Nepal and Tibet Tour

You will be met in the arrivals hall at Tribhuvan International Airport and driven to your hotel, usually 30 to 45 minutes depending on traffic. Nepal issues visas on arrival: fill in the form at the electronic kiosks before the payment desk, and bring a passport photograph and cash in a major currency to speed it up.

Once you have settled in, your guide will come to the hotel for a full briefing: the day by day plan, the gear check, what the weather is doing, and any questions you have been saving up. This is also when we collect passport details for permits if we do not already have them.

Kathmandu sits at about 1,400 m so there is no altitude concern tonight. If you arrive early enough, the walk from Thamel down to the Durbar Square area is a good first hour in the city.

Altitude: 1,350 m  |  Overnight: 3-5 Stars  |  Meals: Breakfast

Spend the day exploring the ancient cities of Patan and Bhaktapur. Visit the Patan Durbar Square, Bhaktapur Durbar Square, and other historical sites. Overnight at a hotel in Kathmandu.

Patan, or Lalitpur, has the finest concentration of Newar architecture in Nepal. The Durbar Square holds the Krishna Mandir, carved from stone in 1637 in a distinctly north Indian shikhara style, the Golden Temple with its gilded facade and resident tortoises, and the Patan Museum, which is widely considered the best museum in the country and is housed in a restored palace wing. The surrounding lanes are still full of working metalworkers and thangka painters.

Bhaktapur is the best preserved of the three medieval cities in the valley and the one where the old town still functions as a town rather than a monument. Brick lanes open into Durbar Square, Taumadhi Square with the five-tiered Nyatapola temple, and Dattatreya Square with the Peacock Window. Pottery Square is genuinely a working pottery, not a display. Give it a full half day rather than an hour, and try the juju dhau, the local king curd served in a clay bowl.

Altitude: 1,350 m  |  Overnight: 3-5 Stars  |  Meals: Breakfast

Fly to Lhasa and transfer to the hotel. Acclimatize to the altitude and explore the local area. Overnight at a hotel in Lhasa.

Altitude: 3,650 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast

Visit the iconic Potala Palace, Sera Monastery, Jokhang Temple, and the bustling Barkhor Bazaar. Overnight at a hotel in Lhasa.

The Potala Palace rises thirteen storeys above Lhasa and was the winter residence of the Dalai Lamas from the seventeenth century. Inside are the golden funerary stupas of eight Dalai Lamas, the fifth's alone covered in more than three tonnes of gold, along with chapels, murals and the meditation cells of the earliest kings. Visits are on a timed ticket with a strict one-hour limit inside, and the climb up is at 3,656 m, so take it slowly.

The Jokhang is the most sacred temple in Tibetan Buddhism, founded in the seventh century to house the Jowo Rinpoche, a statue of the Buddha as a twelve-year-old brought to Tibet by the Chinese princess Wencheng. Pilgrims prostrate full-length on the flagstones outside from before dawn. The interior is dark, thick with butter lamp smoke, and unlike anywhere else.

The Barkhor is the pilgrim circuit around the Jokhang and the old heart of Lhasa: a clockwise kora walked by thousands of pilgrims a day, lined with stalls selling prayer wheels, turquoise, incense and yak butter. Walking it once with the flow of people tells you more about Tibet than any museum.

Sera Monastery, founded in 1419, is one of the three great Gelugpa university monasteries of Lhasa. The reason to go in the afternoon is the debating courtyard, where monks challenge each other on points of doctrine with a formalised hand clap that punctuates each question. It runs most weekday afternoons and it is genuinely gripping even without the language.

Altitude: 3,650 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast

Drive to Shigatse, passing through the scenic city of Gyantse. Visit the Gyantse Kumbum and Pelkor Chode Monastery. Overnight at a hotel in Shigatse.

Gyantse holds the Kumbum, a 32 m tiered stupa from 1427 containing seventy-seven chapels and thousands of murals, the finest surviving body of Newar-influenced Tibetan painting anywhere. The Gyantse dzong above the town gives a wide view over the barley fields of the Nyang valley.

Shigatse is Tibet's second city at 3,840 m, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas, and the natural overnight stop between Lhasa and the Everest region. The old town market below Tashilhunpo is worth an hour.

Altitude: 3,900 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast

Travel to Shegar, stopping to visit the Sakya Monastery along the way. Overnight at a hotel in Shegar.

Shigatse is Tibet's second city at 3,840 m, the traditional seat of the Panchen Lamas, and the natural overnight stop between Lhasa and the Everest region. The old town market below Tashilhunpo is worth an hour.

Altitude: 4,190 m  |  Overnight: Hotel  |  Meals: Breakfast

Drive to Rongbuk Monastery and visit Everest Base Camp. Enjoy stunning views of Mount Everest. Overnight at a guesthouse in Rongbuk.

Rongbuk monastery at about 5,000 m is the highest monastery in the world, founded in 1902, and it sits directly beneath the north face of Everest with the mountain filling the end of the valley. The view from here is the one the early British expeditions had, and it is more complete than anything visible from the Nepal side.

The Tibetan base camp sits at about 5,150 m at the foot of the Rongbuk glacier, reached by road rather than on foot, with the north face of Everest rising uninterrupted in front of it. Because you arrive by vehicle, this is the fastest altitude gain on any of our itineraries and the acclimatisation days before it are not optional.

Altitude: 5,250 m  |  Overnight: Guest House  |  Meals: Breakfast

Drive from Rongbuk to The Last Resort, a haven for adventure activities. Overnight at The Last Resort.

Rongbuk monastery at about 5,000 m is the highest monastery in the world, founded in 1902, and it sits directly beneath the north face of Everest with the mountain filling the end of the valley. The view from here is the one the early British expeditions had, and it is more complete than anything visible from the Nepal side.

Altitude: 1,215 m  |  Overnight: The Last Resort  |  Meals: Breakfast

Experience an exciting day of canyoning at The Last Resort. Overnight at The Last Resort.

Altitude: 1,215 m  |  Overnight: The Last Resort  |  Meals: Breakfast

Enjoy rafting in the Bhotekoshi River, followed by a drive back to Kathmandu. Overnight at a hotel in Kathmandu.

The Trisuli is Nepal's most accessible whitewater river, running alongside the Prithvi Highway west of Kathmandu with grade three rapids in the autumn high water and gentler grade two in spring. A day trip covers the classic section with lunch on a sandy beach.

Altitude: 1,350 m  |  Overnight: 3-5 Stars  |  Meals: Breakfast

Drive to Chitwan National Park. Overnight at a resort in Chitwan.

Chitwan National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Terai lowlands and one of the best places in Asia to see greater one-horned rhinoceros, which number over six hundred here. Jeep safaris, guided walks with an armed naturalist, canoe trips on the Rapti and an elephant breeding centre fill the days. Bengal tigers are present and occasionally seen; leopard, sloth bear, gharial crocodile and more than five hundred bird species are all resident.

Altitude: 415 m  |  Overnight: Resort  |  Meals: Breakfast

Explore Chitwan National Park with activities such as jungle safari, bird watching, and visiting the elephant breeding center. Overnight at a resort in Chitwan.

Chitwan National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Terai lowlands and one of the best places in Asia to see greater one-horned rhinoceros, which number over six hundred here. Jeep safaris, guided walks with an armed naturalist, canoe trips on the Rapti and an elephant breeding centre fill the days. Bengal tigers are present and occasionally seen; leopard, sloth bear, gharial crocodile and more than five hundred bird species are all resident.

Altitude: 415 m  |  Overnight: Resort  |  Meals: Breakfast

Drive back to Kathmandu. Overnight at a hotel in Kathmandu.

Chitwan National Park is a UNESCO World Heritage site in the Terai lowlands and one of the best places in Asia to see greater one-horned rhinoceros, which number over six hundred here. Jeep safaris, guided walks with an armed naturalist, canoe trips on the Rapti and an elephant breeding centre fill the days. Bengal tigers are present and occasionally seen; leopard, sloth bear, gharial crocodile and more than five hundred bird species are all resident.

Altitude: 1,350 m  |  Overnight: 3-5 Stars  |  Meals: Breakfast

Transfer to the airport about three hours before your international flight. If you have a late departure we will hold a day room or arrange a final few hours in the city rather than leave you sitting in the terminal.

If you would rather not go home yet, this is the easy point to extend: a few days in Pokhara, a wildlife stay in Chitwan or Bardiya, a short Bhutan add-on, or a rest week somewhere quiet. Tell us before you travel and we will build it in at cost rather than as a late upgrade.

Altitude: 1,350 m  |  Meals: Breakfast