It is hard to get a real sense of what Pokhara is like until you actually go there yourself.
It's probably because almost all tourists stay in the touristy part of Pokhara called Lakeside. It’s a convenient and even charming part of town, but all the buildings here are new - hotels, restaurants, bars - that's good for nightlife, but boring from the point of photography.
Pokhara on Google.Maps
Photos of the recently-built streets of Lakeside are pretty much all you'll see online, even you are searching for "pokhara street photography"... So, I felt there was nothing in Pokhara except for Lakeside and just buildings between 10 and 30 years old, boring for a photographer.
Why 10-30 years? Pokhara wasn't a big place until they built the first road to it in 1968. Then, it started growing slowly raising money on the international tourism which boomed in the 1990s and beyond.
Check out the streets on Google Maps? I did it, but its street views and panoramas don’t capture the atmosphere at all... Old Pokhara is centered around the Old Pokhara Bazaar, and on Google Maps, those streets look dull.
I even thought I shouldn’t go to this Old Bazaar area... But when I got there, it turned out that Old Pokhara is actually a charming place. Sharing.
There are no old quaters in Pokhara, but a series of old buildings blended with newer houses.
However, the general look of this part of the city is beautiful, with many details
and vibes of a quiet, remote mountainous town.
The oldest buildings are plain brick houses decorated with exquisite traditional wooden carvings - windows, balconies, doors, etc.
The carvings of the same style as those in Kathmandu.
And this tiny but charming building is Bhimsen Mandir, an 18th-century Hindu temple. I told that Pokhara is very new but I meant it's new from the point of majority of buildings. The place itself, the Pokhara valley, has served as a center of trade and craft for centuries.
Keep walking further along Ganeshman Sinha Maarga Street to see another little Hindu temple:
These are gates to Bhairav Temple. It's new but, of course, reflects the local traditions of art and religion.
Even if buildings aren't that old, they look nice. These ones could be built in the 1980s or 1990s.
The 1980s and 1990s feel like history nowadays, actually. Look at the ground floor and the awning - vintage!
In old Pokhara, you can also witness how poorer buildings of the past looked:
Many houses that disappeared could look this way - too plain to consider them architectural heritage.
But ones that survived the changes over the decades look very interesting, as exhibits of a museum of the city's past.
Not a palace but much richer than the previous ones. And look at the ground floor - a simple cafe for locals - no gentrification at all.
Another historical building - no souvenir shops, no cafes, just a store selling grain and chips. So good.
Another thing that Pokhara could avoid is the urban cancer of the 21st century - those fucking private cars... Look how neat, how clean the city looks when it is not infested with cars parked all along streets making the city look like a sick animal densely covered with ticks.
By the way, this area is quite well equipped with infrastructure.
For example, modern convenience stores - from this point of view, old Pakhara isn't worse than Pokhara's touristy district, Lakeside.
Small shops are present too, of course.
And did you notice another thing that really distinguishes Pokhara from many other Asian (especially Indian) cities?
Quite clean streets!
It's 15:30, not early morning right after street cleaners do their work... It's called culture!
The photos were taken with a Nikkor 50mm f/1.8G on a full-frame DSLR Nikon D750 on April 11, 2026, in Pokhara, Nepal
That's what I call "magical Streets" for taking photos!... Thank you for showing us that "photogenic and eloquent" part of Pokhara... Always great workcoming from yoy @x-rain friend!!!
!discovery
!PIZZA
Thank you! 😊 That's where I will come back to take images. The new part isn't inspiring - too many tour agencies, souvenir shops and European bakeries (however, so yummy and cheap - I will come back there too! 😀)
The photography is amazing. Congratulations! The place is vibrant, rustic and clean.
Thank you, @rainbowdash0622! Yes, the place is great, and I am thinking of staying here longer
As always a very interesting article! What caught my attention the most was the overhead wiring. 😁I wonder if they actually manage to keep track of which cable is used for what and what kind of system they have for identifying them. 😉
Thank you! Yes, it'd be curious to know, lol.
😁
jlinaresp called them "magical streets", I agree with him. I don't know what would I feel while visiting there physically, but this photo visit does have taken me to another world - most probably, to star wars world.
My thoughts about this post - Amazing photographs and worth reading information.
Thanks! 😊 You know what I feel? People often say Nepal is a soft version of India. And I agree when it comes to Kathmandu (the capital). But when I was exploring the old streets of Pokhara, I felt "Nepal is a soft version of Tibet". I've never been to Tibet, though... So it was an exotic experience - vibes of adventure, of a new flavor of Asia.
I have never been to Tibet as well but I am familiar with the culture and you are right to say, "Nepal is a soft version of Tibet". Even in India and Pakistan there are some places which are soft version of Tibet.
Yup, in the mountains. Here, in Nepal, there are many peoples related to Tibetans, as well as many cultural features, including Tibetan momos as a part of everyday life and culture. Generally, Nepal was always the gateway to Tibet, so no surprise there are many parallels.
Agreed.
What would be your next destination?
First time I've seen the streets of the Himalayas. Excellent work; the photos truly reflect the customs and culture of its people.
Thank you, @joanm897. 😊
#hive #posh
Really enjoyed reading this, the pics are super as well, great share! :)
!PIZZA
Glad you liked it, thank you! :-)
I'd call it a mix of Chinese, Indian, Nepalese, and Thai architecture.
The cleanliness is simply stunning!
What's remarkable about Pokhara is its low altitude compared to other settlements in the country. The streets are clean and beautiful. I liked it.
Partly true. It's a mountainous part of Nepal, so Pokhara is several hundreds meters higher than the plains. But for the mountainous part, Pokhara has a low altitude because it's located in a valley. And only for that reason it can host more than a half million people. Kathmandu valley (the capital, with almost 1 million people) is even more impressive:
A natural fortress, a huge one!
You can check out this post and your own profile on the map. Be part of the Worldmappin Community and join our Discord Channel to get in touch with other travelers, ask questions or just be updated on our latest features.
This post was shared and voted inside the discord by the curators team of discovery-it
Join our Community and follow our Curation Trail
Discovery-it is also a Witness, vote for us here
Delegate to us for passive income. Check our 80% fee-back Program
Congratulations, your post has been added to the TravelFeed Map! 🎉🥳🌴
Did you know you have your own profile map?
And every post has their own map too!
Want to have your post on the map too?
- Go to TravelFeed Map
- Click the create pin button
- Drag the marker to where your post should be. Zoom in if needed or use the search bar (top right).
- Copy and paste the generated code in your post (any Hive frontend)
- Or login with Hive Keychain or Hivesigner and click "create post" to post to Hive directly from TravelFeed
- Congrats, your post is now on the map!
PS: You can import your previous Pinmapple posts to the TravelFeed map.Opt Out
Hiya, @ybanezkim26 here, just swinging by to let you know that this post made it into our Honorable Mentions in Travel Digest #2888.
Your post has been manually curated by the @worldmappin team. If you like what we're doing, please drop by to check out all the rest of today's great posts and consider supporting other authors like yourself and us so we can keep the project going!
Become part of our travel community:
What a beautiful and fascinating post. I really loved how you revealed a side of Pokhara that is rarely shown online, more authentic, peaceful, and full of historical charm. Through your story and your photos, it is possible to feel that quiet mountain-town atmosphere and appreciate the beauty of everyday details, from the architecture to the cleanliness of the streets. You truly showed that sometimes the most special places are found just beyond the tourist area. 📷🏘️🌿
Thank you!
Congratulations @x-rain! You received the biggest smile and some love from TravelFeed! Keep up the amazing blog. 😍 Your post was also chosen as top pick of the day and is now featured on the TravelFeed front page.
Thanks for using TravelFeed!
@for91days (TravelFeed team)
PS: Did you know that we have our own Hive frontend at TravelFeed.com? For your next travel post, log in to TravelFeed with Hive Keychain or Hivesigner and take advantage of our exclusive features for travel bloggers.
Wow! This reminds me a lot of Naga City in the Philippines, where I walked about in my early days. That gate and the intricate wood carvings on the windows are beautiful. I like the multiple doors that let you see what’s inside, almost like frames within a frame. It made me curious about what’s inside. It’s so artistic and beautifully photographed. :)