LANGTANG VALLEY TREK

Upon arrival at Kathmandu International Airport transfer to your hotel in Kathmandu or Bhaktapur. Short briefing will follow concerning the necessary formalities and your trekking itinerary. Depending upon your arrival time you may spend free time visiting nearby sanctuaries or resting.

Half day sightseeing around UNESCO Bhaktapur / Kathmandu where your guide will escort you on a tour of 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 finalised. In the evening sample a delicious traditional Nepali dinner. Overnight in Kathmandu.

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

After leaving our hotel we cross the Bhote Kosi river by a suspension bridge towards ‘old’ Syabrubesi, a cluster of houses and a school opposite the river. Another suspension bridge carries us over the south side of the Langtang Khola, this river we will be following upwards for the next couple of days. We climb slowly to Doman (1680m) 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 1810 meter. 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 cactuses. After Bamboo we cross the Langtang Khola on a new suspension bridge to the north bank. The forest becomes sparser and drier on this side of the river, consisting mainly of scrub oaks and nettles. We climb steeply on a good trail to Rimche (2510m). 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 rhododendron. Beautiful views of Langtang Lirung (7246m) can be seen from the trail. After little more then an hour we pass two lodges in the forest at Gumanchok (2800m), from where we climb to a Nepal army post and a national park checkpoint at Ghora Tabela (2970m). The trail asvends gradually, as the valley becomes wider. We will pass a few teashops at Thangshyap at 3140 meter, 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 containing 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 up 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 (6781m) 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 (4773m), which is a two-hour climb. From here we have a great view over the mountain range in the west, including Langshisha Ri (6370m), Gang Chhenpo (6388m) and Dorje Lakpa (6966m) (3 hrs, to the viewpoint and back is about another 3 hrs).

Today we stay in Kyajin 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 (3840m). We will continue to climb slowly up the valley until we are surrounded by the mountain amphitheatre with Langshisha Ri, Langshisha Kharka and Dorje Lakpa towering high above us. We will descent vack to Kyajin Gompa after our lunch.

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

For variation we will follow the so called ‘high’-route back to Syarubesi. 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).

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

Departure from Kathmandu.