Nepal

Overview

Nepal is 800 kilometres long and rarely more than 200 wide, and in that strip the land rises from 60 metres above sea level in the Terai to 8,849 metres at the summit of Everest. No other country compresses so much vertical range into so little horizontal distance, which is why a two-week walk here can take you from banana trees to permanent ice.

What makes Nepal exceptional for travellers is not only the mountains. It is the infrastructure that grew up around them. On the main routes you can walk for three weeks carrying nothing but clothes, a sleeping bag liner and a water filter, sleeping in family-run lodges and eating cooked meals every night. That system — the teahouse network — does not exist at this scale anywhere else on earth.

Where to go

Most first trips split between three places: Kathmandu for the temples and the logistics, Pokhara as the gateway to the Annapurnas, and one trekking region. Which region you choose shapes the whole trip.

The Everest region is the most dramatic and the most committing: you fly into a mountain airstrip, and the altitude profile is unforgiving. The Annapurna region is more varied and far easier to reach by road, with routes from four days to three weeks. Langtang is the closest big-mountain trekking to Kathmandu and still the quietest of the three. Manaslu is the serious walker's circuit — restricted, permitted, and much less trafficked.

When to go

Two windows dominate. October and November deliver the clearest skies of the year and the most stable weather; the trails are busy and the lodges full. March and April are warmer, hazier and greener, with rhododendron forests in flower below 3,500 m and a peak-climbing season in full swing.

December and January are perfectly viable below 4,000 m — cold at night, empty by day, and the mountain views are excellent. The monsoon from June to September closes most high routes with cloud, leeches and landslides, but opens the rain-shadow country north of the Himalaya: Upper Mustang and Dolpo are at their best precisely when everywhere else is unwalkable.

Getting in and around

Almost all visitors arrive at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. Visas on arrival are straightforward: bring a passport photo, cash in a major currency, and expect a queue.

Internally, plan around two facts. Roads are slow — the 200 kilometres from Kathmandu to Pokhara take seven hours on a good day — and domestic flights are weather-dependent, especially into Lukla, where a day or two of delay is normal rather than exceptional. Build slack into any itinerary that ends with an international flight.