Kathmandu Valley Luxury Tour

You are met on arrival at Tribhuvan and driven to your hotel - either a restored Newar building in the old city or one of the established garden properties away from the traffic, both of which we will have discussed with you before booking, because in Kathmandu the difference between hotels is larger than the star ratings suggest. The rest of the day is deliberately empty. Most people arrive tired, and the valley is better seen on the second day than on the first. If you are up to it, an evening walk through Thamel or a drink on the terrace is enough. Your guide meets you in the evening to go through the next three days and to adjust them to what you actually want to see.

A private car and a dedicated guide for the day, at your pace rather than a group's. We start at Hanuman Dhoka, the old royal square, with the Kumari Ghar where the living goddess appears at a carved upper window, and the palace courtyards behind. Swayambhunath comes next, before the heat and before the coaches, up the stone stairway to the stupa on its hill with the whole valley below. In the afternoon we cross the Bagmati to Patan, where we take our time: the Durbar Square, Krishna Mandir carved entirely from stone, the Golden Temple in the lanes behind, and a long lunch in a courtyard restaurant. The Patan Museum is given the hour it deserves rather than the twenty minutes it usually gets. Everything is arranged so you are never anywhere at the moment it is busiest.

Bhaktapur in the late morning and through the afternoon, once the day trips from Kathmandu have gone and the squares belong to the town again. It is the least museum-like of the three royal cities - cars are largely kept out, grain is dried in the squares, and potters work in the open at Pottery Square - and it rewards an unhurried wander more than a checklist. We take in the Fifty-Five Window Palace, the Golden Gate, Nyatapola and Dattatreya Square, with the wood-carving workshops and a bowl of juju dhau somewhere in the middle. Boudhanath is timed for dusk, which is when it should be seen: the butter lamps go on, the kora fills, and the chanting starts from several monasteries at once. Dinner afterwards at a restaurant we will recommend rather than book blindly.

The morning is free. Depending on your flight there is time for the things that usually get cut - a workshop visit, the Garden of Dreams, a last hour in Thamel, or simply breakfast without a schedule. We can also add a half day at Pashupatinath or Changunarayan if you would rather use the time. The airport transfer is arranged for whenever your flight requires it, with a day room held at the hotel if the departure is late.