Nepal Itineraries

The first-timer’s week: three days of temples in the valley, two at the lake under the Annapurnas, and a night in the jungle. Flights replace the slowest road days, and the bus from Pokhara to Chitwan avoids backtracking to Kathmandu.

Pace: busy but manageable, because two flights do the long distances. Kathmandu’s sights open early and are at their best before 10am, when the light is soft and the tour buses have not arrived, so start every valley day by 7:30. Keep Boudhanath for the late afternoon, when Tibetan families walk the kora around the stupa and the butter lamps are lit. Day 7 is the tight one: book the jeep safari for the earliest slot and an afternoon flight from Bharatpur, and leave at least four hours between landing in Kathmandu and your international departure. If your flight home is in the morning, swap the order and do Chitwan first from Kathmandu, then fly back from Pokhara.

Cost: about $650-1,100 (NPR 90,000-155,000) per person. The two domestic flights cost $200-260, Chitwan National Park entry is NPR 2,000 (about $15) a day plus guide and jeep fees, and the three Durbar Squares charge foreigners NPR 1,000 each for Kathmandu and Patan and NPR 1,800 for Bhaktapur.

Same triangle, slower. You sleep in Bhaktapur instead of making it a day trip, break the Pokhara road with a night in the hill town of Bandipur, add an overnight walk above Pokhara, and give Chitwan two nights.

Pace: comfortable, with only two long road days. Sleeping in Bhaktapur is the single best upgrade on this route: the day-trippers leave by 5pm, and at dawn the squares belong to women carrying offerings, potters setting out their wheels and old men on the temple steps. Bandipur works the same way, a car-free bazaar of 18th-century Newar shophouses that is quiet once the lunch crowd moves on, with a view of the Annapurnas, Manaslu and Ganesh Himal from the ridge at sunrise. The overnight at Australian Camp (2,060 m) is not a formal trek, though it sits inside the Annapurna Conservation Area, so you need the NPR 3,000 (about $22) entry permit, and a guide is recommended. If you want a third Chitwan day, drop Nagarkot.

Cost: about $900-1,500 (NPR 125,000-210,000) per person, with a private car to Bandipur and Pokhara as the biggest upgrade over the bus.

This is the most popular two-week shape: the valley, a short teahouse trek in the Annapurna foothills, a rest at the lake and the jungle to finish. The Ghorepani to Poon Hill loop reaches 3,210 m, low enough that altitude sickness is rarely a problem, and the dawn view takes in Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Machapuchare. Book the trek and guide through a registered agency in Kathmandu or Pokhara.

Why this loop: it is the shortest trek in Nepal that feels like a real one. You climb through terraced farmland, oak and rhododendron forest and Magar and Gurung villages, sleep in teahouses with hot showers and wifi, and finish in Ghandruk, the best-kept Gurung village on the Annapurna trails. Jeeps now reach Ulleri and Ghandruk, which cuts the low road-walking out of the old five-day version. In March and April the forest above Ghorepani is red with rhododendron; in October and November the dawn views are clearest.

Pace: the four trek days are 4-6 hours of walking with a lot of stone steps, comfortable for anyone who hikes at home. Day 13 is your buffer: if any mountain flight or road has been delayed, you still make your flight home.

Cost: about $1,300-2,100 (NPR 180,000-295,000) per person. On top of the 7-day costs, budget the ACAP entry fee of NPR 3,000 and the TIMS card at NPR 2,000, a guide for four days at $25-35 a day (shared between you), an optional porter at $20-25 a day, and teahouse rooms and meals at about $25-40 a day each. Tip the guide and porter about 10-15% of what you paid them.

For trekkers, this is the trip. The standard route from Lukla to Everest Base Camp (5,364 m) and back takes 12 days on foot, including two acclimatisation days, and you need a day in Kathmandu at each end plus at least one spare day for weather. Our Nepal trekking guide compares it with the Annapurna Circuit, Langtang and Manaslu.

The trek is not technical, but altitude makes it hard. Days above Dingboche are short in distance and long in effort, the air at Gorak Shep holds about half the oxygen of sea level, and nights in unheated lodges drop well below freezing in every season. The two rest days are not optional: walk high in the afternoon and sleep low, drink 3-4 litres of water a day, and do not push on with a headache. Many trekkers find the view from Kala Patthar more rewarding than base camp itself, since Everest is not visible from the camp.

In the October-November and March-May peak seasons, most Lukla flights leave from Ramechhap (Manthali), a 4-5 hour drive from Kathmandu, rather than from Kathmandu itself, so expect a 1-2am pickup on Day 2. Check which airport your ticket uses.

Cost: about $1,800-3,000 (NPR 250,000-420,000) per person with a guide and porter. The main items are the Lukla flights at around $200-230 each way, the Sagarmatha National Park fee of NPR 3,000 plus the local Khumbu Pasang Lhamu municipality fee of about NPR 2,000, a guide at $30-40 a day, and teahouse costs that rise with altitude to $40-60 a day by Gorak Shep, where a bottle of water or a hot shower costs several times what it does in Namche.

• First-timers: the 7- or 14-day routes are safe choices. Use flights for Kathmandu to Pokhara if you only have a week, since the road can take nine hours.
• Families with children: stay low. Kathmandu, Bhaktapur, Pokhara, Nagarkot and Chitwan all work well, and the Australian Camp overnight walk is the most child-friendly taste of trekking. Avoid treks above 3,000 m with young children.
• Slow travel: add Bandipur and the hill town of Tansen between Pokhara and the lowlands, then continue to Lumbini, the Buddha’s birthplace, for two days. From Lumbini, fly back to Kathmandu from Bhairahawa in about 35 minutes.
• Monsoon (June to September): the cultural sights and Pokhara stay open with big hotel discounts, but mountain views are rare, trails are leech-ridden and some Chitwan activities are cut back. Swap the Poon Hill trek for Upper Mustang, which lies in the rain shadow, or for more time in the valley. Allow spare days for landslides on the roads.
• Winter (December to February): good for every route here except the high passes. Kathmandu nights near freezing, so pick hotels with heating.
• Festival trips: Dashain and Tihar in October and November close offices and fill buses. Book transport early, and see our best time to visit Nepal page for dates and our Nepal culture guide for how to join in.
• With more time: three to four weeks lets you combine Everest Base Camp with Pokhara and Chitwan, or do the full Annapurna Circuit over the 5,416 m Thorong La in 12-16 days.