Travelling to Nepal

[mustafajafar]

Hey Team,

I am trying to think big here (maybe too big). Has anyone travelled to Nepal from Korea before?

I think going up to the Everest base camp would be as good as it gets. That and I hear its really cheap in Nepal once you actually get there. But Im afraid the cost of getting there might be brutal.

Has anyone ever been there, or looked into it? I've done some expedia searches and googling...but haven't come up with anything too concrete.

[kiwikimchi]

In between contracts I flew into New Delhi working my way north to Nepal.

I flew fom Kathmandu to Bangkok to Seoul.

I booked my ticket with expedia. I wasn't too bad considering. Book far in advance as possible. Check airasia for low cost flights but not sure they fly to Kathmandu.

As for costs in Nepal. It wasn't as cheap as I thought is would be. Kathmandu is tourist city so prices tend to be a little higher. Out of the cities is pretty cheap.

I looked into base camp too. But didn't have enough time or money. From Kathmandu you have to get a short flight into a small town (which I can't remember) to start base camp.
Flights, base camp tour all add up fast. But it would be amazing to do. Hope this helps.

[Ahimsa]

When I finished my contract in February 2010, I flew to Nepal from Incheon.  It was a long grueling flight (30+ hours, with stops in Chengdu, Lhassa, and other places I don't even remember).  I wouldn't want to make that flight again, especially because China has strange visa requirements.  But it was wasn't horribly expensive; about $750 USD. 

That said, Nepal was incredible.  Cheap and so much fun.  I did some trekking (Annapurna Circuit) and it was one of the best things I've ever done.  I don't think you'd regret going at all.

I spent close to 2/1/2 months there, so feel free to contact me with any questions you might have.

[Notzeebutzed]

We went three winters ago and we flew direct with Korean air.  It cost about 800,000 Won per ticket. It was great, only a six hour flight to Kathmandu.  I hope you go, it was a rewarding experience.

[smcbean]

My boyfriend and I actually JUST booked tickets to Nepal and India! We found flights on orbitz via kayak for ~$530. That's just one way though and our flight is out of Gimhae.

We've been looking into the Kathmandu area a lot and guesthouses, food and transportation all seem to be VERY cheap! We had thought about doing a trek or heading up to the Everest base camp but the summer monsoon conditions make the visibility really poor. Everything around the Everest base camp is also extremely expensive. I hope you can find some good deals though!

[KevinTeacher84]

Check interpark.co.kr for cheap airfare. Unfortunately your right about the cost of flying to Nepal: it isn't cheap. I believe I paid around 650,000 roundtrip, and that was during a break in January.

Kathmandu airport is also one of the grimiest places I've ever set foot in, with all kinds of touts waiting right outside the airport to solicit their services. I would recommend flying from Kathmandu to Pokhara. The domestic terminal is right beside the international terminal, so don't be a sucker like me and hop in a cab to be driven 1 block. A one-way ticket to Pokhara was $92, the other option would be wasting up to 7-8 hours riding in a dinky bus along one of the windiest, steepest, dustiest, and narrowest roads known to man.
Pokhara is the gateway to the Annapurna Range of the Himalayas, and provided the weather is nice, you will have incredible views of Annapurna and Fishtail from nearly anywhere in the town. I would recommend the Poon Hill Trek, which can be easily followed without a guide and should take you 4-5 days to complete. Beware of people saying that it is for novice hikers, you are still ascending over 10,500 feet! I have never lost weight in such a short amount of time. Our lodging on the third night offered views of the Annapurna Range that were nothing short of breathtaking. The mountains seem to rise right in front of the lodges.
After finishing the circuit, give yourself a day or two to rest your aching feet in Pokhara. You can do a whole number of activities, such as paragliding of horseback riding.
Take the bus for about a 4-5 hour drive to Royal Chitawan Park, and spend a couple days exploring the grasslands for the Bengal Tiger and endagered one-horned rhino. If you have a couple extra dollars to spend, I would highly recommend staying in one of the private jungle lodges in the park. Don't believe the listed prices that you will see on the internet, they are so desperate for traffic since the economic downturn that you can easily get half-off your stay. The stay includes secluded lodging in the heart of the jungle, elephant rides into the grasslands, and a nature walk through the forest. I stayed at Tiger Temple Jungle Lodge, which was right in the heart of the jungle. Outside our hut was a watering hole, and at night you could hear the rhinos rummaging in the swamp, as well as the distant call of deer, jackals, and other creatures of the night. We even found a fresh set of tiger mugprints less than 100 meters from the lodges!
After that, its another 5 hours on the bus back to Kathmandu, where you can spend a couple days exploring the cultural sites of the city.
Nepal is definitely the most beautiful place I've ever visited, and worth whatever the price it takes to get there.

[FMNY]

^^^^^ I now want to go to Nepal. I had never even thought about it before but it is at the top of my list now.

[KevinTeacher84]

While we were at Tiger Temple, a wildlife biologist from WWF India happened to be touring the park and stayed at the lodges overnight. He was extremely candid about the state of tigers in the wild. Basically see them while you can in the next 20 years. Pretty depressing stuff.
Even though I didn't see one, just riding an elephant through 7 foot grass, knowing that somewhere deep in the weeds is the world's greatest predator, is an indescribable feeling and made the whole trip priceless.

[actualstarfish]

Nepal is one of those places that is absolutely on the bucket list for me. I'd be interested to hear of anyone else's experiences there. Just to catch a glimpse of the Annapurna Range or Everest in person would be incredible.

[bmcass]

I'd love to go to Nepal, and have wanted to see Everest my entire life.  I came close once - back in 1995, I visited Lhasa, Tibet, and was about 350 miles away from Everest.  I'd also love to ride on the Beijing-Lhasa railway that opened in 2006.

[Suza]

If you have the time another option would be to fly into Delhi as the flights are a lot cheaper than flying to Kathmandu. From there you can either take a cheap flight with Spice Jet or Jet Air to Kathmandu.
I did the same last December for 1 month but went into Nepal overland from Sunauli. From there you can travel to Lumbini then onto Pokhara down to Chitwan then Kathmandu. I travelled on local buses in Nepal but flew back from Kathmandu to Delhi - the flight cost me $50.

I personally didn't do the Everest base camp. I met a few people in Pokhara who had done it. They said it was amazing, very challenging but worth it (obviously).
In Pokhara the paragliding is amazing! It cost me €80 for a 1 hour flight but was amazing!!!

[Rose-uh-teacher]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has any advice as to what I should do for 3 days on my own. I am meeting a tour group in Kathmandu and heading to Chitwan and Lumbini with them. I am flying into Kathmandu so should I just stay around there or is there anywhere else I could go for a very short visit? Reading your stories, Nepal sounds so amazing, I cannot wait to go, counting down the days...

[Jrong]

To agree with and sum up what some others have said:
If time is your only worry (i.e. you have money to spare, need a visa in a week, or are only spending a short amount of time in Nepal) then fly directly to Kath.

If money is your main consideration (i.e. if you have plenty of time to spare but you want to save money, or you want to enjoy the journey along with the destination), then fly to India. Anywhere in India. Take a beautiful scenic train ride up north. Get a visa at the border. Take a bus to Kath and then take a bus to your final destination.

[Suza]

Hi, I was wondering if anyone has any advice as to what I should do for 3 days on my own. I am meeting a tour group in Kathmandu and heading to Chitwan and Lumbini with them. I am flying into Kathmandu so should I just stay around there or is there anywhere else I could go for a very short visit? Reading your stories, Nepal sounds so amazing, I cannot wait to go, counting down the days...

There are lots of great places in and around Kathmandu, so I would definitely stay there for the 3 days and check them out.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhaktapur
http://www.khandro.net/stupa_Swayambhu.htm

There is a lot of places to see. I can't remember them offhand :( I stayed in Kathmandu for 7 days, but I have a Nepali friend living there so had the luxury of going everywhere on motorbike. Public transport is time consuming there!

[Suza]

If you get the chance go here! We went up there for sunset, it was breathtaking! Amazing colours and a fantastic view of the whole mountain range. Definitely a highlight of my trip.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagarkot

My Nepali mate is visiting Korea at the moment, so if you have any questions - give me a shout.

[hilarity ensues]

I did part of the Annapurna circuit-- from Besisahar to Jomsom. They say you should take 14 days but I did it in 10-- two of those days were realllly long and kinda brutal… but I still had the rest day they say you should take. So yeah, if you're pressed for time and not too out of shape (I'm not in amazing shape or anything), then you can still do it if you want. I've never seen scenery like that… I'm not sure about Everest Base Camp but I'm under the impression that Annapurna Circuit is more scenic, and Base Camp doesn't exactly give you such a great view of the mountain. And Everest isn't the best-looking mountain in the world anyways. Also, Annapurna is a loop so you're not doubling back like you do with the Base Camp hike.

If anyone is planning on trekking, here's some advice:

1. Definitely buy all of your stuff in Kathmandu. When I read up on it online everyone was talking about it being lower quality and such and I thought they meant it would all fall apart on the trail and I'd be screwed… but they're really not that bad. They're definitely a lot cheaper and better quality than some of the knockoffs in Korea… and you can get absolutely everything you'll need as well. I bought some things in Korea and some things in Nepal and even though the Nepal stuff had some problems, none of those problems were major… unless you consider a hole in your right pocket and some dodgy stitching on the fake logo major. You can also get wool stuff that's great quality and soooo cheap.

2. Unless you're completely alone in the downest part of the down season, don't hire a guide-- they're unnecessary, and can be more trouble/annoyance than help. But in February, the towns on the path are almost completely abandoned… the nights are eerily quiet, and it's entirely possible that you won't see any other trekkers for the first few days (this happened to me). It's sort of like being in a western… there are no vehicles, only donkey trains. Unfortunately, there's also some nasty construction going on at the beginning of the trail so you might want to skip that part… you can take the bus to the 'new' beginning of the trail.

3. If you're tall and lanky like me, then poles are pretty essential for the bit after Thorung La… it's really steep going down and there's all this ice (or possibly snow, which would make it easier, but for me it was ice) so without poles I couldn't get more than a few steps before I was on my arse… and there are bits of it you really don't want to be sliding uncontrollably. But really, even though there are people who will act like the whole trek is a super dangerous and dramatic scary life-threatening situation, except for the ice and the altitude, it's probably easier than some of the more vertical hiking in Korea.

4. Down jackets are nice, but I probably could have easily done the whole thing comfortably with layers. I kind of lucked out with the weather, though… there was none of the bitter cold that some people were telling me about, but it could be that I was just used to the bitter cold beforehand. But yeah, I'm really big on the three-layer system of breathable base/fleece/windbreaker shell… a down jacket is light and such but they're bulky and mine just ended up taking a lot of room in my bag. I barely even used it (and when I did I didn't need to), and I was never unreasonably cold.

5. Don't get too stressed about water or iodine pills-- it's really easy to fill up along the trail and I had no problems filling up with boiled water in the towns. Don't buy the bottled water… they've run out of uses for the bottles so you're just being a jerk by buying one. Also, iodine pills are nasty (well, I thought so anyways) and the taps in some of the villages are dodgy as all hell-- I filled up once and used the iodine and I could still feel the algae coating my teeth.

6. Maybe this is obvious-- the bottom is hot/warm and the top is cold. You will heat up in the afternoons for at least the first three days. They sell these great North Face knockoff windbreaker pants in Kathmandu that unzip at the knee… they're awesome and can get you through the whole trek. Also, thermals are cheap there… get a set… I still wear mine and it's a little like wearing a second, warmer skin. Add in a couple of good hiking shirts, sun hat, a great quality fleece jacket, wool hat, down sleeping bag (I had a liner as well-- they're really compact and mine can apparently raise the temperature of your bag by 15-20C--so it was actually cheaper than buying a 'better' bag), mittens (liners and outer shell are nice too), sunglasses, good boots, water bottle, headlamp, Goretex shell jacket, and a few pairs of hiking socks (2 liners and 3 heavier ones) and you're pretty much good to go. Having a pair of slippers/shoes at the end of the day is really nice, too. There are plenty of sites online that will tell you what to get if I'm missing something.

Sorry if no one wanted to hear this-- but I made some mistakes on my trek and I would have loved if someone had told me all of this! But I guess the bottom line is that you'll survive even if you aren't entirely comfortable the whole time.

[actualstarfish]

I did part of the Annapurna circuit-- from Besisahar to Jomsom. They say you should take 14 days but I did it in 10-- two of those days were realllly long and kinda brutal… but I still had the rest day they say you should take. So yeah, if you're pressed for time and not too out of shape (I'm not in amazing shape or anything), then you can still do it if you want. I've never seen scenery like that… I'm not sure about Everest Base Camp but I'm under the impression that Annapurna Circuit is more scenic, and Base Camp doesn't exactly give you such a great view of the mountain. And Everest isn't the best-looking mountain in the world anyways. Also, Annapurna is a loop so you're not doubling back like you do with the Base Camp hike.

If anyone is planning on trekking, here's some advice:

1. Definitely buy all of your stuff in Kathmandu. When I read up on it online everyone was talking about it being lower quality and such and I thought they meant it would all fall apart on the trail and I'd be screwed… but they're really not that bad. They're definitely a lot cheaper and better quality than some of the knockoffs in Korea… and you can get absolutely everything you'll need as well. I bought some things in Korea and some things in Nepal and even though the Nepal stuff had some problems, none of those problems were major… unless you consider a hole in your right pocket and some dodgy stitching on the fake logo major. You can also get wool stuff that's great quality and soooo cheap.

2. Unless you're completely alone in the downest part of the down season, don't hire a guide-- they're unnecessary, and can be more trouble/annoyance than help. But in February, the towns on the path are almost completely abandoned… the nights are eerily quiet, and it's entirely possible that you won't see any other trekkers for the first few days (this happened to me). It's sort of like being in a western… there are no vehicles, only donkey trains. Unfortunately, there's also some nasty construction going on at the beginning of the trail so you might want to skip that part… you can take the bus to the 'new' beginning of the trail.

3. If you're tall and lanky like me, then poles are pretty essential for the bit after Thorung La… it's really steep going down and there's all this ice (or possibly snow, which would make it easier, but for me it was ice) so without poles I couldn't get more than a few steps before I was on my arse… and there are bits of it you really don't want to be sliding uncontrollably. But really, even though there are people who will act like the whole trek is a super dangerous and dramatic scary life-threatening situation, except for the ice and the altitude, it's probably easier than some of the more vertical hiking in Korea.

4. Down jackets are nice, but I probably could have easily done the whole thing comfortably with layers. I kind of lucked out with the weather, though… there was none of the bitter cold that some people were telling me about, but it could be that I was just used to the bitter cold beforehand. But yeah, I'm really big on the three-layer system of breathable base/fleece/windbreaker shell… a down jacket is light and such but they're bulky and mine just ended up taking a lot of room in my bag. I barely even used it (and when I did I didn't need to), and I was never unreasonably cold.

5. Don't get too stressed about water or iodine pills-- it's really easy to fill up along the trail and I had no problems filling up with boiled water in the towns. Don't buy the bottled water… they've run out of uses for the bottles so you're just being a jerk by buying one. Also, iodine pills are nasty (well, I thought so anyways) and the taps in some of the villages are dodgy as all hell-- I filled up once and used the iodine and I could still feel the algae coating my teeth.

6. Maybe this is obvious-- the bottom is hot/warm and the top is cold. You will heat up in the afternoons for at least the first three days. They sell these great North Face knockoff windbreaker pants in Kathmandu that unzip at the knee… they're awesome and can get you through the whole trek. Also, thermals are cheap there… get a set… I still wear mine and it's a little like wearing a second, warmer skin. Add in a couple of good hiking shirts, sun hat, a great quality fleece jacket, wool hat, down sleeping bag (I had a liner as well-- they're really compact and mine can apparently raise the temperature of your bag by 15-20C--so it was actually cheaper than buying a 'better' bag), mittens (liners and outer shell are nice too), sunglasses, good boots, water bottle, headlamp, Goretex shell jacket, and a few pairs of hiking socks (2 liners and 3 heavier ones) and you're pretty much good to go. Having a pair of slippers/shoes at the end of the day is really nice, too. There are plenty of sites online that will tell you what to get if I'm missing something.

Sorry if no one wanted to hear this-- but I made some mistakes on my trek and I would have loved if someone had told me all of this! But I guess the bottom line is that you'll survive even if you aren't entirely comfortable the whole time.

Wow this really makes me wanna go. Damn, I've only got one week of vacation left to use this winter. Maybe if I can pair it up with Lunar New Year and find someone else to go with I can do it.

[jimmyjamison]

Anyone planning a trip to Nepal this Winter? I am planning on going from Jan. 23-Feb. 6. Anyone have any more advice on must sees or awesome tours to do?

[ptc500]

Regarding the cost of trekking, sadly it actually isn't that cheap at all. Lowland nepal is absolutely dirt cheap, but once you're up in the hills and everything has to be carried, in, prices hike. I think You can look at spending the best part of 30US a day, if not more, at the top.

If you want to do the Everest trek, I would really recommend walking in from Jiri, which makes the trip about 6 days longer, if you have the time. The upper parts of the trek are swarming with tourists (massive groups of Koreans and Israelis) but lower down you will really experience something of what its like to live in the hills. You'll also see the full range of vegetation from lush to barren.

Also, I wouldn't worry in the slightest about doing it solo. Loads of people do it. If you're sensible, you should be fine.

[rep300]

I loved Nepal. I did Everest base camp and Anapurna cir. Loved every minute. Its very cheap, at least it used to be.
You don't need a guide but I certainly do not recommend doing it alone (safety)