two nights in

Kathmandu

Kathmandu is the largest city and capital of Nepal, and the namesake of the Kathmandu Valley. Once thought to be the fabled and inaccessible Shangri-La, Kathmandu is a fast-growing spot catering to a wide range of holiday types and budgets. Wikivoyage

Population 845,767 (Wikidata)

Live guide From your hotel

Before you go

Emergency numbers in Nepal

Visas and entry What your passport needs for Nepal

Getting there

Remembered in this browser only, with the last few you used.

Still gathering the markets around Kathmandu. I'll let you know here when it's all in — or open the live guide.

Best-documented sights

All of them in the guide

Within a kilometre of the centre, ordered by how well documented each is — not by a "best" anyone decided. Each opens on the map in the guide. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited there.

Through the year

  1. Holi

    March

    Holi is celebrated in March with splashes of water and colored powder that is both good luck and very messy

  2. Dashain (Dasain)

    September – October

    Dashain, the most important of Nepal's religious festivals takes place over fifteen days, between September and October each year.

  3. Indra Jatra

    September

    Harvest festival held in Kathmandu's Dubar Square for 8 days each September. The Goddess Kumari is paraded in her sacred chariot

  4. Teej

    September

  5. Sakimana Punhi

    October – November

    Sakimana Punhi celebrated on the full moon day of Kartik month (mid-October to mid-November) in Vikrami calendar

  6. Tihar, Festival of Lights (Also called Deepawali)

    October – November

    A five-day festival which takes place each year on the fifteenth day of Kartika, around the end of October/start of November, celebrated by all Hindus with ritual house-cleaning, lanterns, candles, and fireworks.

Annual events from Wikidata and Wikivoyage (Kathmandu); descriptions from Wikipedia where it has one, photos from Wikimedia Commons. Dates move year to year — check before you plan around one.

Eating nearby

All 53 places to eat

Somewhere to run

Getting around

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Places © OpenStreetMap contributors, as of 9 October 2026. Description from Wikivoyage (CC BY-SA). Events from Wikidata and Wikivoyage, population from Wikidata.