Nepal, planned around altitude rather than around a wish list
Twelve days is the number that works for a first visit. Fifteen carries a teahouse trek. Three weeks does a trek and the cultural valley and the lowland jungle without any of them being rushed.
Plan my Nepal trip Read the complete guide
- Best time to go
- October to November, and March to April
- Worst time to go
- June to September
- How many days
- 12 to 15, or 21 with a trek
- Entry
- Visa on arrival at Kathmandu, or applied for online
Every Nepal trip we build is run from our own office in Delhi, which covers India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bhutan, and written by a named Nepal specialist rather than by a queue.
Why plan Nepal with us
We are in the region. Our Delhi office is ours, staffed year round, and it runs Nepal alongside India, Sri Lanka and Bhutan. Permits, licensed guides, a cancelled mountain flight at six in the morning: handled rather than escalated.
A named specialist, not a queue. One person owns your file from the first email until you land home.
The first proposal is free and it is not a template. You see the actual lodges, the actual walking hours, the sleeping altitude every night and the reasoning behind the acclimatisation days.
We plan around altitude, not around your wish list. Height is the real constraint in Nepal, and it does not negotiate. If your dates cannot carry the acclimatisation a route needs, we will tell you and offer a route they can carry. Our rating is 4.9 from 93 reviews largely because of that.
A WhatsApp group while you travel. Your consultant and our Delhi office, open from take-off until you are home.
The short answers
| Question | Short answer | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Best time to go | October to November, and March to April | October gives the clearest air of the year. March and April are warmer and hazier, with rhododendron in bloom. |
| Worst time to go | June to September | The monsoon genuinely removes the mountains. Cloud, rain, leeches on the trails, and no view for days at a time. |
| How many days | 12 to 15, or 21 with a trek | Under 10 means the valley and one other thing. Any Everest itinerary needs buffer days. |
| Entry | Visa on arrival at Kathmandu, or applied for online | Available to most nationalities. Some are not eligible, so we confirm the current rule for your passport before quoting. |
| Trekking rules | Permits and a licensed guide are required | Independent solo trekking in the national parks is no longer permitted. We arrange both. |
| Typical budget | $90 to $470 per person per day | Land only, excluding international flights. Trek days are costed separately as fully supported. |
The full breakdown is in our complete guide →
Eight ways to travel Nepal
Every route below is a real itinerary we build, published day by day with sleeping altitudes. Start from one and we will rebuild it around you.
- Classic Nepal in 12 days, the Kathmandu valley, Pokhara and Chitwan
- Nepal with children, 12 days, short legs, rhinos, and a walk that children can actually do
- The Annapurna teahouse trek, 15 days, the Sanctuary, honestly described
- Romantic Nepal, 11 days, three bases, a lake and a mountain lodge
- Food and culture, 12 days, Newari kitchens, Bhaktapur and a Tharu village
- Comfort and mountain lodges, 12 days, a lodge-to-lodge walking circuit with proper beds
- Everest region trek, 14 days, Lukla, Namche, Base Camp and Kala Patthar
- Nepal in 21 days, a trek, the valley and Chitwan without compressing any of them
Nepal in the magazine
Altitude sickness, explained without the drama · What a teahouse is actually like · Nepal month by month · How much does a Nepal trek cost? · Everest Base Camp or Annapurna: which trek · Seeing the Himalaya without trekking · Chitwan and Bardia compared · Kathmandu valley in four days
Nepal itineraries
Every one of these is a starting point, not a fixed departure. We change the length, the pace and the hotels to fit you.
Classic Nepal in 12 days: the valley, Pokhara and Chitwan
The first-visit route, and the one that suits most people who are not trekking. Three cities in the Kathmandu valley, a ridge-top Newari town…
Nepal with children: 12 days below the altitude line
The rule that shapes this whole itinerary: we do not take young children to high altitude. A child cannot reliably tell you they have…
The Annapurna teahouse trek: 15 days to the Sanctuary
The Annapurna Sanctuary is a glacial amphitheatre ringed by peaks over 23,000 feet, entered through a gorge so narrow that for two days you…
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…
Nepal by what it cooks: 12 days
Most people come to Nepal for the mountains and leave without noticing that the Kathmandu valley holds one of the more distinctive food cultures…
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.…
The Everest region in 14 days
The most requested trek in the world, and the one most often attempted on too few days. Fourteen is the shortest schedule we will…
Deep Nepal: 21 days
Nepal is three countries stacked on top of each other. There is the subtropical lowland along the Indian border, where there are rhino and…
What is in every Nepal trip we build
- A day-by-day document with sleeping altitude, walking hours and daily ascent for every trekking day
- Acclimatisation days written in as fixed points, not as optional extras
- Buffer days around every Lukla flight, because those flights cancel
- Licensed, insured, English-speaking trekking guides and porters paid properly and equipped properly
- All trekking permits arranged in advance in your names
- Hotels chosen for location and for warmth, which matters more than it sounds
- Honest lodge descriptions, including which nights have a shared bathroom
- Our Delhi office on WhatsApp for the whole trip
Planning Nepal, in detail
What we would skip in Nepal
This is the article that costs us bookings and earns the trust, so we write it carefully.
Nepal with children
Nepal is a better family destination than its reputation suggests, with one firm condition attached: below altitude it works extremely well, and…
The best two-week route through Nepal
There is no single best route through Nepal, because the country offers three genuinely different trips and two weeks will carry one…
What to eat in Nepal, and where
Nepali food has a reputation problem, and the reason is that most visitors only ever eat two versions of it: the standardised…
Nepal for the first time
Nepal is the only country we sell where the most important planning variable is not what you want to see. It is…
Nepal month by month
The best time to visit Nepal is October and November, then March and April, and the gap between those windows and the…
Frequently asked questions
How fit do I need to be to trek in Nepal?
What is altitude sickness and how do you plan around it?
Do we need a guide and permits?
Will the flight to Lukla be cancelled?
Can we see the Himalaya without trekking?
What are the teahouses like?
Tell us roughly what you want. We will tell you honestly what works.
A named consultant in Tel Aviv, our own people on the ground, and a written plan you can argue with before you commit to anything.