Panauti and Banepa — Day Trip

Take the direct bus from Ratna Park. It runs out along the Araniko Highway, stops at Banepa, and turns south to Panauti, the farther town and the one to see first.

Panauti sits where the Punyamati and Roshi rivers meet, laid out on the classic Newar mandala plan, with temples, rest houses and bathing ghats arranged along the axis that leads down to the confluence. The reason to come is the Indreshwar Mahadev Temple, a three-tiered Shiva pagoda that scholars date to 1294, which makes it a strong candidate for the oldest surviving wooden pagoda in Nepal. Give its carved struts real time. The town is compact and walkable, there is no entry fee, and a half-day here is not too much.

On the way back, get off the Kathmandu bus at Banepa. It is a trade town whose name means "place of business", and most travellers pass straight through it. Walk a kilometre north-east along the Punyamata to Chandeshwori, the town's presiding goddess, with the huge Bhairava repainted each year on the temple's west wall. Then walk back through the old bazaar lanes south of the highway, which are a working market rather than a preserved one.

Getting home is the easy half: any Kathmandu-bound bus or microbus on the Araniko Highway passes Banepa. No timetable is published for either direction, so start early rather than counting on a late bus out.