Tours to Pashupatinath

On the banks of the Bagmati River to the east of Kathmandu, Pashupatinath is Nepal’s holiest Shiva temple, attracting worshippers from across the country and beyond.

The biggest crowds descend here during the annual Shivratri festival, when cremation ghats in front of the shrine, overlooked by the flood-lit, gilded pagoda, are illuminated by hundreds of flickering butter lamps.

While naked, dreadlocked sadhus smoke hashish pipes, musicians play devotional songs, and orange-robed priests perform Aarti, invoking Shiva with cobra-shaped lanterns, songs and dances.