Cafeography
Kathmandu · Boudha

Cafés in Boudha

Cafés on the stupa’s kora, from a monastery-owned garden to rooftops above the dome.

Photo: Mehmet Turgut Kirkgoz, Pexels License

Boudhanath, in the north-east of the valley, is the largest spherical stupa in Nepal, 36 m high, and a World Heritage Site since 1979.1 It stands on an old trade route from Tibet that enters the valley at Sankhu, where Tibetan merchants rested and prayed for centuries, and many Tibetans who fled after the 1959 uprising settled around it; more than 50 gompas (monasteries) have been built here since.1

Pilgrims walk the kora (circuit) clockwise, keeping the stupa on their right, and it is busiest on full-moon and new-moon days.2 The April 2015 earthquake cracked the spire, and the stupa reopened on 22 November 2016.1 Cafés ring the circuit and fill the lanes behind it, from rooftop rooms to garden courtyards.

Local tip: The kora is busiest on full-moon and new-moon days; that is the time to take a rooftop table above the circuit and watch.2

At a glance

52Cafés listed
10With opening hours
07:00Earliest opening
22:00Latest closing
  • Opens earliest: Utpala Cafe, from 07:00 (Daily 07:00–21:00).
  • Closes latest: GCafe/GMart, until 22:00 (Daily 08:00–22:00).
  • Most listed streets: Phulbari street (2).
  • Most common features: wi-fi (10%), bakery café (6%), vegetarian options (4%).

Bliss Raw cafe

  • Phulbari street
  • Daily 10:00–20:00
  • +977 980 8732378
  • Vegetarian options
MapIs this you?Report

Mantra And Mugs

  • बागमती कोरिडोर सडक Bouddha, Bagmati Corridor
MapIs this you?Report

Nothing matches those filters here. See all cafés in Kathmandu.

Coffee chains in Boudha

Getting to Boudha

Ring Road buses stop at Chabahil, about a 20-minute walk from the stupa gate. Microbuses from Kantipath or the Jamal bus stand also run out here, but they carry no English signs and stop past the main gate, so ask the conductor. By taxi, ask for Boudha Stupa main gate; Pashupatinath is about 20 minutes away on foot.2

Foreign visitors pay Rs 400 to enter the stupa area and visitors from SAARC countries Rs 100, fees set by the Bouddhanath Area Development Committee in 2022; the ticket counter is staffed 10:00–17:00.3

Rooftops and gardens by the stupa

Himalayan Cafe on Boudha Road takes up the third to fifth floors of its building, above the stupa.2 Utpala Cafe, owned by the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling monastery, serves only vegetarian food, 07:00–21:00 every day, with outdoor seating and brunch.4 The monastery itself was completed in 1976 under Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche.5

Rabsel Garden Cafe, open 10:30–21:00 with vegan dishes, is beside Shechen Monastery, which Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche re-established in Kathmandu in 1985.6 Café du Temple, which also runs a café in Patan, has a branch here.7

Coffee and bakeries in the lanes

Kar.ma Coffee’s Boudha café brews by hand only, with V60s and Chemex, using single-origin arabica from Ilam, Kavre, Nuwakot, Sindhupalchowk and Kaski, roasted twice a week.8 Arya Specialty Coffee is the other specialty address, and Himalayan Java and RedMud Coffee also have branches.

Most shops and restaurants around the stupa close by 20:00.2 Sunshine Bakery and Cafe opens earliest, at 07:00, and shuts at 18:00. Amrita House Cafe keeps 08:00–20:30, Paradise Restaurant & Cafe on Phulbari street and Sahara Food Station in Saraswati Nagar 08:00–21:00 with Wi-Fi, and GCafe/GMart on Pasang Lhamu Sadak stays open until 22:00. Bliss Raw cafe on Phulbari street is a vegan café, open 10:00–20:00.

Cafe Caravan and Flavors Cafe are two more coffee stops off the circle.2 Mantra And Mugs, on the Bagmati Corridor road, has outdoor seats and Wi-Fi, Kosha Coffee and Coffee Beans are small coffee counters, and Bakery Cafe Bouda in Chuchepati and Miraz Bakery cover bread and cakes.

Sources

  1. Boudhanath, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  2. Kathmandu/East, Wikivoyage, accessed October 2026
  3. Tourist guides, hotel entrepreneurs taking tourists inside Bouddhanath area without ticket to face action, Nepal Traveller / RSS (September 8, 2022), accessed October 2026
  4. Utpala Cafe, Utpala Cafe (official site), accessed October 2026
  5. Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  6. Shechen Monastery, Wikipedia, accessed October 2026
  7. Café Du Temple – Patan, Temple House Nepal, accessed October 2026
  8. Kar.ma Coffee, The Way to Coffee, accessed October 2026
Keep exploring

More of Kathmandu

Thamel

61 cafés

Kathmandu Durbar Square & Asan

26 cafés

Lazimpat & Baluwatar

56 cafés

Durbar Marg & Naxal

49 cafés

Jhamsikhel & Sanepa

79 cafés

Patan

69 cafés

In Boudha, also browse: Wi-Fi Bakery cafés Brunch Open late

FAQ

Boudha cafés: questions

How do you get to Boudhanath stupa from central Kathmandu?

Take a Ring Road bus to Chabahil, then walk about 20 minutes to the Boudha stupa gate, or take a microbus from Kantipath or the Jamal bus stand and ask the conductor where to get off, since they have no English signs. By taxi, ask for Boudha Stupa main gate. Pashupatinath is about a 20-minute walk away.

How much is the entry fee for Boudhanath stupa in Kathmandu?

Foreign visitors pay Rs 400 to enter the Boudhanath stupa area and visitors from SAARC countries Rs 100, fees set by the Bouddhanath Area Development Committee in 2022. The ticket counter is staffed from 10:00 to 17:00.

Which cafés near Boudhanath stupa serve vegetarian food?

Utpala Cafe, owned by the Ka-Nying Shedrub Ling monastery, serves only vegetarian food and is open 07:00–21:00 every day. Bliss Raw cafe on Phulbari street is a vegan café open 10:00–20:00, and Rabsel Garden Cafe beside Shechen Monastery has vegan dishes, 10:30–21:00.

For café owners

Own a café in Boudha?

Free listings are free for good. A featured page gives you photos, a menu and your own URL, in your café's own design, for less than a coffee a day.

Get listed, free See a page in its own design