How to choose a Nepal trek that actually suits you

Almost everyone starts in the same place: Everest Base Camp, because it is the name they know. Roughly a third of them would have a better trip somewhere else. Here is how we work out which third.

How many days do you genuinely have?

Not how many days of holiday — how many days on the trail, after international flights, jet lag and a buffer for weather. A fourteen-day holiday is a nine-day trek. That single number eliminates more options than anything else.

• Five days or fewer: Poon Hill, Bandipur, or a Kathmandu Valley ridge
• Six to nine days: Langtang Valley, the Tamang Heritage Trail, the Sun Koshi
• Ten to sixteen days: Everest Base Camp, Annapurna Circuit, Manaslu, Mustang
• Eighteen days or more: Island Peak, Mera Peak, Kanchenjunga, Upper Dolpo

What are you actually going for?

Be honest about this, because the answer changes everything. Three broad reasons show up in enquiries, and they point in different directions.

If it is the mountains themselves — scale, ice, the feeling of standing under something enormous — you want Khumbu or Kanchenjunga, and you should accept the altitude that comes with them. If it is the people and the culture, Mustang and the Tamang Heritage Trail will give you more in a week than Everest gives in two. If it is the physical challenge, Manaslu and Mera Peak are harder than either.

The most common regret we hear is not that a trek was too hard. It is that someone spent two weeks walking past a culture they never got to sit down in.

Anisha Gurung, cultural guide

What is your altitude history?

If you have never been above 3,000 m, you do not know how your body handles altitude, and neither do we. That is not a reason to avoid a high trek — it is a reason to pick one with a conservative profile and real acclimatisation days.

How much comfort do you need?

Lodge treks in Khumbu and Annapurna have hot showers, wifi, bakeries and menus. Manaslu and Kanchenjunga have plywood rooms and dal bhat. Dolpo has a tent. None of these is better; they are simply different trips, and the mismatch between expectation and reality is what makes people unhappy on the trail.

Then pick two, not one

Send us two options rather than one when you enquire. Half the time the second one turns out to be the better fit once we know your dates, and a conversation about why is more useful than a brochure.