Patan Day Tour – 1 Day

• Patan Durbar Square: The finest concentration of Newar palace architecture in Nepal.

• The Patan Museum: Widely rated the best museum in South Asia, in the restored royal palace.

• The Golden Temple: A twelfth-century Buddhist courtyard monastery staffed by a rota of boy monks.

• Lost-Wax Bronze Casting: Watch metalworkers use a method unchanged for a thousand years.

• Courtyards Behind the Square: The bahals and hitis most visitors walk straight past.

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.

• 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.

• Singing Bowl Sound Healing After a Trek: What to Expect — A singing bowl session is the least demanding form of meditation there is — you lie down and listen.

• 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.

• Kathmandu Valley UNESCO Sites: A Guide to All Seven — Seven monument zones in one valley — three royal squares, two Buddhist stupas, a Hindu cremation temple and the oldest shrine in Nepal.

• Arriving in Kathmandu: Your First 48 Hours — What to do between landing at Kathmandu airport and starting your trek — airport arrival, SIM cards, money, the pre-trek briefing, gear shopping in Thamel.

• Dashain Food Guide: What Nepal Eats During the Festival — Dashain is the feast of the Nepali year: goat in half a dozen forms, beaten rice, pickles, fried rice-flour bread and home-made spirit.