• Arrive in Kathmandu
• Book into your hotel
• Overnight stay with breakfast included

Our local representative will welcome you at the airport on arrival after which a driver will transport you to the hotel situated near the city center in the vicinity of Swayambhunath Temple. Your hotel has a peaceful garden and a pleasant ambience.

The remainder of the day is yours to spend as you please. You may want to explore the neighborhood or take a stroll through the vibrant Thamel district with its many rooftop cafes and restaurants serving anything from delightful local food to pizzas and delicious apple pie. Sit on the café terrace to enjoy the busy street life, relax with a drink and get into the sway of things, ready for your exciting Nepal adventure. The city also offers souvenirs to pick and choose from. There is anything from trinkets to bright colored clothing, bookshops galore, and interesting Nepalese and Tibetan handicrafts.

• Enjoy breakfast
• Guided full day excursion
• Overnight in Kathmandu

A private English proficient guide and a driver will accompany you on your sightseeing trip, which means you will get some local perspective and inside knowledge of the highlights the city has to offer. Your first stop is at Swayambhunath Temple Complex, also known as the Monkey Temple. It is also the ideal location to get sweeping views of the entire city if the day is clear. Next on the itinerary is Boudhanath Temple with its enormous stupa. With a mandala of around 328 ft./100 m it is amongst the largest world-wide. After lunch, which is not included, you continue on to another stunning temple. Pashupatinath is named after Shiva incarnated as the god of animals, Pashupati. The day comes to an end at Durbar Square, across the old royal palace.

The evening is yours to spend as you please. Try some of the local delicacies, go for an Ayurveda massage or simply relax in your hotel room.

• Enjoy breakfast
• Drive the 5 hours to Chitwan Park
• Tharu village visit
• Overnight in the park

A private chauffeur will drive you from the capital to Chitwan National Park. The 5-hour journey runs alongside the mountains to end up at the tropical forests of the park. This area was previously used by royals and aristocrats as their private hunting grounds, but in 1973 it was turned into a conservation area and sanctuary. You will spend two nights in a comfortable jungle lodge surrounded by a huge garden and a terrace, bordering the park.

Your program for the next two days consists of a variety of activities, like an elephant or jeep safari, canoe trip and jungle tour.

The first day kicks off with a cultural excursion to a nearby Tharu village, accompanied by a ranger or guide. As the Tharu people are indigenous to this region, the family who welcomes you will give you interesting insight into life in the forest, while your accompanying guide will act as translator and facilitator.

Dinner is served in the lodge restaurant while you watch a lively dance performance by the Tharu people of their traditional folk dances.

• Enjoy breakfast
• Jeep or elephant safari, guided walk and dugout canoe ride
• Stay overnight

The park, together with its surrounding forest, is spread out over a 923 square km/356 square mile area of the low lands or terai of southern Nepal. This biodiverse region offers the visitor excellent opportunities to observe the many species of wildlife. Larger mammals you are bound to spot include the one-horned rhino, chital deer, sambar, guars, Rhesus monkeys and langurs, jackals, mongoose, crocodiles and otters. More elusive are the Bengal tiger, sloth bears, leopard and leopard cats, and the Indian bison. For the bird watcher there are more than 500 species to look out for.

Sunrise wraps the park in mystique, golden rays fall on the villages, graceful working elephants slowly make their way through the river while the sounds of the awakening jungle travel through the air to you lodge. In the morning or during the afternoon you may choose to go on a boat trip to check out crocodiles and watch the many aquatic birds who visit the Rapti River. After 30 minutes on the water, you guide will accompany you on a walk through the less dense part of the jungle. On the elephant or jeep safari the guide will have lots of information about the inhabitants and flora of the park to share with you.

• Enjoy breakfast
• A five-hour drive to Pokhara
• Stay the night in Pokhara

You leave the lodge after breakfast on the 5-hour drive to the next destination. The road follows the Narayani River gorge until we reach the Himalayan foothills. Farmlands and forest suddenly make way for steep terraced mountains and soon we get our first glimpse of the imposing Annapurna Mountains. At just 3281 ft./1000 m above sea level, the climate is surprisingly mellow and the vegetation semi-tropical. Actually, Pokhara is closer than Kathmandu to the major peaks of the Himalayas and on a clear day the so-called Fishman Peak or Machhapuchhare dominates the sky.

Pokhara nestles cozily against the foothills of the mountain and is reflected in the clear water of Lake Phewa, the perfect location to linger, preparing yourself for your trek into the mountains. Your hotel is close to the lake and has a beautiful garden and swimming pool. During the afternoon you can visit the lively market for all kinds of souvenirs or just take a relaxing stroll through Pokhara’s colorful streets.

• Breakfast, lunch and dinner included
• Drive 1.5 hours to Birethanti
• Four-hour trek to Tirkhedhunga
• Overnight in a lodge

Your hiking expedition along the Annapurna foothills starts today after breakfast. Accompanied by your guide, the driver will take you to Birethanti, a village around 1.5 hours away. As soon as the road ascends and nears the trek’s starting point you will already get glimpses of the massive Himalayas appearing on the distant horizon.

Initially your hike takes your through dense bamboo forests leading to green pastures with tasseled cows grazing tranquilly. Today’s four-hour hike comes to an end in Tirkhedhunga village which has a number of guesthouses, stores and a delightful suspension bridge. You will be accommodated in a simple but comfortable trekking lodge for the night.

• All 3 meals included
• Six-hour hike to Ghorepani
• Overnight in trekking lodge

After a good breakfast you start on your hike, first downhill until you cross the bridge across the Burundi Khola River. The ice cold water comes from the Annapurna glaciers and flows all the way down to the valley. From here it is all uphill along stone steps until you reach an altitude of 6562 ft./2000 m. Your reward is the views of the magnificent mountain peaks. Towards late afternoon the trail reaches level ground and you hike through colorful, fragrant rhododendron fields until you reach Ghorepani village where strings of bright colored prayer flags welcome you. The overnight stay is in a trekking.

• All three meals are included
• Two-hour hike to Poon Hill
• Four-hour hike from Tadapani to Ghandruk
• Overnight in a lodge

Today is one of the highlights of your trip. We make an early start and ascend the 10,466 ft./3190 m high Poon Hill peak to arrive in time for sunrise. As the sun rises the Dhaulagiri and Annapurna peaks gradually turn from a soft pink to a deep orange color. The lower mountains remain dramatically dark, concealed by a blanket of white clouds. The hike takes around two hours and afterwards we enjoy a well-deserved hearty breakfast at the Ghorepani teahouse.

Suitable restored, we continue our hike to Tadapani to overnight in a lodge. Day 9 consists of trekking to Ghandruk, home of the Gurung community, where your overnight stay will be in another simple trekking lodge.

• Enjoy breakfast
• Three-hour hike to Nayapul
• One-hour drive to Pokhara
• Stay the night in Pokhara

After breakfast the three-hour trek to Nayapul commences, after which you will be driven back to Pokhara to check into the very same hotel you spent the night before your trek. The rest of the day offers numerous options like visiting s few of the numerous attractions, paying a visit to Tashiling, a flourishing Tibetan village, or taking a boat to Barahi Mandir, a tiny temple on a small island in the middle of Lake Phewa.

Tip: Our travelers often choose to spend more time in Pokhara since the town has so many activities to partake in. Clear days show the snow covered mountains extending above Lake Phewa and a pleasant time can be spent rowing a rented boat on the lake. Cafes line the lake shore and for the sportive types there is river rafting, kayaking or paragliding.

• Enjoy breakfast
• Six-hour drive to Katmandu
• Overnight in Kathmandu

After a hotel breakfast the driver will fetch you for the return trip to Kathmandu. Although it is only 124 miles/200 km, the mountain terrain is steep and the journey will last about 7 to 8 hours. However, the views are absolutely stunning, all along the Trisuli and Marsyangdi Rivers, past small villages with terraces climbing high up the hills.

This evening you can relax over a meal in your favored Kathmandu restaurant and do some last minute shopping in the Thamel stores or the market.

• Enjoy breakfast
• Drive to Kathmandu airport
• Depart from Nepal

All good things unfortunately come to an end. This is the conclusion of your 12-day round trip in Nepal. We arrange your transport to the Kathmandu airport in time to catch your flight back home. Please write us an email about your experiences, and stories about your adventures in Nepal, we are always eager to hear from you.