Few people trek around the Katmandu valley. Yet it offers a rich insight into the lives, history, culture and religion, together with the daily toil in the fields of its inhabitants. The valley rim lays around 1000/2800m. And in the spring offers early flowering rhododendrons and through the autumn and winter, wonderful mountain vistas which can, from certain view-points, stretch from Everest in the east to Annapurna in the west.
The Kathmandu Valley has a traditional as well as modern setting. Surrounded by mountains on all sides, the Valley consists of three cities of historic, cultural and political importance - Kantipur, Lalitpur (Patan) and Bhaktapur (Bhadgaon). Covering an area of 218 sq. kms, the Kathmandu Valley is situated at 1136m above sea level. A bird's eye view of the Capital features the city as an oval shape with the sacred river Bagmati and its tributary Bishnumati wedding towards the south. Kathmandu, the capital of Nepal, is named after Kasthamandap, an imposing pagoda near Hanuman Dhoka Palace. It is believed that King Gunakama Dev built the city in 723 A.D. The major tourist attractions in the valley are: