Overview
This 3-day Bandipur and Pokhara tour is the short version of our Kathmandu, Bandipur and Pokhara road trip, built for travellers with a long weekend rather than a week. You drive from Kathmandu to Bandipur, a hilltop Newar trading town where the old bazaar is closed to traffic, and spend the evening on its stone-paved street. Next morning you continue to Pokhara for an afternoon of sightseeing around Phewa Lake. On the last day you are up early for sunrise at Sarangkot before the drive back to Kathmandu. It suits couples, friends and families who want two contrasting places in three days and do not mind two long days on the road.
The itinerary
- Morning departure by private vehicle west along the Prithvi Highway
- About five to six hours on the road, turning off at Dumre for the 8 km climb to the town
- Afternoon walk through the traffic-free bazaar and its old Newar town houses
- Sunset from Tundikhel, looking north over the Marsyangdi valley to the Himalaya
- Quiet morning in the bazaar before the shops open, then breakfast
- Two to three hours' drive on to Pokhara
- Afternoon sightseeing: Davis Falls, Gupteshwor Cave and the World Peace Pagoda above Phewa Lake
- Evening free at Lakeside
- Pre-dawn drive of 30 to 45 minutes up to Sarangkot, about 1,600 m
- Sunrise over Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Machhapuchhre when the sky is clear
- Back to the hotel for breakfast and check-out
- Six to nine hours by road to Kathmandu, arriving in the evening
What the price covers
Things to carry
- Warm layer for the early mornings
- Comfortable shoes for stone streets and steps
- Sun hat and sunscreen
- Light rain jacket
- Refillable water bottle and snacks for the drives
Good to know
Complete guide
This is the three-day way to see Bandipur and Pokhara by road from Kathmandu. It gives you one evening in a preserved hill town, one afternoon in the lake city and a sunrise over the Annapurna range, with the driving split so no single day is only a highway. We arrange the private vehicle and driver, your guide and your hotels.
What the 3-day Bandipur and Pokhara tour covers
Day one takes you from Kathmandu to Bandipur, a Newar town on a ridge at 1,030 m (3,380 ft), for an afternoon on its traffic-free bazaar and sunset at Tundikhel. Day two is the shorter drive on to Pokhara, about 822 m, with an afternoon at Davis Falls, Gupteshwor Cave and the World Peace Pagoda. Day three begins before dawn at Sarangkot, about 1,600 m (5,249 ft), then you drive back to Kathmandu.
There is no trekking. The walking is on stone streets, cave steps and short paths to viewpoints.
In Pokhara, Davis Falls is where the outflow from Phewa Lake drops into a gorge and runs underground, reappearing in Gupteshwor Cave across the road, a Shiva shrine reached by a damp stairway. The World Peace Pagoda, a white Buddhist stupa on Anadu Hill at about 1,100 m, looks back over the lake to the mountains.
How this short version compares with the longer ones
We run the same route in three lengths, and the difference is time, not places. This three-day getaway gives you the essentials at a brisk pace. The four-day Bandipur and Pokhara lakeside tour adds an afternoon on Phewa Lake with kayaking, the island temple of Tal Barahi and the evening aarti, and a full day of Pokhara sightseeing. The five-day Bandipur, Pokhara and Kathmandu tour also includes time in Kathmandu itself. If you have closer to a week and want nothing rushed, the Kathmandu, Pokhara and Bandipur relaxed tour is the slow version.
Choose this one if three days is what you have, or if you have already seen Kathmandu and want a short break out of the valley.
Bandipur: the hill town between the two cities
Bandipur is 143 km west of Kathmandu and 8 km up a side road from Dumre on the highway. Newar traders from Bhaktapur developed it after 1768 as a stop on the India to Tibet trade route, and their brick houses with carved windows and doorways still line the stone-paved main street. With no cars in the bazaar, the evenings are quiet in a way Pokhara's Lakeside is not. Below the town, Siddha Cave, discovered in 1987 and rich in stalactites and stalagmites, is said to be the largest cave in the Himalayan region; it needs more time than this short trip allows.
From Tundikhel, the open ground at the end of the bazaar, a clear evening shows Dhaulagiri, Machhapuchhre, Manaslu, Ganesh Himal and Langtang above the Marsyangdi valley. If you are up early, the hilltop shrine of Thani Mai is about 30 minutes' walk from the bazaar.
Two driving days: what the road is really like
Kathmandu to Bandipur takes about five to six hours and Bandipur to Pokhara two to three. The return from Pokhara to Kathmandu is the long one, six to nine hours depending on traffic and roadworks, and it comes straight after an early Sarangkot start. The Prithvi Highway is paved but winding and busy with lorries, and landslides can close sections in the monsoon. We drive in daylight with an experienced driver and build in time for delays.
When to go and who it suits
October to February is the clearest and driest time, with cold mornings at Sarangkot and Bandipur. Spring is warm but hazier, and June to September brings heavy rain and fewer views. The trip suits couples, friends, families and short breaks from India. It is not ideal for anyone who dislikes long days in a vehicle; for them we would suggest one of the longer versions or a single base in Pokhara.
Tell us your dates and how you like to travel, and we will say honestly which length fits.
