Trail guides
What the trail is actually like.
Everything below is written by the people who guide these routes — no borrowed brochure copy, no promises the mountain cannot keep. If a trek is harder than it looks on paper, we say so here before you book it.
Trekking guides
What the Annapurna Sanctuary is really like
A week from our office to a glacial amphitheatre ringed by six thousand metres of ice. Here is the honest version — the stairs, the weather window, and why we start you at Jhinu.
Read the guide →8 min readMardi Himal, the ridge walk that ruins other treks for you
Five days on a high grassy spine with Machhapuchhre filling the sky. Newer, quieter and steeper than the classics — and the best short trek we run.
Read the guide →7 min readPoon Hill in three days: the honest beginner's trek
Three thousand stone steps, a village full of rhododendron, and a sunrise that has been photographed a million times and still works. Who it suits, and who should skip it.
Read the guide →10 min readThe Annapurna Circuit today: what the road changed, and what it didn't
Thorong La is still 5,416 m and still the best pass day in Nepal. But the trek that gets you there is not the one your guidebook from 2009 describes.
Read the guide →8 min readTilicho Lake, and the path that scares people
A turquoise sheet of water at 4,919 m in a valley with no trees, no villages and no colour but rock. Plus the landslide traverse everyone asks about.
Read the guide →9 min readUpper Mustang is the one trek that works in monsoon
A restricted Tibetan kingdom behind the Himalaya, in a rain shadow so complete you can walk it in July. Red cliffs, cave monasteries and Lo Manthang.
Read the guide →Day hikes around Pokhara
Four Pokhara day hikes, ranked by how little effort they need
You do not need a week and a permit to stand in front of the Annapurnas. Here are the four walks we send people on when they have one free morning.
Read the guide →5 min readHow to do the Sarangkot sunrise properly
Everyone drives up in the dark and stands on the same tower. There is a better version of this morning, and it costs you one afternoon.
Read the guide →5 min readAustralian Camp is the best two hours you can spend near Pokhara
A grassy shoulder at 2,060 m with nothing between you and Annapurna South. Also, it is not Australian, and never was.
Read the guide →4 min readThe World Peace Pagoda — a boat, a forest and the postcard view
Row across Phewa Lake, walk up for forty minutes, and get the shot of Pokhara that everybody recognises. The easiest real viewpoint in the valley.
Read the guide →6 min readPanchase, the hill nobody walks an hour from Lakeside
Five ridges, a 2,500 m summit, one of the richest orchid forests in Nepal, and a decent chance you will not meet another trekker all day.
Read the guide →7 min readSix more walks around Pokhara, including ones we do not sell
Dhampus, Kalikasthan, Naudanda, the Begnas–Rupa ridge, Astam and Pumdikot. No package, no guide needed for most — just go.
Read the guide →Tours & culture
Chitwan — rhinos, ethics, and what a jungle day actually looks like
Nepal's lowland national park is a genuine conservation success story and an easy three days from Pokhara. Here is how to do it without funding the bad version.
Read the guide →6 min readOne day in Pokhara: what is worth your time and what is not
A lake, a waterfall that disappears into a cave, a mountain museum that is better than it sounds, and a couple of stops we would quietly skip.
Read the guide →8 min readKathmandu in two days: seven UNESCO sites, and how not to rush them
Durbar squares, the largest stupa in Nepal, a cremation ghat that asks something of you as a visitor, and a valley still rebuilding from 2015.
Read the guide →5 min readBandipur, the Newari town that traffic forgot
A car-free bazaar street on a ridge halfway between Kathmandu and Pokhara, with a Himalayan skyline at the end of it and one of Nepal's biggest caves below.
Read the guide →7 min readTrekking in Nepal with children: what works, what to avoid
Kids handle Himalayan trails better than their parents expect and worse than the brochures imply. Realistic routes, altitude limits and the things that actually go wrong.
Read the guide →7 min readPhotographing the Annapurnas: where to stand and when
The light here is decided by two things — the hour and the cloud cycle. Get those right and the gear barely matters.
Read the guide →Adventure & adrenaline
Flying, falling and floating: Pokhara's adventure sports, honestly rated
Paragliding, zipline, bungee, ultralight and white water — what each one is actually like, what it costs, and which ones are worth your money.
Read the guide →6 min readTandem paragliding in Pokhara: everything before you step off
Thirty minutes over Phewa Lake from one of the best flying sites on earth — and the one place in the world where you can fly alongside a trained bird of prey.
Read the guide →6 min readRafting from Pokhara — half a day on the Seti, or two on the Kali Gandaki
One is a two-hour warm-up twenty minutes from Lakeside. The other is a river trip through a gorge with no road, and a night on a sand beach.
Read the guide →6 min readSeeing the Annapurnas from the air: ultralight, mountain flight or helicopter
Three very different ways to get level with an eight-thousander, at three very different prices. What each one actually shows you.
Read the guide →5 min readZipFlyer and bungee — two very short, very intense minutes
One is 1.8 km of steel cable and 600 m of vertical drop. The other is a jump off a tower into a gorge. Both are over fast — here is whether they are worth it.
Read the guide →5 min readEverything in one day: how much adrenaline fits between breakfast and dinner
Sunrise, a flight, a zipline and a river, all before dark. The realistic version, with the timings that make it work.
Read the guide →Logistics, permits & gear
Permits, gear and getting there — the boring page that saves your trek
What you need to carry, what you can rent in Lakeside for a fraction of buying it, and how the permit system actually works.
Read the guide →6 min readRent or buy? What to bring to Nepal and what to pick up in Lakeside
Four items you should never buy for one trek, one you must never rent, and the small things that quietly ruin trips.
Read the guide →6 min readWhich permits you need, region by region
Three categories cover almost everything: conservation area, national park, and restricted area. Knowing which one you are in explains every rule you will meet.
Read the guide →5 min readKathmandu to Pokhara: bus, flight, or drive it yourself
Two hundred kilometres that take twenty-five minutes or eight hours depending on what you book. What each option is really like.
Read the guide →6 min readTravel insurance for Nepal: the clause that actually matters
Most policies quietly cap trekking cover at an altitude below the trek you booked. Here is how to check, and why helicopter cover is the line item that counts.
Read the guide →7 min readWhat your money actually buys: budget, standard and luxury compared
The same trek is sold at four times the price by different companies. Here is where the difference goes, and where it does not.
Read the guide →