Trail guides
What to expect on the trail.
Everything below is written by the people who guide these routes, not copied from brochures. If a trek is harder than it looks on paper, we say so here, before you book it.
20 guides in this section.
Adventure & adrenaline
Pokhara's adventure sports, and which ones we'd spend money on
Paragliding, zipline, bungee, ultralight and white water. What each one feels like, what it costs, and which of them are worth your money.
Read the guide →6 min readTandem paragliding in Pokhara, and what to know before you step off
Thirty minutes over Phewa Lake with the Annapurnas on the horizon, from 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 takes you down a gorge with no road, with a night camped on a sand beach.
Read the guide →6 min readSeeing the Annapurnas from the air by ultralight, mountain flight or helicopter
Three very different ways to get level with an eight-thousander, at three very different prices, and what each one shows you.
Read the guide →5 min readZipFlyer and bungee, two very short and 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, so we tell you whether they're worth it.
Read the guide →5 min readHow much adrenaline fits into one day in Pokhara, between breakfast and dinner
Sunrise, a flight, a zipline and a river, all before dark. This is the plan that works on the day, with our timings.
Read the guide →5 min readPokhara's adventure activities and the age limits for children
Age limits, weight limits and the activities worth skipping, plus the cheap things that keep a seven-year-old happier than any of them.
Read the guide →5 min readPhewa and Begnas lakes for rowing, kayaking and paddleboarding
Phewa is the famous one, and it's busy. Begnas is twenty minutes away, half the price and almost empty.
Read the guide →5 min readMountain biking from Pokhara, a rough guide to rough ground
The ride down from Sarangkot, the Begnas back roads, and the multi-week Himalayan routes for riders who mean it.
Read the guide →5 min readWhat the weather cancels, and what to do instead
Flying stops first, then the river, and after that almost nothing. We've ranked the activities so you can plan a day that survives the forecast.
Read the guide →5 min readFour caves around Pokhara, and why the valley is full of them
Limestone, a river that vanishes into the ground, and the best thing to do here on a day when it won't stop raining.
Read the guide →5 min readRock climbing and canyoning near Pokhara, a small scene that's worth a day
Nepal is famous for mountaineering and almost unknown for cragging. Both climbing and canyoning exist near Pokhara, and both are worth a day if you already climb.
Read the guide →5 min readFishing the Pokhara lakes, and the rivers above them
Cage aquaculture on the lakes, wild sahar in the rivers, and a boatman who has fished the same water for thirty years. A quiet half-day that few visitors ever book.
Read the guide →5 min readPokhara after dark, once the walking is done
Live music on the strip, a lake that empties at dusk, and the two places locals go that visitors rarely find.
Read the guide →6 min readMotorbike and jeep touring, and which roads are worth it
Nepal is a serious motorcycling destination and a hard one. The Mustang road, the Annapurna jeep tracks, and what you're taking on.
Read the guide →5 min readChecking an adventure operator in five minutes, before you clip in
Most operators in Pokhara run paragliding, rafting, canyoning, bungee and zipline well, and a few run them badly. You can tell which in about five minutes.
Read the guide →5 min readGolf in a gorge, horses on the ridge and quads in the riverbed
Three things you wouldn't expect to find in Pokhara, and one of them is among the more unusual golf courses anywhere.
Read the guide →4 min readSkydiving in Nepal, real but rarely running
Jumps over the Himalaya only happen in organised windows. Find out how it works before you build a trip around skydiving.
Read the guide →5 min readThe day after the trek, with sore legs and two days spare
What to do in Pokhara once you're down off the hill, everything hurts and another trail is out of the question.
Read the guide →6 min readTrekking, rafting, flying and jungle in Nepal, month by month
Flying, rafting, trekking and the jungle each have their own best season, and they don't line up neatly. This is what is at its best in each month.
Read the guide →