Pokhara

Pokhara is where Nepal relaxes. It sits at 822 metres on a lake, thirty kilometres from mountains over eight thousand metres high, which is a compression of geography you do not get anywhere else. On a clear morning the Annapurnas and Machhapuchhre stand at the end of the street.

It is also the most touristed place in the country after Thamel, and Lakeside is a strip of restaurants, gear shops and pashmina. That is not a criticism, after two weeks on a trek it is exactly what you want, but it is not the whole town, and people who never leave it come away thinking Pokhara is a resort.

The lake

Phewa Tal is the second largest lake in Nepal and the reason the town exists in its current form. Hire a wooden boat by the hour, either rowed for you or rowed yourself, and go out to Tal Barahi, the small island temple in the middle, which is busy with Nepali visitors on Saturdays and quiet on weekday mornings.

The still-water reflection of Machhapuchhre that appears on every poster is a real thing, and it happens for about an hour after sunrise on windless days between October and December.

The World Peace Pagoda stands on the ridge across the water. Boat over and walk up in about forty minutes, or drive round. The view back over the lake with the range behind it is the best single viewpoint in town, and going up at the end of the day and coming down in the dark with a torch is worth doing.

Sarangkot and the flying

Sarangkot is at 1,592 metres on the ridge north of the lake, about forty minutes by road. It is the sunrise spot, and it is crowded at sunrise. It is also the paragliding launch, and Pokhara is one of the best places in the world to fly: reliable thermals, a lake to land beside, and a mountain wall to fly along.

A tandem flight is twenty to thirty minutes for the standard version and there is no experience needed. Longer cross-country and “parahawking” flights exist. The industry here is well established and mostly well run; ask what the pilot’s licence is, how many flights they have, and whether they will cancel for weather. A pilot who will not cancel is the wrong pilot.

The rest of the town

The old bazaar, in the north, is the pre-tourism Pokhara: Newar shopfronts, brassware, and the Bindhyabasini temple on a hill above it. Almost nobody from Lakeside goes there and it is a twenty-minute ride.

The International Mountain Museum covers Himalayan geology, the ethnic groups of the ranges and the history of the climbs, and it is better than it needs to be.

Begnas Lake, fifteen kilometres east, is what Phewa was thirty years ago. Fewer boats, no strip, and homestays around the edge.

Davis Falls and Gupteshwor cave are the standard half-day and they are underwhelming outside the monsoon.

Using it properly

Most people arrive in Pokhara either the day before a trek or the day after one, and the two visits should look different.

Before: get the permits done, buy or hire what you are missing, and go to bed. Gear here is cheaper than Kathmandu for hire and mixed for buying.

After: do nothing for two days. This is the single most-repeated regret from people who flew home the day they walked out of the mountains.

Do not book a flight out of Nepal within 48 hours of a trek finishing. Domestic flights from Jomsom and Lukla are cancelled for weather routinely and the road alternatives take days.

Practical things

• Flights from Kathmandu are 25 minutes and are cancelled in poor visibility. The road is seven to nine hours and can be much longer with landslides in the monsoon.
• The airport. A new international airport opened in 2023 but scheduled international traffic through it has been limited; assume you are flying via Kathmandu unless your ticket says otherwise.
• ACAP permit and TIMS card for any Annapurna trek can be issued here at the tourist office, and it is quicker than doing it in Kathmandu.
• The lake is not for swimming. Water quality varies and there are no lifeguards.