Cityguide Pokhara – sightseeing

Relax in peaceful Pokhara, where after a day exploring, you can stretch out in the sunshine around a huge lake. Shisha lounges, pizzerias, Internet cafes, pool bars, cheap restaurants and German bakeries are situated in the streets. After the chaotic life of Kathmandu, stopping by in Pokhara felt extremely relaxing, making it very hard to leave. This post will focus on sightseeing in Pokhara. You can read more about where to stay, what to eat and where to party in Pokhara, in this post.

What to do in Pokhara?

Pokhara lists endless adventures. You can go rafting on the rivers, mountain biking through the amazing nature, paragliding over the beautiful lake, renting a boat and paddling through the tranquil waters, do some ultra light flying or bungee jumping, hiking to the World Piece Pagoda or you can bring a visit to the Devi’s waterfall or one of the magnificent caves. My favorite day in Pokhara was when we caught a boat and paddled over the Fewa Lake to the other side of the lake. From there on we made an one hour hike up to the World Peace Pagoda and from up there, you will have an amazing view over Pokhara. When the weather is clear, you can even see the Himalayas around the city. There are a couple of small local cafes just along the ridge from the Peace Pagoda where you can enjoy a coffee or some food. After a visit to the Pagoda, we continued our way down on the other side of the hill. Down there, we visited the Gupteshwor Mahadev cave, Davis Falls and the Robotic Buddha Museum.

I would like to describe seven interesting things you can do in Pokhara (Phewa lake, World Peace Pagoda, Gupteshwor Mahadev cave, Davis falls, Robotic Buddha Museum, Paragliding and the Movie garden (open air cinema).

1. Phewa Lake

This lake is the second largest lake in Nepal. You can rent a boat at different tourist stands across the lakeside. Do not forget to bargain about the price! Paddling out into the middle of the lake is a nice way to spend a quiet afternoon. You can also bring a visit to a small island in the south of the lake. On this island you can visit the Tal Barahi Temple, also known as Lake Temple or Barahi Temple. Renting a seven persons boat costs you around 1700 Rupees (€14,00) for two hours.

Phewa Lake – Nepal

2. World Peace Pagoda

This massive Budhist stupa (temple) is situated on the top of a hill next to the Phewa Lake. There are two ways to reach the temple. You can take a local bus or rent a boat, row yourself towards the starting point across Phewa Tal lake and climb to the top within less than an hour. As mentioned before, I did the second way and enjoyed it a lot! It will cost you around 500 Rupees (€4,10) for foreigners. The trail is easy to walk and you will see some beautiful scenery and small houses on the way. The temple itself looks very nice. When you remove your shoes, you can climb the top part of the Stupa and walk in clockwise direction around it. The four corners exhibit the different state of enlightenment of Buddha. This stupa is really worth to visit. The stupa itself looks wonderful and so does the surrounding!

3. Gupteshwor Mahadev cave

The Gupteshwor Mahadev cave is Nepal’s most famous cave. It is rumored to be the longest cave in Nepal (2950 meters). You will enter the cave by a large spiral staircase. As you enter the cave you will discover how dark it is inside. There is lighting, but not much. It is recommended to bring your own head torch. As a foreigner you can bring a visit to this cave for just 100 Rupees (€0,83).

4. Davis falls

On 31 July 1961, a Swiss lady, Mrs. Davis, was swept away while taking a bath with her husband a few meters ahead of the fall and she died. Her dead body had been taken out with a lot of efforts and since then it had been called Davis Fall. The local inhabitants also call the waterfall: Patale Chhango. The waterfall has a length of 500 meter and a depth of 100 feet. The best season to visit the waterfall is from June to September. I visited the waterfall in March and it did not look nice at all. There was just a little water flowing down. The entrance fee of the waterfall is just 30 Rupees (€0.25) for foreigners.

5. Robotic Buddha Museum.

This museum is located across the Davis Falls next to the Gupteshwor Mahadev cave. The museum presents the life of Gautam Buddha with robots. You can witness short stories suppressed by robots in eight different rooms. In my opinion this museum was really interesting to learn about the creation of the Buddhism. The entrance price of the museum for foreigners is 250 Rupees (€2,00) and for Nepali 100 Rupees (€0,83).

6. Paragliding

Pokhara is one of the top five commercial paragliding locations in the world. During my stay in Pokhara, I did tandem paragliding. This means that you are seated in a separate harness in front of the pilot where you can sit relaxed and enjoy the surrounding. The pilot was busy with flying, while I could make amazing pictures and movies. Pokhara is an amazing place to do paragliding. While paragliding you will experience an amazing view over the Himalayas and the stunning lake. Almost every travel agent or hotel sells paragliding. It is important to bargain. In the off season, I paid 4750 Rupees (€39,00) for 30 minutes paragliding including the transportation from your hotel to the taking off place and back. If you like to get filmed while flying, you can buy this service for 1500 Rupees (€12,40).

Paragliding: taking off location – Nepal

7. Movie garden (open air cinema)

This is in my opinion a hidden spot in Pokhara. It is an open air cinema, located on a hill, with some comfortable chairs and beanbags where you can enjoy a movie while overlooking the Fewa Lake. During the movie you can order pizzas and they taste amazing! Definitely worth a visit!! The ticket price depends on the type of movie they play. Usually the price is between 200 and 400 Rupees (€1,65 and €3,30). The average price for a very delicious pizza is around 230 and 500 Rupees (€1,90 and €4,10).

I am sure there are more interesting things you can do in Pokhara. I experienced the seven things described above and I loved them all. I can definitely recommend you to visit Pokhara. What was the nicest things you have done in Pokhara? Please tell me about it in a comment.

Author: Daphne

This article is part of the GPSmyCity iOS app. You can download it, read this article offline and obtain travel directions (by foot, car or bicycle) to the places mentioned in this article. Click here to download it.

Pin this post!