport, where our representative sees you through to the check-in counters.

If your flight leaves late in the day, we can hold the room or store your bags and add a last few hours of shopping in Thamel — just let the guide know the evening before.