Travel to Bhaktapur

a wonderful place to explore and very photogenic

The city of Bhaktapur is set just 15km to the southeast of Kathmandu in central Nepal.

Although the place has almost been engulfed by the capital’s expanding suburbs, Bhaktapur is a world apart. Something of a living museum, the city retains a strong sense of the ancient traditions of architecture and culture in this high mountain valley.

Founded around 1150 AD, Bhaktapur served as the capital of the Malla Kingdom for around three hundred years and most of its wonderful monuments date back at least three hundred years.

The place is literally packed with historic temples and roads lined by ancient buildings. It’s a wonderful place to explore, being far enough out from Kathmandu to ensure that it experiences far lower visitor numbers and with a resident population of genuine and authentic Newari people.

The centre of the city is blissfully free from all vehicle traffic, which makes exploring on foot an absolute delight.

Key sights in the city are the central Bhaktapur Durbar Square, with its famous Golden Gate and the marvellous Taleju Temple Complex, Taumadhi Square with its colossal five-storied pagoda temple, Pottery Square where artisans go about their trade, the renowned Peacock Window and the cremation ghats down along the river.

Interesting locations in the vicinity include the Changu Narayan Temple (4km to the north), which is the oldest in the Kathmandu Valley, the Surya Vinayak Temple (2km to the south), which is dedicated to the elephant god Ganesh and the village of Thimi (3km to the west), which is renowned for its pottery.

Bhaktapur can easily be visited on a day trip from the capital, although we do recommend deploying at least a night out here if you can.

Where to stay

In fact you might even consider staying here instead of Kathmandu (even if the choice of accommodation is rather limited).

maybe stay here instead of Kathmandu