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.
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 the cost of buying it, and how the permit system works in practice.
Read the guide →6 min readWhich trekking gear to bring from home and which to rent in Lakeside
Four things aren't worth buying for one trek, and one thing you should never rent. Then come the small items that quietly ruin trips.
Read the guide →6 min readWhich trekking permits you need in Nepal, region by region
Three categories cover almost every trek: conservation area, national park and restricted area. Once you know which one you're in, every rule you meet makes sense.
Read the guide →5 min readKathmandu to Pokhara by bus, by plane or by private car
Two hundred kilometres, which take twenty-five minutes or eight hours depending on what you book, and what each option is like in practice.
Read the guide →6 min readTravel insurance for Nepal, and the altitude clause that matters
Most policies quietly cap trekking cover at an altitude below the trek you booked. We show you how to check, and why helicopter cover is the line that counts.
Read the guide →7 min readWhat your money buys on a Nepal trek, from budget to luxury
Different companies sell the same trek at four times the price. This is where the extra money goes, and where it doesn't.
Read the guide →6 min readCash, cards, SIMs and wifi in Nepal, and what to sort out before you trek
There are no ATMs above the road head, teahouses don't take cards, and your signal stops before the good views start. Plan for all three.
Read the guide →6 min readWhat to pack for Nepal, season by season
The same trek needs a different bag in March and December. Four season lists, and the things people carry up for nothing.
Read the guide →5 min readTipping in Nepal, and the small customs worth knowing
How much to tip and when, and the handful of everyday customs that keep you from being rude without knowing it.
Read the guide →5 min readWhat is in our first-aid kit, and what should be in yours
Your guide carries a first-aid kit and an oximeter. You should still have six things in your own pocket, and one conversation to have before you leave.
Read the guide →5 min readArriving in Nepal, from the visa queue to your first twenty-four hours
What happens between the plane door and your hotel, and the four things worth sorting before you do anything else.
Read the guide →5 min readTwenty words of Nepali worth learning before your trek
You don't need the language. You need about twenty words, and two of them matter more than the other eighteen.
Read the guide →5 min readShowers, laundry and staying human for two weeks
Hot water gets scarcer and more expensive the higher you go, and stops entirely near the top. These are the habits that work.
Read the guide →6 min readDomestic flights in Nepal, and how not to miss your flight home
Flights to Lukla and Jomsom are cancelled routinely. That's the normal state of things, not a rare event or bad luck, and the whole trip should be built around it.
Read the guide →5 min readVegetarian in Nepal is easy, and vegan is harder than it looks
Vegetarian is close to the default here. Vegan runs into ghee, curd and milk tea at every meal, which you can solve, but not by pointing at a menu.
Read the guide →6 min readWhat works in Nepal if you travel with limited mobility
Most of the country is hard going, but a fair amount of it is possible. We go through which is which, without cheering you on and without writing it off.
Read the guide →5 min readYour suitcase stays in Pokhara while you trek
What goes in the duffel and what stays in Pokhara. Sort it out before you leave and you won't be repacking on a lodge floor at six in the morning.
Read the guide →6 min readWhen something goes wrong, from illness and injury to theft and getting home
The four situations that interrupt trips here and what happens in each, because knowing in advance is most of the reassurance.
Read the guide →7 min readHow to choose a trekking company in Nepal
There are thousands of registered operators in Nepal, and on a website the good ones look much like the bad ones. Six questions tell them apart.
Read the guide →6 min readWhat to tell us, and what to ask a doctor, before trekking with a medical condition
Asthma, heart conditions, diabetes, pregnancy, a replaced joint. None of these is an automatic no, but each changes the route, and one of them changes the insurance.
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