Places
Temples, squares, ponds, hills and workshops in and around Sanothimi. Pick an area or browse everything.
Sanothimi: the small Thimi
A busy, friendly neighbourhood on the Araniko Highway, halfway between Kathmandu and Bhaktapur — and the best base for exploring the eastern valley.
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The education hub of Nepal
Nepal's school curriculum is written, examined and printed in Sanothimi. A walk past the offices that shape every classroom in the country.
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Old Thimi: the town of capable people
A tightly packed Newar town of brick lanes, courtyards and potters' yards on a ridge above Sanothimi — one of the least touristy historic towns in the valley.
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Balkumari Temple, Thimi
The spiritual centre of Thimi and the focus of Sindoor Jatra, when the whole town turns red with vermilion on Nepali New Year.
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Potters and mask makers of Thimi
Clay pots dried in the sun and papier-mâché masks painted by hand — two crafts that have made Thimi famous across Nepal.
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A quiet farming village north of Thimi, famous for a day each year when one man pierces his tongue and carries a ring of flames around the town.
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Bhaktapur Durbar Square
The royal square of the Malla kings of Bhaktapur: palaces, stone temples, a golden gate and a giant bell, all part of the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site.
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Palace of Fifty-Five Windows
The royal palace of Bhaktapur, famous for its long row of intricately carved black windows and home to the National Art Gallery.
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The Golden Gate (Sun Dhoka)
A gilded copper gateway built by the last king of Bhaktapur, often called the most beautiful piece of metalwork in the valley.
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Vatsala Durga Temple and the Taleju Bell
A graceful stone shikhara temple, rebuilt after the 2015 earthquake, standing beside the great bell that was said to make dogs bark.
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Nyatapola: the five-storey temple
The tallest pagoda temple in Nepal, built in 1702 and guarded by stone wrestlers, elephants, lions, griffins and goddesses. It survived both great earthquakes.
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Bhairavnath Temple
A broad three-roofed temple to Bhairav, the fierce protector of Bhaktapur, whose chariot is the heart of Bisket Jatra.
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Dattatreya Square and the Peacock Window
The oldest part of Bhaktapur, with a 15th-century temple said to be built from a single tree, woodcarving museums and the famous carved peacock.
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Pottery Square (Talako)
An open square just south of Durbar Square where potters spin wheels and dry hundreds of pots in the sun.
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Siddha Pokhari
A large rectangular pond at the western entrance to Bhaktapur, built in the Malla era and wrapped in legends of a giant serpent.
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Nava Durga Dyochhen, the house of the goddesses
A three-storey tantric god-house in Gachhen where the masks of Bhaktapur's Nava Durga are kept and the dancers live during their eleven-month season.
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Kamal Binayak and the lotus pond
A peaceful Ganesh temple beside a lotus pond on the north-eastern edge of Bhaktapur, with open views towards the hills and Changu Narayan.
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Changu Narayan
Nepal's oldest temple, on a forested hilltop north of Bhaktapur, with a stone inscription from the fifth century and some of the finest sculpture in the country.
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Suryabinayak
A Ganesh temple in a forest south of Bhaktapur, where the first rays of the morning sun are said to fall — a favourite for early walks and family picnics.
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Kailashnath Mahadev, Sanga
A giant statue of Shiva on the hilltop at Sanga, on the eastern rim of the valley — visible for kilometres along the Araniko Highway.
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Nagarkot: sunrise over the Himalaya
A ridge on the north-eastern rim of the valley, at around 2,100 metres, famous for Himalayan sunrises and easy hikes back towards Changu Narayan.
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Doleshwor Mahadev
A Shiva temple in the southern hills of Bhaktapur district, believed by many to be linked with Kedarnath in India through the legend of the Pandavas.
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Sankhu and the Vajrayogini temple
A historic Newar town on the old trade route to Tibet, with a forest temple of the tantric goddess Vajrayogini on the hill above.
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Dhulikhel: old Newar town with Himalayan views
Once the eastern border of the Nepal Mandala and a trading post on the road to Tibet, Dhulikhel offers old lanes, temples and views of more than twenty Himalayan peaks.
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Namo Buddha: the prince and the tigress
A hilltop stupa and monastery where, legend says, a prince who was an earlier life of the Buddha gave his body to a starving tigress and her cubs.
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