Beyond the Temples: Nepal's Music, Film, Art and Book Festivals

Visitors tend to think of festivals in Nepal as religious: chariots, masks, lamps and tika. Alongside these runs a calendar of modern cultural events, organised by musicians, film-makers, photographers and writers, which show a different and equally lively side of the country. Dates change from year to year, so treat the seasons given here as a guide and confirm before you travel.

Music

Jazzmandu. Kathmandu's international jazz festival has been running since the early 2000s and is the best-known music event in the country. Over about a week, usually in autumn, Nepali and visiting musicians play in venues around the valley: hotel gardens, clubs, a restored palace courtyard in Patan and an open-air finale. A much-loved feature is a concert pairing jazz players with Nepali classical and folk musicians. There are also free shows for schoolchildren and workshops.

Echoes in the Valley. A community music festival held in the squares and courtyards of an old Kathmandu neighbourhood, focusing on folk and traditional music from across Nepal alongside contemporary acts. Performances happen in public spaces, and local residents host.

Folk and classical evenings. Throughout the year, cultural centres in Kathmandu and Patan hold recitals of sarangi, flute, tabla and devotional singing. Full-moon concerts at a temple complex in the east of the city are a long-standing tradition.

Live music every night. Thamel in Kathmandu and Lakeside in Pokhara have bars with resident rock, blues and folk-fusion bands. Jhamsikhel in Patan has a quieter scene.

Film

Kathmandu International Mountain Film Festival. Established around 2000, this festival screens documentaries, features and shorts about mountains, mountain people, adventure and the environment from around the world, together with a strong selection of Nepali work. It runs for several days with talks, exhibitions and awards. Its place in the calendar has moved between years.

Film Southasia. A festival of documentary film from across the subcontinent, held every two years in Kathmandu, known for serious, independent work on politics, society and culture.

Visual arts

Photo Kathmandu. An international photography festival first held in 2015. Its distinctive idea is to hang exhibitions outdoors in the lanes, courtyards and public rest houses of old Patan, so that visitors wander the historic city while viewing work by Nepali and foreign photographers. Workshops, slideshow nights and artist talks fill the programme. It is held periodically, not every year.

Kathmandu Triennale. A large contemporary art exhibition staged across museums, galleries and heritage sites in the valley every few years, bringing together artists from Nepal and abroad.

Galleries. Between festivals, galleries in Kathmandu and Patan mount regular shows of painting, sculpture and installation. An arts complex in a converted industrial building in the Babar Mahal area is a good place to start, as are the museum spaces around Patan Durbar Square.

Literature

Nepal Literature Festival. The country's main literary gathering began in Kathmandu and later moved to Pokhara, where it is held outdoors beside the lake, usually in the cooler months. Writers, journalists, poets and public figures take part in panel discussions, readings and debates in Nepali and English. Entry is free, and the setting is superb.

Book fairs and poetry readings happen regularly in the capital, and bookshops in Thamel, Patan and Boudha host launches and talks.

Street and seasonal events

Pokhara Street Festival. In the last days of December, the main road along Lakeside is closed to traffic for several days. Restaurants set up tables in the street, stages host bands and cultural troupes, and crowds arrive from across the country to see in the international new year. Book accommodation early.

Food and craft fairs. Farmers' markets in Kathmandu and Patan operate at weekends, selling local produce, bread, cheese and crafts. Seasonal fairs before major holidays showcase handicrafts and regional foods.

Sporting events. Trail races and marathons take place in spring and autumn, including a well-known marathon starting near Everest Base Camp in late May. Mountain bike races, climbing competitions and an elephant-themed festival in the lowlands also draw crowds, though the last has attracted criticism on animal welfare grounds.

Finding out what is on

• Ask at your hotel or guesthouse. Staff usually know about the larger events.

• Check posters in cafés and bookshops in Thamel, Patan and Lakeside.

• Look at local English-language newspapers and listing sites for weekly round-ups.

• Follow the festivals themselves online for confirmed dates and programmes.

Why plan around them

These events offer something the heritage sites cannot: contact with Nepalis who are making new work now. Sitting in a medieval courtyard listening to a saxophone trade phrases with a sarangi, or walking a brick lane hung with photographs, you see a country that is not only preserving its past but arguing, creating and enjoying itself in the present.