How To Travel Nepal in 14 Days? Everest View & Annapurna Overview in 2 Weeks
- 06-Jun-2017
- 0
Before planning to visit Nepal, have you ever seen Nepal on the world map? It might be difficult for you as it is a geographically small country sandwiched between two Asian giants India and China with just 0.3% of Asia and only 0.03% of the world’s total land area. Nevertheless, this small country is most diversified in topographical and cultural terms and most travelers plan for two weeks of Nepal travel plan that gives more or less overview on places, people, palaces, and snow-capped peaks in Nepal.
Traveling in Nepal is flexible in the context of time. From as little as one day tour to multi-day and weeks of adventure, you can tailor-made any trip to suit your interest, time, and fitness levels. Here however let us suppose you have 14 days and discuss what can be done in Nepal within these 2 weeks to make the most out of it.
What to do during your first day of arrival and second day while visiting Nepal? :
On the very first day, you will most probably arrive at Tribhuwan International Airport in Kathmandu. So, the first thing you need to do is know how to transfer from Kathmandu Airport to Thamel (Heaven for tourists with many hotels, trekking/climbing gear shops, banks, stores, handicraft stores, garment shops, and restaurants, etc).
If your arrival time is at night, then simply check-in at your hotel and stay overnight. Or like in most cases, if your arrival time is during the daytime, then why don’t you take a quick shower at your hotel and try to explore the capital city on your own for a couple of hours strolling around the Thamel area, shopping, and tasting some local dishes.
Likewise, segregate your second day to visit UNESCO world heritage sites around Kathmandu Valley. Start with the nearest Kathmandu Durbar Square that is still in the reconstruction phase after the 2015 earthquake. Visit the home of Living Goddess Kumari there built-in Newari style, art and architectural windows, doors, and courtyards along with other remaining temples supported with wooden poles.
After a while visit Swayambhunath Stupa and Boudhanath Stupa both of which give you a serene and peaceful environment. Visit nearby monasteries, restaurants for lunch and most probably listen to music chanting ‘Om Mani Padme Om’. Monkeys shall surround you at Swayambhunath temple and another world heritage site of Pashupatinath temple. Hindu cremation ritual aside Bagmati river, nearby small forest, peaceful surroundings, and the holy temple itself with evening light prayers can be considered as major highlights at Pashupati area.
So, in the remaining 12 days what can be planned? Why not go for short and easy trekking in Nepal?:
Let’s go to see Everest on Everest view trek. It would be ideal to plan for this shorter Everest trip if we have the only total of 12 days remaining. Or else, here we have other varieties of Everest trekking options.
So your third day starts with a morning domestic mountain flight from Kathmandu to Lukla. As soon as you arrive at the heart of the Himalayas, you can feel the freshness in the air, sparkling peak all of which is completely different surrounding from bustling Kathmandu. After we meet our porter crew there, they will carry our duffel bag and make our way through the world’s most popular trekking trail at Everest. Witnessing the beauty in nature with friendly hospitality from local Sherpas, we stay the third night at Phakding and further next day hike to Namche Bazar.
We shall stay two nights at Namche in which we get wonderful opportunities to hike around major attractions like Sagarmatha National Park Office, Sherpa cultural museum, hike to Syangboche airport, further push ourselves to Hotel Everest view at 3800m and finally return to our local comfortable lodge with free hot shower and attached bathroom at Namche. In this way, in our day 6 and 7, we descend from Namche to Lukla and fly back to Kathmandu.
Now, we have out of 14 days, only 7 days remaining. Let’s go towards the must-visit beautiful city of Pokhara now and continue to Chitwan:
We take 6 hours drive from Kathmandu to Pokhara. We shall arrive there in the afternoon, and visit popular attractions like World Peace Stupa and Tal Barahi Temple in the middle of Phewa Lake today and leave Gupteshowr cave, Davis falls and other major attractions to visit the next day. There are other adventurous activities like paragliding, bungee jumping, and zip flying too that you can experience at Pokhara.
On Day 10, we go for the early morning drive to Sarangkot for beautiful sunrise views and a few hours later take 6 hours drive to Chitwan. Therefore we can say that we will explore Chitwan for 1 and ½ day in which we shall join for jungle walk, cultural programs, elephant bath, canoe ride at Rapti river and other attractions at Chitwan National Park area.
On Day 12 we take a drive back to Kathmandu and only two days remaining.
One extra day is separated as a contingency day in case we have flight delays and cancellations while boarding our flight to/from Lukla during the Everest view trek. However, if there are no flight delays and cancellations, you can extend your day at Kathmandu, Pokhara, or Chitwan upon your request.
The final day is the international departure day.
Conclusively, had you ever thought about this 14 days Nepal travel plan? I have prepared this to assist you in planning Nepal tours, treks, and other adventures. Let me know how I can help you in planning longer or shorter than 14 days of the Nepal holidays. Comment below.