Why travel to Nepal?
Eight of the world’s fourteen highest mountains, a hundred-odd languages, and villages where the guest room is someone’s spare bedroom. Here is why people come — and why so many come back.
Bishnu Gurung
Founder and lead guide
2 min read
Ask ten travellers why they came to Nepal and most will say the mountains. Ask them why they came back and you will hear about a family kitchen in a hill village, a festival they stumbled into, or a guide who became a friend. The mountains get people here. Everything else is why they return.
The Himalaya, up close
Nepal is a narrow country — roughly 200 kilometres from the plains to the Tibetan border — and in that distance the land climbs from near sea level to the summit of Everest. Eight of the fourteen peaks over 8,000 metres stand on or inside its borders.
You do not need to climb any of them. The mid-hills between 1,500 and 3,500 metres are where most people actually live, and they are where the views are widest: terraced fields in the foreground, snow on the skyline, and a village teahouse every couple of hours.
A living culture, not a museum
More than a hundred ethnic groups and at least as many languages share the country. Hindu and Buddhist traditions overlap so closely that the same shrine is often honoured by both. In the Kathmandu Valley, craft guilds still make what the temples are made of, and in the hills, harvest festivals are held for the village rather than for visitors.
The mountains get people here. The people are why they come back.
Tourism that stays in the valley
Community homestays are one of the best things to happen to Nepali trekking. You sleep in a family’s home, eat what they cook, and the money goes to the household and the village fund rather than to a lodge owner in the city. It is the model our routes are built on — read how a homestay works before you go.
Good value, in the right sense
Nepal is not expensive, but the point is less that it is cheap and more that the money goes a long way for the people you spend it with. A night’s homestay fee can pay for a month of a child’s school supplies. Travel slowly, buy locally and tip fairly, and your trip does real good.
Before you book
- Most visitors need a tourist visa — see our visa information.
- Autumn and spring are the classic trekking seasons, but not the only good ones: when to trek.
- Money, SIM cards, water and altitude are covered in useful travel information.
Trips this article mentions
- Annapurna
The Millennium Trek
Seven days through the Annapurna mid-hills, sleeping in Gurung and Magar family homes and walking terraces that have been farmed for a thousand years.
- 7 days / 6 nights
- Moderate
From$1,145 per person
- Langtang
Langtang Valley Community Trek
Nine days in the valley that rebuilt itself after 2015, walking to Kyanjin Gompa with the Tamang families who did the rebuilding.
- 9 days / 8 nights
- Challenging
From$1,490 per person
Keep reading
- About Nepal
2 min read
Nepal visa information
Most nationalities can get a tourist visa on arrival. What it costs, what to bring, how to extend it, and the trekking permits you need on top.
Read the article - About Nepal
1 min read
Useful travel information for Nepal
Money, phones, power, water, altitude and insurance — the practical things our guests ask about most often, in one place.
Read the article - Trekking tips
1 min read
When to trek in Nepal: a season-by-season guide
Autumn gets the crowds and spring gets the rhododendrons — but the quieter months have more going for them than their reputation suggests.
Read the article
Still have a question?
If it is not answered here, ask us. A real person in Pokhara replies, usually the same day.