NEPAL · THE HIMALAYA
Snow peaks, prayer flags, the long walk up.
Everest Base Camp and the Annapurna circuit, sunrise over the peaks, the temple cities of the Kathmandu Valley and the jungle of the Terai. The whole range, trailhead to base camp, across Nepal, Bhutan, Tibet and the Indian Himalaya.
Only here
Three things you can only do in the Himalaya.
Mountain views and temple tours turn up all over Asia. Walking to the foot of Everest, landing for breakfast at 3,880 metres and crossing a valley of seven living World Heritage cities do not.
The highest trail on Earth
Trek to the foot of Everest
Two weeks up the Khumbu, past Namche Bazaar and the monastery at Tengboche, to a camp on the glacier at 5,364 metres under the biggest mountain on Earth. There is no other walk like the approach to Everest, and no other dawn like the one from Kala Patthar above it.
- 1 Everest Base Camp Trek – 14 Days
- 2 Everest Base Camp Helicopter Tour landing at Everest View Hotel
- 3 Tibet Tour 8 Days Lhasa to Everest Base Camp Small Group Tour
By helicopter
Breakfast under Everest
Lift off from Kathmandu at first light, fly up the valley as the peaks turn gold, and land for breakfast on the terrace of the Everest View Hotel at 3,880 metres with the summit filling the sky. Back in the city before lunch. The whole Khumbu in a single morning.
- 1 Everest Base Camp Helicopter Tour landing at Everest View Hotel
- 2 Everest Base Camp Helicopter Tour landing at Hotel Everest View
- 3 Everest Base Camp Trek with Helicopter Return from Gorakshep to Lukla
The Kathmandu Valley
Seven temple cities in one valley
Before the trek, the valley: the great stupas of Boudhanath and Swayambhu, the medieval palace squares of Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur, and the cremation ghats of Pashupatinath. Seven UNESCO World Heritage sites within an hour of each other, still lived in.
- 1 Private Kathmandu Sightseeing Tour | UNESCO World Heritage sites
- 2 Kathmandu: Full Day 7 UNESCO Tour with Lunch – Private/Group
- 3 Private Bhaktapur and Nagarkot Day Tour From Kathmandu
Start here
The trek almost everyone comes for.
More Himalaya trips are planned around this one route than any other on the list.
Where most people start
The Himalaya's Most Popular Tours
Everest Base Camp, the Annapurna circuit, a sunrise flight past the summit and the temples of the Kathmandu Valley. The trips most travellers come to Nepal for.
Where to begin
The trips a Himalaya journey is built around.
Everest Base Camp, the Annapurna trails, the Kathmandu Valley, Pokhara, the Everest helicopter run and a Chitwan safari. The handful of experiences most trips are planned around, and the best way to do each.
The big decision
Which trek is yours?
Almost every Nepal trip turns on this one question. Three routes for three kinds of trekker, sorted by the days you have and the kind of trail you want under your boots.
Pokhara
Where the Annapurnas meet the lake.
Most Annapurna treks begin and end in Pokhara, and it is no hardship to linger. Phewa Lake mirrors the white wall of peaks, paragliders ride the thermals off Sarangkot, and the dawn drive up to the viewpoint catches first light on Machapuchare and the Annapurnas across the valley.
Read the guide: the best things to do in Pokhara →Before the trek
The valley is a pilgrimage in itself.
Give Kathmandu a couple of days before you fly to the mountains. Walk the great dome of Boudhanath as pilgrims spin the prayer wheels, climb the monkey-temple steps to Swayambhu, and stand among the woodcarved temples of Bhaktapur and Patan, valley capitals from before the kings of Nepal united the country.
See the Kathmandu Valley tours →The great range
Eight of the fourteen highest mountains on Earth.
Every peak over 8,000 metres stands in just two ranges, and most of them are here: Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu and Annapurna, strung along the spine of the Himalaya. You do not have to climb them. An hour-long mountain flight out of Kathmandu runs the whole wall at eye level.
See Everest by mountain flight →Down in the Terai
There is a jungle at the bottom of the mountains.
Drop off the foothills onto the steaming plains of the Terai and Nepal turns into something else entirely. Chitwan National Park is wet sal forest and elephant grass where one-horned rhino wallow at dawn, wild elephant move in herds and the odd Bengal tiger leaves prints on the riverbank. A dugout canoe and a jeep at first light are the way in.
- 1 3-Day Chitwan National Park Jungle Safari Tour Package with Pick Up
- 2 From Kathmandu/Pokhara: 3-Day All-Inclusive Chitwan Safari
- 3 Kathmandu: 3-Day Chitwan Safari Tour with Hotel Transfers
By altitude
The whole vertical world.
Nowhere else on Earth packs this much height into one trip. Pick your altitude: rhino jungle on the plains, sunrise ridges in the middle hills, or the thin air at the foot of the eight-thousanders.
The Terai lowland
Down in the jungle.Before the land tilts upward there is the Terai: sal forest and elephant grass on the Indian border, where one-horned rhino, wild elephant and the odd tiger move through Chitwan at dawn.
The middle hills
Up to the sunrise ridges.The forested middle hills, where rhododendron blankets the trails in spring and a short climb to a ridge like Poon Hill or Sarangkot buys a front-row dawn over the whole Annapurna wall.
The high mountains
Into the high mountains.Above the treeline the air thins, the glaciers begin and the trail tops out on moraine beneath the eight-thousanders. Everest Base Camp sits at 5,364 metres, and the world drops away below.
Over the border
Cross the range to the roof of the world.
The Himalaya does not stop at Nepal. Over the high passes lies the Tibetan plateau: the Potala Palace and the Jokhang temple in Lhasa, the pilgrim road past Shigatse, and the overland run to the north side of Everest at Rongbuk, the highest monastery on Earth. The far side of the same mountains, and a different world.
See all 15 Tibet tours →By region
Pick your corner of the range.
The Kathmandu Valley for the temples. Pokhara for the lake and the trailhead. The Everest region for the big walk. Annapurna for the circuit. Chitwan for the jungle. Bhutan for the kingdom over the border.
By activity
Or pick how you want to travel.
Trek if you have the days and the legs. A helicopter or a mountain flight if you want Everest without the walk. A canoe for the jungle, a paraglider off Sarangkot, a raft on a glacier-fed river, or a kitchen for a plate of momos.
Plan it
How a first Himalaya trip comes together.
First time in Nepal? Most trips follow the same arc: the valley, the trek, then the lake. Here is how it fits together.
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