Bhaktapur Durbar Square

Bhaktapur Durbar Square is the historic heart of Bhaktapur, an ancient city in the Kathmandu Valley that was once the capital of a powerful medieval kingdom. The square is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and contains a remarkable concentration of temples, palaces, courtyards, and shrines built between the 12th and 18th centuries by the Malla kings, who poured their wealth and ambition into extraordinary works of brick and carved wood. Unlike the other two durbar squares in the valley — in Kathmandu and Patan — Bhaktapur's has a more coherent, lived-in feel. The 2015 earthquake caused significant damage across the valley, but Bhaktapur's square has been carefully restored and remains the most intact of the three.

Wandering the square, you move through a series of distinct zones. The western end is anchored by the 55-Window Palace, a 17th-century royal residence with intricate peacock-motif carvings on its famous window. Nearby, the National Art Museum occupies former palace rooms and houses thangka paintings, manuscripts, and bronze work. The Nyatapola Temple — a soaring five-tiered pagoda built in 1702 and the tallest temple in Nepal — dominates the Taumadhi Square just east. Potters, priests, and schoolchildren share the same stone-paved lanes, and the smell of burning incense competes with freshly made juju dhau, the celebrated creamy buffalo-milk yogurt that Bhaktapur is famous for producing.

Bhaktapur charges a foreign visitor entry fee (currently around $15 USD), which is collected at the city entrances — keep your ticket because it's sometimes checked again inside. The fee is worth it: it funds maintenance and keeps the area relatively tourist-light compared to Thamel in Kathmandu. Arrive early in the morning when the light is soft and the devotees are actively performing puja at the shrines. The square and surrounding old town are best explored on foot, and the lanes beyond the main square — toward the pottery district of Dattatraya Square — are worth every extra step.