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The Kingdom of Art: Guide to Patan Durbar Square

Last Updated: November 15, 2023 · Nepal

When you visit Patan Durbar Square in Lalitpur, located just a few miles south of Kathmandu, you’ll feel as if you are wandering around an ancient, open-air museum.

Of the three Durbar Squares of Kathmandu Valley (Kathmandu Durbar Square and Bhaktapur Durbar Square), Patan is one of my favorites—for reasons you’ll discover in this post!

The beautiful and ancient temples and pagodas of Patan Durbar Square

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links that may earn me a small commission should you decide to click through and make a valid purchase (at no extra cost to you). Thanks so much for your support!

If it’s your first time visiting Nepal, then it may be helpful to know that Durbar Square simply means palace square—where the royal families of the then-independent and separate kingdoms resided.

The three independent Newar kingdoms of Kathmandu Valley (Kantipur, now Kathmandu City; Lalitpur; and Bhadgoan now Bhaktapur) existed before Nepal’s unification in the 18th century.

These ancient kingdoms are beautifully preserved, and visiting one (or all!) is a must-do while in Nepal.

Patan Durbar Square is particularly eye-pleasing as it has gorgeous Newari architecture and art.

It also is home to one of Nepal’s most famous and sacred temples—Krishna Mandir, which is said to be carved from one stone inspired by King Siddhi Narsing Malla’s dreams.

View of Krishna Mandir temple from the Royal Palace windows in Patan Durbar Square.
View of Krishna Mandir from the second-floor windows of the museum

I learned about all the above and below on my private guided tour of Patan Durbar Square!

I have also visited Patan several times in the past, however many years ago (2015-2016), when I lived in Kathmandu.

However, back then, many of the structures were under reconstruction after the devasting earthquakes. So my most recent visit was quite a wonderful refresher!

Before you set out to visit Patan Durbar Square, here’s what you should know to make for a more well-informed, observant, and fun visit!

Table of Contents show
Your Guide to Patan Durbar Square
Cost & Time to Visit Patan Durbar Square
Should You Take a Tour of Patan Durbar Square?
Recommended Guided Tours Patan Durbar
What to See & Do in Patan Durbar Square

Your Guide to Patan Durbar Square

Local life and main entrance to Patan Durbar Square
Newari Nepali boy washing hand at Manga Hiti fountain in Patan Durbar Square.
A boy washes his hands and drinks from the Manga Hiti fountain

Cost & Time to Visit Patan Durbar Square

There are several ways to access Patan Durbar Square, but only one where you can purchase the official entry ticket which costs 1000 Nprs, or around $10 USD. Here are the costs for all the heritage sites in Kathmandu Valley, Lumbini, and Chitwan.

PS — If you’re thinking of accessing Patan Durbar Square via the back streets, just know that one of the patrolling guards will eventually ask you to show your ticket.

Cars and pedestrians on a street beside the entrance to Patan Durbar Square in Lalitpur.
Motorcyclist and street shops around Patan Durbar Square, Kathmandu, Nepal.
The maze of shops and sidestreets encircling Patan Durbar Square

Should You Take a Tour of Patan Durbar Square?

You don’t need to take a guide in order to enjoy Patan’s riches, but if you do, you will certainly learn heaps about the Newar architecture, history, and religious symbology (both Hinduism and Buddhism thrive in Patan Durbar Square).

I arrived on site and decided to hire a local certified guide on the spot. His name was Ram, and he has been offering private tours for thirty-five years, making him “the elder” of the eighteen tour guides in the area.

You can also pre-book tours of Patan online here

A man sits on ledge in front of a Ganesh statue in Patan Durbar Square.
A statue of Ganesh, as seen in front of the Royal Palace Complex
Nepali boy at ancient fountain in Patan.
The ancient working fountain of Patan Durbar Square (570 AD)

Option 1: DIY Tour

If you go the do-it-yourself route and decide to visit Patan Durbar Square without a guide, then take note of these important temples and structures:

  • Patan Royal Palace Complex — inside this former palace you can visit the bottom and upper floors as well as the three decorated inner courtyards (Mul Chowk, Sundari Chowk, and Keshab Narayan Chowk) and the exterior garden and bath (Bhandarkal).
  • Krishna Mandir — one of the most famous temples in Nepal.
  • Golden Temple (Hiryanya Varna Mahavihar) — A gorgeous, golden temple! Step inside the healing bowl shop behind the temple on your left for a free demonstration. The Golden Temple costs an extra NPR 100 to visit.
A woman prays in the corner beside a row of golden prayer wheels.
A Nepali woman sits behind a row of golden prayer flag wheels at the Golden Temple in Patan Durbar Square, Lalitpur.
Scenes from inside the Golden Temple
  • Vishwanath Temple — Lord Shiva’s temple, marked by his animal vehicle, the bull, and two elephants by the entrance.
  • Patan Museum — A must-visit when in Patan! Included in your NPR 1000 Patan entry ticket. Here is the Patan Museum brochure in English.
  • Manga Hiti (Fountain) — An ancient fountain (built in 570 AD) that is still working today, bringing fresh water into the Mangal Bazar from the Himalayas.
  • Mahaboudha — The “Temple of a Thousand Buddhas” with around one thousand images of Lord Buddha.

This brief list just merely scratches the surface as there are 55 temples and over 100 courtyards.

Inside the Patan Museum in Patan Durbar Square.
Inside the Patan Museum
The former royal bath (Bhandarkal) with the royal palace and Patan pagodas in the background.
The former royal bath of Bhandalkar

Recommended Guided Tours Patan Durbar

Option 2: Hire a guide on-site

  • Cost: Up to 2000 Rs ($15-20 USD) per person for a 1-1.5 hours visit
  • Where: Find the official (licensed) tour guides near the entrance where you buy your Patan ticket

Option 3: Book a private tour online

  • Private tour of Bhaktapur and Patan Durbar Square
    • From $49 USD per person
    • 6 hours private tour of both sites
    • Led by Breakfree Adventures (Tours & Trekking)
  • 7 UNESCO Heritage Sites Day Tour (so not just Patan, but also the other Durbar Squares plus the heritage sites of Boudhanath, Swayambunath, etc)
    • From $49.50 (on sale)
    • 8 hours
    • Led by Himalayan Social Journey

🎟️ Note that even if you hire a guide or book a tour online, you may still have to pay the 100 Rs entrance fee to visit the Golden Temple, located down an alley behind Patan Durbar Square. The Patan Museum entrance fee was included in my tour though.

The benefit of hiring a guide is that you get to see things that are hidden in plain sight.

There were so many things and symbolisms that I wouldn’t have discovered by simply walking around on my own (like the Kamasutra carvings, lol!).

A temple pagoda and a courtyard inside the royal palace complex of Patan.
Sunset behind Krishna Mandir temple with pedestrians and crowd in front.
A man walks past the opening of a palace door in Patan's royal palace complex.

What to See & Do in Patan Durbar Square

With so much to see and do in Patan, you could easily spend a whole morning or afternoon here.

What you do and how you spend your time will largely vary on whether or not you choose to go around with a guide.

A golden statue and relic of Buddha's mother with baby Buddha coming out of her armpit.
Buddha’s mother with baby Buddha underneath her armpit (inside the Golden Temple)
Three Buddhist and Hindu statues inside the Golden Temple of Patan Durbar Square.
Golden Temple

Whether you do or don’t, some of the things that stood out to me—and that I enjoyed learning about—were the:

  • Manga Hiti fountain
  • Kamasutra carvings and the “vehicles” of each Hindu god facing the temple
  • Lions or other animals in front of the temple entrances which represent yin and yang (always one male and one female)
  • Newar windows for the women to peer out of the former palace
  • Bhadalkar bath
  • The sacrifice of 108 animals for the Dashain festival
  • Shiva lingam symbol of fertility
  • Krishna Mandir with Garuda vehicle out front
  • Thankpa paintings and the representation of the mandala
  • Healing bowl demonstration/shop (location) and the 7 chakras and the full moon symbology (inside the Golden Temple)

You can read the description of more temples here and learn more about the Patan Museum here.

A healing bowl center and store behind the Golden Temple in Patan Durbar Square.
The healing bowl center behind the Golden Temple
A Nepali woman demonstrates the sound of a large healing bowl.
Step inside for a healing bowl demo and explanation!

Other than wandering around and learning about the rich history, architecture, and culture that makes Patan Durbar Square such an open-air museum, other things to do here include shopping and visiting a rooftop cafe.

For shopping, Patan is a fantastic place for Thankpa paintings, healing bowls, hand-crafted rugs, jewelry, and street food.

Strolling (and getting lost) around the backstreets around Patan is a must, if you have the time!

For the rooftop cafes, pop into Cafe du Temple, Casa Pagoda, Yala Cafe & Coffee Shop, or Durbar Cafe for the best views and atmosphere of Patan Durbar Square.

A local Nepali woman is painting Thankpa Tibetan mandala art at a school in Patan Durbar Square.
Thangka art
A rooftop cafe in Patan overlooking an ancient temple pagoda.
One of the handful of rooftop cafes around Patan

If you want to visit Patan multiple times on your trip to Nepal, then simply take your ticket stub and passport to the museum counter to get a special ticket that allows you to come back without having to pay the entrance fee again.

You can also do this for the other Durbar Squares in Kathmandu Valley. Patan is one of my favorite areas to visit in Lalitpur and Kathmandu Valley, so this little tip of the hat came in quite handy!

I hope this simple but essential guide to Patan Durbar Square helps plan your trip! Feel free to share your experiences or questions in the comments below.

By: Bri · In: Nepal

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Here’s how I did it! 🦋

↯ ↯ ↯

THEORY 📚

1.  Getting familiar with SEO, better blog writing, structure, site speed, etc. I grew two successful niche blogs before ever turning my focus on my travel blog, so when I finally did start, I already had a good foundational knowledge of what to do + how to improve!
 
2. Believing I could do this and actually saying out loud that I was a blogger / writer. 
I waited a LONG time to give myself permission to take action. I used to say allll the time, “If only I had started sooner” — so much so, that I got sick hearing myself repeat it — so I decided to start. I took my travel blog seriously at the end of 2019, right before you know what… But that didn’t stop me and after travel picked back up, so did my traffic (and quickly!)

PRACTICE 💻

3. I adapted to the changing blog landscape and prioritized valuable long-form content and originality > shortcuts

4. I put my head down, grit my teeth, and focused on my output. 
For a month straight, I’d wake up at 6AM, make tea, and then blog until 12PM. After lunch, I’d write a 3k-word blog post for my freelance client, and then I’d spend the remaining afternoon and evening publishing my blog post from that morning, and starting on the next one. I grew so much during that time (from 12k to 30k+ sessions), & it showed me just how powerful FOCUS was. I was quickly ranking in organic search results so traffic (+ earnings) came in fast. 

5. I grew authoritative content hubs and internal links 🕸️

6. I prioritized my goals: writing, and earning sustainable, passive income from my blog > growing on social media to score brand deals that would take me away from writing 

7. I started another (niche) travel blog to keep learning, experimenting, and putting my skills to the test!

8. I created a mastermind and community of travel bloggers @bootstrapblogging. The community helps SO MUCH in overcoming stagnancy & loneliness (because blogging can be a lone-wolf gig). 

9. I keep my blog ethics close to heart and keep my focus on what impact I want to have. This is crucial because burn out happens so quick with blogging!

IF I CAN, YOU CAN TOO!! 💛

#travelblogging #travelblogger #blogtips
The adventures that your soul craves, that mine cr The adventures that your soul craves, that mine craves, originates from a curious desire to go beyond — to seek, to learn, to travel deeper beyond what is known, what is familiar.

If you dare not to live outside your comfort zone, then you will default to comfort. 

It is not easy to choose different or difficult, but it is always, always worthwhile ⚡✨

#traveldeeper #slowtravel #mindfultravel #liveadventurously #adventureanywhere
How to travel more locally ⬇️ I believe local How to travel more locally ⬇️

I believe local travel / responsible tourism can have a long-lasting, positive, and powerful radiating effect on both the individual and on the communities and destinations they visit — starting with an internal (and eternal) spark, a seedling… one of inspiration, love, and connection 🥹💛

(Add a healthy dose of adventure, and voilà — my favorite travel recipe!)

🎥 footage is all from my 3-night stay with the indigenous Tharu women and families of the Barauli village nearby Chitwan National Park, in the lowlands of Nepal.

Read below if you want to have more local experiences like this ❤️

🏡HOMESTAYS
Not all destinations offer homestays, but many around the world do! I found this homestay in Nepal through @communityhomestaynetwork 

*If I don’t lodge with a homestay, I’ll seek out eco boutique hotels, guesthouses, or local Airbnbs

🔍RESEARCH / DEEP TRAVEL
Do research about local activities and organizations in advance and make the effort to include these off-beat or underrated places/things to do in your itinerary. 
Search Google for the destination + words like ecotourism, responsible travel, local, community tourism, women-owned businesses, etc, to see what surfaces. I’ll also check Instagram and tourism board websites + social accounts.

🌿BOOK TOURS RESPONSIBLY
Really take a moment to vet the tours you find online before you book!
> How do they operate? Are they local, employing locals, benefiting local communities? Do they operate transparently? Can you find more info about their mission, sustainability actions, certifications, etc? 

💰WHERE DOES YOUR MONEY GO?
Local bus vs private taxi,
Local food vs international restaurants
Local shops vs commercial stores
… Being mindful of how your money supports your host community/destination is meaningful and can totally transform your travel experience(s) 🙏

Choosing the local route opens up so many new opportunities for discovery and connection!! 

✨Share this to your story if it resonates + follow for more adventures abroad + local travel tips! ✨

#localtravel #chitwan #adventuretravel #mindfultravel #nepaltravel #responsibletourism #barauli #homestay
Mexico with mummy pt. 1 🌵 Last November, Paul Mexico with mummy pt. 1 🌵 

Last November, Paul and I slow-traveled and lived for 6 months in La Paz, the capital of Baja California Sur where we basked in the sunshine, dove with sea lions, and ate our weight in fish tacos 🌮 

(Peep my La Paz blog guides for all the juicy deets)🧃👀 

Some of you may remember La Paz is also where I started my Invisalign treatment earlier this year (update: my bottom teethies are nearly straight!!) so here we are six months later to pick up my second load of trays, but this time I brought mom along for the ride to show her around some of my favorite places😃 

Highlights from La Paz (except for the first)👇

💀 Face painting for Día de Muertos in Oaxaca
🌊 Playa Tecolote, one of the best beaches next to Balandra Bay
💡 When in La Paz
🍕 The BEST Naples pizza + burrata salad @ La Casa Madre 
🦋 New baby tats thanks to @tattooinknm
🌞 Sunset and sunken ships from the hurricane
💻 Snuck in a bit of blogging 
🍻 Beach beers!
♟️ My favorite little park in La Paz with a giant chessboard (Parque Piedras y Pájaros)
✈️ We got a plane to catch! La Paz > Oaxaca 

Being back in La Paz made me super nostalgic 🥲 
Revisiting a place after spending an extended amount of time there is always a strange feeling; you feel at home yet you're still a visitor, a tourist, with much to discover. You see people from the community you started to build, but before you know it you are packing your bag and saying goodbye again. I even had to go pick up some clothes we left in our last apartment 🙈

As bittersweet as it is, I'm so grateful for the "slomad" life. And also very grateful to be able to share some of the places close to my heart with my mom 🇬🇧 

I'm not sure exactly when I'll be in La Paz again (if not for my teeth, lol, which is not a bad place to "have to go back to" for that, right?) but I know that this wasn't my last visit 🥲 

#lapazmexico #bajacaliforniasur #mexico #mommydaughtertrip #golapaz #lapazbcs
Alone but not lonely is my new mantra 💛 I am s Alone but not lonely is my new mantra 💛

I am so proud of and grateful for the version of myself that solo travel has made me to step into... 🤗

10 years ago, even if I had already been living abroad, the thought of eating ALONE in a restaurant or taking myself out alone (not to mention traveling through different countries alone) just baffled me — literally, I didn’t understand what the attraction was to do such things alone! 
But now... OH MY GOODNESS 😱 total transformation. Now I’ve solo traveled abroad in Portugal, Japan, and Nepal and all three were like stepping stones to the next solo adventure 🥾 🧘‍♀️ 🏔️ 🥰 🏯

Please everyone go solo travel, if you can, and if you feel pulled to!! 

It’s such a powerful way to get to know yourself, step outside your comfort zone, and make connections! 

As much as I enjoy traveling with my partner, I just simply wouldn’t have had the same encounters or made the connections that I did on this trip and to think what I would have missed out on 🥲 ❤️

Because traveling alone literally forces you to *go out there* and in doing so, you realize just how capable you were of doing it all along! 🙏

#solotravel #solofemaletraveler #nepal #soloadventure #nepalnow #nepaltravel #nepaltourism
When you stay open and curious, pretty magical thi When you stay open and curious, pretty magical things can unfold 🥹 ✨ 

I’ve been harboring this story unsure as to HOW TO EVEN BEGIN to tell it, but the how is less important than the why. 

And this experience reminded me of my why ☺️ 

I live for this kind of magic in life, or rather, it’s this kind of magic that lights me up and makes me feel most alive — the adrenaline of an adventure and how a story unfolds right in front of me like a movie, one in which I’m not only the producer, director, graphic artist, etc but the screenwriter too. And perhaps most interestingly, the viewer as well. 

I’ve said this before, and recently too, but whenever I travel, I often let “the story” lead the way. And there’s always a story. Whether you think of it as scripting your own play, directing your own film, or authoring your own book, we get to be both the creators and the audience. And I think that’s pretty neat. 

For a long, long time, I’ve often kept those kinds of travel moments locked away in my journal — for my personal reflections only, unsure that they’d mean anything to anyone else. But what I’ve come home to lately, is that these stories are mine to tell and if they matter to me, then, well, that’s all that matters.

So here’s to sharing stories that matter, for the intrinsic value of the story itself, and for the meaningful seeds of inspiration and magic that take root in our hearts 🥰 ✌️ 

#solotravel #trekking #nepal #langtang #travelstories #travelblogger #travelstories #mindfultravel
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