Bus Park Directory of Nepal: Which Terminal Serves Which Destination

Kathmandu has never had one central bus station. For decades, intercity services departed from direction-specific bus parks and roadside ticket counters strung around the Ring Road — Gongabu in the north for western and long routes, Koteshwor in the south-east for eastern routes, and microbus and jeep counters at Balkhu, Kalanki, Balaju and Machhapokhari — while tourist coaches run from their own terminal at Sorhakhutte near Thamel. First-timers routinely end up at the wrong terminal, because the correct departure point depends on the direction of travel and on whether the service is a public bus, a tourist coach, or a microbus/jeep.

Since 2023 (2080 BS), Kathmandu Metropolitan City (KMC) has been pushing all vehicles leaving the Kathmandu Valley to operate from a single terminal: Gongabu Bus Park, commonly called Naya Bus Park ("New Bus Park"). On paper, that makes Gongabu the answer to almost every departure question; in practice, counters and pick-up points survive at several Ring Road junctions, so always confirm the exact boarding point when buying a ticket. The directory below covers each Kathmandu terminal, then the main terminals in Pokhara, Birgunj, Biratnagar and Narayangadh.

Gongabu Bus Park — universally known as Naya Bus Park — sits on the northern arc of the Ring Road at Gongabu, beside the Bishnumati River corridor between Balaju and Samakhusi. Opened in 2056 BS (1999 AD) with support from the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) under a public-private partnership model, it is owned by Kathmandu Metropolitan City and operated by Lohtse Multipurpose Pvt. Ltd. The compound spreads over roughly 161 ropani (about 8 hectares) along the riverbank, and an upgrade carried out between 2015 and 2017 raised its parking capacity from about 450 to about 800 bays. It is the largest and busiest bus terminal in Nepal, handling on the order of 1,500 bus movements a day at peak periods such as the Dashain-Tihar festival exodus.

Gongabu has always been the natural hub for westbound and long-haul travel: Pokhara, Gorkha, Baglung, Narayangadh (Chitwan), Butwal, Bhairahawa (for Lumbini), Dang, Nepalgunj, Surkhet, Dhangadhi and Mahendranagar, along with hill-district services to places such as Dhading and Nuwakot. Since KMC's consolidation drive began in 2023, it is nominally the departure point for every out-of-valley route, eastern destinations included. The terminal has around 47 bus ticket counters, joined in June 2023 by 56 counters for microbus and jeep services, and online ticketing has been rolling out across the counters since 2025.

So which Kathmandu bus park serves Pokhara? It depends on the class of service: ordinary and deluxe public buses and micro/Hiace services leave from Gongabu throughout the day, while air-conditioned tourist coaches leave from Sorhakhutte in the early morning. The roughly 200-kilometre Prithvi Highway journey typically takes six to eight hours depending on traffic and roadworks.

On 2 June 2023 (Jestha 2080 BS), Kathmandu Metropolitan City instructed operators of all vehicles travelling outside the valley to run only from Gongabu Bus Park, citing the chaos caused by random parking, roadside ticket booths and indiscriminate boarding along the Ring Road. The rule took force on Asar 1, 2080 BS (16 June 2023), when jeep and microbus operators from Balkhu, Kalanki, Balaju, Machhapokhari and Koteshwor agreed to shift and 56 new ticket counters opened inside the bus park to accommodate them. KMC also ordered outside counters at junctions such as Koteshwor, Gaushala and Kalanki to close and declared the Kalanki-Jadibuti Ring Road stretch a no-boarding zone.

Enforcement has been uneven: reporting through 2024 and 2025 found public vehicles still loading passengers at Gaushala, Chabahil, Balaju, Machhapokhari, Kalanki, Koteshwor and Balkhu, with KMC officials acknowledging resistance from transport entrepreneurs. The city has kept tightening the screw — on 24 April 2026 (Baisakh 2083 BS), acting mayor Sunita Dangol had buses serving Dhading, Nuwakot and Rasuwa, long run from the roadside at Machhapokhari and Balaju, moved exclusively into Gongabu with dedicated lanes and counters. Treat Gongabu as the default departure point, but double-check whether your operator still boards at an old roadside location.

Koteshwor is the busy junction on the south-eastern Ring Road where the Araniko Highway toward Bhaktapur and the road to Jadibuti and the Kathmandu-Terai corridor meet. Because every eastbound bus must pass this way out of the valley, Koteshwor grew into the city's informal eastern terminal: rows of ticket counters here sell seats on day and night buses to the eastern Terai — Bardibas and Janakpur via the BP Highway (Sindhuli road), plus Itahari, Dharan, Biratnagar, Birtamod, Damak and Kakadbhitta in Jhapa — as well as Hiace van services on the same corridors.

Under the KMC directive these services are supposed to originate at Gongabu, and many now formally do, crossing the city before picking up most passengers on the way east. In practice, travellers heading to eastern Nepal still commonly buy tickets at a Koteshwor counter and board at the junction, saving an hour of city traffic. When booking an eastern route online or by phone, always confirm whether boarding is at Gongabu, Koteshwor or both — operators often list a departure time for each point.

Sorhakhutte Tourist Bus Park is the departure point for tourist coaches from Kathmandu. The tourist bus stand moved here from Kantipath on 30 June 2018 on the orders of the Metropolitan Traffic Police Division, after the roughly 100 daily tourist buses and 3,000 passengers using Kantipath were judged to be choking one of the city's busiest roads. Sorhakhutte sits at the north-western edge of Thamel, about a 10-15 minute walk from the tourist district's centre. Green-plate and tourist-class coaches to Pokhara, Chitwan (Sauraha) and Lumbini depart mostly in a single morning wave around 7:00 am, so passengers are advised to arrive by about 6:30 am; some operators also run midday and night departures on the Pokhara route.

The micro and jeep counters are the other piece of the puzzle. Until mid-2023, share jeeps (Tata Sumos, Boleros) and microbuses to out-of-valley destinations ran from kerbside counters at Balkhu and Kalanki on the south-western Ring Road, Balaju and Machhapokhari in the north-west, and Koteshwor in the south-east — Kalanki serving westbound Prithvi Highway routes, Machhapokhari and Balaju serving Dhading, Nuwakot and Rasuwa (including Trishuli and Syabrubesi, the Langtang trailhead), and Balkhu handling a mix of southern and western services. Since Asar 2080 (June 2023) these operators have held counters inside Gongabu, though several junctions still act as informal pick-up points — KMC's April 2026 action on the Dhading-Nuwakot-Rasuwa routes shows the clean-up is ongoing.

Pokhara, Nepal's second tourism hub and the capital of Gandaki Province, splits its intercity traffic across three main terminals. The Pokhara Tourist Bus Park lies off Mustang Chowk in the Pardi area, roughly two kilometres from Lakeside's Hallan Chowk; coaches arriving from Kathmandu turn off the Prithvi Highway at Prithvi Chowk and terminate here. All the main tourist-coach departures — Kathmandu (about seven hours), Chitwan/Sauraha (about five hours), Lumbini and Bandipur — leave from this park, mostly in the early morning, and many operators offer hotel pick-ups from Lakeside.

Prithvi Chowk Bus Park, on the Prithvi Highway near the centre of town, is Pokhara's main public intercity terminal for routes heading east and south: regular buses and micros to Kathmandu, Dumre (for Bandipur), Gorkha, Narayangadh, Butwal and Bhairahawa, plus long-haul night services to Terai cities as far as Biratnagar in the east and Dhangadhi in the far west. Baglung Bus Park, on the northern side of the city where the Pokhara-Baglung highway begins, handles everything to the north and north-west: Baglung, Beni and Kusma, jeep and bus connections toward Jomsom and Muktinath in Mustang, and trek-access services to Nayapul, Kande and Sarangkot for the Annapurna trails. Rule of thumb: tourist coach — Tourist Bus Park; east or south — Prithvi Chowk; north-west or trekking trailheads — Baglung Bus Park.

Birgunj Bus Park serves Nepal's busiest border city, opposite Raxaul in India, in Parsa district of Madhesh Province. The terminal sits on the city's bypass road, linked to the Tribhuvan Highway at Gandak Chowk and to the clock-tower (Ghantaghar) area at the city core. Day and night buses run to Kathmandu — via Hetauda or the Mugling-Narayangadh road — alongside East-West Highway services to Janakpur, Biratnagar and Kakadbhitta in the east and Butwal, Bhairahawa and Nepalgunj in the west, plus share jeeps that cover the Kathmandu run faster than the buses. Note that Nepali buses do not cross the border: passengers continue to Raxaul railway station by rickshaw, tanga or taxi.

Biratnagar Bus Park is the main terminal of Biratnagar, the metropolitan centre of Koshi Province in Morang district, located near the city centre by Mal Pokhari. It anchors eastern Nepal's long-distance network with night buses to Kathmandu, frequent services north to Itahari and Dharan along the Koshi Highway, and connections east to Jhapa and west along the East-West Highway; the Rani-Jogbani border crossing to India lies just south of town. Narayangadh's main terminal — confusingly named Pokhara Bus Park, after its flagship route — sits in the Narayangadh bazaar of Bharatpur Metropolitan City, Chitwan, where the Mugling road from the Kathmandu/Pokhara corridor meets the East-West (Mahendra) Highway. Almost every long-distance bus in central Nepal passes through this junction, making Pokhara Bus Park the country's key mid-route interchange for travellers connecting to Sauraha (Chitwan National Park), Lumbini or anywhere along the Terai.

The single most useful habit in Nepal's bus system is to confirm the boarding point at the moment of purchase — a ticket bought at a Koteshwor or Kalanki counter may board there, at Gongabu, or at both, and online platforms usually let you choose. Tourist coaches cost more than public buses on the same corridor in exchange for fixed seating, luggage handling and meal stops. During the Dashain-Tihar festival season (roughly October-November), Gongabu adds extra departures but seats still sell out days ahead, so book early.