Day 01: Arrival in Kathmandu(1337m)

You are welcomed to Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal renowned for historical monuments, Hindu Temples, and Buddhist Stupas/Monasteries. We meet our guests at the Tribhuvan International Airport. A staff member will be waiting with a Himalayan Vacation Treks and Expedition placard with our guests’ names displayed. After dropping luggage at the hotel, guests are taken for a short sightseeing tour. In the evening, guests are invited to a Welcome Dinner at a Nepali restaurant.

Day 02: Kathmandu – Besi Sahar (760m) – Syange) 7-8 hours by bus

A special tourist bus that runs in the Prithvi Highway carries you from Kathmandu to Pokhara but for you, we hire private vehicles since it is a camp trek. The distance is just 200km but the road has several bends, ups, and downs. Hence it takes generally 6 hours including rest to reach Pokhara from Kathmandu. On the way, you can enjoy the beautiful view of Ganesh Himal, Lamjung Himal, and Annapurna. After Kathmandu, the road goes downhill and runs along the Trishuli River.  Sometimes we can see people rafting in Trisuli.  We may stop on the way for breakfast and lunch.

After about four hours of driving, we stop for lunch and then the journey continues to Dumre. There we leave the main road to Pokhara and turn to turn up the mountains to Khudi Bhulbhule through the town of Besi Sahar. There is a fine pitched road from Kathmandu to Besi Sahar and offroad from Besi Shahar to Syange We spend a night at Syange We follow the bank of beautiful river Marsyangdi which is full of natural beauties like waterfalls, green forest, and natural vegetation. From today onwards, after the dinner or before we go to bed, the Himalayan Vacation Treks and Expedition trekking guide will take a report and give a briefing in every evening about the trek that we are going to make next day.

Day 03: Syange -Tal (1700 m)  3-4 hours

This is the day on which our real trekking begins. Trekking routes go through motorable roads in various places. So many waterfalls view on the way. At Tal ( means lake in Nepali), we witness a great waterfall that directly touches the ground from a hill. Tal lies at the border of Lamjung and Manang district. We stay at the lodge at the bank of the Marshyangdi river.

Day 04: Tal – Bagarchhap (2160m) 4-5 hours

The view in this trek is extremely beautiful. Steep cliffs, waterfalls, vast green forests and several suspension bridges are the special views for today. In Bagarchhap, there is a beautiful monastery that we can visit. Also, there is a health post, telephone, and internet facility. In the autumn of 1995 Bagarchhap was hit by a landslide in which 24 houses were destroyed and 20 people had been killed. About one and half an hour before we reach the camp, we can see a trail at Dharapani that leads to Manaslu, a special permit area. We spend the night at Bagarchhap.

Day 05: Bagarchhap – Chame (2670 m)4-5 hours

Today we trek through a beautiful high hill forest we to Chame, the headquarter of Manang, the chief town of the area. This town has many facilities like internet telephone. From the balcony of the lodge, we can see Annapurna II and Lamjung Himal.

Day 06: Chame – Upper Pisang (3200 m) 4-5 hours

The route climbs through a beautiful forest to the wide Manang valley in the northeast. The first village is Pisang. We can see the houses built differently in this area, the houses with mud roof since very little rain falls and snow falls in great quantity in this region through the year. The Marsyandi River narrows and bridges built over the river are of the cantilever type, made of locally available long trunks supported by other tribes anchored again by neatly stacked stones.

Day 07: Upper Pisang – Nawal (3660 m) 3-4 hours

We walk through the higher route today to enjoy the splendid view of high barren hills and Himalayan peaks.  We witness Pisang Peak too on the way. On the peak site of Pisang, there is a special Gompa which we visit today after breakfast.   We are heading to Nawal village today. Very simple local people will smile at us to welcome to their land.  Himalayan Vacation Treks and Expedition leader will be the interpreter if we want to talk with the local people here.

Day 08: Nawal – Manang (3540m) 4-5 hours

We can witness the dry and barren Tibetan world behind the Annapurna range.  Barley fields are seen everywhere here since it the staple food of the people living in this region. We walk through the quiet valley of Braga to reach Manang. We stop at Braga for our lunch and can visit a Gompa there. The valley is scarce of vegetation and red autumn shaded color can be seen in the hillsides (autumn). Almost the entire range of Annapurna is seen from here: 7900 meters high Annapurna II, Annapurna IV, Annapurna III Gangapurna and Roc Noir.

Day 09: Manang: Acclimatization (3540m)

In Manang, we have a rest for one day especially to acclimatize. We meet the local people in a village and witness their lifestyle. The nights are very cold, the days when out of the wind are pleasant to sit in the sun. Beware of sunburn. We need to carry sunscreen with us.  Mind that we are in the Yak Land. So in every now and then we can see the fields full of long-haired yaks grazing.  Yaks in this region are used not only as beasts of burden but also as a supplier of butter, meat, wool, and cheese. There you can wander through the town, later still go and see the blue/gray glacial lake (good for acclimatization!), Go to the movies, or attend a lecture on altitude sickness. Also, you can visit the lovely old gompa or go for surfing. Himalayan Vacation Treks and Expedition guide will arrange for our visit to the various places today.

Day 10: Manang – Khangsar (3734m) 3-4 hours

After Manang there is a choice between two valleys, one valley leads us through the main route to the Thorung-La, the other to the lake Tilicho. We choose the 2^nd one. We head to Tilicho so that we can be well acclimatized, even for a visit to the height of 5000 meters. We can view several Glaciers and some Glacial lakes on the way to Khangsar, Khangsar is the village with Buddhist people majority.

Day 11: Khangsar – Tilicho Base Camp (4150 m) 3-4 hours

We are still walking through barren lands but in some places, we can view bush sized trees.  The route we may consider is the hardest part of the whole tour since it may be snowy often.  We walk through the path hit by landslides. We must be aware of rubbles here, so we do not stay too long over here and keep watching the beautiful views around.

Day 12: Tilicho Base Camp – Tilicho Lake (4920 m) – Tilicho Base camp 3-4 hours

The path is good and only has a fewer difficult steep place. But too high altitude, you cannot walk fast and need to take rest in almost every few minutes.  We are going to witness the world’s highest land lake toady.  We may get a chance to see the rare wild blue sheep also in this area. Also, we can see the bearded vultures and / or snow Vultures (Vultures Himalayas) floating through the air. On the way after several hours of climbing, we see the pile of stones topped by a number of prayer flags.  The view from here is incredible. We can relax here in a teahouse. We can see the Tilicho Lake in beautiful blue in color in spring and summer; otherwise, it is usually in the frozen state throughout the year, we looked round the lake for some time and come back to the Tilicho Base Camp for the night.

Day 13: Tilicho Base Camp -Yak Kharka (4050 m) 3-4 hours

We walk today to Yak Kharka, the green pastures for the Yaks. The route has a slight rise and fall , we walk  crossing the rivers in several places and also along the rivers.
Small villages along with the Yak Kharka add more beauty in the nature. We spend the nights in a calm village along with the Yak Sheds. Nights are cold but we can enjoy the sun shine in the afternoon and relax on the terrace at the lodge.

Day 14: Yak Kharka via Thorung Phedi (4450 m) to Thorung High Camp (4925 m) 4-5 hours

We are going to leave behind the Manang valley today before our lunch. We take lunch in Thorung Phedi and after some hour’s rest, we climb to Thorang high camp. We might have gained enough acclimatization from the Tilicho Lake trek and can walk without much difficulty to the high altitude. However, our total walk hours will be about 5½ hours rises will be about 875 meters.

Day 15:  Thorung High Camp Via Thorongla pass (5416m) – Muktinath (3800m) 6-7 hours

Today is the big day, because we are going to cross the highest pass of our Journey, the Thorang La Pass (5416m). We wake up early; because we have start our journey before the sun rises so that everyone will have sufficient time to reach the pass before the afternoon. From the noon  the wind usually begins to blow so hard  that it is hard to rest long in the Pass.  Slowly but surely, we go beyond the world and whenever we think we have jumped over the last hurdle, it follows another one and another one. Sometimes there is snow on the route, sometimes not. On top is the Lhato the pass, a symbol of the gods who control the pass. It is common for the locals to call (Ke Ke, So, So, Larke Lo) as a prayer and add a stone to the pile already located there. Prayer flags are placed over the card. After the pass, the route slowly descends and we have to walk slowly and carefully through the steep path. The view to the northwest is of the fantastic barren landscape of Mustang. In the southwest, we see the huge Dhaulagiri summit.

We gradually head to Muktinath. Muktinath is a miraculous place. It is a place of pilgrimage with both Hindus and Buddhist temple and stupa. There everlasting burning flames are on top of a mountain stream. Around it is a temple and Hindus see it as the materialization of Shiva. From far and wide come here to pilgrims to go all the way into the divine. A bath under the 108 cold jets of water is a must for the pilgrims

Day 16:  Muktinath – Pokhara

Today, we start our day with vehicle from mustang, the museum of nature . We follow the bank of Kaligandaki river with off road. We pass via Jomsom and Marpha with the sight-seeing experience of beautiful himalays and hills. On  the way, there are several gompas  and beautiful waterfalls. We reach the natural city Pokhara via Beni , the famous bazaar(city ) for trade in western part of Nepal.

Day 17: Pokhara – Kathmandu(1337m)

Today, we travel to Kathmandu by bus that takes about 7 hours in generally reach Kathmandu in the afternoon, so we still will have some time to look around, go shopping and to prepare ourselves for the flight back to home country.

Day 18: Departure from Kathmandu(1337m)

Today, we check the list of  all necessary documents and goods of our guest. We  confirm the flight tickets before 72 hours of departure flight. We advise our guest to put passport and tickets at their handbag for convenience. Himalayan Vacation Treks and Expedition staff representative will take our valuable guests to the airport (3 hours prior to your flight) and bid goodbye. It will be not only goodbye, but also the welcome for next visit to Nepal.