Many of the people I walk with in Nepal grew up walking in the Alps, the Dolomites, the Pyrenees or the Tatras. They know how to pack a rucksack, how to read a path and how good soup tastes in a hut after a long day. That is a wonderful start. But the Himalaya is not simply the Alps made bigger, and a few things change completely.
I’m Rujan, a freelance trained trekking guide based in Kathmandu. This is what I would tell a friend from Europe before their first walk here.
The biggest difference: you sleep high
In the Alps you climb high and then go down to sleep. A night at 3,000 m is already a high hut. In Nepal, on the classic treks, you live at altitude for days. On the way to Everest Base Camp you sleep higher than the summit of Mont Blanc (about 4,800 m) for several nights in a row.
Your fitness does not protect you from this. Strong mountain walkers often feel the altitude more, because they are used to walking fast. The body needs time, and only time helps. The usual mountain medicine advice is simple: above 3,000 m, sleep no more than about 500 m higher than the night before, and take a rest day every three or four days. Good itineraries are built around this, not around the map.
You can see the nights at altitude for every walk I guide on How high each trek goes, and I explain the signs to watch for in my guide to altitude sickness.
Tea-houses are not huts (and that is good news)
On most trekking routes you sleep in tea-houses: small family lodges in the villages. Think of a simple guesthouse more than an Alpine hut.
- Rooms: usually twin rooms with two beds and a blanket, not a dormitory. A sleeping bag is still wise, because higher up the rooms are not heated.
- Food: you order from a menu in the dining room, where the stove is. Dal bhat, rice with lentils and vegetables, is the walker’s meal: filling, fresh and refilled for free in most places.
- No booking: in most villages you simply arrive. In October and April, in the busiest villages, I telephone ahead.
- Extras: hot showers, charging and Wi-Fi often cost a little extra, and they cost more the higher you go, because everything arrives on the backs of porters or animals.
What you will miss from the Alps: half board, a drying room, cable cars. What you gain: a family’s kitchen, a village around you, and the evening light on the peaks from the window.
Distances mean little, hours mean everything
People from Europe often ask me “how many kilometres?” On a Himalayan trail the answer does not help much. Ten kilometres can be an easy morning or a hard day, depending on the climb and the altitude. So I speak in hours. A normal trekking day is four to six hours of walking, with long stops for tea and photographs. Pass days are longer.
The paths are old trade routes between villages: stone steps, suspension bridges, sometimes a short exposed section. You will rarely need your hands as on an Alpine ridge, but you will walk up and down a lot more steps than you expect. Your knees will notice before your lungs do.
Weather and seasons
The Alpine walking season is summer. In Nepal, summer is the monsoon. The main seasons are autumn (October and November: clear skies, cold nights) and spring (March to May: warmer, hazier, rhododendrons in flower). December to February are quiet and clear, but cold higher up, and some high passes close.
Every walk I guide has its own months on its page, and When to walk shows them month by month. If you love quiet trails, look at Quiet walks.
You will walk with a guide
In the Alps you are free to go alone. In Nepal, since 1 April 2023, foreign trekkers need a licensed guide on most trekking routes. Some walkers from Europe find that strange at first. In practice, a good guide is not someone who walks in front of you. He knows where to go down if someone is unwell, which lodge is warm, which bridge is closed after the rain, and how to say thank you in the village. I walk at your pace, not mine.
What stays the same
Good boots that you have already walked in. Layers instead of one heavy jacket. Early starts, because the mornings are clearest. Respect for the mountain and for the people who live below it. And the simple joy of walking from one village to the next, carrying only what you need.
If you know the Alps, you already know how to walk. In Nepal, the only new skill is to walk more slowly than you think you need to.
Rules change. If something here is out of date, please tell me and I will correct it.Tell me
