Kathmandu · Nepal
Eight summits, seven sacred squares, and the long climb up.
The treks that built mountaineering. The temples that built the valley. Helicopter flights up the Khumbu, rhinos in Chitwan, sunrise on Nagarkot, and the slow afternoon between Durbar Squares.
The pilgrimage
If you’re flying in for one thing.
The trek that put Nepal on the map. Two weeks up the Khumbu Valley to the foot of the world’s highest mountain.
The eight-thousanders
Nepal has eight of the world’s fourteen 8,000-metre peaks.
Everest, Kanchenjunga, Lhotse, Makalu, Cho Oyu, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, Annapurna I. You don’t climb them — you walk to their feet. Three of those walks are right here.
The summit
Everest
The highest point on the planet. The classic trek doesn’t summit it — it walks you to Everest Base Camp at 5,364m, where the climbers stage. Two weeks up the Khumbu, prayer-flag passes, the South Col looming above. The trek that everyone has heard of, and the one most travellers actually do.
- 1 Everest Base Camp Trekking – 13 Day
- 2 Everest Base Camp Trek -14 Days
- 3 Everest Base Camp Helicopter Tour landing at Hotel Everest View
The sanctuary
Annapurna
Tenth-highest mountain on earth, deadliest of the 8000ers. The trek you do isn’t up it — it’s the Annapurna Circuit around it, crossing the 5,416m Thorong La pass, or the shorter sanctuary route that drops you in a cirque of giants. Greener, lower, gentler than Khumbu — until the pass.
- 1 Annapurna Circuit Trek with Tilicho Lake
- 2 Annapurna base camp trek 5 Days
- 3 Annapurna Base Camp Trek
The quiet side
Manaslu
Eighth-highest mountain in the world and one of the least-walked 8000er circuits. The Manaslu Circuit opened to trekkers only in 1991 — restricted-area permit, fewer teahouses, a Tibetan-Buddhist culture nearer Tibet than Nepal. If EBC and Annapurna feel crowded, this is the alternative.
- 1 Manaslu Circuit Trek (15 Days)
- 2 16 Day Private Manaslu Circuit Trek from Kathmandu
- 3 Manaslu Circuit Trek 13 Days
The classics
Kathmandu’s Most Popular Tours.
UNESCO Durbar Squares, Everest helicopter, Nagarkot sunrise, Thamel cooking classes. The list everyone books first.
World Heritage
Seven monument zones, one valley.
UNESCO inscribed the entire Kathmandu Valley in 1979. Three royal squares, two great stupas, the holiest Shaivite temple in the country, and a 4th-century hilltop shrine. Plan an afternoon for each.
By place
Pick a corner of Nepal.
Bhaktapur for the brick and pagodas. Patan for the metalwork. Nagarkot for the mountain rim. Chitwan for the rhinos in the Tarai lowlands. Dhulikhel for the hilltop monastery and the village walks.
By tour type
Or pick how you want to spend the day.
Trek if you have two weeks. Helicopter if you have an afternoon. Mountain flight if you have an hour. Heritage walk, Chitwan jeep, cooking class, yoga retreat. Pick the pace.
Walking the Heritage
Seven squares, slow afternoons.
The Kathmandu Valley UNESCO sites cover ground a tour can stitch together in a day. Three full-day heritage walks we’d recommend before you do them alone.
The view without the walk
A morning in the Khumbu.
Lift off Kathmandu, land at the Everest View Hotel for breakfast, back by lunch. You see what a fortnight on foot sees, on a single tank of fuel. Three flights we’d send our friends on.
Dal bhat & momo
Learn the home kitchen.
A few hours in a Thamel kitchen learning lentil broths, steam dumplings and pressure-cooker rituals. The three classes most travellers come out of grinning.
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