Boutique Nepal: 12 unhurried days
Nepal has quietly acquired a small collection of genuinely excellent lodges, most of them on ridges reached by a walk rather than a road. They are the reason it is now possible to see the Annapurnas properly without carrying a pack, sleeping in a dormitory or spending a fortnight doing it.
- Duration
- 12 days
- Pace
- Slow
- Hotel changes
- 5
- Best months
- Oct, Nov, Dec, Mar, Apr
- From
- $3,120 per person
Twelve days, five bases, one short flight, and the highest night on the route at about 5,900 feet (1,800 m), which is low enough that altitude is simply not a factor. The walking is two to four hours on lodge-to-lodge days, with your bag carried ahead.
Who it suits: travellers who want the mountain views without the trek, second visits, and anyone who has looked at a teahouse photograph and quietly decided against it.
Your specialist: your named Nepal specialist, with our Delhi office holding the lodge rooms, which are few and go early.
Day by day
Days 1 and 2: Bhaktapur. Straight from the airport past Kathmandu to a restored Newari house inside the old city. Day 2 is a guided morning through Durbar Square and Potters’ Square, then the afternoon free. The city empties of day visitors by five, which is when it is worth being there.
Day 3: Bhaktapur to the Kathmandu valley rim. A short drive and a two-hour walk up to a lodge on the valley rim with the whole Himalayan skyline north of it. Nothing scheduled on arrival.
Day 4: Valley rim. A morning walk along the ridge through Tamang villages, and an afternoon that belongs to the view.
Day 5: Fly to Pokhara. Twenty-five minutes rather than seven hours on the highway. Afternoon by the lake, and a boat out at the hour the mountains come back.
Day 6: Pokhara to the first ridge lodge. A drive to the trailhead, then about three hours up through rhododendron forest to a lodge at roughly 5,600 feet (1,700 m) facing Annapurna South and Machhapuchhre. Your bag goes ahead.
Day 7: Ridge to ridge. Four hours along the ridge to a second lodge, past terraced fields and Gurung villages. This is the day people remember.
Day 8: The second ridge. A free day. A short walk to a viewpoint before breakfast if the sky is clear, and nothing at all afterwards.
Day 9: Down to Pokhara. Two and a half hours of descent to the road, then back to the lake for a night in a good hotel with a proper bath.
Day 10: Pokhara to Chitwan. A short flight south to the lowlands and a tented camp on the edge of the national park, on a river, with about twelve rooms.
Day 11: Chitwan. Morning game drive and a walk with a naturalist, afternoon on the river. Rhino are close to guaranteed. Tiger are not, and anyone promising otherwise is guessing.
Day 12: Fly to Kathmandu, departure. Short flight north, day room if your flight is late, transfer to the airport.
What is included
All accommodation, which is the point of this itinerary and where the budget goes: a restored Newari house, three ridge lodges and a river camp. Full board on all lodge and camp nights. Porters for your bags on every walking day, so you carry a daypack. A private guide on the ridge days. Two internal flights. Park permits and the Chitwan naturalist. Private transfers throughout. A WhatsApp group with our Delhi office and our Kathmandu team.
Honest notes
These lodges are small, and in October, November and April they are full six to nine months ahead. If your dates are fixed inside those windows, book early or expect the second choice.
The walking is genuinely easy but it is not flat. Two to four hours a day on hill paths with real ascent, at low altitude and a comfortable pace. If nobody in the party is walking two hours uphill, this is not the right route and we will build you something road-based instead.
Mountain views are weather. October and November are the most reliable months, March and April a close second. In December the air is clearest of all and the nights are cold.
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