Kathmandu-5-day-itinerary

Correction up front, because I’ve seen this itinerary written wrong more than once: Swayambhunath and the Monkey Temple are the same place, not two separate stops. Get that straight and five days in Kathmandu turns into one of the best-paced trips in the region.

Day 1: arrival and Thamel

Handle your visa on arrival before baggage claim, 15 days for $30, 30 days for $50, or a 90-day multi-entry for $125, crisp US cash since card machines here are unreliable. Bring a passport photo or use the airport booth, and fill out the online arrival form ahead of time if you want to shave time off the queue, which can run 45-90 minutes during the October-November peak. Take the prepaid taxi counter into Thamel for a fixed NPR 700-800 rather than haggling with curbside touts quoting NPR 1,500 while gripping your luggage. Watch for the classic scam too: a driver claiming your hotel is closed or burned down to redirect you toward a commission guesthouse. Save your hotel’s address and number, refuse the detour, call ahead if anything feels off.

Spend the rest of the day wandering Thamel’s narrow lanes, trekking shops, and rooftop bars, it’s the densest tourist zone in the city and also the densest scam zone, so keep your guard up while you enjoy it. Dinner here is fine but forgettable, save your appetite for Patan later in the trip.

Day 2: Boudhanath and Pashupatinath

Morning at Boudhanath Stupa, NPR 400, walking the kora clockwise past the monasteries and Tibetan shops ringing the stupa. Afternoon at Pashupatinath, NPR 1,000, the Bagmati’s Hindu cremation site. Non-Hindus can’t enter the inner pagoda but the whole complex and the cremation ghats are viewable from across the river, so don’t write it off as inaccessible, just stay respectful and keep cameras away from grieving families. For dinner, cross to Patan and eat proper Newari food at Newa Lahana or Honacha, chhoila and bara for NPR 500-1,200, genuinely better than anything Thamel offers.

Day 3: durbar squares

Kathmandu Durbar Square in the morning, about NPR 1,000, mostly rebuilt since 2015 with Kasthamandap back since 2023-24, a bit of scaffolding still around. Patan Durbar Square in the afternoon, comparable price, better preserved, fewer crowds, and my clear favorite of the two if you’re comparing. Both are independently ticketed, there’s no combo pass covering all the city’s monuments, so budget for each separately.

Day 4: the actual Monkey Temple

Swayambhunath, NPR 200, roughly 365 steps up the east side, is the real Monkey Temple, and it earns its own morning rather than a rushed afternoon add-on. The views over the valley from the top are worth the climb alone, and the monkeys living on site will absolutely try to steal anything edible you’re carrying. Spend the afternoon back in Thamel or Durbar Marg, the quieter upscale boulevard near the old Royal Palace, for fine dining that’s a step up from the backpacker circuit.

Day 5: Bhaktapur, properly

This is where five days beats four: Bhaktapur gets a full day instead of a rushed stop. It’s a separate medieval town about 90 minutes out, entry runs NPR 1,800-2,000 covering the whole entry-controlled town, and the ticket has multi-day validity if you want to linger. The Nyatapola temple survived the earthquake standing, and the pottery square rewards slow wandering over a quick photo stop. Head back into Kathmandu in the evening for a final dinner before departure.

If you’ve got energy left, Durbar Marg is worth a slower evening walk too, it’s a quieter upscale boulevard near the old Royal Palace with far better fine dining than the backpacker circuit and none of Thamel’s chaos.

Practical notes

No metro exists in Kathmandu, don’t plan around one, and don’t trust any guide that mentions one. Taxi meters are required by law and ignored in practice, agree your fare up front or use Pathao or InDrive for a locked app price, watching for surge pricing or drivers asking for extra cash at drop-off that doesn’t match the quote. Verify any Thamel trekking agency is TAAN or NTB registered before booking, unlicensed storefronts are common and a vetted operator is worth paying more for. Dress modestly at temples, remove shoes before entering, and pack layers, mornings run noticeably colder than midday streets even outside winter. Best months for the whole trip are October-November and March-April for clear mountain views, monsoon season from June through September brings landslides and leeches but far fewer crowds if you don’t mind rain. Occasional power cuts still happen despite huge improvements since 2016, but hotels run backup generators as standard so it’s rarely worth worrying about.