Kathmandu Day Trip around Kathmandu - Budhanilkantha and Hike to Shivapuri National Park thorugh Nago Gompa
Shivapuri day hike is a perfect hiking for those people visiting Nepal who cannot go for longer and higher treks. Shivapuri, located at the height of 2732m northern part of Kathmandu is second highest hill around Kathmandu valley offers nice jungle walk through sprawling forest to Shivapuri, natural environment, spectacular Mountain View of Manaslu, Ganesh Himal, Langtang Himal and Gaurishankar Himal to east. Exploring cultural villages is more rewarding which is located near source of holy Bagmati River, a paradise for bird watchers. The good thing about hiking in Shivapuri area is that there are numerous options - whether to hike for just 2, 3 hours or for an entire day - there are choices. If you look for short hike around this area then we can walk up to Nagi Gompa, and end the hike at Kapan Gompa.
From Budhanilkantha we walk through Shivapuri conservation area. This is the Government protected forest where over 500 species are found. We start our hike from the southern boundary of the area where the army check post is located. Nagi Gumpa situated at an altitude of 2330 m north of Kathmandu and above Budhanilkantha Temple is only Monastery for the Nuns practice Buddhism and foreigners often come there for meditation. It is a steep uphill hike through narrow and dusty trail for about half an hour and two hours gradual uphill trial to Shivapuri. After lunch and hang around from sometime, we take a short cut down hill trail to Kopan. We can visit the grand Full Hari and Kapan Monasteries on the way back then drive back to Kathmandu.
