It is 200 kilometres between Nepal's two largest tourist cities, and how you cover them says a lot about what kind of trip you are having.
Flying: 25 minutes
Several carriers fly the route through the day. On a clear morning the left-hand side of the aircraft gives you Manaslu, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri in a single sweep, which is a genuinely extraordinary twenty-five minutes.
The caveat is weather. Morning flights go; afternoon flights in spring and summer are frequently delayed or cancelled by cloud. Book the first slot of the day and keep the afternoon free.
Driving: six to eight hours
The Prithvi Highway follows the Trishuli river for most of its length and it is a beautiful drive. It is also slow, and the time varies enormously with roadworks, landslides in monsoon and festival traffic around Dashain.
A private vehicle is the comfortable option: you stop where you want, the driver knows which roadside places are safe to eat at, and you can break the journey at Bandipur, which is worth an overnight on its own.
The tourist bus: seven to eight hours
Tourist coaches leave Kathmandu early in the morning, cost very little and are perfectly comfortable. They stop for breakfast and lunch at set places. If you are travelling on a budget and not in a hurry, this is the sensible choice and there is no shame in it.
What we would suggest
Fly one way and drive the other. You see the mountains from above and the country from the ground, and you have not spent two full days in transit. If you can only pick one, drive on the way out while you are fresh and fly back when you are tired.
