Indra Jatra in Kathmandu — 3 Days

Use the day before the first chariot pull to learn the compact festival ground on foot. Start at Kathmandu Durbar Square and identify Kumari Ghar, where the Living Goddess enters her chariot, then the Hanuman Dhoka side of the palace where the Yosin pole is raised. Kasthamandap and the two Bhairavs complete the circuit; all five stops are within the old royal precinct.

This orientation is practical, not padding. Streets become difficult to cross once a pull begins, and knowing the exits around Maru and Makhan Tole lets you choose one viewing area instead of fighting the crowd. Swet Bhairav is normally screened from view and is revealed only for the festival's eight days — walk past it today and you will understand tomorrow why the crowd stops there.

The elements on this day are the reading rather than the walking: who the Kumari is, what the three chariot days are, and what the samay baji platter in front of you contains. Read them before the pulls and the next two days stop being a crowd and become a sequence you can follow.

Return early for the raising of the Yosin pole at Hanuman Dhoka, then stay around Basantapur as the three chariots are prepared. Ganesh leads, Bhairav follows, and the Kumari's three-storey chariot comes last — knowing the order is how you tell from a distance how far along the procession is. The first pull, Kwaneya, takes the long southern route through Maru, Chikan Mugal and Lagan before returning to the square. It normally begins in the afternoon and can run well into the evening.

Do not try to walk the entire route beside the ropes. Pick one broad junction, remain behind local barriers, and let the procession come to you. The official departure time and street sequence are announced locally each year; confirm them before setting out.

Stay for the evening if you can. The Kumari's tika to the head of state at Basantapur is the festival's most political moment and the shortest — a few minutes in a week of processions, and the one that explains why this festival was a state occasion rather than a neighbourhood one.

The second pull turns north from Basantapur into the working bazaar. Walk the route in daylight first: Makhan Tole to Indra Chowk, Akash Bhairav, Asan and the lanes back toward the square. Jana Bahal is a useful quiet pause beyond the busiest junction and houses Seto Machhindranath.

This is the day the festival's cast is easiest to find. Majipa Lakhey works the crowd in a crimson costume, Pulu Kisi — Indra's white elephant — charges the lanes on the shoulders of two men, and the hereditary dancer lineages perform the masked deity dances each evening. None of it is ticketed and none of it runs to a printed time; you find it by being in the right lanes after dark.

Return to a single viewing point before the chariots move. Thaneya is especially crowded around Indra Chowk and Asan; elevated cafés may take reservations, while street-level spectators should leave space for musicians, dancers and the chariot teams. End slowly rather than expecting a quick exit through the old-city lanes — and if you want the festival's other half, the two memorial processions are the quiet counterweight to everything else this week.