Nepal Discovery Guide

Nepal offers mountain scenery at a scale with no real equivalent, reached on foot through villages over a fortnight rather than from a viewpoint car park. The teahouse system is what makes it unusual: on the main routes you walk between family-run lodges with beds and hot food, so a two-week high-altitude trek needs no tent, no supply chain and no expedition budget.

The main travel issue

Almost everyone goes to the same two places -- Everest and Annapurna take the great majority of trekkers, and in October, the clearest month, they are crowded.

The solution

Trade the famous name for the same mountains with a fraction of the people: Manaslu, Kanchenjunga, Makalu and Dolpo are quieter by an order of magnitude, and March to early May is a genuine second season. Plan the overland legs in hours rather than kilometres, because Kathmandu to Pokhara is two hundred kilometres and most of a day.

If you travel slowly

Three to four weeks lets you trek properly and acclimatise without rushing, which is both safer and more enjoyable. Add days rather than distance — the difference between a good trek and a miserable one is usually rest days.

If you want to see the essentials

Two weeks: the Kathmandu Valley, a short Annapurna-region trek from Pokhara, and Chitwan. The Poon Hill circuit gives high Himalayan views in four or five days without going above 3,200 metres.

If you seek local character

The Newar towns of the Kathmandu Valley — Bhaktapur, Patan, Kirtipur, Bungamati — are where the Valley's own culture is, and they are a world away from Thamel. Bhaktapur is worth staying in overnight rather than visiting for an afternoon.

If you want to go beyond the obvious

The Manaslu Circuit, which needs a restricted-area permit and a guide, gets a fraction of Annapurna's traffic on comparable terrain. Further out, Upper Mustang and Dolpo are culturally Tibetan, very dry, and require expensive permits — which is exactly why so few people go.

Nepal’s character comes from being a meeting point — of Hindu and Buddhist practice, of Indian and Tibetan worlds, and of dozens of ethnic groups in a country the size of a large region.

Two religions, one practice

Hindu and Buddhist worship share temples and festivals, and many Nepalis observe both without regarding it as a contradiction.

The Kathmandu valley’s Newar cities

Kathmandu, Patan and Bhaktapur were separate kingdoms with their own courts, and their Newar architecture, wood carving and festivals are the valley’s distinctive culture rather than a national one.

Mountain peoples, not one people

Sherpa, Tamang, Gurung, Thakali and others have distinct languages and traditions. Sherpa identity in particular has been reshaped by a century of mountaineering employment.

Rebuilding after 2015

The earthquake destroyed much of the valley’s heritage architecture, and reconstruction using traditional techniques is visible and ongoing.

Porter welfare is the issue to get right. Porters have been injured and killed on routes trekkers walk safely, usually because they were carrying too much without proper clothing, boots or insurance. Book through operators that follow the International Porter Protection Group guidelines — load limits, adequate gear, insurance and shelter — and ask directly rather than assuming.

Water and plastic. Bottled water on a trek generates waste that must be carried out by someone or burned. Carry a filter or purification tablets and refill; the Everest region has banned the thinnest single-use plastics outright, and refill stations exist along the main routes.

Firewood. Hot showers and heated dining rooms at altitude are often wood-fired, in places above the treeline where wood is scarce. Lodges using gas or solar exist and cost slightly more.

At Chitwan, choose jeep or walking safaris over elephant-back rides. The welfare case against riding is well established and the alternatives see as much.

In temples and at shrines, follow what people around you are doing. Walk clockwise around stupas and mani walls, ask before photographing anyone, and accept that some inner sanctums are closed to non-Hindus — Pashupatinath's among them.

October and November are the best months and everyone knows it. The monsoon has cleared the air, visibility is at its sharpest, and temperatures are comfortable. This is peak season, trails and flights are busy, and lodges on the main routes fill.

March to early May is the second season: warmer, rhododendron forests in flower at mid-altitude, and hazier views as the pre-monsoon dust builds. It is the climbing season on the high peaks, so the Everest approach is busy with expeditions.

December to February is cold at altitude — high passes may be snowed in and some teahouses close — but clear, and the low country is pleasant. Kathmandu's winter air quality is genuinely poor, which is the real argument against these months.

June to September is the monsoon: leeches on the trails, cloud where the mountains should be, and landslides closing roads. The exception is the rain-shadow country north of the main range — Mustang and Dolpo stay dry, and this is their season.

What a day costs, by how you travel

Year-round relative cost index vs country average

Paying for it, and three rules about cash

The currency is the Nepalese rupee (NPR) and the economy is largely cash-based, though credit cards work in major stores, hotels and restaurants and ATMs are available in larger cities such as Kathmandu and Pokhara. Then the three rules nobody mentions:

Indian rupees are widely accepted in the larger cities and tourist destinations, but notes greater than 100 INR are prohibited — convert larger ones before you arrive. It is illegal to take Nepalese banknotes out of the country. And any amount over US$5,000 in cash, or the equivalent, must be declared at customs on arrival.

The trekking package that looks too cheap. Avoid it. Nepal has documented cases of helicopter rescue and insurance fraud, and unusually inexpensive packages are named in the advice as a warning sign — the margin comes back somewhere, and the somewhere is often an evacuation you did not need.