Almost everything worth seeing around Thankot sits within four kilometres of the point where the Tribhuvan Highway crosses the western rim of the Kathmandu Valley. The Chandragiri cable car lifts you from that junction to a ridge at 2,551 metres in about ten minutes; the Mahalaxmi pagoda of roughly 1690 stands ten minutes north of it on foot; and the valley's oldest large public park, two sacred ponds and the grave of the general who besieged Kathmandu are all within a short ride.
That density is the argument for coming here rather than driving further out. One unhurried day covers the ridge, a Malla temple and a park. Two days adds the Dahachowk ridge, where Indra Daha and the Kalu Pande memorial park look west towards Gorkha, and leaves room to walk up Chandragiri instead of riding.
Each page below carries the same set of facts: what it costs, when it opens, how long to allow, whether shoes come off, what you can actually see on a clear day and how to get there by bus. Where a figure could not be verified it is given as a range with a note to confirm it, because an honest range is more use than a confident wrong number.
