Pokhra is the 2nd most populaces city after Kathmandu , situated in the middle of Nepal . It’s elevation from the sea level is 822 m and the starting point of the famous trek of Annapurna Circuit . One of the top Himalayan peak like Annapurna 1 , Dhaulagiri and manaslu are within the range of 50 km . So there is lots of hiking and adventure sports company in Pokhra , those make this long range and expensive mountaineering expedition . For that reason people often says that , Pokhra is the tourism capital of the Nepal . There is lots of lake in pokhra , like Phewa Lake , Begnus lake , Rupa Lake and Dipang Lake . This city is not as old as Kathmandu . The city evolve when the Nepali king Prithvi Narayan Shah in 1786 included Pokhra in his Kingdom . It has been also a major trade route between the Tibet and India .
How to reach to Pokhra ?
Inside the city there is a International Airport . So you can directly come to pokhra from the nearby countries . Otherwise the biggest airport in Nepal is Tribhuvan Airport , Kathmandu .
Nearby road border with India is in Siddharthanagar -sonauli border which is 166 km from Pokhra . From pokhra , mostly the famous Muktinath yatra starts . Mostly in the morning the buses left from Prithvi bus stand .
Major spots to travel in Pokhra :
There is quite a lot of spots situated in and out the of the valley of Pokhra . Among the tourist spots some are Lakes , some caves , some adventure spots like sarankot and some temples and gompha. Majority of the spots are situated either in the Valley or in the Hills nearby . After pokhra city , hills are climbing very fast and there is different rainfall in different parts of the Pokhra . Some of the major spots that I cover are
Vindyabashini Temple :
It is the oldest temple in the Pokhra Valley . Main temple is dedicated to the godess Kali (Vindyabasini devi ). Along with the main temple there is four other small temple dedicated to Ganesh , Shiva , Hanuman and Saraswati . The Pokhra valley come into importance in 14 th century when the King Kalamandan Shah shifted his winter capital into Batulechaur (near to Pokhra ) and alloted prist to worship Vindyabasini temple . Since then this temple have been major religious place for Pokhra and area nearby .
Phewa Lake :
Phewa Lake is a lake situated just in the middle of the pokhra city or you can say the city surrounds the Lake . Inside the lake there is a temple of Tal Bharahi which is dedicated to lord Shiva . In the shore you can see lots of boats are standing to give you a voyage inside the Lake . Water inside the lake is crystal clear . Beside the lake , there is lots of shops to buy souvenir and there is also lots of restaurants . In the evening people gathered there to enjoy with friendds and family . There you can enjoy some local bands or singers performance.
Tal Barhi Temple :
It is the temple situated just inside the Phewa Lake . You have to come here by boat near to the police post . First you have to rent a life jacket then just jump on to any boat . Fare is included the return fare . All the boats are manual and takes around 10 minutes . The journey is very nice . The temple complex are very crowded .
Devi’s Waterfall :
Devi’s waterfall is a underground waterfall. It’s name comes from a swish couple who drowned in this waterfall . This waterfall is 500 meter long . It’s water comes from the phewa lake dam . From the view point very few of the waterfall can be seen , It is blowing in the very deep George .
Gupteshwar Mahadev Temple :
Gupteshwar Mahadev Temple is situated just opposite side of the Devi’s fall . It is a underground cave where you can see a beautiful shiva Linga made naturally . From this place the river seti emerges . The cave is very deep and in the base you can see this canyon like structure where a small slit like gap . From this gap light is coming inside the Cave .Inside the cave you can see people are arranging stones one above another . I ask a local people , She said that they do because for religious belief . They also belief that this will bring good luck .
Shanti Stupa :
This peace pagoda are 1 among the 100 th peace pagoda which were build by japan’s Fujii community throughout the world . After the devastation in world war 2 and Hirosima and Nagasaki atomic bombing they want to spread the massage of peace among the world population . So they started to build the peace pagoda in different countries in the World . It was the 71st peace pagoda of them . From this place you can see the panoramic view of the city and also the Phewa Lake . The place is very calm and one of the top place in Pokhra city .
Mahendra Cave :
This is one of the best caves to visit in Pokhra area . You see the oceanic snails fossile inside this cave . Just by looking it you can understood that Himalay was build in the place of a Thethis ocean . Temperature is much cooler than outside and the water is dropped from ceiling of the cave drop by drop all the time . Inside the cave there is some bats and there is a beautiful garden inside the complex .
Gurkha Memorial Museum :
Gurkha Memorial Museum is the only museum which presents the gallantry of the Gurkha army . Here details history of the Gurkha battalion in different military is shown . This Gurkha fighters are believed to be not easily give up and very energetic . For their bravery they are recruited in different military in the world like Indian military , Nepali military , Singapore millinery , USA military and peace keeping force in UN . They are praised everywhere in the world for their fighting skills . I don’t go inside the museum . In the outside wall there is big posters about their different expedition .
Seti River George :
Near to the Gurkha Museum , there is a big road pool , beside this is a another bridge . From this place you can see the deep gorge of the seti river . From this bridge you can see very little of the water stream of the river . In the bridge there is a canal which flows the river water . The color of the water is white that is the reason of the river name seti(means white in Nepali ) . You can see in the great depth , the river is blowing in between a small gap among the hills .
Sarankot:
Sarankot is one of the hilltop in the Pokhra Valley . Most of the people go there for paragliding . It is one of the best paragliding spots in the world . From this hill spot you can see beautiful sunrise and sunset . You can see the snow capped mountains and lush green valley .
Summery:
Pokhra is the tourist capital and the second biggest city in Nepal . some of the world’s tallest mountain like dhaulagiri , annapurna 1 and Manaslu are very near to the pokhra valley . Around different places in Pokhra there is great difference of height and also the rainfall . Some of the ethenic mountain population of Gurkha lived here around the hills of Pokhra valley .Around pokhra some of the tourist spots are sarankot , shanti stupa , mahendra cave , gurkha memorial museum , vindyabasini temple and seti river gorge . Pokhra is also famous for some of the great mountain lakes like Phewa Lake and the Begnus Lake . People gathered around the lake in the night time to chill . Altogether very relax environment in the city of Pokhra .
