Phewa Lake was slightly enlarged by damming which poses a risk of silting up due of the inflow during the monsoon.[41] The outflowing water is partially used for hydropower generation.[42] The dam collapsed in 1974 which resulted in draining of its water and exposing the land leading to illegal land encroachment; since then the dam has been rebuilt.[43] The power plant is about 100 m below at the bottom of the Phusre Khola gorge. Water from Phewa is diverted for irrigation into the southern Pokhara valley. The eastern Pokhara Valley receives irrigation water through a canal running from a reservoir by the Seti in the north of the city. Some parts of Phewa lake are used as commercial cage fisheries.The municipality of Pokhara spans 12 km from north to south and 6 km from east to west but, unlike the capital Kathmandu, it is quite loosely built up and still has much green space.[38] The valley is approximately divided into four to Six parts by the rivers Seti, Bijayapur, Bagadi, Fusre and Hemja. The Seti Gandaki flowing through the city from north to south divides the city roughly in two halves with the business area of Chipledunga in the middle, the old town centre of Bagar in the north and the tourist district of Lakeside (Baidam) to the south all lying on the western side of the river.[39] The gorge through which the river flows is crossed at five places: K.I. Singh Pul, Mahendra Pul and Prithvi Highway Pul from north to south of the city. The floor of the valley is plain, resembles Terai due to its gravel-like surface, and has slanted orientation from northwest to southeast. The city is surrounded by the hills[40] overlooking the entire valley.
Pokhara is known to be a popular tourist destination.[45][46] The tourist district is along the north shore of the Phewa lake (Baidam, Lakeside and Damside). It is mainly made up of small shops, non-star tourist hotels, restaurants and bars. Most upscale and starred hotels are on the southern shore of the Phewa Lake and southeastern fringes of the city where there are more open lands and unhindered view of the surrounding mountains. Most of the tourists visiting Pokhara trek to the Annapurna Base Camp and Mustang. To the east of the Pokhara valley, in Lekhnath municipality, there are seven smaller lakes such as Begnas Lake,Rupa Lake,Khaste lake, Maidi lake, Neureni lake, Dipang lake. Begnas Lake is known for its fishery projects.The city promotes two major hilltops as viewpoints to see the city and surrounding panorama, World Peace Pagoda built in 1996 across the southern shore of Phewa lake and Sarangkot which is northwest of the city. In February 2004, International Mountain Museum (IMM)[51] was opened for public in Ratopahiro to boost the city's tourism attractions. Other museums are Pokhara Regional Museum; an ethnographic museum; Annapurna Natural History Museum[52] which houses preserved specimens of flora and fauna, and contains particularly extensive collection of the butterflies, found in the Western and ACAP region of Nepal; and Gurkha Museum featuring history of the Gurkha soldiers.The city has recently been adorned with a bungee jumping site (the second in Nepal): Water Touch Bunjee Jumping.[54] A cable car service has begun construction joining Fewa Lake with World Peace Stupa led by the government of Nepal which is expected to boost the tourism exponentially.
The sporting activities are mainly centered in the multipurpose stadium Pokhara Rangasala (or Annapurna Stadium) in Rambazar. The popular sports are football, cricket, volleyball, basketball etc. The Sahara Club is one of the most active organizations promoting football in the city and organizes a South Asian club-level annual tournament: the Aaha Gold Cup.[80] Additionally, the Kaski District Football Association (KDFA) organizes Safal Pokhara Gold Cup,[81] which is also a South Asian club-level tournament and ANFA organizes local Kaski district club-level Balram KC memorial football tournament.[82] There are several tennis courts and a golf course[83] in the city. Nearby Sarangkot hill has developed as a good attraction for adventure activities such as paragliding[84] and skydiving.[85] The Pokhara city marathon, high altitude marathon are some activities attracting mass participation.[86] Adventure sports such as base jumping, paragliding, canyoning, rock climbing, bungee jumping, etc. are targeted towards tourists.Media and communication were quite limited until the 1990s.[96] However, in the following decade there has been a proliferation of private media in print, radio and television.
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