Katmandu
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 3.33 mi
- Elevation gain
- 3 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Moderate
- Elevation loss
- 3 ft
- Max elevation
- 4,230 ft
- TrailRank
- 42
- Min elevation
- 3,981 ft
- Trail type
- Loop
- Moving time
- 2 hours 23 minutes
- Time
- 4 hours 5 minutes
- Coordinates
- 923
- Uploaded
- April 28, 2022
- Recorded
- April 2022
near Chhetrapati, Bagmati Province (Nepal)
Viewed 111 times, downloaded 2 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
|
Kathmandu
tour in the part with the presence of more temples and historical monuments of the city.
However, you can also take a tour in other areas of the city, getting lost in its streets.
to see the prayers at the temples it is best to take a tour at dawn, which is truly spectacular.
Katmandu[1], or also Kathmandu (pron. /katmanˈdu/[2]; in Nepali काठमाडौं, Kāṭhamāḍauṃ; anciently Kantipur, कान्तिपुर, Kāntipura; Yen in यें, Yeṃ), previously adapted into Italian as Catmandù[3 ][4][5], is the capital of Nepal, the largest Himalayan state in Asia. It is the largest metropolis of the state, with a population of 1.4 million in the city, which reaches 5 million in the Kathmandu Valley urban agglomeration, which includes the cities of Patan, Kirtipur, Madhyapur Thimi and Bhaktapur. Kathmandu is also the largest metropolis in the Himalayan hill region.
The city is located at a height of approximately 1,400 meters above sea level, in the basin of the Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal. The valley is historically called the "Nepal proper" and is the place of origin of the Newa people, a cosmopolitan urban civilization of the Himalayan hill region. The city was the royal capital of the Kingdom of Nepal and is home to the palaces, residences and gardens of the Nepalese aristocracy. It has been the seat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) since 1985 and today is the seat of government of the Republic of Nepal established in 2008. It is part of the Bagmati Zone in Nepal's administrative geography.
Kathmandu has always been at the center of Nepal's history, art, culture and economy. It has a multi-ethnic population with a Hindu and Buddhist majority. Religious and cultural holidays form a large part of the lives of people residing in Kathmandu, and tourism is an important part of the economy of the city, which lies in the foothills of the Nepalese Himalayas. There are also several casinos in the city. In 2013, Kathmandu ranked third among the top ten best destinations in the world, according to TripAdvisor, and was the first city in Asia. Kathmandu's historic areas were devastated by the 7.8 local magnitude earthquake that hit the nation on 25 April 2015. The Nepali language is the main language spoken in the city, while the English language is understood by residents who attended schools.
Index
1 Physical geography
2 Features
3 History
4 Infrastructure and transport
5 Administration
5.1 Twinning
6 Image gallery
7 Notes
8 Related entries
9 Other projects
10 External links
Physical geography
Map of central Kathmandu
Urban expansion in Kathmandu, March 2015
Kathmandu is located in the northwestern part of the Kathmandu Valley, north of the Bagmati River, and covers an area of 50.7 km². The average elevation is 1,400 meters above sea level.[6] the city borders many other municipalities in the Valley: south of Bagmati is the sub-metropolitan city of Patan, with which it forms an urban area surrounded by a ring road. To the south-west it borders Kirtipur and to the east with the municipality of Madhyapur Thimi. To the north the urban area extends into several Village Development Committees. However, the urban agglomeration extends far beyond the neighboring municipalities, up to Bhaktapur and covers almost the entire Kathmandu Valley.
It is the largest city in the country, with a population of approximately 950,000 inhabitants in the urban area proper (2007 estimate). In the entire metropolitan area, which also includes the conurbed cities of Patan, Bhadgaon, Thimi and others, it exceeds two million inhabitants (2007 estimate).
It is located in the valley of the same name in central Nepal, and is lapped by the Bagmati and Vishnumati rivers. The latter flows into the former together with numerous other streams that drain the valley. These two rivers substantially delimit the urban area itself: the second touches it to the west, while the first, a river sacred to the Hindus, delimits it to the east and south, separating it from the adjacent city of Patan. The urban area is characterized by a morphology that presents numerous humps corresponding to the various hills that separate the valleys of the numerous waterways that flow into the Bagmati before it enters the famous Chobar Gorge.
The geographical coordinates of Kathmandu are 27°43' North, 85°22' East.
Characteristics
Pashupatinath Temple
The urban center of the city has a historical nucleus dating back mostly to the 17th century (late Malla era), which develops around the famous Durbar Square, full of Hindu temples. Numerous other temples stand isolated from each other at many road intersections (Nepali: chowk), so that hundreds of Hindu temples are concentrated in the city, as in the entire valley; among these the best known is that of Pashupatinath, on the banks of the sacred Bagmati river in whose vast area there are also numerous stone plinths suitable for pyres for the cremation of corpses, mostly aligned on the right bank of the watercourse. There are also numerous Buddhist sacred places such as the famous Swayambhunath (also known as the Monkey Temple), located on a hill to the west of the city; and that of Bodhnath in the eastern suburbs which is home to a sizeable Tibetan community that has escaped Chinese persecution. It is therefore no coincidence that in these places there is the greatest concentration of religious buildings on the planet. Many of the buildings in the historic center have been damaged in the past by earthquakes, and more recently by pollution.
In the same part of the city there is also an extensive grassy area partly equipped as a park, with areas for sporting activities. This area constitutes an urban continuum with the rectangular one of the Royal Palace and its parks, enclosed by high walls and gates.
In the building expansion, the city chaotically incorporated nearby villages and small agglomerations, reaching and exceeding the banks of the aforementioned rivers until it completely joined with Patan, located south of the Bagmati and joined to Kathmandu by a large bridge.
Just north of the historic center and without interruption with it, starting from the 1980s, the tourist district of Thamel developed, also in this case quite chaotically, characterized by narrow streets bustling with pedal vehicles, motor and pedestrian areas, in which there are hundreds of hotels, guest houses, restaurants, bazaars, shops mostly for the use of Western tourists who flock to this part of the city both to visit its immense monumental heritage and to organize trips to other areas of Nepal for the purpose of trekking, river rafting or mountaineering.
The urban fabric of the city is therefore characterized by considerable urban disorder, which is also indicative of tumultuous urban and demographic growth: it is estimated that the population of the metropolitan area is growing at a rate of over 150,000 people per year. It is enough to observe for example that in Kathmandu the streets, with a few exceptions regarding the main arteries, do not have a name, which is why there are no addresses but we orient ourselves, for example, by referring to the main chowks: Indra Chowk, Asan Tole, Thaiti Tole, Chhetrapati and many others are the urban reference for the myriad of shops, homes, hotels and restaurants that are found in their surroundings, within a radius of 100 or 200 m depending on the case.
In the eastern area of the city, beyond the Bagmati River, stands the Tribhuvan airport which, although it is the only one in Nepal with an international character (direct connections with India, the Middle and Far East, but also with some cities in the 'Europe), is characterized by modest passenger traffic: less than 500,000 passengers/year.
The historic center has been included in the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO[7].
Since the 1960s, Kathmandu has become a very popular destination for Western tourists, and has turned into an obligatory stop for followers of hippie culture.
History
Kathmandu's main square in 1920. A sculpture dedicated to Bhairava is visible on the right
Kathmandu was founded by King Guna Kamadeva in 723 AD, and became the capital of united Nepal in 1768, after being taken by King Prithvi Narayan Shah.
According to an ancient Buddhist legend, the area in which it is located was once occupied by a lake, but Mañjuśrī, Buddha of Awareness, cut a hill with his sword creating the Chobar gorge, thus allowing the waters to flow and making the region habitable.
On 25 April 2015, a strong 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck all of Nepal, causing around 8,000 victims. The epicenter was located approximately 80 km northwest of Kathmandu.
The same topic in detail: Nepal earthquake of 25 April 2015.
Infrastructure and transport
Aerial view of a street in Kathmandu
The total extension of roads in Nepal amounts to 17,182 km (2003-2004 data); these dimensions, sufficiently large for the country, have helped the economic development of the nation, particularly in the fields of agriculture, horticulture, industry and tourism.[8] Given the hilly terrain, transportation in the Kathmandu area is mainly by road or air; the city is connected via the Tribhuvan Highway to the south, via the Prithvi Highway to the west and with the Araniko Highway to the north. The BP Koirala Highway connects Kathmandu with the eastern parts of Nepal, and is under construction.
The main international airport serving Kathmandu and therefore all of Nepal is Tribhuvan International Airport, located approximately 6 km from the city centre. Operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal[9], the airport has two terminals, one for domestic flights and one for international ones. Currently 22 airlines connect Nepal with other destinations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, with cities such as Istanbul, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Dhaka, Islamabad, Paro, Lhasa, Chengdu and Canton.[9] A recent expansion of the international terminal has made access to planes easier and from October 2009 it became possible to fly directly to Kathmandu from Amsterdam with TUIfly Nederland. Turkish Airlines has been connecting Istanbul to Kathmandu since 2013.[10] Regionally, several airlines operate, including Agni Air, Buddha Air, Cosmic Air, Nepal Airlines and Yeti Airlines, offering destinations throughout Nepal.
tour in the part with the presence of more temples and historical monuments of the city.
However, you can also take a tour in other areas of the city, getting lost in its streets.
to see the prayers at the temples it is best to take a tour at dawn, which is truly spectacular.
Katmandu[1], or also Kathmandu (pron. /katmanˈdu/[2]; in Nepali काठमाडौं, Kāṭhamāḍauṃ; anciently Kantipur, कान्तिपुर, Kāntipura; Yen in यें, Yeṃ), previously adapted into Italian as Catmandù[3 ][4][5], is the capital of Nepal, the largest Himalayan state in Asia. It is the largest metropolis of the state, with a population of 1.4 million in the city, which reaches 5 million in the Kathmandu Valley urban agglomeration, which includes the cities of Patan, Kirtipur, Madhyapur Thimi and Bhaktapur. Kathmandu is also the largest metropolis in the Himalayan hill region.
The city is located at a height of approximately 1,400 meters above sea level, in the basin of the Kathmandu Valley in central Nepal. The valley is historically called the "Nepal proper" and is the place of origin of the Newa people, a cosmopolitan urban civilization of the Himalayan hill region. The city was the royal capital of the Kingdom of Nepal and is home to the palaces, residences and gardens of the Nepalese aristocracy. It has been the seat of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) since 1985 and today is the seat of government of the Republic of Nepal established in 2008. It is part of the Bagmati Zone in Nepal's administrative geography.
Kathmandu has always been at the center of Nepal's history, art, culture and economy. It has a multi-ethnic population with a Hindu and Buddhist majority. Religious and cultural holidays form a large part of the lives of people residing in Kathmandu, and tourism is an important part of the economy of the city, which lies in the foothills of the Nepalese Himalayas. There are also several casinos in the city. In 2013, Kathmandu ranked third among the top ten best destinations in the world, according to TripAdvisor, and was the first city in Asia. Kathmandu's historic areas were devastated by the 7.8 local magnitude earthquake that hit the nation on 25 April 2015. The Nepali language is the main language spoken in the city, while the English language is understood by residents who attended schools.
Index
1 Physical geography
2 Features
3 History
4 Infrastructure and transport
5 Administration
5.1 Twinning
6 Image gallery
7 Notes
8 Related entries
9 Other projects
10 External links
Physical geography
Map of central Kathmandu
Urban expansion in Kathmandu, March 2015
Kathmandu is located in the northwestern part of the Kathmandu Valley, north of the Bagmati River, and covers an area of 50.7 km². The average elevation is 1,400 meters above sea level.[6] the city borders many other municipalities in the Valley: south of Bagmati is the sub-metropolitan city of Patan, with which it forms an urban area surrounded by a ring road. To the south-west it borders Kirtipur and to the east with the municipality of Madhyapur Thimi. To the north the urban area extends into several Village Development Committees. However, the urban agglomeration extends far beyond the neighboring municipalities, up to Bhaktapur and covers almost the entire Kathmandu Valley.
It is the largest city in the country, with a population of approximately 950,000 inhabitants in the urban area proper (2007 estimate). In the entire metropolitan area, which also includes the conurbed cities of Patan, Bhadgaon, Thimi and others, it exceeds two million inhabitants (2007 estimate).
It is located in the valley of the same name in central Nepal, and is lapped by the Bagmati and Vishnumati rivers. The latter flows into the former together with numerous other streams that drain the valley. These two rivers substantially delimit the urban area itself: the second touches it to the west, while the first, a river sacred to the Hindus, delimits it to the east and south, separating it from the adjacent city of Patan. The urban area is characterized by a morphology that presents numerous humps corresponding to the various hills that separate the valleys of the numerous waterways that flow into the Bagmati before it enters the famous Chobar Gorge.
The geographical coordinates of Kathmandu are 27°43' North, 85°22' East.
Characteristics
Pashupatinath Temple
The urban center of the city has a historical nucleus dating back mostly to the 17th century (late Malla era), which develops around the famous Durbar Square, full of Hindu temples. Numerous other temples stand isolated from each other at many road intersections (Nepali: chowk), so that hundreds of Hindu temples are concentrated in the city, as in the entire valley; among these the best known is that of Pashupatinath, on the banks of the sacred Bagmati river in whose vast area there are also numerous stone plinths suitable for pyres for the cremation of corpses, mostly aligned on the right bank of the watercourse. There are also numerous Buddhist sacred places such as the famous Swayambhunath (also known as the Monkey Temple), located on a hill to the west of the city; and that of Bodhnath in the eastern suburbs which is home to a sizeable Tibetan community that has escaped Chinese persecution. It is therefore no coincidence that in these places there is the greatest concentration of religious buildings on the planet. Many of the buildings in the historic center have been damaged in the past by earthquakes, and more recently by pollution.
In the same part of the city there is also an extensive grassy area partly equipped as a park, with areas for sporting activities. This area constitutes an urban continuum with the rectangular one of the Royal Palace and its parks, enclosed by high walls and gates.
In the building expansion, the city chaotically incorporated nearby villages and small agglomerations, reaching and exceeding the banks of the aforementioned rivers until it completely joined with Patan, located south of the Bagmati and joined to Kathmandu by a large bridge.
Just north of the historic center and without interruption with it, starting from the 1980s, the tourist district of Thamel developed, also in this case quite chaotically, characterized by narrow streets bustling with pedal vehicles, motor and pedestrian areas, in which there are hundreds of hotels, guest houses, restaurants, bazaars, shops mostly for the use of Western tourists who flock to this part of the city both to visit its immense monumental heritage and to organize trips to other areas of Nepal for the purpose of trekking, river rafting or mountaineering.
The urban fabric of the city is therefore characterized by considerable urban disorder, which is also indicative of tumultuous urban and demographic growth: it is estimated that the population of the metropolitan area is growing at a rate of over 150,000 people per year. It is enough to observe for example that in Kathmandu the streets, with a few exceptions regarding the main arteries, do not have a name, which is why there are no addresses but we orient ourselves, for example, by referring to the main chowks: Indra Chowk, Asan Tole, Thaiti Tole, Chhetrapati and many others are the urban reference for the myriad of shops, homes, hotels and restaurants that are found in their surroundings, within a radius of 100 or 200 m depending on the case.
In the eastern area of the city, beyond the Bagmati River, stands the Tribhuvan airport which, although it is the only one in Nepal with an international character (direct connections with India, the Middle and Far East, but also with some cities in the 'Europe), is characterized by modest passenger traffic: less than 500,000 passengers/year.
The historic center has been included in the list of World Heritage Sites by UNESCO[7].
Since the 1960s, Kathmandu has become a very popular destination for Western tourists, and has turned into an obligatory stop for followers of hippie culture.
History
Kathmandu's main square in 1920. A sculpture dedicated to Bhairava is visible on the right
Kathmandu was founded by King Guna Kamadeva in 723 AD, and became the capital of united Nepal in 1768, after being taken by King Prithvi Narayan Shah.
According to an ancient Buddhist legend, the area in which it is located was once occupied by a lake, but Mañjuśrī, Buddha of Awareness, cut a hill with his sword creating the Chobar gorge, thus allowing the waters to flow and making the region habitable.
On 25 April 2015, a strong 7.9 magnitude earthquake struck all of Nepal, causing around 8,000 victims. The epicenter was located approximately 80 km northwest of Kathmandu.
The same topic in detail: Nepal earthquake of 25 April 2015.
Infrastructure and transport
Aerial view of a street in Kathmandu
The total extension of roads in Nepal amounts to 17,182 km (2003-2004 data); these dimensions, sufficiently large for the country, have helped the economic development of the nation, particularly in the fields of agriculture, horticulture, industry and tourism.[8] Given the hilly terrain, transportation in the Kathmandu area is mainly by road or air; the city is connected via the Tribhuvan Highway to the south, via the Prithvi Highway to the west and with the Araniko Highway to the north. The BP Koirala Highway connects Kathmandu with the eastern parts of Nepal, and is under construction.
The main international airport serving Kathmandu and therefore all of Nepal is Tribhuvan International Airport, located approximately 6 km from the city centre. Operated by the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal[9], the airport has two terminals, one for domestic flights and one for international ones. Currently 22 airlines connect Nepal with other destinations in Europe, Asia and the Middle East, with cities such as Istanbul, Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Calcutta, Singapore, Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, Dhaka, Islamabad, Paro, Lhasa, Chengdu and Canton.[9] A recent expansion of the international terminal has made access to planes easier and from October 2009 it became possible to fly directly to Kathmandu from Amsterdam with TUIfly Nederland. Turkish Airlines has been connecting Istanbul to Kathmandu since 2013.[10] Regionally, several airlines operate, including Agni Air, Buddha Air, Cosmic Air, Nepal Airlines and Yeti Airlines, offering destinations throughout Nepal.
Waypoints
Waypoint
4,183 ft
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