The mountains are the easy part.
Sunrise off the Nagarkot ridge, seven UNESCO squares between breakfast and dusk, the dawn flight along the Everest wall, three nights under the sal trees in Chitwan. 875 tours reviewed, priced, and sorted by what they are actually like.
Seven bookings, one very full week.
A first-light flight along the Everest wall. Seven UNESCO squares between breakfast and dusk. A jeep track into Chitwan, and an afternoon folding momos in Thamel. Weather and roads rearrange Nepal itineraries constantly; this handful survives every version.
Everest Base Camp Helicopter Tour landing at Everest View Hotel
Shared helicopter from Kathmandu to Everest Base Camp flyovers, with a Lukla fuel stop and optional Everest View Hotel breakfast, safety-first.
From $1,575 per person
Open the review →
★ 5.0Books out earlyZipFlyer Nepal – The World’s Steepest Zip-lineFrom $165608 reviews
★ 5.0Clear-sky pickEverest Base Camp TrekkingFrom $1,350485 reviews
★ 5.0Everyone starts hereNagarkot Sunrise View and Day Hiking from KathmanduFrom $45471 reviews
★ 5.0Worth the alarmAnnapurna Circuit Trek with Tilicho LakeFrom $1,093368 reviews
★ 5.0Easy day outBungee Pokhara by HighGround AdventuresFrom $90366 reviews
★ 5.0Goes again next yearEverest Base Camp Trekking – 13 DayFrom $1,399365 reviews
Everest before your second coffee.
The first slot leaves Tribhuvan around 6.30, turns east along the wall of the Himalaya and puts Everest off the right wing about forty minutes later. Everyone is sold a window. The helicopters go further and land: Kalapatthar, or the terrace at Hotel Everest View for breakfast at 3,880 metres. Cloud decides everything, which is why the smart move is the very first slot on the calendar rather than the convenient one.
How far do you want to walk?
Nepal sorts itself by days on foot. Three or four buys a sunrise most people rank above the mountain it looks at. A week gets you inside the Annapurna Sanctuary. Two weeks gets you to Base Camp and back with the acclimatisation built in. Settle the number of walking days and the routes underneath are costed out for you.
Four days, no altitude
The short one
from $230 · 176 reviews
Drive out to Nayapul, climb through rhododendron forest to Ghorepani, then up in the dark for the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri lines coming out of the blue at Poon Hill. Teahouse beds, no altitude worth worrying about, and you are back in Pokhara by the fourth afternoon. That sunrise is what most people end up describing when they get home.
Poon Hill, compared →
A week, give or take
Into the Sanctuary
from $699 · 252 reviews
Up the Modi Khola on stone steps that never quite end, into the amphitheatre at 4,130 metres with Machapuchare directly overhead and Annapurna I closing the far wall. Hot showers most nights, a hot lemon at every stop, and one morning that people describe as walking into a room made of mountains.
Compare the ABC routes →
Two weeks or more
The long way to Base Camp
from $1,800 · 1,499 reviews
Fly into Lukla, then twelve days of Khumbu: the suspension bridges above the Dudh Koshi, Namche stacked on its terraces, Tengboche at prayer time, Kalapatthar at dawn for the view of Everest you cannot get from Base Camp itself. Acclimatisation days are built in for a reason. Choose the season first and the date second.
See the Base Camp treks →
The mountains keep early hours.
By nine the haze is up off the valley floor and the Himalaya are gone until tomorrow. That is why the good days here start in the dark: the jeep up to the Nagarkot ridge, the switchbacks above Sarangkot, the last hour to Poon Hill by head-torch. Bring a jacket. The tea arrives with the view.
You will be fed twice.
Nepali kitchens teach the way they cook. Momos pleated by hand until the pleats behave, dal bhat built one bowl at a time, achar pounded while you watch. Most classes start with a walk through the vegetable stalls at Ason and finish when nobody can manage another helping.
Ten fingers, one afternoon.
A khukuri forged while you work the blower, a thangka outlined line by line in Boudha, clay thrown in Bhaktapur’s pottery square where it has been thrown for six centuries. Short sessions with working craftspeople, and you go home carrying the thing you made.
Three kingdoms, forty minutes apart.
Three rival capitals sat inside one valley, each with its own court and its own Durbar Square of pagoda roofs, carved struts and sunken stone water taps. A great deal came down in the 2015 earthquake; a great deal has since been put back by hand, in the original brick and timber. Walk in unguided and you see a courtyard. Walk in with someone who knows it and you see who built it, and why.
Six places carry most of Nepal.
Kathmandu for the temples and the noise. Bhaktapur for the brick. Nagarkot for the ridge at dawn. Pokhara for the lake and the trailheads behind it. Chitwan for the rhinos. Everest and Annapurna for everything you came to walk.
Walked, flown, or eaten.
A surprising share of this country is best met at a table, and the rest is either underfoot or out of a window. Twelve doors below; each one opens on a full set of options with prices attached.
The valley rim is half an hour away.
Kathmandu sits in a bowl. Everything on the rim is a short drive out: Chandragiri by cable car, the ridge road up to Nagarkot, the monastery at Namobuddha, the brick lanes of Bhaktapur. Breakfast in Thamel, dinner in Thamel, a whole day in between.
Days one, two and three.
Nobody sees Nepal in three days. These three, though, set up everything that follows. Land in Kathmandu, sleep the flight off, begin the morning after.
Day 1
The valley, on foot
Boudhanath at kora hour, the potters’ square in Bhaktapur, Patan’s museum courtyard. Jet lag is useful here, because everything worth seeing opens early. Keep the afternoon loose.
Plan day one →
Day 2
Up before the haze
Out of the city at four, up to the Nagarkot ridge, and the Himalaya arriving over Langtang while you hold a glass of tea. Then downhill through terraced fields to Changu Narayan, and a very late lunch.
Plan day two →
Day 3
The Everest hour
First departure of the morning, before the cloud builds. Forty minutes east along the wall, a window seat written on the ticket, and back on the ground early enough to fly on to Pokhara the same day.
Plan the Everest flight →
Latest Nepal tour reviews.
★ 5.012 Days Everest Base Camp TrekkingFrom $1,3993 reviews
★ 3.01 Night 2 Days Chitwan Jungle Safari Tour from Pokhara or KathmanduFrom $1403 reviews
★ 4.7Thamel Rickshaw tourFrom $143 reviews
★ 4.4Cable Car Tour – Bird Eye View of Mountain & LakeFrom $393 reviews
★ 5.0Momo Making Class with a Local Chef3 reviews
★ 5.0Full-Day Yoga, Body Massage and Pedicure PackageFrom $1103 reviews
★ 5.0Jomsom Muktinath Tour by 4WD SUV 2 DaysFrom $2903 reviews
★ 5.0Everest Base Camp Landing Helicopter TourFrom $2,0043 reviews