# Kathmandu: map, what to do and when to go

In Kathmandu you visit temples, stupas, and palace squares, and around every altar everyone walks clockwise. Capital of Nepal, it sits in a valley at 1,400 m altitude, between the Himalaya and the Indian plain, with three former Newar royal cities set side by side.

Canonical: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/
Language: en. Extended author commentary and itinerary notes may remain in Portuguese. Dates below belong to individual sources; this is not live availability.

## Direct answer
- **Kathmandu: do I need to bring cash dollars for the visa?** Yes: the visa on arrival (US$30 to 125, depending on the days) is paid only in dollars.
- **Kathmandu: how do you get from the airport to Thamel?** The arrivals-hall prepaid taxi counter charges about Rs 900 for the 6 km to Thamel, plus about Rs 100 after 9pm.
- **Kathmandu: what's the currency, and what's it worth?** The currency is the Nepali rupee (NPR, Rs), pegged to the Indian rupee at 1.60 NPR = 1 INR, which in 2026 works out to about 140 NPR to the dollar.

## The old core, on foot
Start at 7am at Asan Tole, when the rice and flowers arrive; follow the old trade route on foot to Indra Chowk and the Seto Machhindranath temple.
- Kathmandu Durbar Square (Hanuman Dhoka)
- Kumari Ghar
- Kasthamandap
- Patan Durbar Square
- Bhaktapur Durbar Square and Nyatapola
- Garden of Dreams (Swapna Bagaicha)

## The three sacred sites
Climb the 365 steps of Swayambhunath before 8am, when locals do the morning circuit and the whole valley still shows from the viewpoint.
- Swayambhunath
- Boudhanath
- Pashupatinath

## Kathmandu Durbar Square (Hanuman Dhoka)
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/#g-lugar-praca-durbar-de-katmandu
Catmandu
Palace complex of the Malla and Shah kings, with more than 50 temples and courtyards, a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1979. The gate has the statue of Hanuman covered in vermilion since 1672; the foreigner's admission costs Rs 1,000 and includes the Tribhuvan Museum, inside the palace.
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## Kumari Ghar
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/#g-lugar-kumari-ghar
Up to half an hour
A brick-and-wood house from 1757 where the royal Kumari lives, a Newar girl of the Shakya caste worshipped as a living goddess until puberty. She appears briefly at the courtyard window a few times a day; photographing the girl is forbidden, the courtyard isn't.
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## Kasthamandap
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/#g-lugar-kasthamandap
Catmandu · Up to half an hour
The wooden pavilion that gave the city its name, its base dated by excavation to the 7th c. It collapsed in 2015, killing dozens of people, and was rebuilt with traditional technique, reopening on April 4, 2022. The valley's most instructive piece on what restoration means here.
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## Swayambhunath
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/#g-lugar-swayambhunath
Catmandu
A stupa on a hill west of downtown, one of the valley's oldest Buddhist sites, documented since the 5th c. There are 365 stone steps up the east stairway to the eyes painted on the dome; the area has hundreds of rhesus macaques, and admission is about Rs 200.
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## Boudhanath
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/#g-lugar-boudhanath
Catmandu
A stupa about 36 m tall, built on a mandala base about 100 m in diameter, one of the largest in the world, on the axis of the old trade route to Tibet. The dome cracked in 2015 and was rebuilt with funding from Buddhist communities, reconsecrated in November 2016; admission around Rs 400.
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## Pashupatinath
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/#g-lugar-pashupatinath
Catmandu
Nepal's largest Shiva temple, on the banks of the Bagmati, documented since the 5th c. with the current structure from 1692. The inner sanctum is off-limits to non-Hindus, but the open complex includes the Arya Ghat cremation grounds, the 15 shrines of Pandra Shivalaya, and the sadhus' forest; admission Rs 1,000.
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## Patan Durbar Square
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/#g-lugar-praca-durbar-de-patan
Patan
The most cohesive of the three royal squares, with the 21-shrine stone Krishna Mandir from 1637, and the Sundari Chowk courtyard with the royal bathing tank Tusha Hiti, from 1647. The Patan Museum, in the former palace, is the best museum of religious art in the Himalaya.
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## Bhaktapur Durbar Square and Nyatapola
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/#g-lugar-praca-durbar-de-bhaktapur
Bhaktapur
A medieval ensemble of four connected squares, with the 1754 Golden Gate and the Palace of 55 Windows. A few steps away, the 1702 Nyatapola temple has five roofs and stands about 30 m: the tall building that fell in neither 1934 nor 2015.
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## Garden of Dreams (Swapna Bagaicha)
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/#g-lugar-jardim-dos-sonhos
Catmandu · Up to half an hour
A 1920 neoclassical garden, built for Field Marshal Kaiser Shumsher Rana next to Thamel, restored with Austrian support and reopened in 2007. Half a hectare walled in, six pavilions dedicated to the seasons, and the only spot downtown where street noise disappears; entry around Rs 400.
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## Narayanhiti Palace Museum
https://nilopelomundo.com/en/place/katmandu/#g-lugar-museu-do-palacio-narayanhiti
Catmandu · Up to half an hour
A 1970 royal residence, the site of the royal family's massacre on June 1, 2001, opened to the public as a museum in 2009, a year after the monarchy's end. The rooms were kept as they stood, and the pavilion where the crime happened was torn down, its floor plan marked on the lawn.
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**Kathmandu: do I need to bring cash dollars for the visa?**
Yes: the visa on arrival (US$30 to 125, depending on the days) is paid only in dollars. The arrivals-hall card machines fail all the time, and the ATM gets packed right when flights land.

**Kathmandu: how do you get from the airport to Thamel?**
The arrivals-hall prepaid taxi counter charges about Rs 900 for the 6 km to Thamel, plus about Rs 100 after 9pm. Walking just outside the parking lot, the ride runs Rs 300 to 600 by app (Pathao, InDrive, and Yango).

**Kathmandu: what's the currency, and what's it worth?**
The currency is the Nepali rupee (NPR, Rs), pegged to the Indian rupee at 1.60 NPR = 1 INR, which in 2026 works out to about 140 NPR to the dollar.

**Kathmandu: what's the best time to go?**
October and November are the best time: the monsoon is over, the air is the cleanest of the year, and the mountain range is visible on haze-free mornings.

**Kathmandu: can leather items go into temples?**
At Pashupatinath and at several Hindu shrines, no: leather belts, bags, and sandals stay outside, along with your shoes.


## In the Nilo app
- Plan these 3 days on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/guide/katmandu/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-itinerary
- Mark your hotel on the map: https://nilopelomundo.com/en/app/map/katmandu/?utm_source=llm&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=door-stay

## Full editorial guide (Portuguese)
https://nilopelomundo.com/llm/katmandu.md