With 5 days in Kathmandu, you can thoroughly explore the valley and cover all areas you have set your mind to.
See the detailed tips and itineraries for visiting Kathmandu Valley.
See the detailed itinerary for day 1 in Kathmandu Valley.
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Day 5 highlight: Nagarkot, Thamel
On this day, you will have to either hire a car, a taxi or arrange a tour, as you will be travelling quite a big distance.
Nagarkot
Price to enter the area: 400 NPR. You will have to pay the fee at one of the roadblocks to the city.
Nagarkot is a beautiful village scenic area some 30 km from Kathmandu. It provides beautiful views over Himalayas. If you are not much of a hiker and are not visiting Nepal for the long mountain hikes, Nagarkot provides a nice alternative. However, in order to enjoy its views, you have to make sure that the visibility is good on the days you head there. Usually they say that October and November, March and April are the best times. However, honestly you may get clouds any time. So observe the weather and head to Nagarkot only on a clear day, otherwise, there would be no point.
Nagarkot was originally a fort used to observe the surrounding areas. Later on it was used, as
It takes about 2 hours to get here from Kathmandu and even shorter from Bhaktaput. Some people combine their visit here with Bhaktapur, some prefer to spend longer time . Many people will also advice to stay here overnight. It definitely would be a great experience, albeit very expensive, given that all hotels in the area are overpriced, due to the gorgeous views. So it all depends on your budget. You can also find some hostel-like places, but during my research I didn’t find anything remotely decent and cheap.
Either way, it’s your decision, depending on how much time you want to spend here. There are a number of hiking opportunities here, ranging from a few hour hikes to several days. I didn’t find any good hiking trail map. So just choose a viewpoint you want to get to and hike in that direction.
The best viewpoints include Nagarkot Geodic Survey Tower and Buddha Peace park. There is also Nagarkot Buddhist monastery, it doesn’t seem to be open to the public, but you can still enjoy the surrounding areas.
Otherwise, there is nothing else to do here. So if you want other activities, rather than hiking, you don’t have to stay too long.
Thamel
After a long day get back to Thamel and enjoy its lovely restaurants and cafes and especially the amazing bookshops and craft shops. I particularly loved the bookshops and spent a lot of time there. I also bought a couple of local books that would be hard to find in other countries.
If you have more days in Kathmandu valley, you can see Panauti (it is very cute, but we didn’t make it there), Namo Buddha Temple, Kakani area, etc.
See the best suggested 1-day itinerary for visiting Kathmandu Valley.
See the best suggested 2-day itinerary for visiting Kathmandu Valley.
See the best suggested 3-day itinerary for visiting Kathmandu Valley.
See the best suggested 4-day itinerary for visiting Kathmandu Valley.
