Two hours and no plan: short walks straight from Lakeside

For the morning you have a gap, no transport arranged and no appetite for a project. Five walks that start where you are standing.

By Dawa Gurung · 4 min read · Updated 1 August 2026

Not every walk needs a taxi, a permit and a five o'clock alarm. Sometimes there is a gap between breakfast and a bus and you want to be outside.

These all start on foot from Lakeside, need no arrangement, and take about two hours including the sitting down.

In rough order of effort.

The lakeshore north

Walk north along the lake past the end of the main strip and keep going. The restaurants thin out, the road quietens, and within twenty minutes you are among fields with the water on your left.

Flat, easy, and the best flat walking in Pokhara. Turn around whenever you like. Early morning is when the fishermen are out and the water is a mirror.

The boat-and-back

Row across to the far shore, walk twenty or thirty minutes up the forest path toward the Peace Pagoda, and come back down without finishing the climb if you do not have time.

The forest is the good part and it starts immediately. You do not need to reach the stupa for it to be worth doing.

About two hours door to door if you turn around halfway.

The Damside loop

South along the lakeside road to the dam at the far end, across, and back up the other side. Flat, urban, and it takes in a completely different and much less touristed part of town.

The dam itself is worth a stop for the view back up the lake toward the mountains.

Around two hours at a stroll.

The Sarangkot lower slopes

You do not have to go to the top. Walk out of Lakeside on the road toward Sarangkot and take the path off it, climbing through the villages on the lower slopes for an hour before turning back.

You gain enough height for the view to open over the lake and you get village walking rather than a viewpoint. Steep, and the descent is quick.

Bindhyabasini and the old town

Taxi to the old bazaar, walk the street, climb the small hill to the temple, walk back. Flat except the temple steps, entirely cultural, and it works in any weather.

The one on this list that is not really about the outdoors, and the one people are most surprised by.

Walk it with us

Private departures on your dates, guided by the people who wrote this page.

World Peace Pagoda LoopHalf day · 1,113 mRs 3,900 · See dates →Sarangkot Sunrise HikeHalf day · 1,600 mRs 4,700 · See dates →Pokhara Highlights Day TourFull day · private carRs 9,200 · See dates →

Questions we get asked

Do I need anything for these?

Water, sun cream and a hat. That is honestly it.

Which is best if I only have one gap?

The boat and the forest path. It is the only one of these that gets you onto the water and into the trees in the same two hours.

Are they safe alone?

Yes, all of them, in daylight. The lakeshore and Damside are busy enough that you are never far from people.

Can I do these in monsoon?

All of them, with a jacket. The lake in drizzle is atmospheric and the old town is unaffected.

The World Peace Pagoda — a boat, a forest and the postcard viewRow across Phewa Lake, walk up for forty minutes, and get the shot of Pokhara that everybody recognises. The easiest real viewpoint in the valley.4 min read →Walking around Pokhara when it is rainingMonsoon and the shoulder weeks are not a write-off. The mountains hide, the forest comes alive, and half the good walking here does not need a view.6 min read →The southern ridge: Peace Pagoda to PumdikotA Japanese stupa at one end, an enormous Shiva at the other, and a forest ridge between them that most visitors never walk.5 min read →One day in Pokhara: what is worth your time and what is notA lake, a waterfall that disappears into a cave, a mountain museum that is better than it sounds, and a couple of stops we would quietly skip.6 min read →

Still deciding?

Tell us your dates and how much walking you have actually done, and we will tell you honestly whether this trek is the right one for you.

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