Romantic Nepal: 11 slow days for two
Nepal is not on most honeymoon lists, which is the first argument for it. The second is that the country is unusually good at a specific thing: putting you somewhere with a view of the highest mountains on earth, with nothing to do all day, for a fraction of what an equivalent view costs anywhere el
- Duration
- 11 days
- Pace
- Slow
- Hotel changes
- 4
- Best months
- Oct, Nov, Mar, Apr
- From
- $2,860 per person
Eleven days, four bases, one short internal flight and no altitude to manage. Two medieval courtyards, a lake, a ridge lodge above the Annapurnas with a two-hour walk to reach it, and three nights in the lowland jungle.
Who it suits: couples and honeymooners who would rather unpack four times than nine. Two half-days of easy walking, nothing harder.
Your specialist: your named Nepal specialist, with our Delhi office holding the rooms.
Day by day
Days 1 and 2: Bhaktapur. Transfer from Kathmandu airport, about an hour east, straight past the capital rather than into it. Two nights in a restored Newari house inside the old city, which is traffic-free after dark and empties of day visitors by five in the afternoon, at which point you have a fifteenth-century royal city largely to yourselves.
Day 2 is a slow guided morning through Durbar Square, the Nyatapola temple and Potters’ Square, then the afternoon free. Dinner on a rooftop above the square.
Day 3: The valley rim. Kathmandu in the morning if you want it, with Patan Durbar Square and the Patan Museum, then up to a small lodge at Nagarkot or Dhulikhel on the valley rim at about 7,000 feet (2,130 m). Sunset over the Himalayan skyline from your own terrace, which on a clear autumn evening runs from the Annapurnas to Everest.
Day 4: Sunrise, then fly to Pokhara. Up for the dawn, then back down to Kathmandu and a 25-minute flight west. Three nights in a lakeside villa or a small hotel above Phewa Lake, with the Annapurnas at the far end of the water.
Day 5: Pokhara, nothing scheduled. A rowing boat on the lake, the Peace Pagoda on the far shore, a spa afternoon. Sunset from the water.
Day 6: A walk to a ridge. By road to a trailhead, then a two-hour climb to Australian Camp or Dhampus, at around 6,900 feet (2,100 m), where you sleep in a simple ridge lodge with the Annapurna range filling the entire northern horizon from the bed. This is the night people remember. The lodge is comfortable rather than luxurious and the view is not available at any price elsewhere.
Day 7: Down and on to the jungle. Walk down in the morning, two hours, then back to Pokhara and south to Chitwan, five hours, or fly via Bharatpur. Three nights in a river lodge on the edge of the national park.
Day 8: Chitwan. Dawn canoe on the Rapti, drifting silently past crocodiles on the bank, then a walking safari with two naturalists, which is how you see rhino at the range that makes the hair stand up on your arms. Afternoon free. Sunset drinks on the riverbank.
Day 9: Chitwan, free. A jeep safari if you want one, or a Tharu village, or the whole day at the lodge. Elephants are observed at the breeding centre and never ridden, on this trip or any trip we sell.
Day 10: Back to Kathmandu. Flight from Bharatpur, 25 minutes, or the drive. Last night in a boutique hotel in Patan, and a dinner we book in one of the courtyard restaurants.
Day 11: Departure.
What is included
Two nights in a restored Newari house in Bhaktapur, one at a valley rim lodge, three lakeside in Pokhara, one at a ridge lodge above the Annapurnas, three at a Chitwan river lodge on full board, and a final night in Patan. All breakfasts. Kathmandu to Pokhara and Bharatpur to Kathmandu flights. Private car with English-speaking driver throughout. Private licensed guides on three days, and a licensed trekking guide and porter for the two-day ridge walk with permits. All monument and park fees. The canoe, walking safari and lake boats. A couples spa treatment in Pokhara. A private rooftop dinner in Bhaktapur and sunset drinks at Chitwan. A WhatsApp group with your consultant and our Delhi office.
What we would change, and when
- Do not want to walk at all? Replace the ridge lodge night with a third Pokhara night and see Sarangkot at dawn by car instead. You lose the best view of the trip and gain a lie-in.
- Want a proper trek? Three or four more days turns the ridge walk into the Ghorepani and Poon Hill loop, which reaches about 10,500 feet (3,200 m) and stays comfortably below the altitude line.
- Want the highest comfort? There are a small number of genuinely luxurious properties in Nepal, and rather more that describe themselves that way. Send us any hotel you have found and we will tell you what it actually is.
- Travelling June to September? We would move your dates. The monsoon removes the mountains for days on end, and every view on this itinerary is the reason for the itinerary.
Honest notes
Nepal does not do luxury the way Thailand or the Maldives do, and it is important to know that before you book a honeymoon here. The best properties are small, characterful, well run and comfortable, and almost none of them are five-star in the international sense. What Nepal offers instead is a view from your bed that nowhere else on earth has. If your priority is the marble bathroom, we would gently point you elsewhere.
The ridge lodge on day 6 is simple: a good bed, a hot shower, a shared terrace and a wood stove. Reaching it takes two hours uphill with a porter carrying your bag. Everything about that night is worth it and none of it is a spa.
October and November give the clearest mountain air and the highest rates. Late March gives you rhododendron in flower and a hazier horizon. Both are good and they are good in different ways.
Kathmandu itself is not romantic, and we have kept you out of it until the last night on purpose.
Built by your named Nepal specialist, and checked by our Delhi office before it goes out.
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