Cycling through the natural area surrounding the Kathmandu Valley is a good and affordable experience, starting and returning back Kathmandu itself. We cycle through rural areas, forests, crops, villages, farms and monumental world heritage villages with views of the Himalayan peaks from time to time. A very adaptable itinerary that can be either a trip in itself or part of a longer tour to Nepal.
This is one of the highlights of Pokhara. Strolling around Lakeside you will see the different coloured paragliders descending from Sarangkot, perched on the hill that rises north of Lakeside, to land on the edge of the lake.
While it can also be a one-day option, ideal for a break on the way from Kathmandu to Pokhara, you can sleep in a comfortable camp beside the river, making it a very interesting and fun two-day rafting activity. It remains an ideal extension to do on the way from Kathmandu to Pokhara, to Bandipur, or even to Chitwan.
Sunkoshi and Bhotekoshi rivers are more demanding than Trishuli, so if you really focus in rafting and you need more adrenaline, those are your white-water rivers. With long and powerful water rapids of level 3+/4-, big rocks and among amazing landscape, it can be one or more days activity from Kathmandu.
The experience of spending an afternoon with the group of children, girls and boys who live at the Kailash Home is priceless. These children come from families without economic resources from remote mountain areas. In Kailash Home, they have an option to continue studying beyond basic education. Once the first barrier is overcome, the experience is all yours.
The highest peaks permanently white; large, medium, small and tiny temples; difficult roads; small villages and farms perched in the mountains; prayer flags flowing in the wind, lush forests up to 4000 metres high; kites flying in search of the skies … or entangled in the wires; saffron-dressed Tibetan monks; rivers of milk-coloured water; … but, above all, smiles, between frank and shy
This is a slightly different option, aimed at those who want to know and are curious about the world of the Gurkhas, a really important world in Nepal. Basically, you will be able to meet a former Gurkha, a person who has fought in the regiments of a foreign army, defending and fighting for a country that is not his own.
Seeing the Himalayan mountains from the air by flying alongside them is always an interesting experience. The most affordable is a twin-engine plane flight around Everest, while a helicopter ride to Everest Base Camp or Annapurna Base Camp is spectacular, but not for everyone’s budget.
Un pequeño y fácil itinerario al norte de Pokhara pasando por aldeas, granjas, campos de cultivo, pequeños estanques, templos y escuelas, que nos acerca de una manera sencilla a la vida rural de Nepal y que cuenta con una buena vista sobre el Himalaya. El itinerario es apto para todo el mundo, ideal para niñas y niños y se puede hacer de diferentes maneras, ya sea ocupando todo un día, como hacer una corta salida de mediodía.
Cycling in Kathmandu is not for beginners, but it is less dangerous than it first appears. Riding allows you to see the city from a different angle, at a different pace. While the traffic on the main avenues is heavy, other streets are quieter, off the main tourist areas where you can see the real local life.
A quiet hike through the northern hills that enclose Kathmandu, with views of the city on one side and the Himalayas on the other. Without hard uphills and descents, it is suitable for anyone who wants to disconnect and walk in a rural and wooded environment far away from the crowds of the city.
From Bandipur this hiking proposal is a good circular route that will take you through a beautiful rural environment towards the Magar village of Ramkot. You will pass by farms and fields, with traditional houses, some schools and the life of the rural areas of Nepal.
Pokhara is an ideal place to enjoy at your leisure, whether you are walking, cycling, or relaxing on a terrace, and it is an ideal place to go with children. But it also has its tourist attractions that are a little outside the town, and of course, we can take you on a route with a private vehicle and guide if you wish.
Kathmandu is the country’s capital and largest city. A somewhat chaotic city, but full of life. It is situated in a bowl surrounded by mountains at an altitude of about 1400m. It combines areas stuffed with buildings with others with single-family houses. Some large avenues always full of traffic and a network of streets and alleys that follow an uncertain pattern. Some tidier areas and others rather neglected. Outside the “Ring Road”, which is like a belt around Kathmandu and Patan, the city continues in a mix of low-rise houses mixed with orchards and fields that have yet to surrender to the onslaught of the city.
Pokhara is the second-largest city in Nepal, but whenever we talk about Pokhara we always talk about the Lakeside district, next to the Phewa-Tal (lake), where tourism is concentrated and where you will find many hotels, guest-houses, restaurants of all kinds and conditions, cafes, bars and live music, shops, bookstores and “german bakery” distributed along the main avenue and adjacent streets, making it very difficult to get lost.
Chitwan National Park is in southern Nepal bordering India. Surrounded by a rural area of fields and farms, Chitwan National Park is a large extension of forest, savannah and rivers with a good concentration of wild animals, including Asian rhinos, different types of deer, birds of all kinds, crocodiles and gharials, leopards and a large population of tigers, although these two species are almost impossible to see.
Bhaktapur is a beautiful and quiet Newar town that you can visit at your leisure. It is full of interesting places and not usually overcrowded with tourists, but it is still early in the morning or in the evening that it has a special atmosphere, as groups do not stay overnight, which we recommend. The Newar tradition is very strong here, so it is not uncommon to find small religious events, usually at dawn or late in the day.
Patan, along with Bhaktapur and Kathmandu, is also a former royal city. Although it is attached to the south of Kathmandu as if it were a suburb, it is an independent city and is quieter than the capital, with a different rhythm and atmosphere. Its Sanskrit name is Lalitpur, which means “city of beauty”. The old part is known as Patan Dhoka. The whole neighbourhood is full of shops selling religious art in bronze or other metals.
Bandipur is a beautiful and small village of old trading houses, some of which have been tastefully renovated and converted into small hotels, restaurants and cafes. It has very quiet tourism and there is no traffic in a large part of the village. In a rural setting, it breathes a lot of local life at a leisurely pace and without too many worries.
To the east of Kathmandu there is an interesting triangle formed by Dhulikhel, Namo Buddha and Panauti. Old villages, Holy temples, countryside life, farms and crops, one important Buddhist Monastery and good views over the Himalayas.
Southern Patan, following the Bagmati River valley, there is a cluster of small villages that are a good sample of the “real” Nepal of the small villages scattered all over Nepal. Amidst fields of crops, red brick houses and carved wood, people busy at their daily work and a pace of life far more relaxed than that of the capital.
Tansen is a village perched in the mountains between Pokhara and the Indian border, so it enjoys good temperatures all year round. Being perched in the mountains, in the morning there is often a spectacular view of the sea of clouds at the bottom of the valley, in what the locals call “the white lake”.
Lumbini is one of the holiest places in the country, as it is the most likely birthplace (there is doubt and uncertainty about this) of Prince Sydharta Gautama or Sakyamuni, known to us as the Buddha and from whose teachings Buddhism grew.
Perece que antes del siglo quinto o cuarto AC ya era un lugar de peregrinación para los fieles ya que se han encontrado restos de templos budistas de estas fechas. Hoy en día atrae a multitud de peregrinos de todas partes del mundo al mismo tiempo que turistas interesados en el lugar.
Although Kathmandu is easy to visit by taxi, we can also take you on a tour with a private vehicle and a guide. We try to steer clear of the long boring speech, and we like you to ask about what interests you most about each place or what you are most curious about.
The experience of walking through the jungle together with elephants -and not over them in their backs- allows you to feel much closer to the ground, the trees, and to have the animals at your same level. There is a lot of difference in the welfare of the elephants that do not walk tourists all day on their backs and those that have to do it day in and day out as well, that is why at Plan Himalaya we do NOT do jungle safaris on the backs of elephants.
A small tour that runs through a rural environment of small villages, farms and terraced crops, where you can see the typical traditional houses so common throughout the geography of Nepal. Here you will meet no other tourists, almost no phone connection, no bars or restaurants, but you will live a genuine experience that will bring you closer to a part of the reality of the country without filters.
