Kathmandu is where Nepal's administration, medicine, education and foreign community are concentrated, and that concentration is the reason to live here. Immigration, the embassies, the specialist hospitals, the international schools and the only long-haul airport are all in this valley, and being elsewhere means travelling to them.

What you accept in exchange is traffic, water that arrives by tanker, and winter air that is genuinely harmful.

The neighbourhoods

Area	Character
Lazimpat, Baluwatar, Maharajgunj	Embassies, clinics, international schools. Convenient and expensive
Durbarmarg and central	Commercial, offices, restaurants. Busy
Thamel	The tourist district. Few people live here by choice
Boudha	Tibetan Buddhist community, monasteries, quieter and distinctive
Baneshwor and Koteshwor	Central and eastern, ordinary neighbourhoods, better value
Budhanilkantha and the northern rim	Cooler, greener, cleaner air, a longer commute
Kalanki and Gongabu	Transport hubs rather than places to live

The pattern: the diplomatic triangle in the north costs several times what an ordinary neighbourhood does, and buys proximity to clinics and schools rather than better housing. Plenty of long-stay residents live in ordinary areas and accept less English spoken locally. Living and housing covers what rent actually includes.

Just south of the river, Lalitpur offers the same valley access with quieter streets and is where a large share of the development and long-stay community actually lives. Lalitpur covers it.

The air, honestly

Kathmandu sits in a bowl, and in winter cold air traps vehicle exhaust, brick kiln smoke and dust below the valley rim. From roughly December to March the air quality is frequently in the range where health authorities advise limiting outdoor activity.

What residents actually do: air purifiers indoors, masks on bad days, exercise early or indoors, and some leave the valley for part of the winter. If you have asthma or young children this belongs in your decision about whether to live here at all, not in a list of inconveniences.

The monsoon washes it clean, and the air in the wet months and the autumn is good.

Water, power and the practical stuff

Municipal water does not reliably reach most of the city, so households buy tanker water into a tank and filter for drinking. Ask a prospective landlord specifically: tank capacity, whether there is a well or boring, and what tanker delivery costs in that neighbourhood.

Electricity is far more reliable than it was, and a backup is still common. Internet is good and cheap by regional standards. Telecom and internet covers providers.

Getting around

Traffic is the daily cost of living here. Distances are short and journey times are not, and the Ring Road at peak is slower than walking for some trips.

Most residents use a combination of ride-hailing apps, taxis, their own motorbike or scooter, and occasional walking. A motorbike is the fastest way across the city and the most dangerous, and it is the choice most long-stay residents eventually make anyway. Public buses are cheap, crowded and hard to navigate without Nepali. Transportation covers the options and vehicle and mobility covers licensing.

What is here that is nowhere else

The Department of Immigration, for every visa extension and permit.
The embassies and consulates.
The specialist hospitals, including the ones foreign residents and insurers actually use.
The international schools, almost all of them.
Tribhuvan International Airport, the main long-haul gateway.
The universities, and most postgraduate provision.
The largest foreign community in the country.

If your life touches any of these monthly, this is where to be. Healthcare and education cover the institutions, and visa and immigration covers the office.

The valley's other constraints

Three things that shape life here and are easy to discover too late.

Earthquake risk is real. The 2015 earthquake caused extensive damage in the valley, and building quality varies enormously. Ask when a building was constructed, whether it was retrofitted, and what it is built of. Keep water, a torch, cash in small notes and a go-bag. Emergency covers preparation properly.

The monsoon floods parts of the city. Low-lying areas near the rivers and badly drained streets go under, repeatedly, every year. Ask neighbours rather than the landlord.

Festival closures are frequent. Offices, shops and roads close for days at a time through the autumn festival season, and strikes and processions close roads with little notice. Build slack into any deadline that depends on an office being open. Events and festivals covers the calendar.

Living here well

Get out of the valley regularly - the hills start within an hour and the change of air is the thing that makes winter tolerable. Learn some Nepali, which changes your relationship with the city more than anything else. And find your neighbourhood rather than only the foreign circuit, which is easy here and a genuine loss. Foreign community covers both sides of that.

Where this goes wrong

Treating winter air as a detail. For some households it is decisive.
Not asking about water - tank size, source, tanker cost.
Renting in the diplomatic triangle by default, at several times the price.
Living in Thamel. It is for visitors.
Choosing a home across the city from your work or your child's school.

Where to go next

Lalitpur is the quieter alternative with the same access, and Nepal covers how the systems you came here for actually work.

What a year here actually feels like

Worth describing, because the seasons differ more than the weather report suggests.

Autumn, roughly October and November, is why people love the place: clear air, mountains visible from the city, festivals, and the best weather of the year. Winter is dry and bright with cold mornings, no heating in most buildings, and the air at its worst. Spring is warm and increasingly dusty, with the pre-monsoon heat building. The monsoon, June to September, washes the air clean, floods some streets, and turns the valley green.

The rhythm most long-stay residents settle into is to get out of the valley in the winter when they can, and to make the most of October.

Kathmanduकाठमाडौं