Itineraries
Routes worth copying
Each of these is a real plan, not an article: days, stops, and the bus or flight between them. Open one, copy it, and it becomes yours to reorder, shorten, or fill in.
Short on time? Compare four weekend trips from Kathmandu by duration, transport and walking.
Looking for trips run by an operator? Operator itineraries are listed separately.
Classic Nepal in 7 Days: Kathmandu Valley & Pokhara
7 days · 30 stops · 7h 30m travelling
The first-timer's route: three days across the Kathmandu Valley's three old cities, the tourist bus over the hills to Pokhara, three days on the lake and under the Annapurnas, and a morning flight back for your departure.
Indra Jatra in Kathmandu — 3 Days
3 days · 26 stops
An on-foot old-Kathmandu plan built around Indra Jatra's opening chariot pulls: first learn the Durbar Square landmarks, then follow Kwaneya south and Thaneya north through the bazaar.
Matya in Patan — 2 Days
2 days · 17 stops
Matya is one day and it starts before dawn, so the plan is really a day and a half: walk the four Ashoka thur and the bahal courtyards in daylight the afternoon before, then join the circuit itself the next morning knowing where it is going.
Dashain: Fulpati to Vijaya Dashami — 4 Days
4 days · 10 stops
Dashain runs fifteen days and most of it happens inside family homes. This plan covers the four you can actually attend — Fulpati to Vijaya Dashami.
Tihar: Five Nights of Lights
5 days · 13 stops
Tihar's five days honour a crow, a dog, a cow, an ox and a brother — in that order. Unlike Dashain the country stays open, so this is the festival week a visitor can actually walk through.
Kathmandu Valley Heritage in 4 Days
4 days · 25 stops · 1h 6m travelling
One day for each of the valley's three royal cities, plus a day for the great pilgrimage sites — the seven UNESCO monument zones without the forced march. Based in Kathmandu for three nights, then a night in Bhaktapur.
Ghorepani Poon Hill Trek: 6 Days from Pokhara
6 days · 13 stops · 4h travelling
Nepal's most accessible teahouse trek, with the two Pokhara days that actually make it work: a day to sort permits and acclimatise, four walking days to Poon Hill and out through Ghandruk, and a day back on the lake. No camping, no altitude problem, no guide strictly required.
Nagarkot Sunrise — 2 Days
2 days · 4 stops
A weekend from Kathmandu built around one dawn on the valley's eastern rim: up to the Nagarkot ridge by bus through Bhaktapur, a night facing the Himalaya, then a downhill morning walk to Changu Narayan and Bhaktapur's squares on the way home.
Panauti and Banepa — Day Trip
1 day · 4 stops · 1h 15m travelling
One day by local bus from Kathmandu to two Newar towns: Panauti's river confluence and its thirteenth-century Indreshwar Mahadev, then Banepa, the old Tibet trade town, for Chandeshwori and the bazaar lanes on the way home.
Dhulikhel and Namo Buddha — 2 Days
2 days · 5 stops · 2h 45m travelling
A night in Dhulikhel's Newar old town on the valley rim, then the one-way walk south through Tamang villages to the Namo Buddha monastery and down to Panauti, and the bus home from there.
Chitlang and Markhu — 2 Days
2 days · 2 stops · 3h travelling
Over the Chandragiri pass by morning jeep to Chitlang's Newar farming valley for a homestay night, then a morning on the Kulekhani reservoir at Markhu and the afternoon bus home from Taukhel.
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