The third largest town in the Kathmandu Valley is 14km southeast from the capital and has the best Durbar Squre, and the best-conserved temples, the most beautiful stone-monsters, the highest pagodas in the country, and the highest entry fee as well – that is, if you are not local. The fee is roughly five times higher than in Kathmandu or Patan, and it equals a local month's salary. I understand that there are different views in the issue of discriminating between tourists and locals, and I will not use this space for a debate on the subject: I just will describe a legal way of seeing the wonders without paying the fee.
Reaching the town is easy. From the Clock Tower in downtown Kathmandu, there are frequent buses that cost 10NRP, or you can take a tuk-tuk there for 250 to 300NRP. The buses terminal in Bhaktapur is outside the area enclosed for tourists, and that is very convenient for finding a guesthouse. The Nepali authorities separated the medieval center of the town from the rest of the city, and tourists willing to enter there between 8am and 6pm need to pay an entrance fee of 1000NRP, the same amount you pay for a 1-month permit for trekking in the Everest area. The regular tourists’ guesthouses and hotels are all within that area, and thus most visitors surrender to the imposed policy without thinking twice. However, there is another choice. Hotels and guesthouses catering for locals will happily accept you, and they are scattered all over the place. Many restaurants are the front of these, and you can ask while eating a tasty local dish. Maybe they are of lower quality of the guesthouses in the center, but they are better than most options you find during a trek in Nepal. For the night or two you will spend here, they are perfect – and you will be directly contributing to the economy of local people: the guesthouses in the centre belong usually to government officers from Kathmandu.
The best thing of such a strategy is that it will leave the medieval parts of the city open to you before 8am and after 6pm. Before 8am, you will have the town for yourself: the crowded temples that hosts thousands of tourists during the day, will provide, at this hour, beautiful, unobstructed pictures. From sunrise until the official opening, you will have a couple of hours, more than enough for visiting the whole site. After 6pm, you can join the crowds in the colorful night markets of the place.
The 10 hours in between are not wasted; you can used them for a visit to Nagarkot (see separate entry) or to wander around the other parts of the town. Bhaktapur is the main center for artisans in the valley, and the tortured alleys of its outskirts hide wonderful sights.
The centre includes three main areas of interest:
Durbar Square
This Durbar Square is much larger than Kathmandu's, and despite the 1934 earthquake, it still has many temples. Just inside the gate on the left, the multi-armed couple Bhairab and Ugrachandi guard another gate, and legend tells that after the sculptor completed them in 1701, his hands were cut off to prevent him from creating masterpieces elsewhere. To the right is a cluster of temples, the largest of which is dedicated to Krishna. The Royal Palace encloses the north side of the square, and like the square itself, it is only a fraction of what it once was. Its west wing houses the National Art Gallery, which displays Newari Paubha and Tibetan Thanka paintings. Next door is the acclaimed Garuda-topped Golden Gate, which was built in the early 18th century by King Bhupatindra Malla, who in golden form himself kneels atop a stone pillar facing the gate. A guard blocks foreigners from entering, but there is plenty to admire from outside the Fifty-Five Windows Palace. Behind the king's pillar is the elephant-flanked stone Vatsala Durga Temple, built in the mid-18th century in the shikhara style.
The small bell next to it is known as the Bell of the Barking Dogs, whose peal is said to make dogs howl. The larger Taleju Bell was used to call humans to prayer. The next temple is the Chyasilin Mandapa, or Octagonal Pavilion, which is a 1990 reconstruction incorporating fragments of the 18th-century original. In the eastern section of the square, around the corner of the palace, are several more temples and temples foundations, the most interesting of which is the 17th-century stone Siddhi Lakshmi Temple, with its procession of animals and people on either side of the stairs. The souvenir shops that surround this part of the square were once dharamshalas (pilgrims' rest houses). In a courtyard to the right, off the far end of the square, is Tadhunchen Bahal, a 15th-century monastery, holy for both Hindus and Buddhists. Back in the southeast corner of the main part of the square, the Pashupatinath Mandir contains a 17th-century reproduction of the linga at Pashupatinath and is the most active of the square temples. Pay attention to the creative couples’ sculpted on the roof struts.
Taumadhi Tole
Taumadhi Tole is a secondary square that features Nyatapola, the highest temple in Nepal, and Til Mahadev Narayan, an important place of pilgrimage. It is connected to Durbar Square by a short shop-lined street. The red five-story pagoda of Nyatapola was built in 1702. Five pairs of stone creatures flank the stairs to the temple. Each pair of guardians is said to be ten times stronger than the one below, starting with a tremendous pair of Malla wrestlers, who themselves are ten times more powerful than the average man. Next are a pair of elephants, followed by lions, giraffes, and finally the goddesses Bahini (the Tigress) and Singhini (the Lioness). The image of the goddess Siddhi Lakshmi, to whom the temple is devoted, is locked inside the temple, accessible only to priests. The eastern side of the square is dominated by the comparably solid Bhairabnath Mandir, which was built as a single story temple in the 17th century. A second story was added during the 18th century, and the entire temple was rebuilt with the existing three stories after the 1934 earthquake. The golden image of Bhairab is miniscule in proportion to the temple as a whole. A doorway in the building at the south side of the square leads to a courtyard filled by the Til Mahadev Narayan Mandir, a 17th-century temple (on an 11th-century temple site) reminiscent of Changu Narayan with its pillar-mounted golden Garuda, chakra, and sankha. Til means "sesame seed," and its use in the temple's name is said to have come from a Thimi merchant who had a vision of Narayan in his stock of sesame seeds. Nearby is Potters' Square, where thousands of clay pots are made and sold.
Tachapal Tole
East from there, a wide, curving street of shops catering to locals links Taumadhi Tole to Tachapal Tole. The oldest square in Bhaktapur is also known as Dattratraya Square. Dattratraya is considered an incarnation of Vishnu, a guru of Shiva and a cousin of the Buddha. The wooden buildings in the square were once maths, residences for priests. The Dattratraya Mandir presides over the square from the eastern end. Built in 1427, it is the oldest surviving building in Bhaktapur and, like other famous structures in the valley, is said to have been built with the wood of just one tree. A pair of colorful Malla wrestlers guards the entrance, creating a contrast to the temple, whose beauty lies in its detailed woodcarvings. A Garuda faces the temple from the top of a stone pillar. At the opposite end of the square is the rectangular Bhimsen Temple, which honors the favorite god of Newari merchants. The ground floor of the temple is open for business, while the shrine is upstairs. Behind the Dattratraya temple are two museums housed in maths. To the left, the Brass and Bronze Museum displays a collection of functional objects such as lamps, cooking pots, hookahs, spittoons, and ritual paraphernalia. Opposite in Pujari Math is the National Art Gallery Woodcarving Museum, worth visiting more for its magnificent courtyard than for its artifacts. Around the corner, on another side of Pujari Math, is the famous Peacock window, which is supposed to be the pinnacle of Bhaktapur woodcarving.