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Timings

Pashupatinath Temple timings

The site is published as open every day from 4 AM to 9 PM, closed in the middle of the day between noon and 5 PM. That five hour gap is longer than the midday closure at most large temples and is the single most useful thing on this page. What is not published anywhere this site could verify is the ritual and aarti schedule inside those windows.

Published hours, checked 1 September 2026
The pagoda roofs of the Pashupatinath Temple complex in Kathmandu rising above the buildings around the Bagmati river
The full schedule

Every block as published

Two windows and a long closure between them. No aarti or ritual timetable is published on the source this page reads, so none is listed.

TimeWhat is listed
04:00 – 12:00Public darshan Site open
12:00 – 17:00Closed to the public Closed in the middle of the day
17:00 – 21:00Public darshan Site open
Published hours: pashupatinathtemple.org, visiting informationChecked 1 September 2026
Reading it

What the schedule actually means

The published hours are for the site. What you can do inside them depends entirely on the entry rule, which is not a timing question at all.

Site open 04:00 – 12:00 Morning The published advice is to come early or late rather than in between, which also avoids the closure.
Closed 12:00 – 17:00 A long gap Five hours. Anyone arriving at midday is waiting until five o'clock or returning another day.
Courtyard Restricted Not everyone may enter Only practising Hindus of the South Asian diaspora and Buddhists of the Nepali and Tibetan diaspora are allowed into the temple courtyard.
From outside The east bank Where everyone else views it Visitors who may not enter the courtyard see the complex from across the Bagmati, which is a different visit rather than a lesser one.
Fee NPR 1,000 For foreigners A foreigner needs to pay an entrance fee of 1,000 Nepalese rupees to enter the site, which is separate from the courtyard restriction.
Allow 90 to 120 minutes Suggested length The published suggestion is to reserve about ninety minutes to two hours for a visit to the site.
Not verified

What this page will not tell you

Things people expect on a timings page that are not here, and the reason each one is missing. In every case the reason is the same: no source publishes it, and a number invented to fill the space would be worse than the gap.

  • The aarti and ritual timetable inside the two open windows.
  • Whether the midday closure applies to the whole site or only to parts of it.
  • Maha Shivaratri timings, when the site takes a very large crowd.
  • Queue or waiting times, which nobody outside the temple measures reliably.

Read this as the shape of the day, then confirm the clock for your own date on the temple's own page. If what you find there differs from what is above, tell us and this page is corrected with a new date.

Timing questions

What people ask about the schedule

Answered from the published schedule, and marked unverified where it is.

What time does Pashupatinath open?

The site is published as open from 4 AM, closing at noon, and opening again at 5 PM until 9 PM. The five hours in between are a stated closure.

Where do these timings come from?

From pashupatinathtemple.org, linked below with the date it was read. No temple-published daily schedule with ritual times was found, so none is printed here.

Why is the closure so long?

The published hours state it without explanation. Five hours is longer than the midday closure at most large temples, and this page does not speculate about the reason.

What happens if I arrive at 2 PM?

You wait until five o'clock or return another day. It is a stated closure rather than a quiet period.

Are aarti times published?

Not on the source this page reads. Given the size of the complex and the number of shrines in it, that gap is significant, and this page marks it rather than filling it.

Do the hours change on Maha Shivaratri?

Not verified. Maha Shivaratri is the main festival here and draws a very large crowd, so treating the published hours as applying unchanged on that date would be unwise.

Does the midday closure apply to the whole site?

The published hours state the site is closed between noon and 5 PM without distinguishing between parts of it. Whether some areas remain accessible has not been verified.

How long should I allow?

The published suggestion is about ninety minutes to two hours. That is for the site rather than for a queue, and it assumes you are walking the complex rather than waiting to enter the sanctum.

Is the fee charged in both windows?

The fee is published as an entrance fee for the site without reference to time of day. Whether it varies, and whether it is charged to visitors who cannot enter the courtyard, has not been verified.

Is there a weekly closed day?

Nothing published indicates one. Its absence has not been confirmed, so it sits among the unverified rather than being reported as no.

How long is the queue?

This site does not publish waiting times. Nobody outside the temple measures them reliably and any figure would be stale within hours.

Is four in the morning really the opening time?

That is what the published hours state. Very early opening is common at large Shiva temples, and here it pairs with the advice to visit early in the morning or late in the evening.

How does the closure compare to other temples?

Five hours is at the long end. Midday closures of two to four hours are more usual, which is why this one deserves specific attention rather than a general assumption.

Does the fee change by time of day?

Nothing published suggests so. The entrance fee for foreigners is published as a flat 1,000 Nepalese rupees without reference to when you arrive.

What should I check before travelling?

Whether you may enter the courtyard, then the current hours and fee close to your date. The first question decides the visit and no timing changes it.

Back to the whole temple

The dress code, the entry rules and everything else about this temple that has been verified against a published source.

Pashupatinath Temple All temples