Kathmandu City Tour: Four World Heritage Sites in a Day

If you only have one day in Kathmandu, this is the one to book. Four of the valley's seven UNESCO monument zones are right here in the city, and we've joined them up into a single, unhurried day.

You'll start at Pashupatinath, Nepal's most important Shiva temple, on the banks of the Bagmati river. It's a place of real life and real ceremony: open-air cremations take place on the riverside ghats, and sadhus sit in the courtyards in their saffron robes. From there it's a short drive to Boudhanath, the great white stupa at the heart of Kathmandu's Tibetan community, where you can join the pilgrims walking clockwise around the dome and spinning the prayer wheels as they go.

After lunch by the stupa, you'll cross the city to Swayambhunath, perched on its hill to the west. The stupa's painted eyes (and its cheeky resident monkeys) look out over the whole valley, and so will you. Finally, the day ends in Kathmandu Durbar Square, the old royal square of Hanuman Dhoka, with the towering Taleju temple, the carved palace windows and the home of the Kumari, Kathmandu's living goddess.

Your guide will explain what you're looking at and how each place is still used today, while the car waits between stops. In other words, the day moves at your pace, not ours.