Around Kathmandu Trek: Easy Cultural Treks & Ridge Walks Near the Valley

By the time the taxi pulls off the narrow ring road and the urban noise thins, the air above Kathmandu tastes different—cooler, laced with pine resin and distant chiming of temple bells. You start at 1,400 m in the city’s lanes, then in a half-hour the road narrows again and the houses give way to terraced fields and a ribbon of trail that climbs toward Dada Gaun. Over the next three days the itinerary stitches together UNESCO heritage in the valley with short, honest treks: Shivapuri forests, the Chisapani ridge (2,215 m), a sunrise over Nagarkot or Dhulikhel views, and the waterfall-sliced approach into Sundarijal (1,460 m).