Overview
Kathmandu Sightseeing, One Day Tour lets you visit popular UNESCO world heritage sites in Kathmandu valley in a single day. Get glimpses around architecturally beautiful temples, courtyards, and stupas along with ancient palaces. This Kathmandu sightseeing one-day tour lets you blend in its unique cultural and historical importance giving you plenty of learning and exploring opportunities. Kathmandu the capital of Nepal is situated about 1330 m from sea level. It is a valley of three districts Kathmandu, Lalitpur, and Bhaktapur surrounded by mountains.
The Valley contains 3 fabulous cities of great historic, religious, and cultural interest. The sightseeing of the
Kathmandu Valley in Nepal on a 6-hour tour of an area that covers 218 square miles (350 kilometers). On your one-day tour, you will not be able to cover the entire valley, but you will be taken to some of the most important and monumental sites. Many of these squares, monasteries, and temples are also designated as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.
Kathmandu Sightseeing One Day Tour starts as we go around Kathmandu Durbar square first. There you will see varieties of temples, ancient palaces, courtyards, museums,s and even the home of the living goddess Kumari. Secondly, we go to nearby Swayambhunath Stupa at the hilltop which is also called a monkey temple because of the large flux of monkeys living there. The top of the hill exposes Arial views of Kathmandu Valley while encircling the stupa and visit to nearby monasteries offers insights into Buddhism culture and tradition.
Then we will have our lunch at one of the local restaurants and take 30 minutes to drive to Boudhanath Stupa which is believed to be the largest in Asia built 2500 years ago. The feeling of peace and tranquility continuously strikes us while visiting the world heritage site, Boudhanath Stupa. Finally, our Kathmandu one-day tour takes us to the holy temple of Lord Shiva, Pashupatinath temple where you can view cremation place at the bank of Bagmati river, Sadhus resting with smoking weeds, and get insight into Hindu culture. Finally, our one-day tour ends and we transfer to your hotel.
Kathmandu Durbar Square:
Durbar square is home to a house full of woodcarvings of different gods and goddesses. In this 3-story palace, you will also find the living Goddess Kumari. Both Hindus and Buddhists venerate her, and she serves as an illustration of the harmony between the Hindu and Buddhist people. One of the popular temples of Kathmandu durbar square is, locally known as maru sagittal. It is believed that the name of Kathmandu city is derived from the name of the temple and it is said that this temple is built by one single tree. At the center of this temple, one can see the statue of the Hindu god Gorak Nath and in the four corners of the temple, one can see Ganesh statues.
The most visited temple of Kathmandu is Maru Ganesh, the people of Kathmandu valley believe that the four Ganesh statues in the 4 corners of the Kathmandu valley protect the people living in Kathmandu. Every day people go to worship this temple, and especially on Tuesdays, you can see a long line of people waiting for hours to worship. Other interesting things to see here are Mahadev Temple, Shiva Parvati Temple, Bhagwati temple, the old palace, Saraswati temple, Krishna octangular temple, Big drums, Kal Bhairav, Jagannath temple, etc.
Swayambhunath/monkey temple:
Swayambhunath/monkey temple is a 2,500-year-old stupa situated overlooking Kathmandu valley. Its name comes from the holy monkey living in the part of the complex. The painted eyes on the 4 sides symbolize the all-seeing eyes of Buddha, and the site is one of the most sacred Buddhist pilgrimage sites.
Pashupatinath Temple:
Pashupatinath is a temple of Lord Shiva and the most sacred of the 275 Shiva temples worldwide. It is also the oldest temple in Kathmandu. The Bagmati river River runs alongside the temple and is the site not only of pilgrims who take baths in the river but also contains a special area where members of the Royal family are cremated.
Boudhanath Stupa:
Boudhanath stupa is a UNESCO World Heritage. It is the most important pilgrimage site for Tibetan Buddhists, who come here by the thousands during the winter festival to pay their respect.
Trip details:
We pick you up from the hotel at 9:00 a.m. Then we begin our tour to Swoyambhu, the monkey temple. We can either hike up the 360 steps to the top of the easy way from the western side. You can enjoy this place by viewing different ritual activities, and people walking around the stupa chanting mantra. After this, we go second place to Kathmandu Durbar Square. This place is a bit more crowded than other places but the old carvings amaze you.
We go to Boudhanath after doing a sighting of Kathmandu Durbar Square. This place is peaceful and you can feel the real vibration of chanting, and meditation there. You can have lunch in the rooftop restaurant if you like. Pashupatinath is just 2 km in distance and an interesting place to see the cremation. We go to the eastern bank of the Bagmati River and see the activities done by the people. You could hike up to the temple and enjoy the scenery. Completing the tour around Pashupatinath, we return back to the hotel.
Trip Itinerary
Day 1 : Sightseeing in Kathmandu, visiting four World Heritage Sites: Kathmandu Durbar Square, Swoyambhunath, Boudha Stupa and Pashupatinath Temple:
We drive from the hotel around 9 am after breakfast, then reach Swoyambhunath, lovingly called the monkey temple. This is the best viewpoint for sunrise and valley views on a clear day. We can see the five different places dedicated to five different elements from nature.
The 6th-century old stupa looks gorgeous with five Dhyani buddhas in its four directions. After this, we depart from there and drive to Kathmandu Durbar Square, just 1 and a half km, a bit crowded with pilgrims, local vendors, and visitors. We can see the marvelous architecture from the medieval period. The dominance of Malla arts and crafts can be pointed there when we visit temples, courtyards, palaces, etc. Then we drive 8 km to Boudha Stupa, a peaceful, vibrating destination full of monks and nuns chanting mantras- "Om Mani Padme Hum" counting prayer beads in their hands.
After circumambulating the giant stupas, we get lunch somewhere in the rooftop restaurant and drive nearby to the very famous Hindu temple Pashupatinath. This is the temple dedicated to the supreme Hindu God Shiva where we can see ritual bathers, priests, sadhus, and cremation spots. After our sightseeing, we return back to the hotel.
