Valley of God and Goddess: Kathmandu Heritage

Itinerary

1. 1
   Day 1

   Arrival in Kathmandu

   Arrival at Kathmandu international airport, where you are received and transferred to the hotel. Check in with a warm welcome drink, followed by a briefing of the entire package by the tour officer. Overnight at the hotel.

2. 2
   Day 2

   Kathmandu Durbar Square and Dakshinkali

   Breakfast at 0700 and a walking tour from 0900 to Kathmandu Durbar Square. The morning takes in the Vishnu Temple, Akash Bhairav, Kal Bhairav, Swet Bhairav, the Virgin Goddess Kumari, Ganesh Mandir, Nasal Chowk, Hanuman Dhoka, and Gaddhi Baithak.

   After lunch, drive to Dakshinkali, one of the principal temples in Nepal dedicated to the fierce mother goddess Kali. On the return, stop at Sheshnarayan Temple, one of the four Narayan temples of the Kathmandu valley. Back to the hotel.

3. 3
   Day 3

   Patan, City of Fine Arts

   After breakfast, a full sightseeing day in Patan, the City of Fine Arts. Begin with the Sundari Chowk galleries, famous for the elaborately engraved Tusha Hiti water spout. It is said the king meditated on the stone platform before the Tusha Hiti as a demonstration of devotion and will power.

   Continue to Keshav Narayan Chowk, home to a small shrine to Keshav Narayan and to the Patan Museum collection. Then Mulchowk, the oldest courtyard in the palace complex, with its two towering temples of Taleju and Agamveda and a central shrine to Yantaju.

   Visit the twelfth century Golden Temple, the most beautiful in all the Kathmandu valley. King Bhaskar Verma is said to have had a divine dream that inspired him to found a temple at the palace, where he saw a golden rat chasing a black cat. Close at the Baglamukhi Temple, a Shakti peetha of Ma Baglamukhi, worshipped for power, victory, and protection from cuts, scars, operations, and accidents. Back to the hotel.

4. 4
   Day 4

   Changu Narayan and Nagarkot

   After breakfast, drive to Changu Narayan Temple, which holds a remarkable collection of statues and sculptures and is famous for its craft in wood, stone, and metal. Garuda, half man and half bird, is the vehicle of Vishnu, and the temple is decorated with the ten incarnations of the Narayan. It dates back to 464 AD.

   A one-hour hike then descends to Teel Cot, where your vehicle waits to take you on to Nagarkot. Check in at the hotel, set at 7,218 feet above sea level. Overnight at Nagarkot.

5. 5
   Day 5

   Sunrise at Nagarkot, on to Bhaktapur

   Sunrise over the Himalayan range from Nagarkot. After breakfast, a short drive takes you to Bhaktapur, the former royal capital nicknamed the city of devotees and a genuine medieval town. Also known as Bhagdaon, it is undoubtedly the most beautiful city in the Kathmandu valley because it has kept its medieval appearance intact.

   Visit the eighteenth century Natyapola Temple, dedicated to the goddess Siddhi Lakshmi, an incarnation of the goddess Parvati. Continue to the Bhairavnath Temple, Taleju Bhawani Temple, Dattatreya Temple, Wakupati Narayana Temple, Indrayani Temple, and Siddhi Lakshmi Temple. Overnight in Bhaktapur.

6. 6
   Day 6

   Namo Buddha and Panauti

   After breakfast, drive to Namo Buddha, a Buddhist pilgrimage site associated with Prince Mahasattva, believed to be one of the former incarnations of Buddha Shakyamuni. Walking in the forest with his brothers, the prince encountered a hungry tigress close to death and unable to feed her cubs. His brothers went away, but in an act of compassion he gave himself to the tigress and transported her to higher realms of existence. When his brothers returned, they found only bones and hair. The stupa is said to have been built on those remains. An hour of guided meditation and Buddhist puja follows at the monastery.

   Continue to Panauti, set at the confluence of the Roshi and Punyamati rivers and believed to be founded on a single rock. It is a historical Newar town, one of the oldest in the Kathmandu valley. A month-long festival is held once every twelve years at Triveni Ghat, where three rivers meet: the Roshi, the Punyamati, and the Lilawati. Panauti, or Panoti, is also the name of the goddess of troubles. Drive back to Kathmandu.

7. 7
   Day 7

   Budanilkantha and Swayambhunath

   Before breakfast, at 0700, a twenty-minute drive to Budanilkantha to see the Sleeping Vishnu, a five-metre granite image carved from a single rock. The Vishnu puja begins at 07:30, performed by batuks under twelve years of age. The site is a living archive of spirituality and history. Return to the hotel for breakfast.

   At 1300, visit Swayambhunath Stupa, the self-arisen. The stupa is said to have risen spontaneously from a lotus seed planted on the lake by Vipaswi Buddha of a past eon as Dharmadhatu, the flame of wisdom. Whether or not you carry that story with you, the place has a quality of accumulated devotion that is hard to account for by the architecture alone. Back to the hotel.

8. 8
   Day 8

   Pashupatinath and Boudhanath

   At 0830, visit Pashupatinath, the only Hindu temple of its kind in the world and the most revered place in Nepal, often called the small Benares with its ghats and its many Hindu ascetics, the sadhus. Only Hindus may enter the inner temple, which is dedicated to Lord Shiva. The pagoda-shaped roof is made of gold and silver, and the entrance doors are also of gold and silver. Inside the enclosure, a gigantic silver statue of Nandi, the bull mount of the god, stands before the temple.

   On the banks of the Bagmati you will see cremation according to Hindu tradition: the body is dipped three times into the river before cremation so that the cycle of reincarnation may be brought to an end. From there, climb the hill to the temple of Gorakhnath, then descend to the Guheswari Temple, adi shakti.

   Drive on to Boudhanath, sometimes called Mini Tibet. The first stupa was built after AD 600, when the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo converted to Buddhism. Return to the hotel.

9. 9
   Day 9

   Free day in Kathmandu

   After breakfast, the day is free for individual activities and shopping.

10. 10
    Day 10

    Departure

    After breakfast, free time until the transfer to the airport for onward travel.

Frequently Asked Questions