For many people, stepping off a plane into Katmandu is an exhilarating shock – the sights, sounds and smells can quickly lead to sensory overload. Whether it is buzzing around the crazy polluted traffic in a taxi, trundling down the narrow winding streets of the old town in a rickshaw, marveling at Durbar Sq or dodging the tiger balm sellers and trekking touts in Thamel, Katmandu can be an intoxicating, amazing and exhausting place.

As the largest (and pretty much the only) city in the country, Katmandu also feels like another developing-world city rushing into a modern era of concrete and traffic pollution. Take a walk in the backstreets, however, and the capital’s amazing cultural and artistic heritage reveals itself in hidden temples overflowing with marigolds, courtyards full of drying chillis and rice, and tiny hobbit-sized workshops largely unchanged since the Middle Ages.

Katmandu has been a travelers Mecca since the 1960s but these days you’re less likely to see a tie-dyed hippy in search of enlightenment than a well-heeled Gore-Tex-clad tourist in search of a good espresso. With tourist numbers down and political tensions up, the last few years have been uncertain, yet residents have retained a good-humored self-respect.

Katmandu is well worth a week of your time, but it’s too easy to spend too much time stuck in touristy Thamel. Enjoy the Internet cafés, the Western music and the lemon cheesecake, but make sure you also get out into the ‘real Nepal’, before your time runs out.

Climate
Climate: Nepal’s climate varies with its topography. It ranges from sub-tropical to arctic depending upon the altitude. The Terai region has a hot and humid climate. The mid-land region is pleasant almost all the year round, although winter nights are cool. The northern mountain region, around an altitude above 3,353 m. has an alpine climate with a considerably lower temperature in winter as expected.

Monsoon: The Monsoon of Nepal has made two clear wet and dry seasons. Wet days of summer are Monsoon days. Most of the rainfalls in Nepal are due to Monsoon in summer. The rest are dry days. Spring and Autumn are in between seasons. In general the monsoon begins from mid June and ends at beginning of September. The months of seasons vary with altitude and slope of the mountain. Northern slopes and higher altitudes are less warm than those of southern slopes and lower altitude. The raining season depends on monsoon activities. Mostly rains at night, making the following days crispy clean and fresh. The length of summer and autumn also depend on the Monsoon. Most of the northern belt of the Trans-Himalayan zone is monsoon-shadowed and ideal for trekking. The climate of Katmandu valley can be taken as a standard.