Kathmandu Valley Tour

• Seven UNESCO Sites: Cover every World Heritage monument in the Kathmandu Valley across four unhurried days.

• Three Durbar Squares: Compare the royal courts of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, each built by rival Malla kings.

• Boudhanath at Dusk: Join the evening kora around Nepal's largest stupa as the butter lamps are lit.

• Bhaktapur Backstreets: Watch potters, wood carvers and juju dhau makers working the same lanes their families have for centuries.

• Nagarkot Sunrise: Wake on the valley rim for a Himalayan panorama that stretches from Annapurna to the Everest massif.

October to early December and February to April are the strongest months. Autumn brings washed-clean air after the monsoon and the best odds of seeing the Himalaya from Nagarkot; it also covers Dashain and Tihar, when the squares fill with ritual. Spring is warmer, with rhododendron on the valley rim and jacaranda in the city.

Winter is perfectly workable — days are mild and sunny, mornings are cold and hazy until the sun clears the ridge, and the sites are at their quietest. From June to September the monsoon puts cloud over the mountains most days and rain in the afternoons, though the valley itself is green and the temples are still worth the trip at a lower price.

This is an easy tour with a lot of walking on uneven ground. Each sightseeing day involves two to four hours on foot across brick paving, temple plinths and steep stone stairways — the 365 steps up to Swayambhunath being the stiffest of them. You are driven between sites in a private vehicle, so nothing is more than a short transfer away.

Kathmandu's traffic is dense and its air is poor in the dry months, so we schedule the walking-heavy visits for the early morning. Bring shoes you can slip off easily at temple thresholds, and note that leather belts and bags are not permitted inside some Hindu temple courtyards. Photography is welcome almost everywhere, except inside the main Pashupatinath shrine, which non-Hindus may not enter.

Your guide is a licensed valley specialist, not a driver with a script — a good one turns a courtyard of struts and finials into a readable story of Malla rivalry, Newar craft guilds and earthquake reconstruction. Guides are available in English as standard, and we can arrange Spanish, French, German, Japanese, Hindi and Chinese speakers if you ask when booking.

All monument entrance fees for the sites in the itinerary are included in your price. They are not trivial — Bhaktapur alone is one of the highest in South Asia — and the money funds ongoing restoration of the buildings you have come to see. Keep your Bhaktapur ticket: it can be extended for a second day free of charge at the ticket office.

Three nights are in a comfortable 3-star hotel in Thamel with breakfast, and one night is at a ridge-top resort in Nagarkot chosen for its east-facing rooms. Upgrades to 4- and 5-star properties, including the heritage hotels in Bhaktapur and the Dwarika's in Kathmandu, are available at extra cost — tell us before booking so we can hold a room.

Only breakfast is included, deliberately: eating out is one of the pleasures of Kathmandu and the range runs from a two-dollar plate of momo to serious tasting menus. Your guide will steer you toward Newari bhoj in Patan, the Tibetan bakeries around Boudhanath, and Thamel's long-running institutions. Tap water is not drinkable; filtered refills are free at most hotels.

• Nepal Visa on Arrival: A Step-by-Step Guide for Trekkers — Most nationalities can get a Nepal tourist visa on arrival at Kathmandu airport in twenty minutes.

• The 15 Days of Dashain Explained: Ghatasthapana to Kojagrat Purnima — Dashain lasts fifteen days, but only five of them carry the ritual: the first, when barley is sown; the seventh, eighth and ninth, when the goddess is honoured; and the tenth.

• Secret Food Tour in Kathmandu: The Complete Guide — Three to four hours on foot through the lanes between Ason and Indra Chowk, stopping at eight or nine family stalls that have been doing one thing for three generations.

• Bhaktapur Travel Guide: The Best-Preserved City in the Valley — A walled medieval Newar city half an hour from Kathmandu, where the whole street plan survives rather than just the monuments.

• Chandragiri Cable Car Tour: The Complete Guide — Ten minutes from Thankot to a ridge at 2,551 m, with a clear-day view running from Dhaulagiri through Annapurna, Manaslu and Langtang to Everest.

• 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.