Pokhara

Pokhara is the second largest city of Nepal and it  is located 200 km west of the capital Kathmandu. Despite being a comparatively smaller valley than Kathmandu, its geography varies dramatically within just few kilometres from north to south. The altitude varies from 827 m in the southern part to 1740 m in the north.[1] Additionally, the Annapurna Range with three out of the ten highest mountains in the world — Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Manaslu — are within approximately 15 - 35 miles as-the-crow-flies distance from the valley. 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.

Pokhara is in the northwestern corner of the Pokhara Valley, which is a widening of the Seti Gandaki valley that lies in the midland region of the Himalayas. In this region the mountains rise very quickly, and within 30 km, the elevation rises from 1,000 m to over 7,500 m. As a result of this sharp rise in altitude the area of Pokhara has one of the highest precipitation rates in the country (3,350 mm/year or 131 inches/year in the valley to 5600 mm/year or 222 inches/year in Lumle). Even within the city there is a noticeable difference in rainfall between the south and the north: The northern part at the foothills of the mountains experiences a proportionally higher amount of precipitation.

The Seti Gandaki is the main river flowing through the city. The Seti Gandaki (White River) and its tributaries have created several gorges and canyons in and around Pokhara that gives intriguingly long sections of terrace features to the city and surrounding areas. These long sections of terraces are interrupted by gorges that are hundreds of meters deep. The Seti gorge runs through Pokhara from north to south and then west to east; at places these gorges are only a few metres wide. In the north and south, the canyons are wider.

In the south, the city borders Phewa Tal (4.4 km2) at an elevation of about 827 m above sea level and Lumle at 1,740 m in the north of the touches the base of the Annapurna mountain range. Pokhara, the city of lakes, is the second largest city of Nepal after Kathmandu. Three 8,000-meter peaks (Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, Manaslu) can be seen from the city.[13] The Machhapuchhre (Fishtail) with an elevation of 6,993 m is the closest to the city.

The porous underground of the Pokhara valley favours the formation of caves and several caves can be found in the city limits. In the south of the city, a tributary of

the Seti flowing out of the Phewa Lake disappears at Patale Chhango, Nepali for Hell's Falls, also called Davis Falls, after someone who supposedly fell in) into an underground gorge, to reappear 500 metres further south. To the southeast of Pokhara is the municipality of Lekhnath, a recently established town in the Pokhara valley, home to Begnas Lake.