Travel in Nagarkot

Nagarkot is a village strung along a ridge at 2,175 metres on the eastern rim of the Kathmandu Valley. There is no old town here and no temple complex — the reason to come is the line of snow peaks to the north and the farming country below it. Four of our six Nepal trips include Nagarkot, and they use it in four different ways, so it is worth reading the route rather than the name.

Two itineraries treat it as walking country. On Impressions of Nepal and on Majestic Himalayas, day four begins at the Changu Narayan temple at 1,540 metres — held to be the oldest Hindu temple in Nepal — and walks about two hours from there to Telkot on unpaved but easy paths, finishing at Nagarkot. You arrive on foot. Day five is a full walking day through the villages on the ridge, with Dorje Lhakpa and Shishapangma in view, and there is an optional second walk that afternoon to the Nagarkot lookout tower, roughly 8 km and three hours. That is two nights on the ridge. Impressions of Nepal then drops to Dhulikhel; Majestic Himalayas turns west for Bandipur.

The other two are shorter, and one of them is very short. The eleven-day Trekking Tour drives from Kathmandu airport straight up to Nagarkot on the first day, visiting Bhaktapur on the way — the itinerary notes that if time runs out, Bhaktapur is made up the following day instead. That is one night on the ridge before returning to Kathmandu. The nine-day World of Nepal does not sleep at Nagarkot at all. It appears on the last full day, between a night at Dhulikhel and an afternoon in Bhaktapur. It is a stop, not a stay, and we would rather say that here than have you find out on the day.

Then the sunrise, since that is what Nagarkot is known for. None of these four itineraries schedules a dawn trip to the lookout tower. The tower appears once, and as an optional afternoon walk. The mornings written in as sunrise viewpoints on these trips are elsewhere: Sarangkot at about 1,592 metres above Pokhara, Poon Hill at 3,210 metres on the treks, and, on the nine-day trip, the hotel terrace at Dhulikhel the morning before Nagarkot. What Nagarkot gives you on our routes is the view from where you are staying, weather permitting, and a day on foot.

The peaks our day notes name are Dorje Lhakpa and Shishapangma. Everest is not among them, and we do not promise it. Cloud can close the ridge in for days, and the itineraries say weather permitting rather than guaranteeing a view.

All four trips are private and guided, built around your dates rather than a fixed departure, and every leg here is by road — no domestic flights appear in these Nepal routes. From-prices run from EUR 930 for the nine-day trip to EUR 1,640 for the two long ones. Hotel accommodation, breakfast, a bottle of water on arrival and someone reachable 24 hours a day are included; international flights are not. Three of the four include a German-speaking guide. Majestic Himalayas lists that guide as not included, so check the tour page if the language matters.