139 places · UNESCO, Time Out, Lonely Planet, local guides and whatever is blowing up on TikTok · 5 routes
Tap a route and it gets drawn on the map, stop by stop.
Tap a pin to see photos, rating and how to get there on foot or by taxi. Turn on a route to follow the numbered path.
This interactive map of Kathmandu (Nepal) brings together 139 hand-picked places: 43 attractions, 50 restaurants, 23 cafés and 23 shops. It also includes 5 walking routes with their stops in order. For every place you get what it is, a practical tip and how to get there by public transport. It is free, works on your phone and needs no sign-up.
· Curated by the HOLASIM team · How we make the maps
Tap a route to see it drawn on the map, stop by stop.
8 stops · 3 h · walking · 8 stops
8 stops · 4 h · walking · 8 stops
7 stops · 5 h · taxi + walking · 7 stops
8 stops · 5 h · walking · 8 stops
7 stops · 6 h · taxi + walking · 7 stops
स्वयम्भू · Swayambhu
The valley's oldest stupa, with Buddha's eyes watching all four directions and monkeys everywhere.
Tip: Climb the east staircase at sunrise: 365 steps, no queue, and the whole valley clear after the monsoon.
🚇 Taxi desde Thamel (15 min) o micro a Swayambhu · 365 escalones al este
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapबौद्धनाथ · Boudha
The world's largest Tibetan stupa: circle it clockwise with the pilgrims at dusk.
Tip: Arrive 17:30: butter lamps go on and the kora fills with monks. Ring rooftops for the shot.
🚇 Taxi o Pathao hasta Boudha Gate · el interior es peatonal
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapपशुपतिनाथ · Gaushala
Nepal's holiest Hindu temple on the Bagmati, with cremation ghats and ash-covered sadhus.
Tip: Non-Hindus can't enter the main temple: cross to the east bank — better view and it's free.
🚇 Taxi a Gaushala · micro por Ring Road hasta Gaushala Chowk
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapबसन्तपुर · Basantapur
The Malla royal square: pagodas, palaces and the beautiful chaos of the old town, now mostly rebuilt.
Tip: Your ticket lasts 7 days if you get the free pass at the office with your passport: come back at dusk.
🚇 Ratna Park (microbuses) · 10 min a pie desde Thamel
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapपाटन दरबार क्षेत्र · Lalitpur
The valley's most harmonious square: Newar stone, bronze and wood at a scale you walk in twenty minutes.
Tip: The ticket includes Patan Museum. Sit on the Krishna Mandir steps at 8 AM: golden light, zero tourists.
🚇 Micro o tempo a Lagankhel/Patan Dhoka · taxi 20 min desde Thamel
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapभक्तपुर दरबार क्षेत्र
Nepal's best-preserved medieval city: brick, wood carving and no cars inside the old walls.
Tip: Stay one night inside: once the day buses leave, the city belongs to you and the locals.
🚇 Micro desde Ratna Park o Koteshwor a Bhaktapur (1 h) · taxi 45 min
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapचाँगुनारायण
Nepal's oldest temple still in use, from the 5th century, on a quiet hill above the Bhaktapur valley.
Tip: Pair it with Bhaktapur the same day: it's 6 km. The courtyard stone reliefs are the country's oldest.
🚇 Taxi desde Bhaktapur (20 min) · sendero a pie desde Nagarkot
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapस्वप्न बगैंचा · Kaiser Mahal
A walled Edwardian garden steps from Thamel: the one place in Kathmandu where the noise disappears.
Tip: Bring a book and claim the amphitheatre lawn: the Kaiser Cafe inside is pricey, the garden is worth it anyway.
🚇 Tridevi Marg · 5 min a pie desde Thamel Chowk
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapपाटन संग्रहालय
Nepal's best museum: sacred Newar art inside a restored Malla palace, with a postcard courtyard garden.
Tip: Included in the Patan Durbar Square ticket. Allow 2 hours: the label texts are the best written in Asia.
🚇 Patan Durbar Square · micro a Lagankhel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapकुमारी घर · Basantapur
The living goddess's house: a girl worshipped as a deity who appears at the carved balcony a few times a day.
Tip: Photographing the Kumari is forbidden. Wait in the courtyard around 11am or 4pm, when she usually appears.
🚇 Dentro de Kathmandu Durbar Square · a pie desde Thamel
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapकास्थमण्डप
The wooden pavilion that gave Kathmandu its name: it fell in 2015 and was fully rebuilt by 2021.
Tip: It was rebuilt using original timbers salvaged from the rubble. Look at the beams: the old joints are visible.
🚇 Kathmandu Durbar Square · a pie desde Freak Street
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapतलेजु भवानी · Hanuman Dhoka
The tallest three-tiered pagoda on the square, shut all year except for one day during Dashain.
Tip: Open to Hindus only on Maha Navami (20 Oct 2026). From outside, the best view is from the Gaddi Baithak roof.
🚇 Kathmandu Durbar Square · Ratna Park
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapगद्दी बैठक
The white neoclassical palace that breaks with everything Newar on the square: reopened restored in 2022.
Tip: The front terrace is the best viewpoint over the whole square and is part of the ticket. Almost nobody goes up.
🚇 Kathmandu Durbar Square · a pie desde Thamel
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapन्यातपोल · Taumadhi, Bhaktapur
Five storeys, thirty metres, and not a crack in 1934 or 2015: Nepal's tallest and toughest temple.
Tip: Sit on the fifth step with a juju dhau: the five pairs of guardians grow stronger as you climb.
🚇 Taumadhi Square, Bhaktapur · micro desde Ratna Park
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice
Show on mapभैरवनाथ · Taumadhi, Bhaktapur
The triple-roofed temple facing Nyatapola, heart of the Bisket Jatra and its chariot processions.
Tip: Look at the facade: the golden Bhairab mask is the only part of the god shown to the public.
🚇 Taumadhi Square, Bhaktapur
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapपचपन्न झ्याले दरबार · Bhaktapur
A continuous balcony of 55 carved black wooden windows, the Newar woodcarver's masterpiece.
Tip: Cross to the opposite side and wait for afternoon sun: only then does each window's carving read.
🚇 Bhaktapur Durbar Square
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice
Show on mapवत्सला देवी · Bhaktapur
The stone shikhara beside the Barking Dogs bell, rebuilt stone by stone in 2021.
Tip: The bell next to it was rung to scare off evil spirits; it still rings at morning pujas.
🚇 Bhaktapur Durbar Square
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapदत्तात्रय · Tachupal, Bhaktapur
The 15th-century temple said to be built from a single tree's wood, on Bhaktapur's oldest square.
Tip: 30 metres away is the Peacock Window, Nepal's most famous carving: it's down an alley, ask around.
🚇 Tachupal Tole, Bhaktapur · 10 min a pie desde Durbar Square
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapतलाको टोल · Bhaktapur
A whole square of potters spinning the wheel by hand and thousands of bowls drying in the sun.
Tip: Post-monsoon is peak drying season: the square is carpeted in pottery. For 200 NPR they'll let you try the wheel.
🚇 Bhaktapur · 5 min a pie desde Taumadhi
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice
Show on mapहिरण्यवर्ण महाविहार · Golden Temple, Patan
The Golden Temple: a 12th-century Buddhist courtyard clad in gilded copper and tended by boy monks.
Tip: Take off shoes and leave leather outside (belts too). The 4 AM puja is performed by a monk under 12.
🚇 Patan · 4 min a pie desde Patan Durbar Square
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapकुम्भेश्वर · Patan
One of only two five-storey pagodas left in the valley, with a pond said to spring from the Himalayas.
Tip: Come early morning: the pond is used for laundry and the whole neighbourhood is there. Zero tourists.
🚇 Patan · 8 min a pie desde Durbar Square
Featured in: UNESCO
Show on mapनारायणहिटी दरबार संग्रहालय
The royal palace of the 2001 massacre: visited exactly as it was left, bullet holes marked.
Tip: Closed Tuesdays and Thursdays. No cameras or backpacks: leave everything at the entrance cloakroom.
🚇 Durbar Marg · 8 min a pie desde Thamel
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapअसन · Ason Bazaar
Kathmandu's most alive market: six streets crashing into one square of spices, textiles and horns.
Tip: Go at 7 AM when the vegetables are unloaded. During Dashain it's impassable — worth seeing too.
🚇 10 min a pie desde Thamel · Ratna Park (microbuses)
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapइन्द्रचोक
The crossroads of blanket sellers and the women who thread glass bead necklaces by hand, one by one.
Tip: The potey (bead necklace) alley is right of the Akash Bhairab temple: they're strung to order.
🚇 5 min a pie desde Asan · Ratna Park
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapठमेल चोक
Asia's backpacker ground zero: neon signs, trekking agencies and motorbikes dodging people at all hours.
Tip: From 6 to 10 pm it closes to traffic and walking gets easy. That's when the live-music bars open.
🚇 A pie · taxi hasta Tridevi Marg (Thamel es peatonal de noche)
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapझोछेँ · Freak Street
The hippie street of the 60s and 70s, today a quiet block of old cafes steps from Durbar Square.
Tip: It's 70s Thamel without today's noise: prices 30% lower and the same Snowman cakes since 1965.
🚇 A pie desde Kathmandu Durbar Square · Ratna Park
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapकोपन गुम्बा
A Tibetan monastery on a hill above Boudha, with meditation courses and the valley's best sunrise view.
Tip: The young monks' debates are mid-afternoon in the courtyard: free to watch and a real spectacle.
🚇 Taxi desde Boudha (15 min) · caminata de 45 min cuesta arriba
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapशेचेन गुम्बा · Boudha
Boudha's prettiest Nyingma monastery: freshly painted murals, a silent courtyard and pujas open to all.
Tip: Morning puja (around 7am) has long horns and drums. Sit at the back and don't cross in front of the monks.
🚇 5 min a pie al norte de Boudhanath Stupa
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapकोपन आनी गुम्बा
Kopan's sister nunnery, home to 400 nuns and a terraced garden that faces the Himalayas on clear days.
Tip: October brings clear skies: from the terrace you can see Langtang. Wear shoes that slip off easily.
🚇 Taxi desde Boudha · 10 min a pie desde Kopan Monastery
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapरानीपोखरी
The 17th-century royal pond, restored and reopened, its white temple floating in the middle of the city.
Tip: The central temple opens one day a year, at Bhai Tika. The rest of the year the perimeter is downtown's best walk.
🚇 Ratna Park (microbuses) · 10 min a pie desde Thamel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapMoNA · Thamel
The private museum that reframed Newar and Himalayan art contemporarily, with international-level curation.
Tip: It's inside Kathmandu Guest House and almost nobody knows. Cheap ticket and air con: the perfect rain shelter.
🚇 Kathmandu Guest House, Thamel · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapतारागाउँ संग्रहालय · Boudha
1970s brutalist brick turned into a museum of the valley's visual memory, with a cafe and gallery.
Tip: Entry is free and it's nearly always empty. The brick courtyards are Boudha's best photo set.
🚇 Boudha, junto al Hyatt Regency · taxi desde Thamel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapराष्ट्रिय संग्रहालय · National Museum
Nepal's national museum at the foot of Swayambhunath: Malla weapons, bronzes and a deliciously old natural history hall.
Tip: Pair it with Swayambhunath: 1.5 km apart. Closed Tuesdays; tickets sell until 30 min before closing.
🚇 Chhauni · taxi 15 min desde Thamel · micro a Swayambhu
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapस्वयम्भू संग्रहालय
The small museum inside the Swayambhunath complex, with thangkas and statuary almost nobody bothers to visit.
Tip: Ideal if a post-monsoon drizzle catches you up there: four rooms and 20 minutes of shelter.
🚇 Dentro del recinto de Swayambhunath
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapपित्तल र कांस्य संग्रहालय · Bhaktapur
A Newar house in Tachupal full of ritual bronze and brass objects, from bowls to wedding mirrors.
Tip: Included in the general Bhaktapur ticket. It faces the Dattatraya temple and almost nobody walks in.
🚇 Tachupal Tole, Bhaktapur · a pie desde Dattatraya
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapचाँगु संग्रहालय
A family museum next to Changu Narayan with objects of Newar life: coins, instruments and costumes.
Tip: The owning family runs it and will walk you piece by piece if you ask. Tip them, the ticket is cheap.
🚇 Junto al templo de Changu Narayan · taxi desde Bhaktapur
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapबूढानीलकण्ठ · Sleeping Vishnu
A five-metre stone Vishnu floating asleep on serpents in a pool, carved in the 7th century.
Tip: Non-Hindus watch from the railing, they don't go down to the pool. Go 6-8 AM: pujas and frontal light.
🚇 Micro desde Ratna Park a Budhanilkantha · taxi 35 min
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapइचङ्गुनारायण
The valley's western Vishnu: an 18th-century rural temple at the end of a countryside walk from Swayambhu.
Tip: The trail from Swayambhunath is the valley's best short walk after the monsoon: green fields and no traffic.
🚇 Taxi desde Swayambhunath (20 min) · caminata de 1 h por Ichangu
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapकीर्तिपुर · Viewpoint
The Newar hill town that never surrendered to the Gorkhas: brick alleys and 360-degree views.
Tip: Climb to Bagh Bhairab then walk down to Newa Lahana to eat: that's the local Saturday combo.
🚇 Micro desde Ratna Park a Kirtipur · taxi 25 min
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapचोभार
The gorge where legend says Manjushri cut the mountain to drain the valley's lake.
Tip: Above sits Adinath Lokeshwar, the temple clad in kitchen pots left by newlyweds. Unique in Nepal.
🚇 Micro a Chobhar desde Kalanki · taxi 25 min desde Patan
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapखोकना
A living 16th-century Newar village where mustard oil is still pressed by hand on the main street.
Tip: Pair it with Bungamati (20 min walk through fields). The pressed oil sells in bottles: take one home.
🚇 Micro desde Lagankhel a Khokana · taxi 25 min desde Patan
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapबुंगमती संग्रहालय
The museum of the woodcarvers' village, home to the god Rato Machhindranath for half the year.
Tip: The carving workshops on the square sell direct, no Thamel middlemen: half the price, better quality.
🚇 Micro desde Lagankhel a Bungamati · taxi 30 min desde Patan
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapमंगल बजार · Patan
The bazaar wrapping Patan Durbar Square: jewellers, tailors and puja stalls where locals actually shop.
Tip: Right before Dashain it fills with tika and jamara stalls: the valley's best festival market.
🚇 Patan Durbar Square · micro a Lagankhel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapDillibazar
A 150-year-old Rana mansion where the nine-course Nepali menu arrives with live music and dance.
Tip: Book for 7pm and ask for a first-floor table: you face the dance and the carved ceiling.
🚇 Dillibazar · taxi 10 min desde Thamel
Featured in: ECS Nepal
Show on mapDwarika's Hotel · Battisputali
The country's most ambitious Nepali tasting menu: six to twenty-two courses served like a Malla court feast.
Tip: Book 24 hours ahead. Go for the 9-course menu and flag if you're vegetarian: they rebuild the whole thing.
🚇 Battisputali · taxi 15 min desde Thamel
Featured in: ECS Nepal
Show on mapTridevi Marg · Thamel
Kathmandu's Italian pizzeria since 1995: thin crust, a real oven and queues on the pavement from 7pm.
Tip: No reservations: come at 6:30pm or after 9pm. The Margherita and the tiramisu are the order.
🚇 Tridevi Marg · 3 min a pie desde Thamel Chowk
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapThamel
Thamel's hidden garden courtyard where European cooking actually lands and the street noise stays out.
Tip: The 8am breakfast in the garden is Thamel's best. Solid wifi: half of Thamel works from here.
🚇 Thamel, Chaksibari Marg · a pie
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapMandala Street · Thamel
Israeli vegetarian on the floor, no chairs and no shoes: the place where half of Thamel meets.
Tip: Order the mezze platter to share and sit upstairs on the cushions: downstairs is regular tables, less fun.
🚇 Mandala Street, Thamel · a pie
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapThamel
Thamel's historic Tibetan, open since 1971: steaming gyakok at the table and momos that set the standard.
Tip: The gyakok (Mongolian hotpot) serves two minimum and needs 30 minutes' notice.
🚇 Thamel, Jyatha Marg · a pie
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapThamel
A tiny, undecorated room where Kathmandu's Tibetans go for thenthuk and yak momos.
Tip: Order thenthuk if it's cold, fried cheese momos if not. Cash only and prices from another country.
🚇 Thamel norte, Paknajol · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
A restored 1901 Newar house serving a full Newari set menu around a brick inner courtyard.
Tip: Order the Newari set: bara, choila, samay baji and aila (Newar rice spirit). Take the terrace.
🚇 Thamel norte · a pie desde Thamel Chowk
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapKirtipur
The temple of real Newari food: a Kirtipur co-op with a 60-dish menu and homemade rice beer.
Tip: Sit on the terrace floor and order sanya khuna, chhoyla and thwon. The menu has translations: don't guess.
🚇 Kirtipur · micro desde Ratna Park · taxi 25 min
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapPatan Durbar Square
A legendary 1930s hole-in-the-wall beside the palace, no sign, where the buff choila is Patan's best.
Tip: No sign, no menu: point at what your neighbours are eating. Choila + bara + chiura and a beer, 400 NPR.
🚇 Patan Durbar Square, callejón noroeste · micro a Lagankhel
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapNaxal
Newari and Russian cooking on one menu, inside a Naxal garden: it sounds odd and works beautifully.
Tip: Fridays bring Newar dance in the garden. Start with samay baji and follow with borscht: seriously.
🚇 Naxal · taxi 10 min desde Thamel
Featured in: ECS Nepal
Show on mapThamel norte
125 Newari dishes on a menu no tourist reads all the way through: bara, chatamari, kachila and everything else.
Tip: Order the tuchaa: beaten rice with choila, kachila, beans and achar. The most complete Newar plate there is.
🚇 Thamel norte, Nayabazar · a pie o taxi corto
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapPatan
Forgotten Nepali grains — millet, buckwheat, kodo — cooked with modern technique: the valley's most interesting project.
Tip: Order the millet dhindo with gundruk: the mountain dish no Thamel restaurant dares to serve properly.
🚇 Patan, cerca de Durbar Square · micro a Lagankhel
Featured in: Nepali Times
Show on mapSanepa
A garden bistro in Sanepa that bakes its own bread and serves Lalitpur's best weekend brunch.
Tip: Saturday 10am-1pm is brunch: arrive before 11 or no garden table. The focaccia sells out early.
🚇 Sanepa, Lalitpur · taxi 20 min desde Thamel
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapJhamsikhel
Doughnuts, bagels and burgers with an open kitchen: where Lalitpur's expats put the world to rights.
Tip: Doughnuts come out in the morning and vanish by 1pm. Their cold brew is one of the valley's few good ones.
🚇 Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur · taxi o Pathao 20 min
Featured in: TikTok viral
Show on mapBakhundole · Lalitpur
The most-argued-about burger in Kathmandu, from a tiny place that always has a queue outside.
Tip: Order delivery at lunchtime: six tables inside and a 40-minute wait at peak.
🚇 Bakhundole, Lalitpur · Pathao o taxi
Featured in: TikTok viral
Show on mapThamel
A green rooftop in the middle of Thamel with bowls, raw plates and juices: the healthy break from dal bhat and pizza.
Tip: Go to the very top terrace. After the monsoon the skies are clear and you can sometimes spot Ganesh Himal.
🚇 Thamel, cerca de Mandala Street · a pie
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapThamel
An alley, a staircase and the momos every backpacker recommends to the next: buff jhol momo, soup included.
Tip: Order jhol momo (in sesame-tomato broth), not the plain steamed. Ten pieces and an Everest beer: 500 NPR.
🚇 Thamel, callejón junto a Mandala Street · a pie
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice
Show on mapThamel
The Japanese place Kathmandu's Japanese actually go to: honest ramen, katsu and sake, zero pretension.
Tip: Closed between lunch and dinner (3-6pm). The lunch set with rice and miso is the best value in Thamel.
🚇 Thamel norte · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
Bhutanese and Tibetan cooking in a silent garden fifty metres from the chaos: genuinely spicy ema datshi.
Tip: The ema datshi (chilli and cheese) is as hot as in Bhutan: ask for mild if you're not trained.
🚇 Thamel, calle lateral de Tridevi Marg · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
Thamel's Korean with table-top grills and proper banchan, packed with trekkers celebrating their return.
Tip: After a long trek this is what you want: samgyeopsal + kimchi jjigae. Book the terrace if you're over four.
🚇 Thamel · a pie desde Thamel Chowk
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
Yak momos, thukpa and butter tea served by a Tibetan family for over twenty years.
Tip: Order fried yak momos and butter tea to wash them down. It's the breakfast sherpas eat before flying to Lukla.
🚇 Thamel · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
Sweet and savoury crêpes made in front of you on a Thamel corner, with cider and decent coffee alongside.
Tip: The savoury yak-cheese-and-honey crêpe is the house oddity and isn't on the main menu.
🚇 Thamel, calle trasera · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
A tree-shaded courtyard in central Thamel where you get real dal bhat without leaving the backpacker circuit.
Tip: Dal bhat comes with unlimited rice and dal refills: guides load up here before a trek. Get the chicken one.
🚇 Thamel, cerca de Chhetrapati · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
An open tandoor, naan coming out every two minutes and North Indian curries that never disappoint.
Tip: Order the garlic butter naan straight from the oven with dal makhani: the local after-midnight combo.
🚇 Thamel · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
Thamel's oldest Thai: pad thai and curries holding the line since the nineties.
Tip: They share a kitchen with a Nepali menu: in a mixed group, order half green curry, half dal bhat set.
🚇 Thamel, calle principal · a pie
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapThamel
A bar-restaurant hidden up a staircase, treehouse energy and Thamel's best cocktail list.
Tip: Hard to find: look for the narrow staircase beside the small sign. Live music after 9pm.
🚇 Thamel, callejón con escalera · a pie
Featured in: TikTok viral
Show on mapThamel
Kathmandu's live rock bar since 2008: Nepali bands playing covers at stadium volume, every night.
Tip: The band starts at 8:30pm and the room fills by 10. Free entry except for special weekend shows.
🚇 Thamel, calle principal · a pie
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapBaber Mahal Revisited
A French bistro in a restored Rana complex: Kathmandu's most elegant courtyard for an unhurried lunch.
Tip: The whole Baber Mahal Revisited complex is worth the trip: art galleries, design shops and no motorbikes.
🚇 Baber Mahal Revisited · taxi 12 min desde Thamel
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapJhamsikhel
Lalitpur's jazz and live-music stage: open courtyard, cold beer and real programming every weekend.
Tip: Friday jazz starts 7:30pm, no cover. Post-monsoon the courtyard is open: bring a layer.
🚇 Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur · Pathao o taxi
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapThamel
The guides' and Lukla pilots' bar since the 80s, walls papered with flags and trekkers' notes.
Tip: Leave your note on the wall: tradition since 1984. Thamel's cheapest beer and the best place for trek intel.
🚇 Thamel norte · a pie
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapPatan Durbar Square
An inner garden half a block from Patan Durbar Square: coffee, healthy food and a Nepali design shop inside.
Tip: Pair it with Patan Museum: the area's only silent garden, and the shop has Patan's best curation.
🚇 Patan, Swotha · micro a Lagankhel
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapPatan Durbar Square
The terrace looking straight at Patan's pagodas: the valley's most famous view at sunset hour.
Tip: Go to the top floor and ask for the northwest corner table: the only clean view of all three temples.
🚇 Patan Durbar Square · micro a Lagankhel
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapKantipath
A Rana bungalow with a garden and a Saturday farmers' market, steps from Garden of Dreams.
Tip: The farmers' market runs Saturday 8am-noon: yak cheese, Himalayan honey and single-origin Nepali coffee.
🚇 Kantipath · 7 min a pie desde Thamel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapLazimpat
Nepali dinner with folk dance in a Lazimpat Rana house: the classic first-night-in-Kathmandu move.
Tip: The show starts 7:30pm and lasts an hour. Book and ask for a table near the stage, not the back patio.
🚇 Lazimpat · taxi 10 min desde Thamel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapDurbar Marg
A Durbar Marg institution since 1979: terrace, grilled sekuwa and Kathmandu's after-office.
Tip: The upper terrace fills at 6pm with office workers. Order buff sekuwa and chiura: the national snack.
🚇 Durbar Marg · 10 min a pie desde Thamel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
The steak trekkers order coming down from Everest Base Camp, with draught beer and sports screens.
Tip: It's the sibling of Everest Steak House across the way. Post-trek, order the buff steak: buffalo is the good meat here.
🚇 Thamel, calle principal · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
Seventy-odd cuts on the menu and a thirty-year tradition of feeding hungry mountaineers.
Tip: No beef (it's illegal in Nepal): everything is buffalo, pork or yak. The chateaubriand for two is the classic order.
🚇 Thamel sur, Jyatha · a pie
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapNaxal
The bar where Everest summiteers sign a cardboard foot that hangs on the wall forever.
Tip: Hunt for Hillary's and Messner's signatures among the feet on the ceiling. Summit an 8000er and you eat free for life.
🚇 Naxal · taxi 10 min desde Thamel
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapKamalpokhari
The momo chain that went viral across Nepal: thin wrappers, juicy filling and addictive sesame sauce.
Tip: Order kothey (pan-fried on one side) with tomato achar. At peak, delivery beats the table.
🚇 Kamalpokhari · taxi o Pathao 10 min
Featured in: TikTok viral
Show on mapThamel sur
Textbook Nepali sekuwa: spiced charcoal-grilled meat with chiura and beer, at the chain every Nepali knows.
Tip: Order mutton sekuwa with chiura and aloo achar: the exact combo a Nepali orders after work.
🚇 Thamel sur · a pie o Pathao
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapJhamsikhel
Mustang cooking in Lalitpur: Thakali dal bhat with buckwheat dhindo and high-altitude dried meat.
Tip: Ask for dhindo instead of rice: the buckwheat mash eaten in the Annapurna that almost no visitor tries.
🚇 Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur · Pathao o taxi
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapTaumadhi · Bhaktapur
The terrace facing the five-storey temple head-on: eating there is why you come to Taumadhi.
Tip: Order bara and juju dhau on the second-floor terrace: that's the table with the full frontal temple view.
🚇 Taumadhi Square, Bhaktapur
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapPottery Square · Bhaktapur
A cafe-restaurant overlooking the working potters: juju dhau yoghurt and momos with the square as backdrop.
Tip: Juju dhau (Bhaktapur's 'king curd') is served in a clay bowl and can't travel: eat it there.
🚇 Pottery Square, Bhaktapur
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapSwotha · Patan
A tiny Newar square turned cafe-restaurant: outdoor tables with a 16th-century temple next door.
Tip: Patan's most photogenic square and almost nobody finds it: behind the Golden Temple, alley to the east.
🚇 Swotha, Patan · 3 min a pie desde Durbar Square
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapPatan Dhoka
A big garden by Patan's old gate, with weekend jazz and a menu from everywhere.
Tip: Saturdays bring live music to the garden from 7pm. Book ahead: this is where Lalitpur celebrates.
🚇 Patan Dhoka, Lalitpur · micro a Patan Dhoka
Featured in: Time Out
Show on mapJhamsikhel
Modern Newari in Jhamsikhel: chatamari (the 'Newar pizza') and samay baji served without extra folklore.
Tip: Egg-and-minced-meat chatamari is the gateway to Newari food: if you've never tried it, start here.
🚇 Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur · Pathao o taxi
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapDurbar Marg
Wine, meat and European classics in a restored Durbar Marg house: Kathmandu's most serious cellar.
Tip: They hold the country's biggest imported wine list and pour by the glass. Book for dinner, it's small.
🚇 Durbar Marg · 10 min a pie desde Thamel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapBoudha
Organic vegetarian with a garden fifty metres from the stupa: lunch between laps of the kora.
Tip: Order the vegetarian Tibetan thali and sit at the back of the garden: Boudha's only silent corner.
🚇 Boudha, junto al anillo de la estupa · taxi
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapBhatbhateni
Wood-fired pizza from a brick oven, the Nepali chain holding the standard for twenty years.
Tip: Order the yak cheese and Himalayan honey pizza: the one on the menu you won't find outside Nepal.
🚇 Bhatbhateni · taxi o Pathao 10 min desde Thamel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
The chain that invented Nepali specialty coffee: high-altitude beans roasted in house since 1999.
Tip: Ask for the Gulmi or Sindhupalchok single origin as filter: the house espresso is over-roasted.
🚇 Thamel · a pie desde Thamel Chowk
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapBoudhanath
The branch with the best view of all: a balcony straight over Boudhanath stupa and the kora.
Tip: First floor, window table, 5:30pm: the lamps go on and the kora fills. That's the Boudha shot.
🚇 Boudha, sobre el anillo de la estupa · taxi
Featured in: Sprudge
Show on mapThamel
An Austrian-Nepali roaster with organic high-altitude beans and Thamel's best flat white, no argument.
Tip: Buy beans to take home: high-altitude Nepali coffee is the country's most underrated souvenir and travels light.
🚇 Thamel · a pie
Featured in: Sprudge
Show on mapJhamsikhel
Sourdough, grain bowls and serious coffee: Lalitpur's benchmark breakfast, always full of laptops.
Tip: Before 10am you'll get a table; after that, forget it. They sell whole sourdough loaves to go.
🚇 Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur · Pathao o taxi
Featured in: ECS Nepal
Show on mapKamaladi
A tiny place where the barista dials in the machine in front of you: Kathmandu's most technical coffee.
Tip: Order a V60 and ask about the month's lot: they buy direct from microproducers in Lalitpur and Kavre.
🚇 Kamaladi · 12 min a pie desde Thamel
Featured in: ECS Nepal
Show on mapThamel
Cloth-filtered coffee since 1998, Japanese-style: intense, dense and served with zero modern ceremony.
Tip: One of Kathmandu's oldest cafes, still using the same cloth filter. Order strong, not mild.
🚇 Thamel, Amrit Marg · a pie
Featured in: Sprudge
Show on mapSwayambhu Marg
A rooftop looking straight at Swayambhunath stupa: the hill's best coffee and almost nobody knows.
Tip: The mandatory stop coming down the 365 steps. The top terrace faces the golden stupa head-on.
🚇 Camino a Swayambhunath · taxi o micro a Swayambhu
Featured in: Sprudge
Show on mapFreak Street
On Freak Street since 1965, with the same chocolate cakes the hippies of the Kathmandu trail ate.
Tip: The chocolate cake is the original 1965 recipe and still Nepal's best. The coffee is weak: get tea.
🚇 Jhochhen (Freak Street) · a pie desde Durbar Square
Featured in: Sprudge
Show on mapPaknajol · Thamel
Croissants, baguettes and tarts done properly, with vegan and gluten-free options that are rare here.
Tip: Buy morning baguettes for the trek: they last two days and weigh less than any energy bar.
🚇 Paknajol, Thamel · a pie
Featured in: Sprudge
Show on mapThamel
The garden courtyard where Thamel has breakfast since the 80s: dark bread, eggs and the best reading table.
Tip: The back garden is huge and almost nobody walks through: skip the front counter and head to the rear.
🚇 Thamel, calle principal · a pie
Featured in: Sprudge
Show on mapThamel
A hidden Thamel cafe and garden that opens at 7am: breakfast for those flying out to Lukla.
Tip: Opens at 7: one of the few Thamel spots where you can eat properly before an early mountain flight.
🚇 Thamel, calle lateral · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
A small, serious specialty cafe with its own roast and a short menu of filter methods.
Tip: Ask for the Ilam or Gulmi coffee: the two Nepali growing regions that consistently deliver.
🚇 Thamel, Nyalma Marg · a pie
Featured in: Sprudge
Show on mapJhamsikhel
Lalitpur's historic German bakery: pretzels, rye bread and cakes holding the standard for decades.
Tip: The dark rye is the valley's only genuine one: it sells out by noon, reserve by phone.
🚇 Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur · Pathao o taxi
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapTushal · Boudha
Specialty coffee five minutes from the stupa, with light roasts and genuine quiet to work in.
Tip: Boudha's best wifi and the area's only light-roast cafe. Plugs at every table.
🚇 Tushal, Boudha · taxi o a pie desde la estupa
Featured in: Sprudge
Show on mapThamel
A Newar neighbourhood cafe in the middle of Thamel: spiced chiya, local pastries and non-tourist prices.
Tip: Order masala chiya, not coffee: milk-boiled spiced tea is what Nepal actually drinks.
🚇 Thamel sur · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapPatan Museum
The Patan Museum's back garden turned cafe: a pond, brick and Patan's most serene corner.
Tip: Enter with the museum ticket. The only garden in Patan where you can't hear a single motorbike.
🚇 Dentro del Patan Museum · micro a Lagankhel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapJhamsikhel
A local Lalitpur roaster with plugs, wifi and Nepali beans from several regions: the nomads' office.
Tip: By day it's a silent coworking spot, by night it pours cocktails: same place, two lives.
🚇 Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur · Pathao o taxi
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapGarden of Dreams
The Austrian cafe inside the walled garden: tables under trees and Kathmandu's priciest silence.
Tip: Garden entry is separate. If you're only coming for the cafe, breakfast 8-10am is far cheaper.
🚇 Garden of Dreams, Tridevi Marg · a pie desde Thamel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapJhochhen
A small cafe on the old hippie street, with its own roast and downtown's best price per cup.
Tip: 200 metres from Durbar Square and half the price of any Thamel cafe. Terrace upstairs.
🚇 Jhochhen (Freak Street) · a pie desde Durbar Square
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapJhamsikhel
Hand-laminated plant-based croissants and specialty coffee: Lalitpur's finest pastry project.
Tip: They bake small batches that sell out before noon. The pistachio croissant is the one to order.
🚇 Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur · Pathao o taxi
Featured in: ECS Nepal
Show on mapBoudha
A big vegetarian garden in Boudha, with a Saturday farmers' market and the whole expat community inside.
Tip: Farmers' market runs Saturday morning: yak cheese, Himalayan honey and organic vegetables.
🚇 Boudha, al norte de la estupa · taxi
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice
Show on mapRamhiti · Boudha
Upcycled decor, weekend live music and the most genuine backpacker vibe in Boudha.
Tip: Live music Friday and Saturday from 7pm. It's where Boudha residents gather, not passers-through.
🚇 Ramhiti Chowk, Boudha · taxi
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapPatan
The Nepali chain employing deaf staff since 1997: momos, cakes and the country's best social case.
Tip: The staff are deaf: the menu is numbered, just point. 25 years of dignified jobs and the momos are good.
🚇 Patan · micro a Lagankhel o Pulchowk
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
Thamel's most respected mountain gear shop: having a sleeping bag sewn here is tradition since 1993.
Tip: They rent down bags and expedition jackets by the day: far cheaper than buying for one trek.
🚇 Thamel, Jyatha · a pie
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapThamel
Nepali outdoor brand with its own product: packs, down and layers that survive a real Everest Base Camp.
Tip: It's a real Nepali brand, not a knock-off: half European prices and a genuine warranty. Ask to see the down fill labels.
🚇 Thamel, calle principal · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
The American brand's official Thamel store: what you want if you need original product with a real label.
Tip: If you can't tell original from copy, buy here or at the official North Face on the corner and be done.
🚇 Thamel, Tridevi Marg · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
The official store in a sea of knock-offs: the reference point for what the real thing costs.
Tip: Come here first to check prices and quality, then haggle at the knock-offs next door: now you know what to offer.
🚇 Thamel, Tridevi Marg · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
Good copies and gear rental at Nepali prices: where you kit out a trek on a short budget.
Tip: Renting a sleeping bag, poles and jacket for a 12-day EBC costs less than buying the jacket alone.
🚇 Thamel sur, Jyatha · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
Thamel's legendary bookshop: Himalaya, Buddhism, trek maps and everything ever written about Nepal.
Tip: Their trekking topo maps are the country's best and you won't find them outside Kathmandu.
🚇 Thamel, calle principal · a pie
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapThamel
A publisher and bookshop specialising in Himalayan studies: the most serious academic catalogue on Nepal and Tibet.
Tip: They publish their own books: the Newar art and Malla history titles exist nowhere else.
🚇 Thamel, Jyatha · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapKupondole
Fair trade since 1984: quality Nepali crafts at fixed prices with every artisan traceable.
Tip: Fixed prices, no haggling, but the quality is another level and you know where the money goes. Their lokta paper is the valley's best.
🚇 Kupondole, Lalitpur · micro a Kupondole
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapKupondole
The shop of Nepal's Fair Trade Group: textiles, ceramics and fibre from all over the country.
Tip: Kupondole has four fair-trade shops within 300 metres: do all four at once and compare unhurried.
🚇 Kupondole, Lalitpur · micro a Kupondole
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapKupondole
Fair-trade Nepali crafts since 1989, with an excellent lokta paper and Thimi ceramics section.
Tip: Lokta paper is made from Himalayan bark and lasts centuries: the notebooks are the perfect gift and weigh nothing.
🚇 Kupondole, Lalitpur · micro a Kupondole
Featured in: Lonely Planet
Show on mapKupondole
Basketry, natural fibre and weaving by women from rural communities: the country's best fibre work.
Tip: Allo (Himalayan nettle) mats and baskets fold flat into a backpack: unique pieces and cheap.
🚇 Kupondole, Lalitpur · micro a Kupondole
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapPatan
A carpet and weaving workshop-school funding education for Dalit children: watch the looms and buy direct.
Tip: You can watch the looms for free. Hand-knotted Tibetan wool carpets take months: ask about shipping.
🚇 Patan, junto a Kumbeshwar · micro a Lagankhel
Featured in: ECS Nepal
Show on mapThamel
A co-op founded by trafficking survivors that today employs and trains women across Nepal.
Tip: They run short weaving and dyeing workshops for visitors: two hours, cheap, and you keep what you make.
🚇 Thamel norte · a pie
Featured in: ECS Nepal
Show on mapJhamsikhel
Contemporary Nepali design: ceramics, textiles and objects from young valley studios, all made here.
Tip: The anti-Thamel: no mass souvenirs, only short runs by current Nepali designers.
🚇 Jhamsikhel, Lalitpur · Pathao o taxi
Featured in: ECS Nepal
Show on mapThamel
Thangkas, singing bowls and ritual masks in the heart of Thamel, with a painting studio at the back.
Tip: Ask to see the studio: if the thangka is painted there they'll show it half-finished. If they won't, it's printed.
🚇 Thamel · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapThamel
Pashmina, yak wool and hand-woven shawls: the shop where you learn cashmere from acrylic.
Tip: Real pashmina test: pull it through a ring. If it slides through whole, it's cashmere. If it snags, it's blended.
🚇 Thamel · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapPatan Durbar Square
Newar bronze and repoussé beside Patan's square, the neighbourhood that has cast metal for a thousand years.
Tip: Patan is the world capital of lost-wax bronze. Ask for the casters' quarter: it's five minutes away.
🚇 Patan Durbar Square · micro a Lagankhel
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapBasantapur
Singing bowls, bells and ritual objects beside Durbar Square, tuning demo included.
Tip: A good bowl rings clean for 20 seconds without wobbling. Try five before choosing: the difference is huge.
🚇 Basantapur · Ratna Park
Featured in: Guía local
Show on mapPulchowk
Lalitpur's modern mall: brands, a QFX cinema, food court and air conditioning when it rains.
Tip: The QFX cinema screens Nepali films with English subtitles: the cheapest way to understand the country.
🚇 Pulchowk, Lalitpur · micro a Pulchowk
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice
Show on mapBhatbhateni
Nepal's biggest supermarket: four floors of everything, from trek snacks to souvenirs at real prices.
Tip: Buy your trek snacks here (nuts, chocolate, electrolytes): a third of mountain prices.
🚇 Bhatbhateni · taxi o Pathao 10 min desde Thamel
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice
Show on mapBalkhu
The wholesale market that feeds the whole valley: trucks, shouting and mountains of produce from 4am.
Tip: Go between 5 and 7am: after that it empties out. Kathmandu's best place to photograph people at work.
🚇 Balkhu · micro desde Kalanki o Ratna Park
Featured in: TikTok viral
Show on mapजुजु धौ · Thimi, camino a Bhaktapur
Bhaktapur's king curd in a clay bowl: buffalo milk set for hours, with no added sugar.
Tip: You eat it with a spoon right there, from the clay bowl: it doesn't travel and doesn't exist outside Bhaktapur.
🚇 Thimi · micro desde Ratna Park o Koteshwor rumbo a Bhaktapur
Featured in: TripAdvisor Travellers' Choice
Show on mapThamel
Ilam tea, Gulmi coffee and Himalayan spices with tastings: where you buy well and cheap.
Tip: Timur (Nepali Sichuan pepper) is the spice you can't get back home and it transforms any recipe.
🚇 Thamel sur · a pie
Featured in: Guía local
Show on map