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Kathmandu Travel Guide

Kathmandu wears its past like a proud diva showing off a string of pearls: It is home to dozens of shrines and temples and a citizenship rightly proud of their glorious, artistic past. Artisans still create beautiful woodwork, metalwork, and handicrafts using ancient tools and techniques.

For hundreds of years Kathmandu was one of three rival royal cities of Nepal, along with Bhaktapur and Patan. Kathmandu has been the sole capital city since Prithvi Narayan Shah unified the country in 1768. Today, home to 700,000 people, it is a painter's palette of brilliant, colorful saris, and a cacophony of languages and dialects holding trading matches at top pitch, while motorcycles, trucks, buses, and cars zoom past. Each street smells of a different curry, a new incense. It is a vibrant valley of life, where you can stand on any city street and watch a hundred minidramas unfold around.

According to legend, Kathmandu was founded by King Gunakama Deva in the latter half of the 10th century. In a dream, the goddess Mahalakshmi told the king to build a city where the Vishnumati flows into the Bagmati. The new city was named Kantipur and built in the shape of a kharg (the goddess' sword), which was a symbol of enlightenment. The king moved his palace from Patan to Kathmandu and established the city. The Mallas would later build temples in this city, but it was not until Prithvi Narayan Shah came along that Kathmandu really took charge. A wide street, Kantipath, was constructed, with palaces, schools, and barracks built off this road. More palaces were built by the Ranas in the 1900s, but many were destroyed in massive earthquake in 1934. New Road was constructed after the earthquake, linking Kantipath with Old Kathmandu, a route taxi drivers still use to get to Durbar Square.

Kathmandu, for many travelers, is also the gateway to the Himal. These mountains have inspired, crushed, awed, and subdued mountaineers from around the world, and are perhaps Nepal's greatest asset. Home to eight of the world's ten highest peaks, the Himal dominate Nepal. They fill the rivers with life-supplying water, yet crush villages with the slides that often follow storms. When clouds shroud the peaks, locals seem to slump into a depression, as if a faithful friend has gone away. When the weather is clear, visitors who curse at alarm clocks at home are up before dawn, awaiting the sun's first beams to give them a glimpse of the stone giants.

Source: fodors.com

Things To Do and See in Kathmandu

Durbar Square, Kathmandu
Monuments, temples and wandering animals dot this

bustling town square, which is also where Nepal kings are crowned.
Attraction type: Town center/square/plaza

Monkey Temple (Swayambunath Stupa), Kathmandu
It’s a long climb to the top, but worth it to see Kathmandu

Valley’s oldest and most sacred shrine.
Attraction type: Religious site

Rum Doodle, Kathmandu
This popular bar is legendary as the meeting place of

worldwide outdoor adventurers.
Attraction type: Bar/club

Pashupatinath (Temple of Living Beings), Kathmandu
Situated on the banks of the Bagmati River, this sacred shrine to

Shiva is said to be Nepal’s oldest and holiest place of worship.
Attraction type: Religious site

Kumari Chowk, Kathmandu
Also called Kumari Bahal, this fascinating palace is home to a

virgin girl who is worshipped as the goddess Durga in human form.

She can sometimes be glimpsed at her windows.
Attraction type: Religious site

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