Dhap Dam Hiking Route in Nepal: Everything you need to know

The Dhap Dam hike is an incredible hike just on the outskirts of Kathmandu. While it’s so close to the city, it feels as if you’ve left for a mountain trek through small villages, along riverbanks, and through dense forest. I was pleasantly surprised by how beautiful and difficult this hike was. I expected a boring path that ran through Shivapuri National Park, not a gorgeous hiking route full of charm. The Dhap Dam Hiking Route is the perfect overnight getaway from Kathmandu. It’s also a fantastic practice hike to warm up before major treks.

A brief history of Dhap Dam

Dhap Dam is located inside Shivapuri National Park. It was constructed in 2010 as a way to help prevent water shortages during the dry season in Kathmandu. You can read more about Dhap Dam here on the official government page.

Should you hike or drive?

Dhap Dam can be reached by road which is ideal if you are traveling with children or the elderly and are looking to have a picnic by the dam. In my opinion, if you can hike, you should. It’s a difficult but beautiful pathway up to the dam and it feels like a proper trekking route which is rare near such a major city.

Who would enjoy the Dhap Dam hike?

This hike is on the difficult side. The first hour is straight up stairs. It was exhausting so I’d recommend this hike for people who are in good shape and who enjoy hiking. If you are not used to walking upstairs or have health issues it will be difficult.

Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park Entrance Fees

Nepali Citizens – 100 rupees

SAARC Citizens – 600 rupees

Foreigners – 1000 rupees per person (about $10 USD) plus 1500 rupees (about $15) per group for a required guide

***Required Guide – A guide is required for all foreigners entering the park. Depending on the route you are taking the price may vary. To be honest, parts of this hike were hard to navigate and were not on maps.me, so having a guide would make it easier.

How to get to the Sundarijal entrance of Shivapuri National Park?

This trek starts by the Sundarijal entrance to Shivapuri National Park. On Google maps it’s called “Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park Ticket Counter.” Be careful you don’t go to the wrong entrance as there are several. It’s easiest to take a taxi here. Depending on your starting location, it should cost under 1000 NRS on Indrive or Pathao. If you take a bike instead of a taxi it should cost under 500 NRS

How long does the Dhap Dam Hike Take?

Online it says this hike takes 3 hours and 30 minutes up and 3 hours back down without stopping. I’m going to be honest and say that it took us 4 hours and 30 mins to get there (we did stop a lot) and 6 hours to return (we got lost). I struggled a lot going uphill because I hadn’t done a trek in a year. We also attempted to take the local hiking route back which was not on the map and was not a well-worn path, so we got lost for an hour on the way back down. If we came down the same way we had gone up, we would have been able to do it in 3 to 4 hours with stops to eat.

How difficult is the Dhap Dam Hike?

I was surprised at how difficult this hike is. I expected an easy route, but the first hour killed us. It’s about 1 to 1.5 hours straight uphill. After that, the walk is a gentle, beautiful hike through the woods. I got blisters under my toes and that made it difficult to walk down the steep downhill on the way back. I would say this is an intermediate to difficult day hike compared to other routes in the area.

Day hike versus overnight?

We did an overnight hike as a weekend escape from the city. I would highly recommend this because it made the hike a lot more relaxing. If you are in a time crunch you can go up and down the same route to save time. If you’re in good shape, this hike may be easy for you to do in one day, but for the average person I’d recommend two days.

Do you need a guide?

I normally recommend everyone to use maps.me which is a free downloadable offline map. However, one of the routes is not on the map. It just said “forest” most of the time we were walking. Dhap Dam is also not listed on maps.me and the hotel we chose also wasn’t there. If you go on a Saturday, you can follow other people, but on a weekday it would be hard to navigate by yourself. We met another group that got lost.

There’s a few options. 1. Go in a group but know it’s difficult to navigate and have an open mind about getting confused and lost. 2. Go with a guide and enjoy the trip without worrying. 3. Stick to the main trail and go up and down the same route.

Please don’t do this hike completely alone. At least have one friend with you as there is wildlife on this route and parts of it go through the jungle on a path that isn’t used often.

Best Time to go…

The great thing about hiking in Kathmandu is that you can go most of the year. You shouldn’t do this hike in the monsoon season (June, July, August, and September) because the heavy rainfall can cause landslides and flooding, not to mention it’s leech season. All the other months should be okay.

What to pack for the hike?

If you are going for the day, pack some snacks or lunch to take with you. There are nice shops along the way where you can grab food or tea.

For an overnight, we packed comfortable loungewear that we could sleep in, a coat for the evening if it got cold, toiletries, and a change of underwear and shirt for the second day. We all wore the same pants the second day hiking to save some space. Don’t overpack as it’s only a one-night trip and you can easily re-wear some stuff on the way back. Make sure to pack sunscreen, bug repellent, and a sun hat.

Route instructions…

Hiking to Dhap Dam

Walking Time: 3 hours and 40 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours and 30 minutes with a tea stop and quick sandwich break

Difficulty Level: Difficult

Distance: 7 miles (11.3 km) to Dhap Dam or 5.9 miles to Prakriti Resort (9.5 km)

Directions:

We started walking at 8:30am. Originally, we aimed to leave earlier but we were running behind schedule and weren’t in a major rush. Since we went in October it wasn’t too hot, but I would recommend trying to start walking at 7:30am.

The hike starts with a steep uphill climb to the Shivapuri National Park entrance. After that, there are a lot of stairs until you reach the second park entrance. After that, it’s a little less steep, but still a lot of steps until you reach a road with a small lodge called Hotel Karma and Restaurant on the left. We stopped here for a tea and bathroom break from 9:30am to 10:00am. I recommend stopping here for a bit as there is another steep uphill after this.

From the lodge, it’s another straight uphill climb through adorable villages for almost an hour. This section is easy to navigate because you can follow signs for Dhap Dam and there are plenty of locals who can help you with directions.

Towards the top of the hill, you can take a few different routes (all on maps.me) which connect back to the same point. We reached this area around 11:00am. We took the route to the right because locals recommended it. The path breaks off to the right in front of a local’s house just before where the stairs end and a steep stone path begins. There’s also an abandoned house with graffiti on the door just past the right turn off.

From there it’s an enjoyable mostly flat dirt road without any traffic. Some of it is in the sun, so wear sunscreen. At one point you’ll be right next to the gorgeous river where we stopped and ate the sandwiches we packed around 11:30am

We ate quickly and moved on so that we wouldn’t be too delayed. After the river, it’s a long subtle incline for an hour. At this point we ended up at an intersection with the main roadway around 12:40pm. From here you can take the road towards Dhap Dam by following the sign. Since we were doing an overnight stay, we decided to go to our hotel first and go to the dam in the morning when the sky would be clearer.

We chose to stay at Prakriti Resort which I highly recommend. From this intersection, it was a 10 minute walk along a dirt road and then a short incline up to the resort where we were greeted with beautiful gardens, friendly staff, and a nice room. We reached the resort at 1:00pm.

Where we stayed

Prakriti Resort:  We chose this hike because we wanted to spend an evening outside of Kathmandu in nature without having to drive too far. We kept hearing about Prakriti Resort and decided this would be a great place to try.

This was an incredible place to arrive after walking over three hours. We went in October and the gardens were full of marigolds, daisies, and supari flowers. It was a beautiful mix of colors. The rooms are nice with cute little balconies to sit and enjoy the view. It’s upscale compared to most of the places we hike where we stay in basic teahouses, so this felt luxurious.

The resort is actually a co-op with local farmers meaning that the local farmers own a share of the company. It’s an organic farm and they even have a farmers’ market each morning where you can buy local vegetables. The meals served here focus on locally grown seasonal ingredients. I enjoyed the whole concept of the hotel and you could tell the people working there took pride in it as well.

The hotel is a little on the expensive side for Nepal, but I felt it was well worth it. The atmosphere and relaxing vibe made it an enjoyable place to stay. I loved the way they decorated the hotel with local décor making it feel cozy and warm. They’ve done a beautiful job creating an upscale Nepali inspired resort.

We decided to do the room plan that included dinner and breakfast. Both were buffet style. My only complaint was that the buffets started at 8:00pm for dinner and 8:00am for breakfast. We were the only group that hiked in and out that day, so for most people the schedule was fine, but for us it was a little late. I fully plan on going back to Prakriti Resort, but next time, I would just sign up for a bed and breakfast option and order dinner a la carte. They had an amazing fire pit with BBQ from 5:00pm – 8:00pm and I would do that next time. Although, Suraj enjoyed the buffet and said he would stick with that option.

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Hiking back to Kathmandu

Walking Time: 3 hours and 30 minutes

Total Time: 4 hours (including two short breaks)

Difficulty Level: Easy/Moderate – The downhill can be difficult on your knees and ankles. Otherwise, the way back is fairly easy.

Directions:

Since breakfast at the resort was served at 8:00am, it took us a while to eat and digest before we were ready to begin the walk back. We ended up leaving at 10:00am which was much later than we had intended.

From the hotel, it was a 15 minute walk through the jungle and then we reached the main road that connected us to the same intersection as the day before, only this time we were going the opposite direction to get to the dam. If we wanted to go back to Kathmandu the same route as the day before, we would have double backed this way and ended back up at that intersection before descending.

After we exited the jungle, we kept to the right towards Dhap Dam. It’s a short walk to the front of the dam, however, if you continue on the road you’ll end up going around the dam and seeing the other viewpoints which have mountain views on a clear day. This section is an easy walk and we arrived at the first viewpoint of the dam at 10:30.

From here, you follow the road you were just on and continue to walk around the dam until you come to a very large cement entrance gate where the military are stationed. You follow this road (at the time of writing this article this road was not on maps.me) through the gate and continue on the dirt road going around the dam until you see two large nice cement military buildings side by side. We arrived here at 11:30 because we had been walking back and forth, lost for an hour. Full disclosure, a man in the military and two armed guards had to walk us here because we were so confused. Instead of going into the area with the buildings, you’ll see a run-down road going downhill to the right.

You follow this path as it goes from a road to a small trail. This is the super confusing part as none of this is on maps.me. You’ll find yourself on the back side of the large dam and there is a small stream you need to cross. From the other side you’ll see a small mud path that looks like no one has ever taken it. In one direction it goes back up to the top of the dam (although this looks like a nice route, it’s the wrong one). The path also splits into a bunch of bushes in the woods. This is the path that looks like no one has ever taken it, but it’s the correct path. You follow this through some thick trees and down some steep slopes and over another tiny stream and then you end up on an actual hiking path that is easy to follow. It took six of us to find this route without a guide and the confusing part only lasted for about 10 minutes.

Once you are on the hiking path (not shown on maps.me), you get to enjoy a beautiful walk through the forest. We ended up arriving back at the main road that we had walked on the day before around 12:10. The point it comes out is just 30 mins away from the spot where we had a picnic and ate sandwiches the day before. We decided to take another sandwich break here on the way down because it was so peaceful. We stopped from 12:40pm to 1:00pm and dipped our toes in the water while we rested.

The section before and after our sandwich break is a mostly flat road through the woods. We arrived back at the top of the staircase around 1:30pm. From here, it’s a steep downhill on mostly stairs until 2:00pm when we reached Hotel Karma (where we stopped for tea the day before). We stopped for tea and left at 2:20pm. After that, it’s another 40 minutes back to the main road where you can hire a taxi to take you back to Kathmandu. This downhill is steep, so I recommend trekking poles and ankle/knee braces if you have trouble with downhill climbs. We made it to the road at 3:00pm.

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Michelle Della Giovanna

Writer at Full Time Explorer

I’m just your average New Yorker who quit her job in the fashion industry to explore the world. Come find out what it’s like to trade in five-inch heels for squat toilets.