Nepal 10-day itinerary: Kathmandu, Nagarkot, Pokhara and Chitwan

Why the route goes back through Kathmandu

The plan has five stops and four short flights. Yeti Airlines gives Kathmandu to Pokhara as about 25 minutes. Buddha Air flies Kathmandu to Bharatpur in 25 minutes. Allow a full travel day if you use either road instead. Our Nepal transport guide covers the airlines, the baggage rules and the buses behind each leg.

There is a direct link between the two lowland stops: Buddha Air flies Pokhara to Bharatpur once a day in 20 minutes. This plan goes back through Kathmandu for the afternoon in Patan and the choice of several daily flights to Bharatpur. To go direct, fly from Pokhara to Bharatpur on day 6 and sleep night 6 in Sauraha: the trip keeps its nine nights, you lose Patan, and the budget swaps a Thamel night at USD 55 for a third Sauraha night at USD 30.

The Nepal Tourism Board says intercity tourist buses to Pokhara, Chitwan and Lumbini leave from Kantipath in Kathmandu. Tourist-bus operators and fares are not listed on that page; check both when booking. Have the final boarding point written on your ticket. Lumbini and a short trek need more time than this plan has; the 14-day itinerary adds both.

Days 1–2: Thamel, Durbar Square, Swayambhunath and Boudhanath

Day 1: arrive and settle in Thamel. Stay at Thamel Boutique Hotel on Bhagwati Marg, which the hotel puts a minute's walk from the lanes of Thamel; its Deluxe Double, with a queen bed and an en-suite bathroom, is the room priced in the budget below. Use the same hotel on nights 6 and 9, so the capital is one address you come back to rather than three. The hotel's paid airport pickup is the simplest way from Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM). Our entry guide covers the visa and the arrival formalities.

Day 2: Kathmandu Durbar Square and Swayambhunath. Spend the morning in Kathmandu Durbar Square, the old palace square that the Nepal Tourism Board calls the Museum of Temples for the more than 50 temples around it. Look for the Kumari Ghar, the residence of the Living Goddess, and for Kal Bhairav, one of the largest 17th-century stone statues in the city. The ticket is NPR 1,000 for foreign nationals and includes the Tribhuvan Museum.

Give the early afternoon to Swayambhunath, on a hillock 3 km west of the centre, with a view across the whole valley. The Nepal Tourism Board calls its stupa the oldest of its kind in Nepal and says it is believed to date from 460 AD. Foreigners have called the hill the Monkey Temple since the 1970s. The stone steps are very steep, and a motor road reaches almost to the top. The ticket is NPR 200 for foreign nationals.

End the day at Boudhanath, 8 km east of downtown, by taxi. It is the largest stupa in the Kathmandu Valley, with a dome 36 m across, and the Nepal Tourism Board calls it the centre of Himalayan Buddhism. The city says it is believed to stand on the ancient trade route to Tibet and describes the district around it as a settlement of Tibetan refugees. The ticket is NPR 400 for foreign nationals. Walk the circuit around the dome at the pace of the pilgrims, then eat at Boudha and return to Thamel before dark.

Day 3: Pashupatinath, Bhaktapur and a night on the Nagarkot ridge

Start early at Pashupatinath, which stands on the banks of the Bagmati and is the most revered Hindu temple in Nepal. The Pashupati Area Development Trust lists the complex open daily from 4:00 am to 9:00 pm, with the main sanctum for Hindus only and the ghats open to everyone. Non-Hindus watch from the terraces across the river, according to the tourism board, and leather items such as shoes and belts must be left outside. The ticket is NPR 1,000 per day for foreign nationals.

Give Bhaktapur the middle of the day, then leave for Nagarkot by mid-afternoon. The tourism board describes its Durbar Square as an open space surrounded by buildings from the 13th to the 18th century, with the 15th-century Palace of 55 Carved Windows and the Golden Gate, a masterpiece of repoussé; the five-storeyed Nyatapola temple nearby withstood a devastating earthquake. The ticket is USD 18 or NPR 1,800 for visitors other than SAARC or Chinese nationals.

Nagarkot is 32 km from Kathmandu, according to the Nepal Tourism Board. Go by car with a driver and make the whole drive in daylight. Sleep at Nagarkot Shangrila Resort in Nagarkot, Mandandeupur, Kavre. Its Superior Room for two adults is listed from USD 75 per night, checked on 18 October 2026. Breakfast and tax inclusions are not stated. Arrive for the sunset and walk the ridge before the light goes. Our Nagarkot guide covers the view tower and the hike to Changu Narayan.

Days 4–5: first light on the ridge, then Pokhara

Day 4: sunrise, then the flight to Pokhara. The Nepal Tourism Board describes watching the sun come up from your hotel or from the popular view tower. Eat breakfast, drive back to Kathmandu in daylight and take an afternoon flight, leaving room for a slow road down the hill. Yeti Airlines and Buddha Air fly the route; Buddha Air lists more than 17 flights a day.

In Pokhara, sleep at New Pokhara Lodge on Lakeside Street no. 3 for both nights. Its Standard Room with an attached bathroom and a double or twin bed for two people costs USD 30 per night including all taxes, checked on 18 October 2026; breakfast is USD 5 per person extra. Use the rest of the afternoon on Phewa Lake: boats are hired along the shore, and the usual trip crosses to Taal Barahi Temple on its small island. Agree the price on the shore.

Day 5: Sarangkot, the mountain museum and the Peace Pagoda. Visit Sarangkot after breakfast, with both road journeys in daylight. The hill is 11.3 km and at most 30 minutes by road from Lakeside, and the Nepal Tourism Board names a panorama from Dhaulagiri in the west to Machhapuchhre, Annapurna II and Lamjung in the east. Sarangkot is also where Pokhara's paragliders take off for the flight down to Lakeside.

Spend the late morning at the International Mountain Museum. It is open daily from 09:30 to 17:00 and costs NPR 750 for foreigners, checked on 18 October 2026. Its Mountain People, Mountain and Mountain Activities galleries introduce Himalayan communities, peaks and mountaineering. In the afternoon go up to the World Peace Pagoda on its hill on the southern fringe of Phewa Lake: the tourism board describes a dome-shaped pagoda with four images of the Buddha facing the four directions, and a hilltop view over the lake to the Annapurna range. Our Pokhara guide prices the tandem paragliding flights and adds Davi's Fall.

Return to New Pokhara Lodge for night 5; keeping the same room leaves the day free for the lake and hills. Our where-to-stay guide compares the other bases.

Days 6–7: Patan, then the flight into the Terai

Day 6: back to Kathmandu and Patan. Fly Pokhara to Kathmandu in the morning and keep the afternoon for Patan, 5 km southeast of the centre. The ticket for Patan Durbar Square, which includes Patan Museum, is NPR 1,000 for visitors other than SAARC, BIMSTEC or Chinese nationals. The square holds the stone Krishna Temple of 1637 with its 21 spires. Explore its palace courtyards and museum, then the Golden Temple, a five-minute walk from the northern end of the square. Sleep at Thamel Boutique Hotel again.

Day 7: fly to Bharatpur and settle in Sauraha. Buddha Air flies Kathmandu to Bharatpur six times a day in 25 minutes. Arrange the airport transfer to Chitwan Safari Club in Sauraha, the lodge town on the Rapti River. Its Double Deluxe Room, with a queen bed, air conditioning and free Wi-Fi, costs USD 30 per night, checked on 18 October 2026. Breakfast and tax inclusions are not stated. In the afternoon visit a Tharu village and the Tharu Cultural Museum, which costs NPR 25 for foreign nationals. The evening belongs to the campfire and stick dance that the tourism board puts in a typical programme.

Days 8–10: a day in Chitwan National Park and the way home

Day 8: the park. The park office lists an entry permit of NPR 2,000 per person per day for foreign nationals other than SAARC citizens, issued at the entrance gate on a copy of your passport. A jungle drive needs a second permit on top of every passenger's entry permit, NPR 5,000 for a jeep or NPR 3,000 for a car. Its boat or rafting permit is listed at NPR 4,000 for foreign nationals other than SAARC citizens; the charging unit is not stated, so this is outside the total below. Go in with a nature guide: the park office issues identity cards to nature guides, and the Nepal Tourism Board describes jungle walks as accompanied by an experienced guide. Chitwan Safari Club lists jeep safaris, canoeing and jungle walks, so book the day through the lodge.

The lodge's own charges come on top of the permits. Checked on 17 October 2026, Jungle Safari Resort's own tariff started at USD 55 for a canoe ride, USD 55 for a half-day jeep safari and USD 70 for a jungle walk, prices that vary with the size of the group, nationality and the guide. Our Chitwan guide covers the park permits and the jungle day.

The tourism board says the park shelters the greater one-horned rhinoceros and the Royal Bengal tiger, with Asiatic elephants moving through the jungle in herds and gharial and marsh mugger crocodiles basking on the sandy banks. Treat any single sighting as a bonus.

Days 9 and 10: back to Kathmandu and home. Take the morning flight from Bharatpur on day 9 and spend the evening in Thamel with nothing planned, since this night is the buffer before the flight home on day 10.

Roads, floods and flights on this route

The UK government, checked on 17 October 2026, listed areas of Gorkha, Nuwakot and Dhading among those affected by the floods of 26 August 2026 and warned that heavy rain could trigger more landslides. Nothing in this plan goes north of the Kathmandu Valley, to Rasuwa district or the Langtang valley, where the UK says the same floods severely damaged roads; other governments may draw a wider line, so check your own. Gorkha and Dhading lie between the Kathmandu Valley and Pokhara and Chitwan, and this plan flies over them.

Anyone who takes a road instead should check that it is open, use a marked tourist bus, travel by day and avoid overloaded buses, as the UK and German governments advise. Keep away from any demonstration. The Tourist Police answer on 1144 and the Nepal Meteorological Department's weather line is 1155.

Every Nepali airline is on the UK Air Safety List, and the German government says all of them are on the EU list of unsafe airlines. The UK government adds that cancellations on internal flights in the mountains are common. On 15 September 2026 France's foreign ministry said works at the airport have partly closed it and may affect bookings on arrival or departure, so check your flight with the airline before you travel. That is the reason for the nights in Kathmandu: night 6 is the margin if the flight out of Pokhara is late, and night 9 protects the international flight home.

What to book first

Book in the order of what has the fewest alternatives:

• The four domestic flights. Kathmandu to Pokhara on day 4 with Yeti Airlines or Buddha Air, Pokhara to Kathmandu on day 6, and Kathmandu to Bharatpur on day 7 and back on day 9 with Buddha Air. Yeti charges foreign nationals other than Indian and Nepali citizens its USD fare; add the date-specific fares for all four legs to the budget below. Extra baggage on its Kathmandu to Pokhara route costs NPR 150 per kilo, checked on 18 October 2026.
• The Sauraha room and the jungle day. Book Chitwan Safari Club's Double Deluxe Room and arrange the jeep drive, canoe and walk through the lodge.
• The two Pokhara nights. Book New Pokhara Lodge for nights 4 and 5.
• Nagarkot and Thamel. Nagarkot Shangrila Resort and Thamel Boutique Hotel come last; when you book Thamel Boutique, book its paid airport pickup and a car with a driver for the Nagarkot day too, and agree both prices then.

The budget for two adults

These published hotel rates and site fees were checked on 18 October 2026, for two adults other than SAARC, BIMSTEC or Chinese nationals sharing a double or twin room. New Pokhara Lodge includes taxes and charges breakfast separately; breakfast and tax terms at Thamel Boutique Hotel, Nagarkot Shangrila Resort and Chitwan Safari Club are not stated. The Chitwan entry permit is NPR 2,260 a day if the 13% VAT on the Nepal Tourism Board's heritage-site table is charged.

• Kathmandu, 4 nights at Thamel Boutique Hotel, Deluxe Double at USD 55 a night before seasonal offers: USD 220.
• Nagarkot, 1 night at Nagarkot Shangrila Resort, Superior Room from USD 75: USD 75.
• Pokhara, 2 nights at New Pokhara Lodge, Standard Room for two at USD 30 per night, taxes included, breakfast extra (nights 4 and 5): USD 60.
• Sauraha, 2 nights at Chitwan Safari Club, Double Deluxe Room with a queen bed at USD 30 per night (nights 7 and 8): USD 60.
• Rooms in total: USD 415 for all nine nights.
• Site fees for two, in NPR: Kathmandu Durbar Square 2,000; Swayambhunath 400; Boudhanath 800; Pashupatinath 2,000; Bhaktapur Durbar Square 3,600; Patan Durbar Square 2,000; International Mountain Museum 1,500; Tharu Cultural Museum 50. Total NPR 12,350.
• Chitwan National Park for two, in NPR: entry permits for the one park day 4,000 (4,520 with VAT); one jeep permit, counted in full, 5,000. Total NPR 9,000 (NPR 9,520 with VAT), excluding the boat permit.
• Everything priced here: USD 415 for nine hotel nights and NPR 21,350 for the listed site, park-entry and jeep permits; the NPR total is 21,870 with VAT on the park entry.
• Not in the total: the four domestic flights (Kathmandu to Pokhara, Pokhara to Kathmandu, Kathmandu to Bharatpur and Bharatpur to Kathmandu) and the international flights; the boat permit; the lodge's jeep drive, canoe and walk charges; the airport pickup and the Nagarkot car; meals; local transport; the visa and insurance.