Trekking in Nepal

Trekking EBC, ABC, AC, Langtang and Helambu are all “Teahouse Treks”, normally people tend to either do it entirely independently, Hire a Guide or Porter or join a group.

I will try and go through each option giving pro’s and con’s so you can decide which option suits you best 

Teahouse trek

This is the least expensive way to trek and you have the most flexibility as you plan your own stops, if you are tired you simply stay an extra night somewhere or stop trekking earlier than you had originally planned, also if you are feeling fit then you can continue further than planned – as long as this doesn’t infringe on the very important rule for AMS, once reaching 10,000 feet take one full day to acclimatise and then only gain 1,000 in altitude per day

However with Teahouse trekking You have no support if things do go wrong

Hire a Guide Porter/Guide or Porter

If you don’t want to trek Entirely independently a much better solution is rather than joining an Organised Group to hire a Guide or Porter/Guide and maybe one porter between two trekkers (When I say Guide I mean a guide with a Government License – a Porter/Guide doesn’t usually hold one and is in effect a guide in training, his English might be a little limited but he will be keen, knowledgeable and he will carry a certain amount of your belongings and is cheaper than the government licensed guide, a porter is just that, no guiding experience, usually no English and just there to carry your belongings – 1 porter usually carries 2 trekkers belongings)

By hiring your own staff, you are entirely in charge of your schedule, you can either walk quicker, slower, stop and start when you want, eat when you want and pick your own accommodation and can learn some more about Nepal, Culture, Language and facts about the areas you are trekking through as well as providing some much needed employment to a local person.

To work out your prices you must factor in

1) Your transportation costs 

2) Your staff transportation costs (Nepali nationals get a huge discount on flights)

3)Staff fees

a) The professional trekking guide with government license holder cost US$.25.00 per day.

b) The strong Porter cost US$15 per day

c) The Porter/Guide cost US$20.00 per day

Above cost includes insurance, food, accommodation, salary.

4) Your own food and accommodation costs – typically this will work out around $30 per person per day

If you work out how many days you wish to trek for, add in your flights and other costs then this will give you a really Good idea of not only how much your trek will cost you, but exactly where you money is being spent !!

Most agents now offer “Packaged” treks, these tend to cost about $55 per person per day and include either a Porter/Guide or a Government Licensed Guide and porter(s) for larger groups, all your food (3 meals per day with tea or coffee) and accommodation as well as your TIMS and National Park entrance fee, Sometimes road transport by local bus is also included but Not Flights, Fizzy drinks / Beer / Mineral water, Snacks and “Staff” tips

Personally I wouldn’t go for one of these “Packaged” treks as I like to keep my own costs separate from that of “Staff” – This enables me to stay where I want and eat where, when and what I want.

Join a group

The Most expensive option and the one with the least flexibility, you Must keep up with the group or get left behind, Most times the money you spend isn’t spent in the areas that you are trekking through, you tend to stay in tents but are well looked after, the food tends to be better than you get in the teahouses but you are really paying for that privilege !!

If you decide to go down this route then it is better to use a local company because at least by doing that the money stays in Nepal and it works out at a fraction of the price of paying for such a trek in your home country with no major reduction in service as Most of the international companies sub-contract the guiding and porters out to a local company in any case !!