Bandipur Tour

Four to five hours west along the Prithvi Highway, following the Trishuli through the middle hills, and then a short but steep climb off the valley floor onto the ridge at 1,030m. Bandipur was a prosperous Newar trading town on the India-Tibet route, and when the highway went through the valley below it in the 1970s the town was simply left behind - which is why it survives almost whole. The main street is a run of Newar merchant houses with carved windows and shuttered fronts, now closed to traffic, and the effect in the evening when everyone is out and there are no cars is unlike anywhere else in Nepal. We walk up to Tundikhel, the old parade ground on the ridge end, for sunset over the Annapurnas, Manaslu and Ganesh Himal. Overnight in a restored Newar house.

A morning walk down to Siddha Gufa, the largest cave in Nepal - about 437 metres long and 50 high, with stalactites and a colony of bats - which takes an hour or so each way through forest and terraced farmland, and needs a torch. Back up in the village there is time for the Bindhyabasini and Khadga Devi temples, the Newar architecture along the main street, and the Thani Mai viewpoint if you want a second look at the range. From Bandipur it is about two hours on to Pokhara, or four back to Kathmandu, and the town works equally well as a stop in either direction rather than as a there-and-back trip.