7 Days in Kathmandu: First-Timer
Seven days is genuinely the best length for the Kathmandu Valley if you want all seven UNESCO monument zones, both sister cities, and the hidden villages, without feeling rushed at any point. This one stays inside the valley the entire week, if you’re extending into a trek, Pokhara, or Chitwan afterward, our Nepal gateway itinerary is the one to read next, and the full guide has more depth on every stop below.
Book these before you go
- A Thamel or Patan hotel room on Booking.com : rooms in the Dashain/Tihar weeks and the October-November peak sell out first.
- A guided Durbar Square heritage tour on GetYourGuide : skips the separate ticket queues at each square.
| Day | Focus | Entry fees (NPR) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Thamel, Kathmandu Durbar Square | 1,000 |
| 2 | Boudhanath, Pashupatinath | 400 + 1,000 |
| 3 | Patan Durbar Square | 1,500 |
| 4 | Bhaktapur | 1,800-2,000 |
| 5 | Changu Narayan, Kirtipur/Bungamati/Khokana loop | 350-400 |
| 6 | Swayambhunath, Chandragiri (optional) | 200 |
| 7 | Museums, shopping, departure | ~1,000 |
Day 1: arrival, Thamel, and Kathmandu Durbar Square
Handle your visa on arrival before baggage claim, 15 days for $30, 30 days for $50, or 90 days multi-entry for $125, crisp US cash since card readers here are unreliable. Bring a passport photo or use the airport booth, and the online arrival form ahead of time helps if you land during the October-November peak, when queues can stretch 45-90 minutes. Prepaid taxi counter into Thamel, ignore curbside touts quoting double while grabbing your bags. Watch for the driver-claims-your-hotel-is-closed scam too, save your hotel’s number and refuse any detour.
Once you’re settled, spend the afternoon at Kathmandu Durbar Square, about NPR 1,000. Correction I’ll make plainly up front: it is not fully restored a decade after the 2015 earthquake. Kasthamandap reopened in 2022, the Trailokya Mohan Narayan Temple finished its rebuild in early 2024, but the Nine-Story Tower’s interior stays closed and parts of Hanuman Dhoka remain under active restoration, don’t expect a finished square. Try momos for dinner, they’ll become a daily habit fast, and dal bhat is worth an early try too, unlimited refills, the “dal bhat power 24 hour” claim that fuels most of the trekking industry here.
Day 2: Boudhanath and Pashupatinath
Morning at Boudhanath Stupa , NPR 400, walking the kora clockwise through the Tibetan Buddhist quarter. Afternoon at Pashupatinath, NPR 1,000, the Hindu cremation site on the Bagmati. Non-Hindus can’t enter the main temple’s inner sanctum but the full complex and cremation ghats are viewable from across the river, so this isn’t a skip, just approach it respectfully and keep your camera down around grieving families. Dress modestly and have shoes ready to remove.
Day 3: Patan, properly
Give Patan its own full day rather than splitting it with anything else, it deserves it. Patan Durbar Square, across the Bagmati in the separate city of Lalitpur, has a three-day ticket that also covers the Patan Museum, the best-curated collection of Newar religious art in the country. It’s better preserved and far less crowded than Kathmandu Durbar Square, my clear pick if you’re comparing the two. Spend the afternoon among the metalworking studios around the square, watching bronze statues cast the traditional lost-wax way, then eat dinner here too, chhoila and bara, a different league from Thamel’s tourist menus.
Day 4: Bhaktapur, unrushed
The drive to Bhaktapur runs 45-90 minutes depending on traffic, not the quick 30-minute hop some guides claim, so budget the whole day for it and don’t schedule anything tight afterward. Entry costs NPR 1,800-2,000 , and the figure has been creeping toward the higher end, covering the whole entry-controlled medieval town, and it deserves that full day rather than a rushed add-on to something else. Wander the pottery square, watch woodcarvers at work, try the Juju Dhau yogurt that’s the town’s own specialty, and the Nyatapola temple survived the quake standing, exterior viewing only, one of the tallest in the country. Wear comfortable shoes, the cobblestones are uneven.
Day 5: Changu Narayan and the valley’s hidden villages
This is the day most shorter itineraries never get to, and it’s genuinely worth the extra time. Changu Narayan is widely considered the oldest Hindu temple in the valley, parts dating to the 4th or 5th century, with an exceptional collection of stone and metal sculpture in a quiet rural setting, easily the least crowded of the seven UNESCO zones, roughly NPR 350-400 entry. Spend the afternoon on the Kirtipur, Bungamati, and Khokana loop, Newar villages known for woodcarving and mustard-oil pressing that see a fraction of the Durbar Squares’ foot traffic, the strongest hidden-gem cluster in the entire valley.
Day 6: Swayambhunath and beyond
Spend the morning at Swayambhunath, NPR 200 and about 365 steps up the east side. This is the genuine Monkey Temple, not Pashupatinath, worth stating clearly since plenty of guides mix the two up. The monkeys here have zero shame about swiping unattended snacks. In the afternoon, browse Durbar Marg, the quieter upscale boulevard near the old Royal Palace, for better dining than the Thamel circuit, or take the Chandragiri Hills cable car for a valley-rim mountain view instead, roughly NPR 1,360 round trip and a calmer pace after a busy week.
Day 7: museums, shopping, and departure
Use the last full day as a genuine buffer, catch anything weather delayed it, or spend it indoors: the National Museum in Chhauni covers Nepal’s broader history and art, the Narayanhiti Palace Museum walks through the former royal palace and the 2001 royal massacre that helped end the monarchy, though it’s only open Thursday through Monday, and the smaller Taragaon Museum in Boudha covers the foreign scholars and mountaineers who’ve passed through the valley since the 1950s. Round out any last shopping in Thamel, Patan’s metalwork, or Bhaktapur’s pottery if you didn’t already buy there, keep a photocopy of your passport separate from the original, and exchange any leftover Nepalese Rupees before heading to Tribhuvan International for departure.
Getting around all week
No metro exists in Kathmandu, and any itinerary claiming otherwise is wrong. Taxi meters are required by law and ignored in practice, agree fares up front or use Pathao and InDrive for locked app pricing. If you’re extending into trekking territory afterward, verify any agency is TAAN or NTB registered and book it before arrival rather than off a Thamel walk-in, and take altitude seriously regardless of fitness level. Pack layers for the whole week too, mornings across the valley run colder than midday Kathmandu streets, and don’t be surprised by the occasional brief power cut, hotels run backup generators as standard these days.