One day Hike to Baghdwar Shivapuri | Itinerary and budget

According to Srimad Pashupati Puran, it says that when Lord Shiva got impressed from Bhakta Prahlad prayer, he appeared in the Shivapuri mountain and from his Vocal Bagmati is originated. Shivapuri Nagarjuna National park is one of the nearest and probably the best hiking place to complete within one day from Kathmandu.

This hiking route is very well managed and raw.  The national park even has an information board in every interval. We tried shortcuts and we lost for a few hours in this jungle which make them longcut.  This time we planned and hiked Baghdwar – Shivapuri peak, but there are various motorable roads and hiking trails from this entrance of the national park beside Baghdwar. Repairment of some of the information boards is needed, but we can still get the details from them.

I have done this hiking in last November. After lots of procrastination, this coronavirus pandemic lockdown gives me no more reason to have an excuse for not writing this blog. Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park is very near to the capital of Nepal, and we can get a great experience similar to trekking within one day.  Exploring Shivapuri is something to do if you are very short of time.

The entrance of the Shivpur Nagarjuna National park for the Baghdwar is 18  km from Soyambhu, and it will take about 1 hour to reach there by vehicle. If you are travelling on the public vehicle, then you can get the Microbus from RNAC and also from the ring road to Budhanilkantha. You need to walk about 30 to 40 minutes to reach the entrance from the bus park, which is known as Panimuhan if you travel with the public vehicles. There are numerous entrances to go inside the National park so if you are going hiking for Nagi Ghumba, Bisnudwar and Baghdwar then this is the shortest one.

We can also take our motorbikes or car inside the national park, but we need to pay about 150 for Nepali citizens and even more for people from outside the country. You can know all the fees from this government site. You can’t explore this place solo, and foreigner needs to come with the nature guide to explore for their security. If you can’t afford the nature guide, you can come with your Nepali friend or request them. Even though I have never got the opportunity to see wild animals in any national park including Chitwan National park(only Rhino) we have lots of wild animals in this jungle too.

For a foreigner, it will take Rs 1000 for the entrance. If you have any types of weapons and cigarettes, you need to leave them to the army men in the checking post. It is strictly prohibited to take these things inside the national park.  Before entering, make sure you have water bottles and other foods because there is not any shop after this.

I decided to park my motorbike outside the entrance and start walking from here. I was here a few weeks ago, but that time I went to Nagi Gumba, which is also very famous for hikers. If you guys have private vehicles, you can eat your launch at home before leaving. We were at Helipad around 1:15 pm, which is technically the starting point for the hike. There is a motorable road which will go to different exciting places. if you want to explore then you can come with motorbikes or car or hike multiple days.

After walking about 30 minutes from Paanimuhan, we need to leave the main road and start walking on the trail. It will take about 2 hours 30 minutes to 3 hours to reach the Baghdwar and another 15 to 30 minutes to reach the Shivapuri peak. Many people do a picnic at this peak.

We will get a chance to see different vegetation and hopefully animals too.  Silence all around makes you feel that you are inside the deep jungle alone.  I will mention all the costs during this trip, and you can directly go below and read there.

After walking for two hours from Paanimuhan, we will reach Tallo Deurali.  Like my previous Gosaikunda trek and Annapurna Base Camp trek, there will be a place called Deurali and Phedi in almost every trekking route in Nepal.  As I don’t want to endorse junk food, but due to my friend, we bought lots of junk foods. We need to buy it because there are no hotels inside the national park. We were taking a rest every 30 minutes and start eating our foods. Being a responsible person, we should not throw the plastic wrapper in the trail. We should throw them properly into the provided dustbins.

We took a brief rest and did few photoshoots in Duerali. From this place, we need to go downwards again to reach the Baghdwar.  We arrive there after about 30 minutes. It’s a holy place for Hindu have lots of mythological importance. I collected Jal and prayed to the god. Then we leave this place to reach Shivapuri peak.

It took us about half an hour to reach the peak which is at an altitude of 2732 meter. There is an idol of Shivapuri Baba who was born in the 18th century.

 

 

Itinerary  and total cost for Baghdwar:

1.RNAC(New Road gate, suggested) -Narayan Gopal Chowk -Budhanilkantha – Panimuhan(entrance) 

• Rs 30 for the Micro (this will vary)
• Rs 100 for Nepali citizen and Rs 1000 for Foreigners outside SAARC (More details here)

2.Panimuhan – Helipad (30 minutes)

• If you have a motorbike, you can ride till here

3.Helipad – Baghdwar (2.5 hours)

4.Baghdwar to Shivapuri Peak(30 minutes)

Nepali can complete this hike within a minimum budget of even Rs 500. But I can comfortably complete this if we have RS 700 to Rs 1000.

For Foreigners, I would suggest having about Rs 3000. It would be always great to have an extra back up while traveling.

Want to explore more places around kathmandu? Check out the article from fellow blogger Dikshya for her complete travel guide to kathmandu.

If you have any questions regard to this place you can contact me via this website.