Coming back: what to do on a second visit to Nepal

You have done Annapurna Base Camp or Everest and the classics are behind you. Here is where the people who live here would send you next.

By Dawa Gurung · 6 min read · Updated 1 August 2026

A surprising share of our clients are on their second or third trip. They have done the famous trek, they know how teahouses work, and they want something the first visit did not give them.

The mistake is doing the next-most-famous thing. Having walked to Annapurna Base Camp, walking to Everest Base Camp gives you a similar trek with more people and a flight risk attached.

Here is where we would actually send you.

Go where the permits are restricted

Upper Mustang and Nar Phu need special permits, an agency and a minimum group, which is precisely why they are quiet. That barrier is doing you a favour.

Nar Phu is medieval Tibetan villages up a gorge with a 5,320 m pass at the end, joining the Annapurna Circuit at its best point. Upper Mustang is a walled city in a rain-shadow desert, and it works in monsoon. Both cost more than a teahouse trek because of the permit. Both are, in our view, better trips than the classics.

Go where nobody sells trips

Kori Danda and Kapuche, out of Sikles, east of the usual corridors. A high ridge at 3,800 m and a glacier lake at 2,546 m, both within four days of Lakeside, and of the twenty-five Nepali operators we surveyed only two and four respectively sell them.

Khayer Lake, a sacred lake at about 4,660 m beyond Khopra ridge — two of the twenty-five operators we surveyed list it at all.

These are our home trails and they are the reason a second visit to the Annapurnas is not a repeat.

Go harder

The Dhaulagiri Circuit is the hardest thing we run — sixteen days, two passes above 5,200 m, glacier travel, full camping, no teahouses at all. It is a different category from anything on the teahouse network.

Tilicho added to the Circuit is the best three extra days available in the region.

Peak climbing is the natural progression for anyone who reached a base camp and wanted to keep going. That is a specialist arrangement rather than a trek and we would refer you.

Or go slower, which is the underrated answer

A lot of returning visitors do not want a harder trek. They want the thing they rushed past the first time.

A week in a village on a homestay. Bandipur and Begnas with no itinerary. The Kathmandu valley properly, over four days rather than one, including Bhaktapur. Monsoon Nepal, which almost no repeat visitor considers and which is a completely different country — green, empty, cheap, with Mustang open in the rain shadow.

What to skip second time

Everest Base Camp, if you have done Annapurna Base Camp and are choosing on merit rather than on the name. Every operator in Nepal sells it, October is crowded, and the flight risk is real.

Poon Hill, unless you are bringing someone new.

The standard Kathmandu one-day heritage tour, which you have already had.

Walk it with us

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

Nar Phu Valley Trek13 days · 5,320 mRs 239,900 · See dates →Upper Mustang — Lo Manthang10 days · 3,840 mRs 253,300 · See dates →Kori Danda Trek4 days · 3,800 mRs 57,500 · See dates →Khayer Lake Trek8 days · 4,665 mRs 120,500 · See dates →Dhaulagiri Circuit Trek16 days · 5,360 mRs 440,900 · See dates →

Questions we get asked

Is Everest Base Camp worth doing if I have done ABC?

It is a magnificent trek and it is also the most crowded and most flight-dependent one in the country. If the name matters to you, go. If you want the best trip, Nar Phu or Upper Mustang will give you more.

What is the quietest good trek you run?

Kori Danda for four days, Nar Phu for a fortnight. Both are places where you can walk for a day without meeting another group.

I want to go higher. What is next after a base camp?

Either a restricted-area trek with a 5,000 m pass, or peak climbing, which is a different discipline with equipment and training involved. We will be honest about which you are ready for.

Can you build something custom for a return visit?

That is most of what we do for repeat clients. Tell us what the first trip lacked and we will build around that rather than sending a package.