Trip Overview

Kathmandu day tours – guided sightseeing tour to the cultural world heritage sites in Kathmandu in a just a day.

Five hrs cultural world heritage day tour in Kathmandu from 09:00 – 14:00 hrs

Mountain Monarch has specially designed this Kathmandu day tour for those people who only have a very short time in Kathmandu to see its wonderful cultural world heritage sites. This is a guided sightseeing cultural day tour in Kathmandu where we have our experienced guide takes you around the world heritage sites to explore the sights and sounds of  city’s wonders and to understand it in better way.

Our Kathmandu day tour includes the visit to all the cultural world heritages sites in the Kathmandu ex. Swayambunath, Bouddhnath, Pashupatinath and Kathmandu Durbar Square. Kathmandu is massive bustling bazaar with a great number or Hindu temples, Buddhist stupas and monasteries. It is often known as an open museum of medieval arts and architecture.

Details of the places of interest on Kathmandu day tours:

Swayambhunath:
It is believed that the original stupa existed 2000 years ago but the present stupa is said to be built after the 14th century. Swayambhunath means ‘ The shrine existing by itself’ – it is often called ‘The Monkey Temple’ by the westerners as there are lots of monkeys scampering around the place which amuse pinning the prayer wheels and the monkeys playing around the stupa make the place really interesting and alive.

The panoramic view of the Kathmandu Valley from the stupa is simply breathtaking. Legend says that once the Kathmandu valley was a huge lake and there was a lotus flower with a white glow in the middle of the lake. In the Buddhist version, Majushree, a Bodhisattwa, came from China and drained out the water and the lotus flower came to rest and stayed where the stupa exists now. In the Hindu version, the lake was drained out by Lord Krishna.

On the eastern side of the stupa, there is a long staircase which climbs up the hill. On it is a beautiful pagoda style temple dedicated to the Mother Goddess Harati. All around the complex, there are shrines and statues of Buddhist and Hindu deities side by side illustrating the religious harmony that exists between them. Swayambhunath truly deserves to be listed as a World Heritage Site and one of the great place to visit in your day tour in Kathmandu.

Kathmandu Durbar Square:
This lies in the heart of the city. The locals of Kathmandu call it Hanuman Dhoka as it is named after the Monkey God, Hanuman. At the main entrance to the palace you can see the statue of the Monkey God clad in a red paint. Durbar Square is a World Heritage Site and history says that its design goes back to the 9/10th century, at the time of King Gunakama Dev, who was a true devotee of Kali, the goddess of terror, her main weapon being the sword – hence the layout of the square is in the sword form.

The complex consists of a lavish royal palace and around it are lots of temples dedicated to different Hindu gods and goddesses. This place used to be the royal seat until the 19th century. Now, the palace is used as a museum for visitors and coronation place for the kings of Nepal. The last king crowned here in 2001. The other special attractions of the Square is the Living Goddess – The Kumari, a young girl who goes through the most rigorous selection test. She acknowledges the greetings of visitors from her balcony window and the shrine is believed to be built from just a single tree named Kastamandap – (the origin of the name – Kathmandu.) The surrounding area has temples dating from the 15th century to the 18th. Now a day we can see lots of restoration taking place as the April 2015 earth has badly damage this site – still totally safe to visit to witness the old palace in Kathmandu sightseeing tour.

Pashupatinath:
The name means ‘The Lord of all Creatures and the God of Gods. It is a World Heritage Site and lies to the eastern side of Kathmandu on the banks of the holy River Bagmati. The temple site dates from the 5th/6th century but the present temple was built in 16th century. It is one of most popular and important Shiva Shrines and all followers of Hinduism must visit the temple at least once in their lifetime.

During the Maha Shivaratri festival, the temple is full of devotees worshiping the stone Linga in the form of Shiva. Non-Hindus are not allowed to enter the main temple complex but still can view the two tier pagoda style temple from the eastern side of the river and see the funeral pyres on the banks. The platforms along the Bagmati holy river are popular for ritual baths and cremating the bodies of Hindus who have died. It is an honor for Hindus to be cremated here as it is believed that it ensures the soul rests in peace and is kept safely away from the rebirth cycle.

Boudhanath:
Boudhanath means ‘The Lord of Wisdom’ and is the biggest Stupa in the Asian subcontinent. It is beleive all followers of Buddhism must visit it once in their lifetime. The stupa is believed to have been built in the 5th century because there had been twelve years of drought so the king built the stupa hoping that this would help to restore the water and it did so with the help of the dew drops – for this reason, it is also called the Dew Stupa.

Nepal used to be the transit point for Tibet and India – there was trade with Tibet from ancient times. Traders traveling to Tibet used to stop and give their greetings to the stupa and ask for the blessing of a safe journey and return. The complex is often called a mini Tibet as many Tibetans live around the stupa and it reflects the Tibetan form of Buddhism. There are lots of monasteries around Bouddhanath – it is a centre for learning and practicing Buddhism. Visitors should go around the stupa in clockwise direction spinning the prayer wheels as it brings more happiness, infinite merits and good luck. A heritage site – not to miss in your day tour in Kathmandu.

Outline Itinerary

  • Every Day : Day tours
  • Every Day : Day tours

    Day tours starts at 9:00 am and its ends by 2:00 pm same day

Cost Includes

  • Private transportation on day tour
  • English speaking tour guide with all expences
  • All world heritage entrace fees

Cost Excludes

  • All personal expences while on day tour in Kathmandu.

“Excellent cultural & natural experiences throughout the trip.”

- Paul / Lisa / Luke / Chris Hewitt, | 31 Aug, 2016

“Helpful staff always cheerful + willing to help, part of our team, of course lots of other things were memorable, too numerous to mention.”

- Jane / Adrian Roberts, | 31 Aug, 2016

“Good reliable Food (No stomach upset!). Getting away from main trek route plus Great local knowledge of Trek leader.”

- Ian & Linda Parker, | 31 Aug, 2016

“We really enjoyed our experience and are so glad we did not attempt to organize the trip ourselves as everything ran so smoothly and was stress free. Thank you.”

- Emma-Louise Barlow, | 31 Aug, 2016

“Good service by porters, staff and climbing Sherpa.”

- Gulper Marchel, | 31 Aug, 2016

“I absolutely loved the trek & would love to do the twenty-day trek to Everest Base Camp when I’m older.”

- Christopher Hewitt, | 31 Aug, 2016

“I really enjoyed getting to know the staff. They were all really lovely people + made my trip very enjoyable.”

- Brooke Robinson, | 31 Aug, 2016

“The whole trek was awesome. Everything was done extremely professionally.”

- Bradley + Michael Levitt, | 30 Aug, 2016

“The trek was very personalized, the company was a fantastic experience, the staff were excellent and we were looked after very well. I thoroughly enjoyed my time. Will highly recommend to anyone and hope to return in the not too distant future.
Thank you.”

- Gidon, | 11 Aug, 2016

“Everything about the trek was great .The way that we were put at EASE by the staff. The different terrain/ habitats that were experienced.”

- Ross Cant, | 11 Aug, 2016

Review

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