Mountains

Real treks or high viewpoints: the split that matters

Thirteen tours carry this tag, and they fall into two groups. Five put you on a trail for consecutive days with your bags going up the hill with you. The other eight drive you to a pass or a sunrise point, give you a walk of one to three hours, and put you back in a hotel that night. Both are good trips. Price does not sort them: the cheapest trip on the tag includes a hill-country hike, and one of the most expensive never spends a night outside a hotel.

One thing we do not sell: Everest Base Camp. No itinerary on this page goes there.

The four Nepal treks

All four walk the Annapurna foothills out of Pokhara. None needs technical skill; all need several days of sustained uphill.

Trekking tour through Nepal — 11 days, from EUR 1,575 — is the shortest route to a genuine trek. Five walking stages: Nayapul at 1,070 m up to Ulleri (2,050 m), on to Ghorepani (2,850 m), a pre-dawn start for sunrise on Poon Hill at 3,210 m, then down through Tadapani to Ghandruk and back. Around the walk sit Bhaktapur, Nagarkot, Lumbini and a jeep safari in Chitwan.

Culture and Himalayan hiking — 14 days, from EUR 1,760 — walks the same five stages but front-loads three days in the Kathmandu valley and two in Chitwan. Choose it if you want Nepal's cities properly, not squeezed.

Impressions of Nepal — 17 days, from EUR 1,640 — starts the walk from the other side, at Kande (1,700 m), climbs to the Australian Camp viewpoint at 2,200 m and works round through Tolka, Ghandruk and Tadapani to the same Poon Hill sunrise. Six stages, the longest about six hours.

Majestic Himalayas — from EUR 1,640 — is the hard one. Eleven walking days in a row, up the Modi Khola through Chomrong, Dovan and Deurali to Machapuchare Base Camp at 3,700 m, where you sleep, and on to Annapurna Base Camp at 4,130 m. Stages run five to seven hours. Lodging inside the conservation area is limited and simple by rule, not by choice — this is the one trip on the tag where the room tier stops meaning much.

Nepal without the trek

Two Nepal tours give you the mountains from viewpoints and short walks. The world of Nepal — 9 days, from EUR 930 — is the cheapest way to see the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri peaks: a 5am start for sunrise at Sarangkot (1,592 m), Nagarkot at 2,175 m, Dhulikhel, plus Kathmandu and Chitwan. No walking stages at all.

Temples, shrines & Himalayas — 14 days, from EUR 1,350 — adds an easy hike through the hills at Bandipur, the Sarangkot sunrise, and an hour uphill to the Shanti Stupa above Pokhara. Day walks, hotel every night.

Bhutan: passes, monasteries, one night on the mountain

The Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon — 8 days, from EUR 2,500 — is the only Bhutan trip with a night out: four hours up from Sang Choekor (2,800 m) to a camp below Bumdra Monastery at around 3,800 m, then along the ridge and down to the Tiger's Nest the next day.

The magic of the gigantic Himalayas — 8 days, from EUR 2,010 — is day walks from hotels, but they are real ones: the Chelela Pass at 3,988 m with a three-hour descent to the Keeli Nunnery, the Ha Valley, and the full three-to-four-hour climb to the Tiger's Nest at 3,000 m.

The land of happiness — 6 days, from EUR 2,160 — is the gentlest on the whole tag. The Dochula Pass at 3,080 m, a 1.5-hour walk to the Khamsum Yulley Namgyel Chorten, and at the Tiger's Nest a one-hour walk to the viewpoint, with the climb to the monastery itself optional.

Bhutan is the expensive country here: six days costs more than nine days in Nepal. That is Bhutan's own tourism policy, not a better hotel.

Sri Lanka's hill country: walking, not trekking

Nobody sleeps on a mountain in Sri Lanka on our tours, and the highest thing you climb is a staircase. It is the cheapest way onto this tag.

The wonderful world of Sri Lanka — 13 days, from EUR 750 — includes the Ella Rock hike (about two hours, easy to moderate) and the walk across Horton Plains to World's End at 2,000 to 2,300 m, near Nuwara Eliya.

Forests, tea plantations & culture — 14 days, from EUR 1,140 — adds the night climb up Adam's Peak among pilgrims and two days of walking in the Sinharaja rainforest.

Culture & nature — 14 days, from EUR 1,120 — has the same Adam's Peak climb and Horton Plains, a free day in Ella for Little Adam's Peak and the Nine Arches Bridge, then Yala and the coast.

Adam's Peak is the hardest single thing in Sri Lanka on this tag: thousands of steps, in the dark, starting in the small hours. Timing matters — see when to go to Sri Lanka and the month-by-month weather.

Mountains bolted onto an India trip

Colourful Rajasthan & Himalayas — 12 days, from EUR 1,910 — does Rajasthan first (Shekhawati havelis, Jaipur, the Taj Mahal), then flies Delhi to Bagdogra for Kalimpong and Darjeeling: sunrise at Tiger Hill with Kangchenjunga and Everest on the horizon, and a ride on the narrow-gauge railway. There are no walking stages. That domestic flight is in the price; your international flights are not.

What is included, in every case

Every tour here is private and guided — your party only, no strangers, no fixed departure dates. A German-speaking guide is included throughout. Domestic flights written into an itinerary, like Delhi to Bagdogra, are in the price; international flights are not. Rooms come in four tiers: Standard, Deluxe, Superior, Executive. There is no five-star tier, and on the Annapurna trail there are no tiers at all.