Langtang Valley

Half-day sightseeing tour of UNESCO Bhaktapur and Kathmandu, including Buddhist and Hindu temples and shrines reflecting ancient local traditions. There is time to explore the city’s many places of interest on your own or take a rest while trekking permits are finalized. In the evening, sample a delicious traditional Nepali dinner. Overnight in Kathmandu

Drive to Dhunche and continue on to Syabrubesi via Trishuli Bazaar by private transport or local tourist coach (standard option). Overnight in Syabrubesi (4WD is necessary because of the rocky, unpaved road).

We leave our hotel and cross the Bhote Koshi river via a suspension bridge to "old" Syabrubesi, a cluster of houses, and a school on the other side of the river. Another suspension bridge carries us over the south side of the Langtang Khola, which we will be following upwards for the next couple of days. We climb slowly to Doman (1,680 m) and continue over a rocky ridge to Landslide Lodge and Hot Spring restaurant, named after a small hot spring on the opposite river bank at 1,810 m. The trail now climbs gently up to Bamboo Lodge, where we will enjoy our lunch. Opposite the river, we will see near vertical cliffs covered with cacti. After Bamboo, we cross the Langtang Khola on a new suspension bridge to the north bank. Because the forest on this side of the river is mostly scrub oaks and nettles, it grows sparser and dryer. We climb steeply on a good trail to Rimche (2,510 m). We have now finished most of today’s climbing and descend slowly to our selected teahouse, where we will spend the night (6 hrs).

The day starts with a gentle climb, but it soon becomes steeper, climbing through a forest of hemlocks, oaks, maples, and rhododendrons. Beautiful views of Langtang Lirung (7,246 m) can be seen from the trail. After little more than an hour, we pass two lodges in the forest at Gumanchok (2,800 m), from where we climb to a Nepal army post and a national park checkpoint at Ghora Tabela (2,970 m). The trail ascends gradually as the valley becomes wider. We will pass a few teashops at Thangshyap (3,140 meters), where we will have our lunch. The route is now in open country and passes many Mani stones, water-driven prayer wheels, and a few scattered Tamang villages before arriving in Langtang. This is a small village consisting of guesthouses and yak farms. The surrounding fields, which contain buckwheat, potatoes, wheat, turnips, and barley, have typical stone fencing walls (5 hrs.).

Walking through the village of Langtang, we will pass many stone Mani walls covered with Tibetan inscriptions to please the gods. It then climbs gradually past the small villages of Mumdu and Sindum. The trail continues through yak pastures. After crossing the Langtang Khola to its south bank, we climb up through a landscape scattered with large boulders to a moraine where we will have the first views of Kyanjin Gompa ahead of us and the dramatic icefall flowing from Langtang Lirung and Langtang Kinshung (6,781 m) north of us. Our route weaves through the large boulders to a gompa and from here it’s a short descent to Kyanjin Gompa. It is easy to reach our destination before lunch, allowing time to acclimatize and explore the surroundings. One of the options is a hike to one of the good viewpoints. To the north of Kyanjin Gompa is the Kyanjin Ri (4,773 m), which is a two-hour climb. From here, we have a great view over the mountain range in the west, including Langshisha Ri (6,370 m), Gang Chhenpo (6,388 m), and Dorje Lakpa (6,966 m). It takes about 3 hours (to the viewpoint; the return is about another 3 hours).

Today we stay in Kyanjin Gompa to explore a bit more of the Langtang valley. Our trail descends a little to the old abandoned VTOL airstrip and then follows the river upstream to some herders’ huts at Jatang (3,840 m). We will continue to climb slowly up the valley until we are surrounded by the mountain amphitheater with Langshisha Ri, Langshisha Kharka, and Dorje Lakpa towering high above us. We will descend to Kyanjin Gompa after our lunch.

Today we follow our route back to Lama Hotel; with a few short exceptions, the trail goes most of the way downward, descending around 1400 meters back to Lama Hotel (5 hrs).

For variation, we will follow the so-called "high" route back to Syabrubesi. This trail splits of the route we took upwards shortly after leaving Lama Hotel. The route goes to the small village of Syarpagaon, and continues onto Bhanjyanggaon and Khangjung before descending back to Syabrubesi. This was the primary route to Langtang before the new trail (which we followed on our way up) was build (6 hrs).

Return to Kathmandu by private 4WD or (on the standard option, a local tourist coach). Overnight stay at hotel

Depart from Kathmandu.