Kathmandu Valley Tour

We start at Hanuman Dhoka, the old royal square, which was the seat of the Malla kings and then the Shah dynasty and is still where the state ceremonies happen. The square is a dense collection of temples, courtyards and palace buildings raised between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries, and on its southern side stands the Kumari Ghar, home of the living goddess - a young girl chosen from the Newar Shakya community who appears at a carved upper window. From there we go on to Swayambhunath, up the stone stairway to the stupa on its hill, with the painted eyes looking out in four directions and the whole valley spread below. After lunch we cross the Bagmati into Patan, where the Durbar Square holds the finest concentration of Newar architecture anywhere and the Patan Museum, in a restored palace wing, explains the iconography you will meet everywhere else in the valley. It is the best museum in Nepal by a wide margin and worth the hour it takes.

Pashupatinath first thing, when the ghats along the Bagmati are busiest and the sadhus are about - this is the most important Shiva temple in Nepal, and cremations take place in the open on the riverbank as they have for centuries. Non-Hindus cannot enter the main gilded pagoda but see everything around it, and a guide matters here more than anywhere else in the valley. From there to Boudhanath, one of the largest stupas in the world and the centre of Tibetan Buddhist life in Nepal, where the kora around the dome is simply the local street and is walked all day by monks, pilgrims and residents. The afternoon goes to Bhaktapur, the third royal city and the least museum-like of them: cars are largely kept out, the squares are used for drying grain, potters still work in the open, and Nyatapola stands five storeys above Taumadhi Square. We leave when the light goes and have you back at your hotel in the evening.