Travel style · Nepal
Road trips in Nepal
The high roads, driven at the right speed
The Himalaya has some of the highest motorable roads in the world: Manali to Leh, the Spiti circuit, Sela Pass, the Old Silk Route. We plan them with acclimatisation days, a driver who knows the bends and honest drive times.
Photo: Bijay Chaurasia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · CommonsA mountain road is slow. Two hundred kilometres can take eight hours when the road climbs over a pass, crosses snow-melt streams and waits for a landslide to be cleared. We plan drives in daylight, keep long days to one in three, and build a spare day into any route that crosses a pass above 4,000 m.
Nepal is the easiest big Himalayan trip for Indians: no visa, an open land border, the rupee pegged at 1 INR = 1.6 NPR. Come for the Newar cities of the Kathmandu valley, the lake town of Pokhara, teahouse treks to Poon Hill and Everest Base Camp, and the walled town of Lo Manthang. October–November and March–April are best.
Trips
Road trips trips in Nepal
Photo: Gerd Eichmann · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Comfort
Kathmandu, Bandipur and Pokhara by private car
Private car with driver
3 places
Where to go
Photo: Bijay Chaurasia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Bandipur
A Newar trading town the highway left behind
Photo: Nirojsedhai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Lo Manthang
The walled capital of the old Kingdom of Lo
Photo: Saddam19 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Marpha and Jomsom
Apple orchards, Thakali houses and the windy Kali Gandaki
Experiences
Days that fit the style
Photo: Bijay Chaurasia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Bandipur bazaar and its Newar houses
Walk the car-free main street of Bandipur at dusk, reading the story of a trading town in its brick and timber: shopfro…
Photo: DC · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Down to Siddha Cave and back
A steep walk of about 1.5 hours down through forest from Bandipur to one of Nepal's largest caves, where local guides l…
Photo: Bijay Chaurasia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Sunrise from the Tundikhel and Thani Mai
Climb from the bazaar to the Thani Mai temple on the hill above Bandipur for sunrise over the Annapurna, Manaslu and Ga…
Photo: Samdesherpa · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Murals of Jampa Lhakhang and Thubchen
With your guide and a caretaker monk, visit the two great gompas inside Lo Manthang's walls, whose centuries-old wall p…
Photo: Jmhullot · CC BY 3.0 · Commons
Ride or hike to the Chhoser sky caves
Head north from Lo Manthang by horse, jeep or on foot to Chhoser, where ochre cliffs are cut with hundreds of man-made …
Photo: Wimbex · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
A morning inside the walls of Lo
Walk the lanes of Lo Manthang as the town wakes: herders driving goats out through the gate, women at the water point, …
Photo: Sundar1 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Marpha apple orchards and brandy tasting
Walk through Marpha's orchards, learn how the Thakali village turned from the salt trade to apples, then taste dried ap…
Photo: Nipendramaharjan · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Muktinath: 108 spouts and an eternal flame
Drive up from Jomsom to Muktinath, at about 3,760 m, where Hindus bathe under 108 water spouts and Buddhists honour Chu…
