Old bazaar, Bindhyabasini and the Seti gorge

Start at the old bus park area and walk north into the old bazaar, the market that sixteen Newar families from Bhaktapur were invited to build in the 1770s. Look up: the older houses have brick facades and carved wooden windows, now squeezed between concrete. Bhimsen temple, honouring the god of traders, stands in the middle of the market streets. Small shops still sell brass and copper pots, cloth and spices, and the lanes are busiest early in the morning when families buy vegetables for the day.

Climb the stone stairs to Bindhyabasini temple on its small hill. The goddess is a form of Durga, and the complex has shrines to Saraswati, Shiva, Hanuman and Ganesh. Mornings are busy with families offering puja; Saturdays and Dashain bring long lines. On clear days the Annapurnas rise directly behind the temple roofs. Walk around clockwise, as devotees do, and leave shoes at the foot of the inner stairs. Small stalls sell flowers, red powder and incense if you want to make an offering, and priests will place a tika on your forehead if you ask.

Finish at the Seti gorge. From Mahendrapul bridge or K.I. Singh bridge you look down into a canyon so narrow that in places it is only a few metres wide, cut by the Seti Gandaki through soft valley gravels. The milky water is glacial silt from the Annapurnas. Stop for tea and sel roti in a bazaar tea shop before heading back. Taxis back to Lakeside wait near the main road, about 15–20 minutes away.