The two temples covered in Nepal are decided by different things. At Pashupatinath in Kathmandu it is access: its trust states the main sanctum is for Hindus only, and everyone else watches from the ghats. At Muktinath in Mustang it is altitude: the temple stands above 3,700 metres and its committee publishes no entry rule at all. Neither fact is well served by the pages that rank for these temples, and both matter more than any opening time.
Sources checked 17 September 2026
Two temples so far, in two provinces: Pashupatinath in Bagmati Province and Muktinath in Gandaki Province. Each joined the register because the demand for answers about it is high and the answers currently online are poor.
Bagmati Province
Shiva temple on the Bagmati river; only Hindus may enter the main courtyard.
Darshan 04:00 – 21:00
Gandaki Province
High-altitude Vishnu temple in Mustang with 108 water spouts, sacred to Hindus and Buddhists.
Darshan 07:00 – 12:00, 13:00 – 18:00Pashupatinath is published by its trust as open daily from 4 AM to 9 PM, with rituals through the day. Muktinath's committee lists a one hour lunch break. Each row comes from that temple's own page.
| Temple | Published hours |
|---|---|
| PashupatinathKathmandu | Open daily 04:00 to 21:00, with morning puja, Mahabhishek, evening aarti and night aarti on the trust's day schedule. |
| MuktinathMustang | 07:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 18:00, with a lunch break from 12:00 to 13:00. The afternoon closed at 17:00 in the 2025–26 winter. |
Neither row below is a dress code or a bag rule. At Pashupatinath it is a question of eligibility, and no ticket, fee or arrival time changes it. At Muktinath the committee publishes no entry fee, dress code or entry restriction, and the practical constraint is the altitude.
| Temple | The rule most likely to change your visit |
|---|---|
| PashupatinathKathmandu | The main sanctum is for Hindus only; non-Hindu visitors may watch from the surrounding ghats. |
| MuktinathMustang | No dress code or entry rule is published by the temple's management committee. The altitude, over 3,700 m, is the practical constraint. |
At Pashupatinath the entrance fee and the courtyard restriction are two separate things. A foreigner pays 1,000 Nepalese rupees to enter the site; that payment does not grant access to the main courtyard, which is restricted on different grounds entirely. Anyone selling you courtyard access is selling something they do not control. At Muktinath no temple fee is published, but Nepal Tourism Board lists an Annapurna Conservation Area fee for the region, and whether the temple site itself falls inside that fee zone has not been verified here.
Five things worth understanding before planning a temple visit in Nepal, drawn from what the two temples covered here publish and from what they do not.
At Pashupatinath the trust states that the main sanctum is for Hindus only, and that non-Hindu visitors may watch from the surrounding ghats, which are open to all. The published opening hours apply to the site, not to the sanctum, and confusing the two is the commonest disappointment there.
This is not a rule you negotiate at the gate or resolve with a fee. Establish it first, then plan the rest of the day around what you can actually do. Muktinath's committee publishes no comparable restriction.
The complex occupies 246 hectares and holds 518 mini-temples alongside the principal pagoda. A visitor who cannot enter the main courtyard still has a substantial site to walk, along the Bagmati and up the hill on the far bank.
The published suggestion is to allow about ninety minutes to two hours. That is for walking the complex rather than queueing to enter a sanctum.
The Pashupati Area Development Trust publishes Pashupatinath as open daily from 4 AM to 9 PM, with morning puja, the Mahabhishek until noon, and evening and night aarti from 5 PM. Its temple page adds that the main temple gates close at 2 PM and reopen for the evening aarti, so the afternoon is the part to check.
Muktinath's committee lists a lunch break from 12:00 to 13:00 on every day of the year, with the afternoon window running to 18:00 in summer and 17:00 in winter on its 2025 to 2026 listing. That listing ended on 14 March 2026, so confirm locally before relying on it.
At Pashupatinath what is published are the site hours and the fee. No aarti or ritual timetable could be verified from any source this site reads, which for a complex of this scale is a significant gap rather than a small one. Pages elsewhere that print one are using a source this site has not been able to check.
Muktinath's committee does publish aarti times, but its home page and its timing page give different ones for both seasons. Both are shown on the temple page and neither is treated as confirmed.
The committee gives the temple's altitude as 3,710 metres; Nepal Tourism Board gives 3,800 metres. Either is high enough for altitude sickness, and the committee keeps a dedicated page and repeated notices about it. Pilgrims who fly into Jomsom and drive straight up gain height very quickly.
The committee describes the routes from Kathmandu by road through Pokhara and Jomsom, or by air to Jomsom, then a local jeep to Muktinath. Nepal Tourism Board also lists a special permit for parts of Upper Mustang, and the committee's own pages disagree on which ward the temple is in, which matters for that permit.
Answered from what these temples publish, with the gaps left as gaps.
Not the main sanctum. The Pashupati Area Development Trust states that it is for Hindus only; non-Hindu visitors may watch from the surrounding ghats.
The Muktinath Development Committee publishes no entry restriction, entrance fee or dress code. That is what is published, not a guarantee of what happens at the gate.
Pashupatinath is open daily 4 AM to 9 PM on its trust's published hours. Muktinath's committee lists 07:00 to 12:00 and 13:00 to 18:00 in summer, with the afternoon ending at 17:00 in winter, but that listing ended on 14 March 2026 and no newer one has been posted.
At Pashupatinath a foreigner pays 1,000 Nepalese rupees, about ten US dollars, to enter the site. That fee and the courtyard restriction are separate matters, and paying does not grant courtyard access. At Muktinath the committee publishes no fee; Nepal Tourism Board lists an Annapurna Conservation Area fee for the region, though whether the temple lies inside that fee zone has not been verified.
Two so far: Pashupatinath in Kathmandu and Muktinath in Mustang. Nepal is in the register because the answers online about these temples are poor, not because the country has been worked through.
Not in any form this site could verify. Pashupatinath publishes none on the source this site reads. Muktinath's committee publishes aarti times on two pages that disagree with each other, so neither is treated as confirmed.
Early in the morning for the morning puja, or from 5 PM for the evening aarti, on the trust's day schedule.
About ninety minutes to two hours is the published suggestion, for walking a 246 hectare site rather than for waiting in a queue.
The committee gives 3,710 metres and Nepal Tourism Board 3,800 metres. Either is high enough for altitude sickness, which the committee warns about repeatedly.
Pashupatinath was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1979 and is one of seven monument groups within the Kathmandu Valley designation.
Neither temple publishes one on the sources this site reads. Dress modestly as you would anywhere in the region, and expect footwear rules at minimum.
Not verified at either temple. Maha Shivaratri draws a very large crowd at Pashupatinath, and Muktinath's hours for Shivaratri, Janai Purnima and Buddha Jayanti have not been published.
No photography rule is published for either temple on the sources this site reads. Cremations take place at the ghats at Pashupatinath, so discretion matters there regardless of what any rule permits.
Whichever readers ask for. Requests carry more weight than anything else in deciding what gets written, so a temple name and its town is the most useful thing you can send.
Send its name and its town. Requests decide what gets written next, and corrections to a temple already here are published faster than anything else.
