Kathmandu (
Nepali: काठमांडौ
[kɑːʈʰmɑːɳɖuː];
Nepal Bhasa: येँ देय्) is the
capital and, with close to one million inhabitants, the largest
metropolitan city of
Nepal. The city is the urban core of the
Kathmandu Valley in the Himalayas, which contains two sister cities: Lalitpur (
Patan), 5 kilometres (3.1 mi) to its south and
Bhaktapur or Bhadgaon, 12 kilometres (7.5 mi) to its east, and a number of smaller towns.
