Changu Narayan

Of everywhere we went in the Kathmandu Valley, Changu Narayan is the place I recommend most and the place I hear back about least, which tells me most people are skipping it entirely. That’s a mistake — this is the oldest surviving temple in the valley, with inscriptions dating to the 5th century, and the day we visited we shared the courtyard with maybe a dozen other people total.

A Temple Older Than the Country’s Written History

The current structure has been rebuilt more than once after fires and the 2015 earthquake, but the stone sculptures scattered around its courtyard are genuinely ancient — a stone pillar with a Licchavi-era inscription from 464 CE, the oldest dated inscription in Nepal, standing almost unremarked-upon near the temple’s edge. The wood carvings on the pagoda’s struts are extraordinary too: multi-armed deities, mythological creatures, and erotic scenes carved with a level of detail that made me stand under the eaves far longer than the guidebook’s three-paragraph entry had prepared me for.

The Garuda and the Golden Gate

Near the temple’s entrance stands a stone statue of Garuda, the half-man, half-eagle vehicle of Vishnu, kneeling with hands pressed together — one of the oldest and most photographed sculptures in the complex, though when we were there, nobody was photographing it at all. A gilded torana above one doorway depicts a battle scene rendered in repoussé metalwork so fine it looked machine-made until Lia pointed out the small irregularities that gave away centuries-old hands.

The Ridge Walk From Bhaktapur

The best way to arrive, if you have the legs for it, is the roughly two-hour walk up from Bhaktapur through pine forest and small farming villages, rather than the direct taxi. We did it this way, stopping twice for tea at farmhouses that had clearly set up small stalls specifically for the trickle of hikers taking this route, and arrived at the temple grounds already unhurried in a way that suited the place perfectly.

When to go: Year-round, though clear autumn mornings (October to December) make the hike up from Bhaktapur most pleasant. Go on a weekday if you want the courtyard close to empty, as we had it.