One week in Nepal, with three itineraries that fit
Seven days is enough for one thing done properly and two things done briefly. We cover the three combinations that work, and the one everybody tries that doesn't.
By the Lakeshore team · 6 min read · Updated 5 October 2026
A week is the length of trip people waste most often in Nepal. It's just long enough to make you think you can do everything, and just short enough that trying ruins it.
Arrival and departure are the two fixed costs. Once you count the flights, the leg from Kathmandu to Pokhara and jet lag, they take about a day at each end, which leaves five usable days.
Three itineraries fit into those five days. One popular plan doesn't.
The one that doesn't work
Kathmandu, then a trek, then Chitwan, then home. We see it in a lot of enquiries, and it's four days of travelling inside a seven-day trip.
Annapurna Base Camp doesn't fit in a week either. Seven days on the trail plus travel at both ends comes to nine or ten, and the compressed versions people get sold cut the acclimatisation days.
If you have a week and you want ABC, come for ten days or pick something else. We'd rather tell you that than sell you the compressed version.
Itinerary one, the trek week
Land and stay the night in Kathmandu. Next morning fly to Pokhara, sort out gear while we arrange permits, and sleep there. Then four days walking: Ghandruk and Poon Hill as a loop, or Mardi Himal if you're fit and want the ridge.
Back in Pokhara for a night, then fly or drive to Kathmandu and home.
You get a full trek, mountain sunrises, teahouse evenings and Gurung villages. You miss Kathmandu's heritage sites and the jungle, and that's the trade.
It's what most people with a week want, and it's the itinerary we build most often.
Itinerary two, the sampler
Two days in Kathmandu for Boudhanath, Patan and the old city. Drive to Pokhara and break the journey at Bandipur for a night. Then two days in Pokhara with Sarangkot at dawn, the lake, the Peace Pagoda and a day walk to Australian Camp for the mountains.
Fly back to Kathmandu and home.
There's no trek, but you see three quite different sides of Nepal: a medieval city, a hill town and a lake valley, and not a single day is rushed. For a first visit of a week, this is the more interesting trip.
Itinerary three, mountains and jungle
Fly straight to Pokhara. Walk to Ghandruk and back over three days, drive to Chitwan for two nights of canoe and jeep safari, then fly or drive to Kathmandu and home.
No other week gives you a bigger contrast, from Gurung villages at 2,000 m to subtropical grassland with rhinos in it. It suits families particularly well, because the jungle half needs no walking and children usually rate it above the mountains.
Rules for a short trip
Don't put a domestic mountain flight in a seven-day itinerary unless you can afford to lose two days. Flights to Lukla and Jomsom are cancelled routinely. Pokhara flights are far more reliable, but not immune.
On the first night, sleep. Don't plan a dawn start, because a tired first day costs more than the hour it saves.
Pick one thing and do it properly. A week doesn't stretch, and the short trips people remember are the focused ones.
Walk it with us
Private departures on your dates, guided by the people who wrote this page.
Questions we get asked
Can I see Everest in a week?
Only from the air, on a mountain flight from Kathmandu. If you want to walk, the Everest View trek takes fifteen-plus days. Everest Base Camp doesn't fit, and nobody should tell you it does.
Is it worth coming for only a week?
Yes, if you settle on one centre of gravity. Four days walking in the Annapurnas is a trek by anyone's measure, and a trip worth making.
Should I fly or drive to Pokhara on a short trip?
Fly at least one way. Swapping six to eight hours on the road for twenty-five minutes in the air saves a fifth of your usable time on a seven-day trip.
What is the shortest trek worth doing?
Three days to Ghandruk or Poon Hill. You sleep in teahouses, walk between villages and wake up in the mountains. We run them with a licensed local guide and porters.
Still deciding?
Tell us your dates, and we'll tell you whether Poon Hill Sunrise Trek is right for you. If it isn't, we'll say so.
Nothing to pay online. We confirm your dates first.
Or call the office +977 61-457830