Kathmandu Valley Entry Fees 2026: Every Heritage Site

If you only read one section.

The table below is the 2026 fee for each site, in Nepali rupees, for the three groups that matter at the counter: other foreigners, SAARC nationals and Nepalis. Children usually pay less or nothing, and Nepali students have their own rate — ask if it applies to you.

Each of the valley's three old royal cities — Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur — has a Durbar Square, the palace forecourt where the kings were crowned, surrounded by temples and courtyards. Kathmandu Durbar Square (Hanuman Dhoka) and Patan Durbar Square each cost foreigners NPR 1,000, and the ticket covers the square, the old palace and its courtyards. Patan's is the finest for temple carving, and the Patan Museum sits inside the palace.

Bhaktapur is different, and dearer. Its ticket costs NPR 2,000 (about US$15) — raised from NPR 1,800 on 17 July 2025 — but it is not just for the Durbar Square: it admits you to the entire walled old city, including Taumadhi Square, Pottery Square and Dattatreya Tole, which is why the fee is the highest in the valley. Keep the ticket on you, as it is checked at booths on every lane into the old town.

Pashupatinath, the great Hindu temple on the Bagmati river, charges foreigners NPR 1,000. The ticket admits you to the riverside complex — the ghats, the cremation platforms and the surrounding shrines — but the main temple itself is open to Hindus only, so non-Hindu visitors watch the life of the site, and the evening aarti, from the terraces on the east bank. Indians and Nepalis enter free. The complex is open from 4 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Boudhanath, one of the largest stupas in the world, charges NPR 400; the ticket is checked at the gates into the stupa square, where a walk clockwise around the dome is the thing to do at dusk. Swayambhunath, the hilltop stupa reached by a long stair west of the city and known to visitors as the Monkey Temple, charges NPR 200, collected at the entrances to the hill.

Changu Narayan, on a ridge above Bhaktapur, is the oldest temple in the valley and the cheapest of the UNESCO sites at NPR 300 for foreigners. It is out on its own, so most people fold it into a Bhaktapur day, or into a trip up to Nagarkot for the mountains.

The seven fees add up to about NPR 5,900 for a foreigner, so few visitors do all of them. A common plan is one full day for a Durbar Square and the two big stupas, and a second for Bhaktapur with Changu Narayan on the way. Because each ticket is a single day, group the sites you can reach together rather than buying a ticket you will not use.

Nepal charges by nationality, not by how you look, and the counter goes by your passport. Nationals of the SAARC countries — India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, the Maldives, Sri Lanka and Afghanistan — pay a reduced rate at every site: NPR 500 at each Durbar Square, NPR 100 at Boudhanath, NPR 50 at Swayambhunath. Carry your passport to claim it.

Indian nationals are a special case at Pashupatinath, where they enter free as at any Hindu temple; elsewhere they pay the SAARC rate. Nepalis enter the stupas and Pashupatinath free, and the Durbar Squares free or for a nominal sum — Patan, for instance, charges Nepalis about NPR 30.

Tickets are sold at booths on the main approaches to each site, and staff check them inside, so keep yours until you leave. Pay in Nepali rupees: most booths do not take cards or foreign QR apps, though Bhaktapur prices its fee in US dollars as well and will take them. Carry enough small notes — change for a NPR 1,000 note is not always to hand at a temple gate.

Most tickets are good for a single day and one entry, so plan to see a site in one visit. Two are more generous: Kathmandu Durbar Square will swap your day ticket for a pass valid for the length of your visa if you bring your passport and a photo to the tourism office beside the Kumari residence, and Bhaktapur's ticket can be extended, as above.