Nepal | Sunset at Pokhara | Phewa Lake

© 2012 Wazari Wazir | Sunset at Phewa Lake | Pokhara | Nepal

Pokhara Sub-Metropolitan City (Nepali: पोखरा उपमहानगरपालिका Pokharā Upa-Mahānagarpālikā) is the second largest city of Nepal with approximately 300,000 inhabitants and is situated about 200 km west of the capital Kathmandu. It serves as the headquarters of Kaski District, Gandaki Zone and the Western Development Region.

Pokhara is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Nepal. Three out of the ten highest mountains in the world: Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Manaslu or Lamjung himal are situated within 30 miles (linear distance) of the city so that the northern skyline of the city offers a very close view of the Himalayas. Due to its proximity to the Annapurna mountain range the city is also a base for trekkers undertaking the Annapurna Circuit through the ACAP region of the Annapurna ranges in the Himalayas.

Phewa Lake, Phewa Tal or Fewa Lake is a freshwater lake in Nepal located in the south of the Pokhara Valley that includes Pokhara city; parts of Sarangkot and Kaskikot. The lake is stream-fed but a dam regulates the water reserve, therefore, the lake is classified as semi-natural freshwater lake. It is the second largest lake in Nepal, the largest in Gandaki Zone followed by Begnas Lake.

Phewa lake is located at an altitude of 742 m (2,434 ft) it covers an area of about 5.23 km2 (2.0 sq mi) with an average depth of about 8.6 m (28 ft) with maximum water depth is 24 m (79 ft). Maximum water capacity of the lake is approximately 4,600,000 cubic metres (3,700 acre·ft).

The Annapurna range on the north is only about 28 km (linear distance) away from the lake, and the lake is famous for the reflection of mount Machhapuchhre and other mountain peaks of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges on its surface. The Barahi Temple is situated on an island in the lake. ( Wikipedia )

Pokhara was never on our itinerary actually, but since we have extra time and money in our hand, we decided to visit Pokhara, we arrange our transport plus accommodation in Pokhara from our hotel in Thamel and stayed at Hotel Orchid in Pokhara, not very far from Phewa Lake.

If you are interested to take a picture of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri Ranges from Phewa Lake, especially if you wanted to get a beautiful reflection of them in the water, I highly recommended it to you to get it in the early morning, especially around 6 a.m to 7 a.m, during sunrise when the water is a bit calm and you will get a beautiful reflection of the Annapurna Ranges.

In the afternoon, this lake is busy with tourist and you will not be able to get a beautiful reflection of the Annapurna, as you can see from the picture above, the reflection on the water is not very good, but we don’t have much choice, I mean, the very next day after we arrived here, we decided to take a sunrise view of Annapurna Range from Sarangkot and we have to be there around 6 a.m and even if we decided to get down at Phewa Lake to take a photograph of the mountain after that, I don’t think the result will be good.

Once we arrived in Pokhara from Thamel, pack our backpack in the hotel, rest a bit and head straight to Phewa Lake and take the boat (Rs300 per hour) and wait for the sunset. The sunset happens around 5 p.m to 5:30 p.m and after that, it will be dark. Just to let you know, the journey from Kathmandu to Pokhara will take somewhere around six to seven hours on the road, so if you decided to visit here, please keep that in mind and it is better for you to arrange the hotel from Kathmandu, rather than wasting your time looking for a hotel here even though it is not difficult to get one.