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.
29 guides in this section.
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, with notes on 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 ridge with Machhapuchhre filling the sky. It's newer, quieter and steeper than the classics, and it's the best short trek we run.
Read the guide →7 min readPoon Hill in three days, a good first trek in Nepal
Three thousand stone steps, a village ringed by 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 readWhat the road changed on the Annapurna Circuit, and what it didn't
Thorong La is still 5,416 m and still the best pass day in Nepal. The trek that gets you there has changed, though, and it's 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 except rock, plus the landslide traverse everyone asks us about.
Read the guide →9 min readUpper Mustang is the one trek that works in the monsoon
A restricted Tibetan kingdom behind the Himalaya, in a rain shadow so complete you can walk it in July, past red cliffs and cave monasteries to Lo Manthang.
Read the guide →7 min readKhopra Ridge beats Poon Hill at its own game
A 3,660 m ridge with Dhaulagiri straight across the valley, lodges owned by the villages themselves, and a fraction of the crowd.
Read the guide →8 min readLangtang Valley, a trek through the village that rebuilt itself
The closest big trek to Kathmandu. It's a glacial valley under 7,000 m peaks, home to a community that lost almost everything in 2015 and chose to come back.
Read the guide →11 min readWhy Kala Patthar matters more than Everest Base Camp
Nepal's most famous trek without the marketing, starting with what the brochures leave out. You can't see Everest from Everest Base Camp.
Read the guide →8 min readNar and Phu, two medieval villages behind a gorge most trekkers walk past
A restricted valley off the Annapurna Circuit where the architecture, the language and the Buddhism are essentially Tibetan, and you may not see another trekking group for days.
Read the guide →6 min readKapuche, a glacier lake at 2,546 m and four days from Lakeside
Glacial lakes normally sit above 4,000 m and cost you a week of acclimatising. This one doesn't, and most trekkers have never heard of it.
Read the guide →6 min readKori Danda, 3,800 m in four days with no one else up there
A grass ridge above Sikles with Annapurna II, Annapurna IV, Lamjung Himal and Manaslu along the skyline. Only two of the twenty-five operators we surveyed list it at all.
Read the guide →6 min readKhumai Danda gives you the Mardi view without the Mardi traffic
A parallel ridge at 3,682 m looking at the same Machhapuchhre face, four days from Lakeside and still almost empty.
Read the guide →6 min readMuldai has Poon Hill's panorama, 400 metres higher
Muldai stands at 3,637 m, one ridge east of the famous viewpoint, with Dhaulagiri and Annapurna I on the same skyline and perhaps a dozen people there at dawn.
Read the guide →5 min readSikles, four days in one of the largest Gurung villages in Nepal
A working farming village of slate and stone on the quiet eastern side of the Annapurnas, where the village itself is the reason to go.
Read the guide →5 min readThe Royal Trek, the ridge Prince Charles walked in 1980
Four low, warm days east of Pokhara through farming villages, finishing at Begnas Lake. No altitude, no crowds and no other trekkers at all.
Read the guide →6 min readThe Machhapuchhre Model Trek, a trail the villages built themselves
Five days out of Ghachok on a community-run route through tea gardens and ridge villages, laid out so the money stays where you walk.
Read the guide →7 min readKhayer Lake, the sacred lake a day beyond Khopra Ridge
An eight-day trek past Khopra Ridge to a glacial lake under the Annapurna south wall. Pilgrims come once a year, and trekkers hardly ever.
Read the guide →6 min readThree days to Ghandruk, the handsomest village in the Annapurnas
Slate roofs, stone lanes and Annapurna South closing off the end of the street. This is the gentlest way to see a Gurung village properly.
Read the guide →6 min readMohare Danda has Poon Hill's panorama and none of the queue
Five days to a ridge at 3,300 m, sleeping in eco-lodges the villages own outright, with the same Dhaulagiri-to-Annapurna sweep as Poon Hill.
Read the guide →7 min readJomsom and Muktinath, walking up the deepest gorge on earth
Eight days from apple orchards into Tibetan high desert, ending at a temple sacred to Hindus and Buddhists alike. It's also one of the few treks that works in the monsoon.
Read the guide →8 min readTreks from Pokhara, sorted by how many days you have
Most trekking sites sort their trips by mountain. You arrive with a number of free days, so we have sorted ours by days and said what each length buys you.
Read the guide →7 min readMonsoon and winter, the two seasons everyone tells you to avoid
Eight months of the year count as 'the season'. The other four are cheaper and emptier, and on the right routes they're better. We tell you which.
Read the guide →8 min readThe Dhaulagiri Circuit is the hardest thing we run
Sixteen days around the seventh-highest mountain on earth. Two passes above 5,200 m, glacier travel, full camping support and no teahouses anywhere.
Read the guide →8 min readTrekking in Nepal alone, and trekking alone as a woman
It's the question we're asked most, and one that hardly any operator writes about plainly. This guide covers which risks matter, which mostly don't, and how we set up a solo trek.
Read the guide →7 min readWhat a teahouse is like, from the rooms and food to the showers and stove
Where you sleep for two weeks and what you eat every night, why the dining room is warm and your bedroom is not, and which parts cost extra.
Read the guide →8 min readWhat altitude sickness feels like, and the three rules that matter
Climbing faster than your body can adjust ends more treks than fitness or the weather, and altitude doesn't care how strong you are.
Read the guide →7 min readAnnapurna Base Camp or Mardi Himal? How to choose between them
The two treks people email us about most, side by side. They suit different trekkers, and choosing the wrong trek is the most common mistake we see.
Read the guide →7 min readHow to trek well in Nepal, starting with the people who carry your bag
Trekking money reaches Nepali households more directly than almost any other tourism, but sometimes it also gets people hurt. What to ask before you book.
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