Nepal Tours and Treks for International Travelers
Most people contact us not knowing what Nepal actually offers. They say Everest. Then we ask how many days, and they say one week, and then the conversation changes completely.
Nepal has 8 of the world’s 14 highest peaks inside its borders. It also has jungle with rhinos and tigers in the south, seven UNESCO sites in Kathmandu Valley alone, and a lake city where the Annapurna range sits directly across the water. One country. Very different landscapes depending on where you go inside it.
Pricing also surprises people. A 3-day Kathmandu heritage tour is $150. The Annapurna Base Camp trek, 13 days with guide porter and all permits, is $670. A one-day Everest helicopter tour is $1,400. A 15-day tour covering heritage, mountains, and jungle is $1,475. Visa for 30 days costs $50 at Kathmandu airport on arrival, no pre-application needed for most countries.
Guide, porter, all permits, accommodation, airport transfers are included in every package. All paperwork handled before you arrive. Our people are also in Germany, Australia, USA, New Zealand, Spain, so someone near your time zone can answer before you book. WhatsApp +977 9851193013.
Top Nepal Tour Packages
No trekking days in these. Good for short stays, families, older travelers, or anyone who wants to see Nepal without walking trails.
1. Everest Base Camp Helicopter Tour – 1 Day | From $1,400
For the Everes Base Camp Helicopter Tour you leave Kathmandu early, probably 6 or 7 in the morning depending on flight slot. The flight to Kalapatthar takes about 45 minutes. First section below you is green terraced hills, then somewhere past Salleri the ground becomes rocky and you start seeing glacier. Kalapatthar itself sits at 5,545 metres. For reference, Mont Blanc in the Alps is 4,808 metres. You are higher than that when you land.
Everest summit is directly above from Kalapatthar. The view from there is actually better than from Base Camp itself because Base Camp is lower and surrounded by moraine. After landing you fly across to Syangboche at 3,962 metres, where Everest View Hotel serves breakfast. The entire Khumbu wall, Everest Lhotse Nuptse, is in the window while you eat. Back in Kathmandu by around 11.
Government rules do not allow helicopters to land at Base Camp environmental protection. So the landing is Kalapatthar or sometimes Pheriche if weather pushes it lower, both above 5,000 metres. Shared seat on group flight is $1,400. Private charter for five people runs $5,500 to $8,500 depending on month. October November March April May for clear conditions.
2. Kathmandu Valley Tour – 3 Days | From $150
The Kathmandu valley tour has seven separate UNESCO-listed sites. Not one area. Seven. Pashupatinath, Boudhanath, Swayambhunath, Bhaktapur Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square, Changu Narayan, Changunarayan. Rome has one UNESCO zone. Paris has one. This valley has seven spread across maybe 30 kilometres.
Pashupatinath on the Bagmati River is a functioning Hindu temple complex, not a monument. Cremation happens there every morning on the ghats. Pilgrims from across South Asia come here. Boudhanath Stupa is 120 metres around the base and Tibetan Buddhist pilgrims circle it clockwise from before dawn, spinning prayer wheels as they walk. Bhaktapur is the one people usually remember longest. The old town is pedestrian, narrow streets, and the potters in Pottery Square are working the wheel the same way as when the palaces around them were built in the 14th century. Not performing for visitors. Working. Families live in those buildings.
Guide takes you through every site and explains meaning and history. Not just names and dates. Tour runs any time of year. Also works as opening or closing days before or after any trek.
3. Nepal Tour – 12 Days | From $970
Kathmandu is where most people start the Nepal Tour, three or four days for the old cities and temples. Then a short domestic flight to Pokhara. Pokhara feels nothing like Kathmandu. It is quieter and built around Phewa Lake. On a clear morning you can see Machapuchhre at 6,993 metres from the lakeside, and it looks much closer than it is, right across the water. Annapurna II, Annapurna III, Annapurna IV all visible from different parts of town depending on where you stand.
After Pokhara, south to Chitwan. The drive down from the hills takes a few hours and the temperature rises maybe 15 degrees by the time you reach the park. Flat land, subtropical, completely different feeling. Two nights in Chitwan for jungle safari. Then back to Kathmandu for the flight home.
Village stays with a Gurung family are inside the schedule, not optional. You eat the food they cook and see how the house works. October to November and March to May are best months because both mountain views in Pokhara and wildlife in Chitwan depend on dry clear conditions.
Top Nepal Trekking Packages
Walking six to eight hours per day, sleeping teahouses, eating dal bhat most nights. Cold mornings above 3,500 metres. The thing trekkers most underestimate is altitude. Not the distance. The distance is manageable. The air at 4,500 metres has around 60 percent of the oxygen available at sea level and your body takes days to adjust.
Everest region, Annapurna region, Manaslu. Three different places. Very different from each other in terrain, crowd level, cost, difficulty.
4. Everest Base Camp Trek – 13 Days | From $1,125
The Everest Base Camp Trail starts at Lukla, 2,860 metres. The airport runway at Lukla runs uphill at 12 degrees and ends at a rock wall on one side and a drop on the other. Planes land uphill, take off downhill. After Lukla you follow the Dudh Kosi river north through Phakding, across suspension bridges, up steep to Namche Bazaar at 3,440 metres. Namche is a proper trading town. Saturday market, Tibetan traders coming down from the border, bakeries, gear shops, coffee. Rest day in Namche is built into most itineraries to help with acclimatization.
From Namche the trail goes to Tengboche Monastery at 3,867 metres. Morning prayer is 6am. Sit at the back and watch if you are there. Everest and Lhotse visible through the monastery windows on clear days. Past Tengboche to Dingboche at 4,410 metres is where altitude becomes the main issue. Day seven roughly. Some trekkers get persistent headache there that water and rest do not fix. That is early altitude sickness and our guides are watching for it. They slow the pace, sometimes add a rest day. The people who don’t reach Base Camp almost always pushed too fast before Dingboche.
Kala Patthar at 5,555 metres is the high point for views. Everest south face clear from there without other peaks in the way. Base Camp at 5,364 metres is two more hours from Gorakshep. No ropes, no climbing, no technical gear. Just many walking hours and acclimatization days. Teahouses simple, thin mattress, basic food. $1,125 includes guide, porter, permits, all teahouse accommodation. October to November, March to May.
5. Annapurna Base Camp Trek – 13 Days | From $670
Annapurna Sanctuary aka Annapurna Base Camp is at 4,130 metres. The reason it feels different from EBC is the shape of it. At EBC you approach the mountains and stop at the edge of a glacier. At Annapurna Sanctuary the peaks surround you on nearly every side. Annapurna I is 8,091 metres. Annapurna South 7,219. Machapuchhre 6,993, which is a restricted peak, no one has ever summited it officially. Hiunchuli 6,441. They form a near-complete ring. You are inside, not in front.
Trail to get there goes through Modi Khola gorge which gets narrow and steep before opening into the sanctuary. Lower sections have rhododendron and bamboo forest, Gurung villages. Altitude stays below 4,200 metres the whole trip, which is easier to manage than EBC. $670 covers guide, porter, Annapurna Conservation Area permit, all other permits, and all teahouse accommodation. Also on the way back, Jhinu Danda has natural hot springs right at the river. After ten days trekking you sit in 40-degree water with Annapurna South above the tree line. October to November, March to May.
6. Manaslu Circuit Trek – 14 Days | From $876
Manaslu is 8,163 metres, eighth highest peak in the world. The Manaslu circuit route goes around it through a restricted zone. Restricted means you need a special permit on top of standard permits, and Nepal issues limited numbers of this permit each season. In peak season the Everest trail through Namche has several hundred trekkers per day. Manaslu Circuit same season has maybe 40 to 60. Often less. We arrange the restricted area permit as part of the package.
The trail crosses Larkya La Pass at 5,160 metres. The crossing itself takes six to eight hours and above 5,000 metres the wind can get strong depending on the day. The Burhi Gandaki gorge sections below are deep enough that parts of the trail get maybe two to three hours of direct sunlight per day. Monasteries on ridges above the trail, mani walls with carved stones along the path. Two villages near the Tibetan border, Samagaon and Samdo, have architecture and language that is more Tibetan than Nepali. The route is geographically close to Tibet and the culture reflects that. Route closed in monsoon season. October to November and March to May.
Top Nepal Adventure Packages
Longer or harder than standard routes. For people who have already done at least one major Himalayan trek.
7. Everest Base Camp Luxury Trek – 16 Days | From $3,265
The Everest base camp luxury trek is the same as standard EBC. Same path, same altitude, same acclimatization days, same views. The accommodation is completely different. Standard teahouses have foam mattresses maybe 5 centimetres thick, shared toilet blocks, and dining rooms that hold heat badly. Stone walls, windows that let cold in, sometimes you can see your breath at dinner. The luxury lodges at the same stops have private rooms with proper beds and duvets, hot showers that work, heated floors, and food cooked fresh. Not reheated. Charter flight takes you to Lukla directly from Kathmandu which means no 4am start for the Ramechhap shared flight. Dedicated guide and porter for all 16 days, not shared with other groups. October to November, March to May.
8. Island Peak Climbing – 13 Days | From $2,250
Island Peak Climbing is also called Imja Tse Climbing. It sits at 6,189 metres in the Khumbu region near EBC. Nepal Mountaineering Association classifies it as a trekking peak which simplifies the permit process compared to bigger mountains, but the actual climbing requires real technique. Crampons, fixed rope work, ice axe on the summit ridge. This is not hard mountaineering but it is not trekking either.
The package includes Everest region trekking through Namche, Tengboche, Dingboche, then Island Peak base camp at roughly 5,100 metres and a summit attempt. All technical gear provided, crampons harness ice axe. Certified climbing guides lead the summit day. Prior high altitude trekking experience needed before attempting this. Someone who has not been above 4,000 metres before will struggle above 6,000, sometimes seriously. The summit view faces directly toward Lhotse south face at 8,516 metres. March to May and October to November.
9. Annapurna Tilicho Lake Trek – 19 Days | From $1,285
Tilicho Lake is 4,919 metres. Depending on which geographical survey you trust it is either the highest or second highest lake in the world. Getting there requires a side trip off the main Annapurna Circuit, one full extra day up a moraine path and back. Most Circuit trekkers skip it because the route is already 17 or 18 days and one more hard day feels like too much. That is why the Tilicho trail sees far fewer people than the main route even in October.
After Tilicho the circuit goes to Thorong La Pass at 5,416 metres. Six to eight hours crossing, exposed above 5,200 metres in the early morning when it is coldest. Past the pass, descent to Muktinath Temple at 3,710 metres. Muktinath has 108 water spouts from a natural spring and pilgrims bathe under them. Both Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims come here. The site is over a thousand years old as an active pilgrimage place. Trek finishes at Poon Hill, 3,210 metres, sunrise view over Dhaulagiri 8,167 metres and Annapurna range, Machapuchhre, Nilgiri, all at once. 19 days, $1,285. October to November and March to May.
10. Chitwan Jungle Safari and Kathmandu Tour – 7 Days | From $425
Chitwan is at 200 metres elevation. Coming from Kathmandu at 1,400 metres the difference in air and temperature is noticeable as soon as you arrive. Subtropical, flat, UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1984. The one-horned rhinoceros population inside the park was under 100 animals in the 1960s. Government banned hunting, established the park boundary, brought in park rangers. Population is now above 700. That recovery took about 40 years.
Morning jeep safari finds rhinos in open grassland or at the Rapti River most mornings. Bengal tigers are harder because they stay in dense cover, but tracks show up on game drives regularly and sightings happen. Rapti River canoe in the afternoon, slow along the banks, marsh mugger crocodiles on the sand bars, fishing eagles above. The Kathmandu section covers main UNESCO heritage sites with a licensed guide. No altitude, no steep sections. October to February is best for wildlife because grass is cut short after monsoon and animals come to water in dry season.
How to Choose the Right Nepal Tour or Trek
Days, fitness, what you want to see. Those three. Someone new to altitude should not start with Manaslu. Someone with one week cannot do a 13-day trek.
| Traveler Type | Package | Days | Difficulty | From |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First trip to Nepal | Kathmandu Valley Tour | 3 | Easy | $150 |
| Everest, one morning | EBC Helicopter Tour | 1 | Easy | $1,400 |
| Wildlife, no altitude | Chitwan and Kathmandu | 7 | Easy | $425 |
| First Himalayan trek | Annapurna Base Camp Trek | 13 | Moderate | $670 |
| Classic mountain trail | Everest Base Camp Trek | 13 | Challenging | $1,125 |
| Fewer people | Manaslu Circuit Trek | 14 | Challenging | $876 |
| See all three regions | Nepal Tour 15 Days | 15 | Easy | $1,475 |
| Comfort on EBC | EBC Luxury Trek | 16 | Mod to Hard | $3,265 |
| Summit 6,000m peak | Island Peak Climbing | 13 | Strenuous | $2,250 |
| Long high circuit | Tilicho Lake Trek | 19 | Challenging | $1,285 |
Send travel dates on WhatsApp. We tell you what fits.
Nepal Tour and Trek Costs for Foreign Travelers
$150 to $3,265. Wide range. The cost drivers are different for each package which is why the gap is that large. Kathmandu to Lukla domestic flight is around $150 to $200 per person each way and that is before one day of trekking starts. Restricted area permits like Manaslu add around $100 per person per week on top of standard permits. Better accommodation at each stop means $40 to $150 more per night compared to basic teahouse. Private charter to Lukla versus shared group flight is another large difference. And longer treks mean more guide and porter days at full daily rates.
| Budget | Duration | What You Get | From |
|---|---|---|---|
| Budget | 1 to 5 days | Day tours, safari, short activities | $150 |
| Mid-range | 7 to 13 days | Guided treks, cultural tours, safari | $670 |
| Premium | 13 to 19 days | EBC, Manaslu, Island Peak, long routes | $1,285 |
| Luxury | 14 to 16 days | Boutique lodges, charter flights, private guide | $3,265 |
Every package from us includes licensed guide and porter, all accommodation, all permits, airport transfers, farewell dinner. Not included: international flights to Kathmandu, travel insurance, personal gear, guide and porter tips.
On insurance. Standard travel policies usually exclude helicopter evacuation from high altitude. You need one that specifically mentions high altitude rescue. Without that coverage, helicopter from 4,000 metres to Kathmandu hospital costs $3,000 to $6,000 out of pocket. We send recommended insurers to every client before they travel.
Best Time for Nepal Tours and Treks
October and November. Monsoon ends late September, sky clears fast. By mid-October trails are dry, mountain views are clear, and it is the best visibility of the year. Temperature at 3,500 metres is around 0 to 10 degrees Celsius in the day. Cold at night but manageable with the right gear. Peak season so teahouses on popular routes fill up and Manaslu permits sell out. Book 2 to 3 months ahead for October and November departures.
March to May also good. Warmer than autumn. Rhododendron blooms at 2,000 to 3,500 metres from late February through April, red and pink through the Annapurna and Langtang trail forests. High passes on Manaslu Circuit and Annapurna Circuit are usually clear of deep snow by mid-March. More daylight per day than autumn, which means more walking time before dark. Busier teahouses on Everest and Annapurna routes in spring.
December to February quiet, cheaper. Kathmandu tours run fine, Chitwan safari also good because dry season means animals near water. Annapurna Base Camp is possible with cold-weather sleeping bag and proper layers. Manaslu route closes completely in winter, teahouses shut, Larkya La Pass gets heavy snow.
June to September monsoon. Heavy rain daily, mountain views blocked most of the time, trails muddy, leeches on lower jungle sections. Do not come for mountain trekking in monsoon. Upper Mustang is the exception because it sits in a rain shadow north of Annapurna and stays relatively dry even June to August.
Nepal Visa and Entry
Visa on arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport Kathmandu. More than 100 nationalities eligible. Indian passport holders no visa needed. Some nationalities must apply at Nepal Embassy before travelling, check immigration.gov.np to confirm before booking.
| Duration | Cost |
|---|---|
| 15 days | $30 USD |
| 30 days | $50 USD |
| 90 days | $125 USD |
Two passport photos and USD cash at the counter. Card machine available but cash is faster. Visa counter queue at Kathmandu airport takes 15 to 30 minutes depending on how many flights landed at the same time.
TIMS card, Sagarmatha National Park permit, Annapurna Conservation Area permit, restricted area permits, all separate from the entry visa, all required for trekking. We arrange every one of these before you land. You go to no permit office.
About Himalaya Guide Nepal
Nepal Tourism Board registered. TAAN member. Nepal Mountaineering Association listed. Reviews on Tripadvisor and Viator.
Chandra Gurung leads our Kathmandu team. He has been guiding on these routes since before most of the teahouses on the Everest trail had solar panels, so before around 2008 or 2009. He knows which lodges have reliable heating in winter, where altitude hits hardest on each specific route, and which trail sections were rebuilt differently after the flooding in 2023. That information does not come from reading. It comes from walking the routes repeatedly over many years.
Team in Germany, Australia, USA, New Zealand, Spain also. Stephan Gille covers European clients from Berlin. Skip Moss handles USA. Menios Constantinou in Sydney for Australia and New Zealand. Cesar Bautista in Madrid. You write at 10pm on a Tuesday from Hamburg and Stephan sees it before he sleeps. Answer in your time zone, not Kathmandu morning.
Any package can be adjusted. Fewer days, different accommodation, private group, Chitwan added at end of a trek. No planning charge for this. WhatsApp +977 9851193013 any day.
