Trekking in Nepal with children, what works and what to avoid

The routes that work

Ghandruk is our usual family trek. Three days, a high point of 2,012 m and short walking days, with warm lodges and good food. The village is full of animals and other children, and a road is within reach if anything goes wrong. No family has come back wishing they'd picked something bigger.

The Royal Trek is the other good option. You spend four days on a low ridge east of Pokhara at under 1,800 m, walking through farming villages and finishing at Begnas Lake, where children can swim. There's no altitude to worry about and the nights are warm.

For a single day, Australian Camp. It's ninety minutes uphill to an enormous view, and you're back for lunch before anyone runs out of patience.

Altitude and children

Altitude affects children much as it affects adults, but they're worse at describing it. A young child with acute mountain sickness may just be tired, quiet and off their food, which looks exactly like a child who has had a long day.

Because it's so hard to tell, we're cautious. For under-tens we keep the sleeping altitude below about 3,000 m unless there's a very good reason not to, and we climb more slowly than we would with adults. Going above 3,500 m with a young child should only be decided after a long talk with us. We'll say what we think, and sometimes we end up suggesting a different trek.

What usually goes wrong

Food, more than anything. Two weeks of dal bhat is a lot for a child used to something else. Lodges can do noodles, eggs, chips, pancakes and porridge, but bring a stock of familiar snacks anyway. Never underestimate what a favourite biscuit is worth on a bad afternoon.

Cold at night comes second. Lodge rooms are unheated and children lose heat faster than adults. Bring warm sleeping bags for everyone and a hot water bottle, which any lodge kitchen will fill for a few rupees.

Stomach upsets come third. Give children filtered or treated water without exception, skip salads and raw vegetables on the trail, and peel fruit. Bring rehydration salts and a medicine your child will agree to take.

Fourth, and the most underrated, is boredom on long descents. Going downhill is when children get tired and miserable, and shorter days help more than anything else.

Beyond trekking

Chitwan is superb with children. There are canoes and jeeps, rhinos at close range and no walking required. It pairs well with a short trek as the reward half of the trip.

Bandipur is a car-free town on a ridge, which is a rare thing to give a child in Nepal. They can run down the middle of the main street.

In Pokhara itself there are boats on Phewa, the caves, the mountain museum, and the zipline for teenagers. A week here with day trips is a perfectly good Nepal holiday for a family with young children, and much better than a forced march.

Guides, and what we do differently for families

We give families an experienced guide, not whoever is next on the rota, because pacing a group around a seven-year-old is a skill. Most of ours have children. Send us your children's ages and we'll plan around them.

We build shorter days with more stops, and we end them at the interesting places, even when that isn't the most efficient overnight stop. A day that ends at two in the afternoon at a lodge with a dog and a view is worth more than an extra 300 m of altitude. We'll also tell you plainly if we think your family is booking the wrong trek. That conversation sometimes costs us a booking, which is still cheaper than a family having a miserable week.

Walk it with us

Private departures on your dates, guided by the people who wrote this page.

Questions we get asked

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