Nepal in 10 days

Quick Summary

We left Nepal with some wonderful memories and a great experience. If you are thinking about a Nepal trip, do it !!!

When 

1^st week of April

Itinerary

Day 1 : Arrive at Kathmandu and met with trek agent to finalize next steps

Day 2 : Pokhara

Day 3-6 : Trek in the Annapurna Forest Conservation Area – Poon Hill Trek

Day 7 : Rafting on Seti River & Camping overnight
Day 8 : Chitwan National Park (Elephant breeding center, safari and Tharu village)

Day 9 : Travel back to Kathmandu & Boudhanath

Day 10 : Bhaktapu, Kathmandu Durbar Square

Day 11 : Pashupatinath Temple, Garden of Dreams & Narayanhiti Palace Museum, Thamel

Day 12 : Fly back

Where we stayed

Day 1 : Hotel Ganesh Himal
Day 2 :  Hotel Crystal Palace
Day 3 : Lodging in Ulleri
Day 4 : Lodging in Gorepani
Day 5: Hotel Gurung Cottage
Day 6 : Hotel Crystal Palace
Day 7 : Camping outside
Day 8:  Hotel Parkland
Day 9 : Avataar hotel
Day 10 : Avataar hotel
Day 11: Avataar hotel
Day 12: Checkout

Transportation

• Taxis are cheap. We spent most of our time walking or in taxis. Driving in places like Kathmandu is not advisable. 
• Public transport seemed to be non-existent, except between cities. 
• The roads are not best maintained and so even a 100Km drive can take a while and be tiring as well. 
• Once on the trails, you have your legs and not much else. Pack light or get a porter for your stuff.
• When not in the city, bottled water can be expensive. If you are nervous about drinking local water, keep water purification tabs handy
• Some places you can rent a pony to carry your luggage. 
• In cities like Pokhara you can rent a bike.

Food & Shelter

• Dal-Bhaath-Tarkari is a staple dish and you will get it everywhere.
• Most cities and trails cater to western tourists and so they do have meat options. Being a vegetarian we did not try any of them.
• Breakfast has standard eggs, toast and cereal.
• Cities have good hotels but once you are out of them it is a hit-miss. Toilets are not the cleanest either. 
• There is no heating in the rooms so you need to have warm clothes as the nights can get really cold in the highlands. The sleeping bag we packed was a great help to help us sleep through the night. 
• Hot water is a luxury and not all rooms have this provided by default. Some that state that it is included, didn’t seem to work.

Other tips

• Language is not a big problem as most places do speak some English. If you are from India, Hindi helps.
• Start hikes early in the morning as the sky is lot more clearer and we were able to enjoy the view of the mountains and the valley much better. It gets cloudier around 3.00 to 4.00 PM and you can get afternoon showers as well. 
• There is lot of bargaining in the shops and also with the Taxis. There seems to be some unwritten rule of negotiating 40% down from the quoted price.
• Although a bit pushy, the shopkeepers and taxi drivers are quite friendly and helpful.
• When going to places with entry, check if they are open as some places seem to be shut mid week (like the palace museum)
• You can get clothes stitched to order within a day at local tailors
• If possible,  book activities like white water rafting directly through the provider who specializes in them rather than the agent who does trekking. 
• If you love customer embroidered t-shirts, you can get it done for 500-600 NPR. Ladies, most of these stores don't stock ladies t-shirts. If you don't care for unisex t-shirts like me,  I would recommend take a couple of better fitting t-shirts so you can get your pattern embroidered on them instead.

The Full Version

Prep

Our main reason to visit Nepal was to trek. The longest trekking we have done is probably 5-6 miles at the most on flat terrain. So we decided to choose an beginners/intermediate trek, relatively speaking, since this is Nepal. Poon Hill, a 4 to 5 day trek seemed to be the only one that fit the bill. We chose MountainMart as our travel agent after some research on TripAdvisor. We read that one could go to Kathmandu and find a guide as well, but we wanted to be sure we had something booked ready to leave, so decided to book one before we landed. The initial itinerary was for a 5 day Poon Hill trek but since the last day was all about Pokhara sightseeing, we decided to skip that, shorten the trek to 4 days and add a rafting trip to our itinerary. Our 6 day itinerary with guide, porter, hotels, transport, an overnight stay at Pokhara etc. came to about 485 US dollars per person.

Day 1 - Kathmandu

We arrived around mid-day and after converting our $ to NRS, we took a pre-paid cab to our Hotel in Thamel (the central touristy area in Kathmandu).  Kathmandu reminded us of a typical small Indian town.  As a town, it is quite dusty and you see most locals wear masks (I don’t blame them). We stayed at Hotel Ganesh Himal which was a nice little hotel. After freshening up we called the agent to catch up on final formalities on the trek. After filling the forms and paying for the trek, we walked around Thamel and had an early dinner. The Chinese food in Nepal is slightly different from what you get in the west – it is spicier. Very like the ones we used to get in India – so it was a nostalgic feeling to dig into to what we call “Indian Chinese”! with a cold Gorkha beer. We retired early that day for our early morning flight to Pokhara.

Day 2 - Pokhara

After a early breakfast, we checked out and headed to the domestic airport. Word of advice, the domestic airport can be chaotic as a number of flights leave in the morning and there are loads of people try to get these early flights. The counters are also bit chaotic and so do give yourself some time. We boarded a twin prop via Yeti Air and headed on to Pokhara via some snowcapped mountains which were beautiful. Pokhara is a tiny airport – you get out, watch your bags get collected in a cart and is handed over to you in the “baggage claim” all within 50 feet of where the plane lands. The weather was a nice and comfortable 20-25 degrees C. We hailed a cab (cost us about 300 NRS) to Hotel Crystal Palace. This was an excellent hotel from a practical viewpoint, ideally located near shops and restaurants.

After lunch we headed to Davis falls and the caves across. The falls were slightly anticlimactic as we could barely see the falls. Not something we would recommend.  But the caves next to the falls are worth a visit if you have few hours to spare. You can also make it interesting by walking to the falls which is about few Kms from central Pokhara. There is also a Hindu temple inside the caves.

There seemed to be a lot of activities in Pokhara like gliding, boating, mountain flights so something for everyone really. This day was more a relaxed one as our trek would start the next day.  So we spent the evening wandering around the lakeside and a quiet dinner. We also met our guide and porter in the evening who explained the next steps for the trek ahead.

It turned out there was a national strike of sorts the following 2 days so the transportation the following day to Nayapul where were supposed to start our trek would be an issue. So we were told we will figure our transport the following day and make any adjustments as we go. So we retired without a clear idea how we will start the following day.

Day 3: Nayapul – Ulleri trek

We woke up early and headed for breakfast where we met our guide. After some calls, he managed to arrange a transport to Nayapul where were to start the trek. We reached there around 10 and began our gentle walk through the small village walking up the gentle path until we left the hussle-bussle of the village and it was just us, the road and few other trekkers. 

We had an early lunch at a tea house near a river in Birethanti – we ate local bread and dal with some lemon juice. We also stocked up on water and fruits and headed towards Hille which is the highest point where vehicles are allowed. After this point, the trail is narrow only allowing foot traffic or mules. The assent got steeper at this point through a couple of villages and we needed some time adjust to the change. After a quick pit stop for tea, we continued on the final leg which was the most strenuous of the day. We were warned that the assent would be tough as it involved about 2000-3000 steps – a solid 1.5 to 2 hours' uphill trek – all steps. We finally reached Ulleri at around 4 pm to the first glimpse of Annapurna South through the clouds.

We checked in to the tea house (basically a small hotel – Ulleri is only made of these hotels that cater for trekkers).  Dinner was Dal Bhat , some Ginger Tea and fresh cut fruits – courtesy our porter.   We started the day from an elevation of around 1000m to around 2100m at Ulleri. Our pedometer red about 19000 steps, a total distance of around 10 km and an equivalent of 224 floors in a day. Safe to say it was a good night's sleep which started by going to bed at 8.00 PM :-)

Day 4 : Ulleri – Gorepani trek

We woke up at 6.00 AM and had breakfast of eggs, potatoes and toast with some coffee. We packed up right after and headed out around on our second leg.  After an initial assent to Banthanti we walked through forest walking slowly up to Ghorepani. The day was short, we reached our hotel around 2PM. We took some time to walk around speak to some local sellers and buy stuff. Dinner was early and we retired very early in preparation for the early morning walkup Poon Hill.

This was a short day – we walked about 7km, roughly 4 hours at a leisurely pace. Gorepani's altitude was around 2800m.

Day 5: Poon Hill – Deurali – Tadapani – Gandhruk

This was by far the longest day and the longest we have walked – EVER. We started at 4:30 AM, bundled up in warm clothes and started the asset to Poon Hill with about 400-500 other trekkers. The hike up was not easy to say the least. It was a steep 300-400m assent via the “Steps to Nowhere”. which seemed to tease us, pretending to end, before starting again.  The early start and the rush to get there before sunrise made the climb worse. After stopping and climbing for about 1 hour we finally reached the summit.

No pain No gain - The view at top was worth it. It started with the sun still below the horizon. The first light hitting Daulagiri and Annapurna South and crowning the summit in a golden glow is a sight to behold.  There are lots of picture-perfect moments here and you can also enjoy a hot cup of coffee or tea from a food shack at the top.

We spent close to an hour at top and then headed downhill to breakfast. After breakfast, we packed and headed towards Tadapani via Deurali. The uphill climb to Deurali was marginally gentler than PoonHill but tiring never-the-less. Deurali is supposedly at the same elevation as Poon Hill and view from here were amazing. It is safe to say, this was better than Poon Hill, although, Poon Hill seems to be more popular.

After a short pitstop to take in the views, we continued on towards Tadapani.  The walk started off as up hill and then continued on a steep downhill through forest and valley. While it was a great walk with streams everywhere, the weather perfect and tree, we underestimated how painful downhill can be. Initially out itinerary was to stop at Tadapani, however our guide mentioned the lodges at Gandhruk were much better and recommended we stay there rather than Tadapani.

We stopped at Tadapani for tea and continued on through a gently descending forest path to Gandruk. After another 3 – 3.5 hours we finally reached Gandhruk. Overall it was the longest day – 17.5 kms excluding the hike up and back from Poon Hill, a total of around 9-10 hours of walking, woke up at 4:30 AM and reached Gandhruk at around 4:30 PM.

A cold beer at the end of this day was the motivation to keep us going through the last stretch. The lodge, Hotel Gurung Cottage was set in a lovely location and we indulged in some beer in the outdoor courtyard and chatting with our guide and porter.

Day 6: Gandhruk

We woke earlier than expected and surprised to find our legs weren’t as painful as we thought they would be. We enjoyed a lovely breakfast & organic French press coffee in the garden watching the sun shine over Annapurna South. At around 8 we packed up and continued a very leisurely descent towards Pokhara through some villages. We reached the point where cars and not our legs were available for transportation and took a jeep back to Pokhara arriving at around 12:30. If you want you can also walk your way into either Nayapul or Pokhara but that might require another day / 2 of walking

We bid goodbye to our porter who headed  back to KTM and joined our guide for some lunch. We walked around lakeside in Pokhara and spent some time near the lake watching the people pass by and generally relaxed. We ended the evening at Café Amsterdam with some Mojitos and Chips Chilly!

Day 7: Seti River Rafting from Damouli

We woke up early for an early breakfast and headed by tourist bus to Damouli where we changed and geared up to start our rafting. The river was shallow since it was pre-monsoon and the rapids weren’t quite what they can be post monsoon. But the gentle rafting through the quite waters was very soothing. The water was very pleasant and clear and we took a few dips in the water. After about 4-5 hours of rafting, where we hit 4 or 5 level 2-3 rapids we arrived at our campsite on the river bank. It was just us and 2 other small groups. While out guides set up the tent, we enjoyed some quiet time by the river. The site has a small shop that had some biscuits and beer (cooled in the river). Dinner was cooked by the camp and quite enjoyable. Sleeping by the clear sky at night by the campfire was a fabulous experience – with very little light pollution, we could gaze at the stars for a long time.

Day 8 –  Chitwan

The next day we woke up at first light. After a breakfast of eggs and potatoes that out guides put together, we headed for the river again- this time just a 2 hour rafting trip to the end point where Seti meets the wider, faster and browner Trisuli river. Trisuli would have been a better choice as it seemed to have better rapids, but Seti was cleared and considerably warmer.

We headed to our waiting transport to Chitwan National Park from here – a good 2 hours away. We were booked at Hotel Parkland and arrived in time for lunch. After a buffet lunch, we headed for the Elephant Safari which was included in our hotel package. The way to the safari drove us via a Tharu village which was completely different to the ones we had seen on the highlands. Mud huts with stray and more tropical, this place was much humid and full of rice and banana fields. The elephant safari was an unpleasant experience – the elephants aren’t treated well. While you do see some birds, deer and many times rhinos, the ordeal the elephant goes through isn’t worth it. I’d rather take a jeep tour into the forest for a day. As we left it started raining. We enjoyed some strong chai and headed back to the resort. Since we had some time, we headed to the elephant breeding center (the hotel organized the transport) to gaze at the baby elephants. Unfortunately it has started to pour down and we couldn’t spend enough time there. But the breeding center is well worth the visit.

Prior to dinner, the hotel organized a Tharu cultural program after which we headed to the bar and then dinner.

Day 9 – Kathmandu

We left Chitwan around 10 AM for Kathmandu. The drive back was a good 5-6 hours due to traffic near Kathmandu and it was about 4 pm that we reached Avataar hotel in Thamel.

After arrival we decided to take a taxi to Boudhanath in the evening. Evening wasn’t the  best time to head there. While it is a big stupa, it was not as impressive as we expected. Perhaps it would have had a different feel during the day.

We headed back to Thamel for dinner at the local touristy places and retired back.

Day 10 – Bhaktapur

We decided to take a taxi to Bhaktapur this day. Bhaktapur was a spectacular experience – filled with old and beautiful temples and buildings. It’s a colourful experience, great architecture, beautiful stalls and very vibrant. You could easily spend the whole day there walking around. We were there on the Nepali New Year during which Bhaktapur is host to a large fair. As the day progressed, the place started getting very crowded in preparation for the evening festivities. We decided to skip it and headed back to the hotel.

In the evening, walked around Kathmandu’s busy Darbar Square and around the historic district and did some souvenir shopping. We headed to dinner in Thamel and spent the final hours celebrating New Year with the locals at a pub. After ringing the Nepali New Year, we retired for the day.

Day 11 – Pashupatinath

We decided to take the day easy. We visited Pashupatinath Temple which is an old Hindu temple and very important for Hindus. You also need to be a Hindu to enter it.  It wasn't that crowded on the day we went but some days can be very busy. There are several other Hindu temples or Buddhist monasteries  in and around Kathmandu and so there is no shortage of religious and cultural places to visit.


We spent the rest of the day wandering around standard touristy attractions like Garden of Dreams & Narayanhiti Palace Museum. The Palace Museum is only open Thursday to Monday and also closed from November to January. The rest of the day was spent souvenir shopping and wandering around Thamel. If you are into custom t-shirts, you can get one made in 4 hours with many of the local tailors.

Day 12 – Flight back

The last day was typical travel stuff.  One advise is to print all your boarding passes in Nepal. We had a issue where they did not print the boarding pass for the India-UK leg and we struggled to get that in Delhi airport which delayed us significantly.  Nevertheless we left Nepal with some wonderful memories and a great experience.