Bhaktapur: Squares, Crafts and Festivals

Bhaktapur offers several points of interest for a trip: a pond dating from the Licchavi period, squares, crafts and festivals. When planning, it is helpful to distinguish permanent places from events whose dates vary. This lets you first decide whether your focus is on the named sights and craft-related activities, or whether a festival should determine your travel dates.

Squares, Pond and Museum

Siddha Pokhari is a large rectangular pond dating from the Licchavi period, located within Bhaktapur. Its distinct shape makes it a different landmark from the city’s squares. Dattatreya Square, in turn, is the oldest of Bhaktapur’s four squares. This distinction gives you a concrete way to tell the squares apart without reducing them to the same historical role.

The Woodcarving Museum is housed in the former Pujari Math at Dattatreya Square. The museum is a ten-minute walk from Durbar Square. If you include both places in your plans, you can use this stated walking time as a guide for the journey between them. The museum’s name refers to wood carving; its location in the former Pujari Math connects the visit with one of the named squares.

Pottery and Your Own Creations

Pottery Square is a square where many pottery activities take place. At pottery training centers on Pottery Square, you can learn pottery for a fee and make your own items, such as cups. This gives you two distinct ways to engage with the craft: the pottery activities that characterize the square and paid instruction that lets you make something yourself. If you would like to include this class in your plans, check its current availability before your visit.

A comparison with the Woodcarving Museum shows that Bhaktapur offers more than one craft-related point of interest: here there is a museum whose name refers to wood carving, while there is also a square associated with pottery activities and training centers. The information describes different types of visits. Pottery Square also offers the possibility of a hands-on activity; at the museum, the named point of interest is wood carving and its location in the former Pujari Math.

Festivals and Their Timing

Biska Jatra is celebrated in Bhaktapur for eight nights and nine days and is associated with mid-April. The dates vary from year to year. If this festival is important to your travel plans, check the specific dates for your intended travel period rather than relying only on its seasonal timing.

Gai Jatra is a festival where people can joke about social issues. The traditional Gai Jatra procession follows the ceremonial Pradakshina Patha route around Bhaktapur and passes, among other places, Taumadhi Square, Pottery Square, Bhaktapur Durbar Square and Dattatraya Square. This means that several of the named squares are connected with a festival tradition during the procession. Biska Jatra and Gai Jatra offer different points of interest; only Biska Jatra is given a seasonal date here.

A Nearby View of Bhaktapur

In the vicinity of the destination is Changu Narayan Temple, a World Heritage monument on a ridge overlooking Bhaktapur. This named place adds another historical point of interest to the city’s squares and craft-related activities.

Plan Your Travel Dates and Hotel Choice Together

When choosing your travel dates, the distinction between permanent places and festival dates is especially useful. Siddha Pokhari, Dattatreya Square, and the museum and pottery locations offer thematic points of interest; Biska Jatra, by contrast, takes place on dates that vary from year to year. If you are mainly interested in squares and crafts, these themes can shape the focus of your trip. If Biska Jatra is what determines your plans, include the specific festival dates in your planning. Once your travel dates are set, you can then search specifically for a hotel in Bhaktapur.

Discover more destinations: Bungamati, Lalitpur, Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, Thaiba, Panauti, Sankhu, Madhyapur Thimi.

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