Highlights
- Have an action-packed week and sample the best adventures Nepal has to offer
- Stay at The Last Resort and try the world's 3rd highest bungee jump
- Trek off-the-beaten-path to one of the best views in Nepal
- Have an amazing day of mountain biking, mostly downhill on spectacular trails
- Raft on the famous Bhote Kosi river as you make your way back to Kathmandu
Brief Itinerary
| Day | Highlights | Overnight |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Welcome to Kathmandu! | Kathmandu |
| Day 2 | Explore Kathmandu | Kathmandu |
| Day 3 | Drive from Kathmandu to The Last Resort | The Last Resort |
| Day 4 | Trek from the The Last Resort to Pokhari Camp | Pokhari Camp |
| Day 5 | Trek from Pokhari Camp to Thingsang La | Thingsang La |
| Day 6 | Trek from Thingsang La to Khurikharka via Kalinchowk | Khurikharka |
| Day 7 | Bike from Khurikharka to Bhote Kosi River | Bhote Kosi River |
| Day 8 | Raft the Bhote Kosi River | Kathmandu |
| Day 9 | Depart Kathmandu |
Detailed Itinerary
Day 1: Welcome to Kathmandu!
As you fly into Kathmandu, you'll have beautiful views over the city, the Himalaya, and of the terraced fields below. After going through customs, a representative will be waiting to greet you and drive you to your hotel.
Once you've settled in, head out and explore the city. Durbar Square is a great place to start your exploration, where you'll walk through narrow alleyways teeming with small shops, ancient temples, and local restaurants. If you want to stretch your legs, Swayambhunath, the white stupa rising above the valley, is the perfect spot to catch the sunset over the valley.
In the evening, the tourist hub of Thamel is a good place to grab your first meal, with a variety of restaurants to chose from offering both Western and local Nepali dishes.
Day 2: Explore Kathmandu
Kathmandu has a special atmosphere during the early morning hours when the city is slowly coming to life yet not too chaotic. It's a great time to walk and explore the streets or have a chai overlooking one of the local courtyards or durbar squares.
After breakfast, there are then a number of ways you can spend your day given the numerous famous sights around the Kathmandu Valley. You can use this as a free day or we can provide a local English-speaking guide who knows the city well and can explain the history and significance of the sights (along with a private jeep to take you around).
Later in the evening, head out for dinner at one of the city's great eateries, or your specialist can arrange a home-cooked dinner with a local family.
Day 3: Drive from Kathmandu to The Last Resort
After breakfast, you'll set out for the legendary Last Resort, the last stop before Tibet!
The grounds are set amidst sprawling terraces high above the Bhote Kosi River, with comfortable safari tents set in lush gardens. The resort’s buildings include charmingly-designed male and female common bathrooms, a gorgeous (and well stocked) bar, and a dining area. All buildings are uniquely crafted in local stone, carved wood and slate, blending traditional design with modern comforts.
Depending on your arrival time, the afternoon is free for your chance to check out bungy jumping (at one point it was the 3rd highest in the world), the world’s biggest swing, rafting, canyoning, or the high ropes course. Or, simply relax with an excellent massage or in the sauna and plunge pool.
Chat with a local specialist who can help organize your trip.
Day 4: Trek from the The Last Resort to Pokhari Camp
After a hearty breakfast in the garden of The Last Resort, you'll head out across the bungy bridge and start your trek. You'll head up through charming villages and terraced fields, gaining views of the Jugal Himal section of the Himalayan Range as you ascend. After lunch, you'll enter the pristine forest high above the Bhote Kosi river valley. This route takes you into the wilderness in such a short time, and there are few places in Nepal that aren't impacted by the booming population, but the forests of this region are well-preserved and offer stunning trekking.
You'll trek past a small sacred lake and through stands of towering rhododendron trees to your camp for the night, in an open meadow with great views of the Jugal Himal and south across a seemingly endless succession of ridges and valleys.
Accommodation: Camping
Day 5: Trek from Pokhari Camp to Thingsang La
Enjoy a nice breakfast at camp before hitting the trails again. Today, the goal is to reach a little campsite near Thingsang La. You'll trek through more stunning forest, interspersed with meadows such as the one you camped in the night before. Midway through the day, you'll reach a huge meadow perched high above razor-sharp ridges with tremendous drops looking down into the valleys below and amazing views north to the Himalayan Range.
You'll pass another small sacred lake (where leopard tracks have been seen in the past) which is part of a chain of shamanic power places linked across this section of the range, culminating in Kalinchowk, where you'll reach tomorrow. The meadows you pass through provide seasonal grazing for cows from the villages below and you'll trek past stone shelters used for herding before you make your way back into the forest. Emerging from the forest, you'll find yourself at the head of the valley, where you'll contour around a massive bluff before dropping down to the campsite, just below Thingsang La.
Accommodation: Camping
Day 6: Trek from Thingsang La to Khurikharka via Kalinchowk
Today is not for the fainthearted or people with vertigo! You'll have one of Nepal’s greatest ridgeline walks ahead of you. If you have vertigo, there are two choices: tell us before the trek and we will make alternative arrangements for you, or you could try the ‘saturation method’ and see if you can win yourself over! Either way, please let us know so that we can ensure your safety.
From camp, you'll have a short climb back to Thingsang La and for the next four to five hours it is up and down (and even flat sometimes) along the top of the ridge, with amazing views down into the valleys below us and up to the high mountains on the north side. You'll have a packed lunch along the ridge en route.
Finally, you'll reach Kalinchowk (3790m), a rocky spire with 360-degree views and an amazing shrine, by early afternoon. Kalinchowk is like a floating island isolated from its neighbors with magnificent views of Lapchi Kang, Mani Himal, Gaurishankar, Tibet, Langtang Himal, and the Mahabarat Range flattening out into the Northern Indian Plain.
Kalinchowk is a little-visited wonder, sacred to Shamans, Hindus, and Buddhists — the tiny peak is packed with prayer flags fluttering above thousands of holy metal Tridents pointing up to heaven, all set against this incredible backdrop. After taking in the views and learning about this amazing religious site, you then descend steeply to Khurikharka, your camp for the night.
Accommodation: Camping
Day 7: Bike from Khurikharka to Bhote Kosi River
If you'd like to catch the views from Kalinchowk yesterday, you can head back up the hill for sunrise before breakfast.
After fuelling up for a big day ahead, you'll mount up on your mountain bike for an epic downhill all the way to the Bhote Khosi River! You drop no less than 2800m and have an awesome time doing it on a mix of jeep trails and paved road. You head down first on the new jeep trail from Khurikharka, biking through stunning rhododendron and oak forest, with spectacular views of the surrounding forested hillsides and Sherpa villages. Once you hit the main Kathmandu/Jiri road, you have a great paved surface for our initial climb up to Mude bazaar at 2500m before we plunge an down to the river at approx 800m — an exhilarating ride to say the least.
Accommodation: Camping
Day 8: Raft the Bhote Kosi River
The Bhote Kosi river has its headwaters in the mountains of Tibet and is a steep mountain river providing one of the best short river raft trips in Nepal. The next rapid is never far downstream and the occasional stretches of calm give you a chance to reflect on the beauty of the river and its surroundings of terraced fields perched on precipitous slopes and the curious villagers checking out your progress.
The section you'll raft today has a number of exciting rapids which you'll tackle after a hearty breakfast. After a full day on the river, you'll get picked up by van and head back to Kathmandu where you'll check into your hotel for a well-earned shower before dinner.
Day 9: Depart Kathmandu
It's time to say farewell to Nepal. Enjoy your last moments in Kathmandu with breakfast in a café, a city stroll, and/or souvenir shopping. A representative will meet you at your hotel and drive you to the airport for your return flight home. It's good to be at the airport at least 2 hours prior to departure.