The valley’s own civilisation – courtyards, festivals, craft and a cuisine most visitors never try.
Overview
The Newars built the Kathmandu Valley: the durbar squares, the pagoda roof, the carved window, the brick-and-timber courtyard house. They are the valley’s indigenous people and their culture is still the framework the three cities run on, from the festival calendar to the food.
This is a day spent inside that rather than beside it – a bahal courtyard in Patan, a metalworker or a thangka painter at work, the alleys of Bhaktapur away from the square, and a proper Newari meal of bara, chatamari, choila and yomari rather than a tourist-menu version.
Best arranged around whatever festival is running, and there usually is one.