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This blog details hiking times between the settlements on the Kanchenjunga Circuit trek. Click here to read my other blogs about the Kanchenjunga trek. Contents Introduction Hiking Times on the Kanchenjunga Trek Map of the Kanchenjunga Trek Links to My Other Blogs on the Kanchenjunga Trek 1. Introduction These hiking times for the Kanchenjunga trek exclude stops at tea houses for drinks and lunch. The Australians' times were quite fast even though they were in their mid 60's. The Indians consisted of a small group. They were slower but I know the leader was a keen photographer. I have recorded these times mainly to assist trekkers with the planning of their Kanchenjunga trek. I certainly found information on trekking times very useful when planning my trek. It also helps when deciding whether to hike a bit further at the end of the day. Trekking isn't a race although I kept on meeting one French trekker who seemed to think so. He was always asking how long everyone had taken and was proud of his speed. Quite often you can only hike so far in the day on the Kanchenjunga trek due to altitude acclimatisation and the distance to the next tea house. By walking fast you just reach your destination quicker and end up spending more time at a tea house. I am not a particularly fast trekker but I could have walked faster than the times shown for me. I wasn't very fit due to spraining my ankle prior to the trek. I also followed my guide and sometimes he walked slower than I needed. I wasn't in a rush and was happy to enjoy the fantastic scenery on the Kanchenjunga Circuit trek. If you want to do the Kanchenjunga trek quickly it is possible to do it in 8 days from Taplejung! A trekker posted details of this on the Tripadvisor forum . 2. Hiking Times on the Kanchenjunga Trek DAY FROM TO MY TIME AUSSIES' TIME INDIANS' TIME AVG TIME 1 Taplejung Mitlung 3 h 15 m 3 h 15 m 1 Mitlung Sinwa 1 h 45 m 1 h 45 m 1 h 45 m 1 Sinwa Chirwa 2 h 45 m 3 h 15 3 h 2 Chirwa Tapletok 1 h 15 m 1 h 15 m 2 Tapletok Ranipur 2 h 1 h 50 m 1 h 55 m 2 Ranipur Sukethum 1 h 55 m 1 h 2 Sukethum Itahari 30 m 35 m 30 m 3 Itahari Lama Tar 1 h 30 m 2 h 5 m 1 h 45 m 3 Lamar Tar Amjilosa 2 h 20 m 2 h 30 m 2 h 25 3 Amjilosa Thangyam 2 h 2 h 30 m 2 h 15 m 4 Thangyam Gyabla 1 h 50 m 2 h 20 m 2 h 5 m 4 Gyabla Phale 3 h 45 m 2 h 50 m 3 h 45 m 3 h 30 m 5 Phale Ghunsa 1 h 15 m 1 h 1 h 30 m 1 h 15 m 7 Ghunsa Khambachen 6 h 5 h 6 h 5 h 40 m 9 Khambachen Ramtang 3 h 3 h 30 m 3 h 15 m 9 Ramtang Lhonak 1 h 40 m 2 h 1 h 50 m 11 Lhonak Tea Shop 2 h 50 m 2 h 50 m 11 Tea Shop Pangpema 1 h 40 m 1 h 40 m 11 Pangpema Lhonak 3 h 15 m 2 h 40 m 3 h 30 m 3 h 10 m 12 Lhonak Ramtang 1 h 10 m 1 h 8 m 1 h 10 m 12 Ramtang Khambachen 2 h 15 m 2 h 15 m 2 h 15 m 12 Khambachen Ghunsa 3 h 30 m 3 h 30 m 3 h 30 m 3 h 30 m 13 Ghunsa Viewpoint Tea Shop 3 h 3 h 13 Viewpoint Tea Shop Selele High Camp 1 h 45 m 1 h 45 m 14 Selele High Camp Tseram 7 h 5 h 15m 6 h 10 m 15 Tseram Ramche 3 h 30 m 3 h 3 h 15 m 15 Ramche Oktang Viewpoint 1 h 20 m 1 h 30 m 1 h 25 m 15 Oktang Viewpoint Ramche 1 hr 1 h 16 Ramche Tseram 2 h 20 m 2 h 20 m 16 Tseram Tortong 3 h 30 m 3 h 3 h 15 m 17 Tortong Kengsra 4 h 50 m 4 h 50 m 18 Kengsra Hellok 2 h 35 m 2 h 35 m 18 Hellok Ranipur 30 m 30 m 3. Map of the Kanchenjunga Trek 4. Links to My Other Blogs on the Kanchenjunga Trek Kanchenjunga trek trip report Tea Houses on Kanchenjunga Trek Planning your Kanchenjunga Trek Day Hikes on the Kanchenjunga Base Camp Trek

This blog provides information on 9 excellent day hikes that can be done when doing the Kanchenjunga Circuit trek. Click here to read my other blogs about the Kanchenjunga trek. Contents Introduction Ghunsa - Hike towards Nangola Pass Ghunsa Viewpoint Ghunsa - Hike towards Lumbasamba Kharka Khambachen - Hike to Jannu Viewpoint Khambachen - Hike to Nupchu Pokhari (Lake) Lhonak - Hike up the Side of the Lhonak Glacier Lhonak - Hike up "Lhonak Ri" Pangpema - Hike up Drohmo Ri East Tseram - Hike towards Lapsang Bhanjyang Pass Links to My Other Blogs on the Kanchenjunga Trek 1. Introduction to Day Hikes on the Kachenjunga Trek Trekkers usually focus on the main trail and don't take the time to enjoy the side trails. I have been guilty of that. The best scenery in Nepal is at the higher altitudes. It therefore makes sense to enjoy your time up there after all the effort and expense in getting there. I became aware of 2 high altitude day hikes only while I was actually on the Kanchenjunga trek ( see my Trip Report ). They are the day hikes from Khambachen to the Nupchu Pokhari (lake) and the hike up "Lhonak Ri", which is at an altitude of 5,700 metres. I didn't do these day hikes on the Kanchenjunga trek. They are both excellent but tiring. There are 3 possible day hikes at Ghunsa. I recommend that you only do one of them for acclimatisation unless you have plenty of time. The day hikes at Khambachen and Lhonak are a better option as the mountain views are superior. I have not included the hikes to North Base Camp and the Oktang viewpoint. I regard these hikes to be part of the main Kanchenjunga Circuit trek. Most trekkers do them. 2. Ghunsa - Day Hike towards Nangola Pass This day hike on the Kachenjunga trek goes westwards from Ghunsa to Olangchung Gola over the Nango La (4,795 metres). It takes 2 days to hike to Olangchung Gola. Initially you follow the very scenic trail back towards Phale. After passing the Tashi Choding Gumba there is a sign pointing the way to the pass. From there it is all up hill! Initially the trail is through the trees but eventually the scenery opens up and there are views of the mountains. I only hiked up to 4,810 metres. I wasn't fit as I twisted my ankle 2 months prior to the trek, my hip was hurting and I had a cold. In addition the weather was changing and on the way back down there was a brief shower. It is unlikely that you would be able to reach the pass and return to Ghunsa in 1 day. 3. Ghunsa Viewpoint Day Hike The most popular acclimatisation hike on the Kanchenjunga trek is up the hill on the west side of Ghunsa. There are various viewpoints and the prayer flags can be seen from Ghunsa. It looked like a hard slog to the top viewpoint which is at an altitude of 3,990 metres. I have seen photos taken from the viewpoints and the views weren't amazing. 4. Ghunsa - Day Hike towards Lumbasamba Kharka This trail goes to Ramche over the Lapsang Bhanjyang pass (5,161 metres). The pass itself is difficult and can be dangerous. It is possible however to hike to Lumbasamba Kharka (4,210 metres) and back to Ghunsa. This section of the trail passes the Yamatarin Glacier. I believe the trail mainly goes through forest so the views would be restricted. My guide asked the owner of our tea house about the trail. Apparently there is a river that has to be crossed and it can sometimes be difficult. I therefore opted to do the Nangola Pass trail. 5. Khambachen - Day Hike to Jannu Viewpoint Many local trekking agencies have only 1 night at Khambachen in their itinerary for the Kanchenjunga trek. This is dangerous as it is essential to stay 2 nights in order to acclimatise. Even if you have already acclimatised it would be a shame not to spend at least 2 nights at Khambachen so you can hike up to the Jannu viewpoint. It is a reasonably easy 3 hour hike up to a viewpoint near an interesting Hindu shrine. It is 400 metres above Khambachen. There is a stone path most of the way but this is more of a hindrance as many of the stones are loose. The scenery is superb throughout the entire hike. Unfortunately the hike is directly into the sun in the early morning and it is blinding at times. I walked a further 20 minutes up to the top of the lateral moraine of the Jannu glacier and reached an altitude of 4,606 metres. The views were worth the extra effort. I have read that you can continue hiking on to Jannu base camp but it is an exhausting hike. When I stayed a Khambachen 2 Spaniards hiked towards Jannu base camp. They enjoyed it but didn't go all the way. 6. Khambachen - Day Hike to Nupchu Pokhari (Lake) I met 3 trekkers from the Czech Republic who hiked to Nupchu Pokhari (4,952 metres) and they raved about the scenery. The map shows the trail which goes north west of Khambachen. It would take about 5 hours to reach Nupchu Pokhari and 3 hours to return. It is a long day's trek and it would be better to do it after the hike to the Jannu viewpoint so you are better acclimatised. It would be a good trek even if you didn't go the entire way. I recommend spending 3 nights at Khambachen and doing both the day hikes. Khambachen has at least 2 good tea houses and it is a nice place to stay. Spending 3 nights at Khambachen improves acclimatisation and would make it easier to hike up "Lhonak Ri" and Drohmo Ri East. 7. Lhonak - Day Hike up the Side of the Lhonak Glacier I did this hike to improve my acclimatisation for my planned hike up Drohmo Ri East from the North Base camp on the Kanchenjunga trek. The map shows the trail to be on the west side of the Lhonak glacier. I had read on another blog that there was a better trail on the east side of the Lhonak glacier. The owner of our tea house confirmed that the trail on the east side was better. He showed us the way as he was visiting a mountaineering camp further on but the trail is easy to find and follow. There was one slightly tricky section early on that goes across large boulders. After the boulders there is a river with a small bridge consisting of 3 logs. The logs are often icy and dangerous. My guide found a way across without using the bridge. If you can't cross the river I believe that you could hike eastwards along the Chhyatungdinga glacier instead. Our lodge owner said it could be done but I didn't see a trail. I walked for 3 hours up to an altitude of 5,124 metres. From the top of the lateral moraine I could see the confluence of the Lhonak, Chabuk and Chijima glaciers. There is little point in going further. The entire walk took 5 hours and 45 minutes and that included a stop to eat my packed lunch. I wasn't that impressed with the scenery on this hike even though I really like seeing glaciers. Unless you have plenty of time I recommend doing other day hikes whilst doing the Kanchenjunga trek. We walked up to the ridge of the moraine and reached an altitude of 5,124 metres. I could see the confluence of the Chabuk and Chijima glaciers. I could also see the tents of the mountaineering expedition that were at this confluence.  There was little point in going further so we turned back. There was a cold wind on the way back. The entire hike took us almost 6 hours. 8. Lhonak - Day Hike up "Lhonak Ri" Three trekkers from the Czech Republic told me about this hike and raved about the views from the summit. They said the summit was at 5,700 metres and named it Lhonak Ri, although that isn't the official name. I later met 2 Spanish trekkers who had done this hike on the recommendation of the Czech trekkers. They also raved about the views. The main difficulty of the hike is the altitude. A bit of scrambling is involved at the very top. The peak is off the trail that goes to the North Base Camp on the Kanchenjunga trek. I am sure the owners of the tea houses at Lhonak could provide directions. 9. Pangpema - Day Hike up Drohmo Ri East I had planned to hike up Drohmo Ri East which is at an altitude of 5,965 metres. Unfortunately the Pangpema tea was closed because of the Tihar festival so I couldn't do it. That was a big disappointment. As I have stated in my blog on the Tea Houses on the Kanchenjunga Trek you cannot rely on this tea house being open. Also it is very small so it could be very crowded or full. I had brought a tent in case. Most trekkers who hike up Drohmo Ri East stay at the Pangpema tea house the night before. They start hiking up early the next morning and return to Lhonak the same day. It is a very tiring day. If there isn't snow on the ground the trek isn't too difficult apart from the altitude. Therefore it is better to spend 3 nights in Khambachen and 2 nights in Lhonak beforehand to acclimatise. It would make the hike both easier and more enjoyable. The terrain isn't difficult except for the last 200 metres when there are boulders and rocks on the ground. If they were covered by snow or ice it would be difficult. Depending on your acclimatisation and fitness it would take about 3 hours to ascend and 2 hours to descend. There is a viewpoint before the boulders and some trekkers turn around there. The trail starts behind the Pangpema tea house. Wikiloc shows the route up Drohmo Ri East and there are also some photos. 10. Tseram - Day Hike towards Lapsang Bhanjyang Pass Between Ramche and Tseram there is a sign pointing westwards that says Napsangla Pass. This is the alternative trail to Ghunsa and it crosses a difficult and dangerous pass. On my map the pass is named Lapsang Bhanjyang rather than Napsangla Pass. It should be safe to do a day hike towards the pass. The trail is closer to Ramche but it could also be hiked from Tseram. There are no trees on this eastern side of the pass so the views would be much better than from the trail on the forested western side. 11. Links to My Other Blogs on the Kanchenjunga Trek Kanchenjunga Trek - Trip Report Tea Houses on the Kanchenjunga Trek Hiking Times on the Kanchenjunga Trek Planning your Kanchenjunga Trek

I did the Langtang trek in late November 2023 with a porter/guide and this is my daily trip report. Click here to read my other blogs about the Langtang trek. Contents Introduction 21 November 2023 - Kathmandu to Sherpagaon 22 November 2023 - Sherpagaon to Gumba Danda 23 November 2023 - Gumba Danda to Kyanjin Gompa 24 November 2023 - Hike up Kyanjin Gompa 25 November 2023 - Yala Peak Base Camp & Tserko Ri 26 November 2023 - Langtang Lirung Base Camp & down to Mundu 27 November 2023 - Mundu to Pairo 28 November 2023 - Start of the Gosainkunda & Helambu Treks Links to my other Blogs on the Langtang, Gosainkundu & Helambu Trek s Introduction I flew from the UK to Kathmandu on 25 October 2023 and did the excellent Kanchenjunga trek  from 29 October to 18 November with a porter/guide from Enjoy Nepal Treks . I then had 3 nights in Kathmandu to wash clothes and relax before starting the Langtang, Gosainkunda and Helambu treks  on 21 November. I continued trekking with the same porter/guide but he hurt his leg on the second day and Enjoy Nepal Treks sent a replacement porter/guide. I had excellent weather on the Kanchenjunga trek and this continued for the Langtang trek. In Gosainkunda there were a couple of days when the weather wasn't as good and we had half an inch of snow one afternoon. After that the weather was perfect again. Even though it wasn't peak season I found the trail on the Langtang trek too busy for my liking. The first section of the trek was too forested thus obscuring the views but after that it was scenic. What I really enjoyed were the excellent day hikes around Kyanjin Gompa . There are at least 4 excellent day hikes so it is worth staying 4 or 5 nights at Kyanjin Gompa. In my opinion the Langtang trek is only worthwhile if you do several of these day hikes. I spent 7 days doing the Langtang trek and then another 7 days on the Gosainkunda and Helambu treks. The Langtang trek is so short that it makes sense to continue trekking to Gosainkunda and Helambu while you are in the region. 21 November 2023 - Kathmandu to Sherpagaon I paid $180 for a private jeep to take Jiwan (my porter/guide) and myself from Kathmandu to Syabrubesi. We left at 05.00 to avoid the traffic congestion in the Kathmandu valley and arrived at Syabrubesi at 10.30. It isn't an attractive town and I am glad I didn't stay there. I took the upper trail of the Langtang trek to Sherpagaon. This meant I could avoid the busier and dilapidated tea houses on the first section of the lower main trail. The trail to Sherpagaon is steep and ascends 1,050 metres. The views weren’t as good as I had expected as the initial section was through forest. The scenery improved as we got closer to Sherpagaon. It took 5.5 hours to reach Sherpagaon and it was a tiring walk. There are a number of tea houses and I chose the Namaste Guest House where a very friendly Canadian couple were staying. It was a new guest house and I had a large room with a thick mattress and an attached bathroom for R500 ($4). 22 November 2023 - Sherpagaon to Gumba Danda Jiwan pulled a muscle in his leg when stepping up to get into his room after breakfast. Initially he could hardly move but he recovered enough to walk, although he was in pain. I normally followed him at a distance, but after a while I went ahead and waited for him when I reached a village.  It was a longer hike today but much easier than yesterday's 1,050 metre ascent. Initially we descended down to Rimche and then followed the river through the rain forest. We stopped for a quick lunch of dal bhat at the settlement of River Side.  Soon after leaving River Side we came across a troop of Langur monkeys in the forest. After a while the scenery opened up and there were good views of Langtang mountain. There were a lot of trekkers coming down the trail and most of them were Nepali. I hoped that it wouldn't be too busy when we reached Kyanjin Gompa tomorrow since not so many trekkers were going up. The Canadians at Sherpagaon had recommended the Langtang View Guest House in Gumba Danda, which is just before Langtang village. It took us 7.5 hours to get there including our lunch break. I had a good room, with a clean bathroom for once, for R1,000 ($7.50). It was very peaceful until 4 very noisy Nepali trekkers arrived. I moved out of the comfortable and very warm dining room to the less comfortable kitchen. Luckily they slept in a different building to me so it didn’t affect my sleep. 23 November 2023 - Gumba Danda to Kyanjin Gompa It was quiet during the night and I slept well. The tea house is at an altitude of 3,400 metres and the temperature dropped to 4 centigrade. Jiwan's leg seemed to have recovered but Enjoy Nepal Treks informed me last night that they would send another guide to replace him. The new guide would reach us in 2 days’ time. I felt very sorry for Jiwan. We set off at 07.45 and shortly after reached a landslide, triggered by the massive 2015 earthquake, that had wiped out Langtang Village. There is a memorial to all those killed but someone has painted over all the names and they are no longer legible. Trees on the other side of the valley were flattened by the blast of air from the landslide. A new trekking village has been built a few hundred metres away. Hopefully it is out of the path of any future landslides! The landscape was now open and the mountain scenery was impressive. Unfortunately there were more trekkers than I have ever encountered on previous treks in Nepal. The Langtang trek must be exceedingly busy in the high season. It took us 3.25 hours to reach Kyanjin Gompa (3,830 metres). Kyanjin Gompa was unlike any other trekking village I have seen as there are numerous modern 4 to 5 storey hotels. I looked at 3 hotels and decided to stay at the Buddha Inn. I had a room with an attached bathroom for R500 ($4). The official rate was R1,500 ($12) but it was off-season. There were only 4 other trekkers staying there but a Swiss group was due to arrive the next day. I was told that they were only staying 1 night so it wasn't a problem.. After lunch we hiked for an hour up to a 4,160 metre viewpoint that overlooks the Langtang Lirung glacier. When I returned I went to the well known Dorje’s bakery and had apple pie and a coffee. The coffee was good but the apple pie was disappointing. 24 November 2023 - Hike up Kyanjin Gompa Jiwan and I started hiking at 07.45 and reached the lower summit of Kyanjin Ri (4,324 metres) an hour later. There were great views of Langtang Lirung (7,227 metres), Langtang 11 (6,596 metres) and many other mountains. ‌We continued hiking up and reached the upper summit of Kyanjin Ri (4,596 metres} 45 minutes later. As we hiked up the descent back down looked tricky. However, it turned out that there was an easier circular route back to Kyanjin Gompa. ‌The entire hike took 4 hours and I got back in time for a lunch of dal bhat. It was a relaxing afternoon and I had a hot shower in my bathroom. On the Kanchenjunga trek I didn't shower for 17 days and I didn't want a repeat of that! I went to Dorje’s bakery again and had another cake. It wasn’t any better than yesterday’s disappointing apple pie. The owner also annoyed me by playing an Indian movie with the volume on. I didn’t go back there again. A group of 7 Swiss female trekkers arrived in the afternoon. I found out they were staying 3 nights rather than the 1 night the lodge owner had told me. They were very noisy in the dining room but I decided not to go to the hassle of changing tea houses. My new guide (Niru) arrived in the late afternoon and I got on very well with him. I had met him very briefly on the Kanchenjunga trek that I had done just before this Langtang trek. He spoke English better than Jiwan and we had a good conversation about the Kanchenjunga trek. He was only 31 years old and is getting into mountaineering. 25 November 2023 - Yala Peak Base Camp & Tserko Ri The group of 7 Swiss women were getting up early to hike up Tserko Ri (4,984 metres) and were setting off at 06.00. I knew they would disturb me so I had an early night and then had breakfast at 06.30. I had planned to do an 8 hour hike to Numthang and Langshisha Kharka. It is a long hike along the Langtang Khola with only a little gain in altitude. The following day I intended to do the more difficult hike up Tserko Ri. Niru and I set out at 07.30 and after crossing a river, ascended the first section of the path up Tserko Ri. I could see a number of trekkers in front of us who were struggling up Tserko Ri due to the altitude. I had thought that the path to Numthang would be fairly level so I queried this steep ascent with Niru. He said that we would soon branch off from the path to Tserko Ri and the terrain would level off.  Thirty minutes after leaving the hotel we turned off the path to Tserko Ri. However, the path continued to slowly ascend along the mountainside which was very puzzling. I had little choice but to continue and see where the path would lead. The terrain was very open and there were excellent views along the valley and down to the Langtang Khola. We were following the Langtang Khola eastwards as planned but it certainly wasn’t a level path! We stopped at 10.30 by some derelict buildings and my Garmin Inreach showed that the elevation was about 4,700 metres. An ascent of 900 metres was not a flat path even by Nepali standards! We ate our packed lunches there as it was sheltered and there were excellent views. It was now a very scenic trail and eventually we reached the top of a ridge and I could see 2 tents. We assumed it was Numthang which was our destination for the day.  We reached the tents at 11.30 and there were 2 Thai climbers and 3 Nepali camping there. They informed us that we had reached Yala Peak Base Camp and that Numthang was 900 metres below by the river! The derelict buildings where we had eaten our lunch was Yala Kharka. The good news was that we could see the summit of Tserko Ri and the climbers’ guide told us it would only take 40 minutes to get there. As the weather was still clear I opted to go to Tserko Ri as I didn't fancy another 1,100 metre ascent tomorrow. Niru was very apologetic but I was actually very happy with the improvised route. The scenery was fantastic and there were no other trekkers. It was a far better hike than the one I had planned. We decided not to go to Tserko Ri immediately as there was some fantastic scenery to the north. We ascended a ridge above the base camp and reached a grassy plain with absolutely stunning scenery. We walked slowly for another 30 minutes and got to an altitude of 4,914 metres. From there we walked across the grassy plain to Tserko Ri which is 4,984 metres high. There wasn't a path but the terrain was easy. We reached the summit at 12.40 and there were 20 to 30 other trekkers there. The weather was still perfect and none of the mountains were obscured by clouds. It wasn't cold and windy like it had been on Kyanjin Ri so we sat and enjoyed the views for about an hour. The other trekkers soon started to descend and we were the last people on the summit. All the trekkers were descending on a southerly route rather than returning on the steeper western route that they had ascended. We also took this southerly descent and after a while it joined the path that we had walked along in the morning. It took 2 hours and 20 minutes to descend back to Kyanjin Gompa on this route. I regretted not taking the shorter and steeper western route.  Just before we reached Kyanjin Gompa there was a junction with another path. We saw a sign that said it led to Langshisha Kharka which had been our original destination for the day! We hadn’t seen the sign as it wasn’t visible from the path we had been on. We had walked for 9 hours and about 16 miles. I was tired and cold by the time I reached the hotel. I took a couple of paracetamol and ordered a pot of ginger and lemon tea. Fortunately the Swiss women were much quieter that evening and it was very pleasant having dinner and relaxing in the dining room. 26 November 2023 - Langtang Lirung Base Camp & down to Mundu This was my final day at Kyanjin Gompa. I had a choice of hiking to Langtang Lirung Base Camp or to yesterday’s intended destination of Langshisha Kharka/Numthang. I decided to hike to Langtang Lirung Base Camp as I had already seen much of the scenery along the route to Langshisha Kharka during the previous day’s hike. After 1 hour and 20 minutes we reached a Buddhist shrine near the lateral moraine of the Langtang Lirung glacier. We went up to the top of the moraine and had excellent views southwards along the glacier to a lake named Chu Haa Tso.  Looking northwards up the glacier there were very good mountain views. We had to be careful at the top because of the vertical drop down to the glacier. We could hear rocks tumbling down while we were there. It took another 1 hour and 40 minutes to reach Lantang Lirung base camp, although that included numerous stops for photos and an early lunch. There wasn’t a sign indicating Langtang Lirung base camp’s location but it was the last flat grassy area by the moraine. There was a basic table made from stones there. The scenery was superb as the mountains surrounded, and towered above, the base camp. We climbed up the lateral moraine to get a good view of the Langtang Lirung glacier. The altitude was 4,407 metres and this was the highest point of the hike. This was almost 600 metres higher than Kyanjin Gompa. It took 1.5 hours to hike back to Kyanjin Gompa. There were no other trekkers on the trail. As it was only 13.30 I decided to check out of the guest house and start the return section of the Langtang trek. I had intended to hike to the guest house at Gumba Danda where the noisy Nepali trekkers had spoiled my stay on the way up. However, the owner of the Buddha Inn warned me that Gumba Danda was popular with Nepali trekkers and that it was likely to happen again. As a result we walked to the village of Mundu instead where there were 2 very good guest houses. We stayed in the first one which was the Golden Holiday’s Guest House. I had a very clean corner room with an attached bathroom.  The only other guest was a 50 year old South Korean who was carrying his own pack. He was suffering from altitude sickness and several times he said he was scared. It was only his second night on the Langtang trek and Mundu is at an altitude of 3,530 metres. He should have stayed a bit lower down for his second night. He told me that he wanted to hike to Kyanjin Gompa (3,830 metres) the next day and then hike up Tserko Ri (4,984 metres) the day after that! I advised him about altitude sickness and warned him not to go higher unless he felt better. He said he would make a decision the next morning. 27 November 2023 - Mundu to Pairo It was a warm night and the temperature in my room only dropped to 10 C. I had to unzip my sleeping bag to cope with the heat! The South Korean still had a headache but said he would start hiking to Kyanjin Gompa later in the morning. He still intended to hike up Tserko Ri the next day as that was the main objective of his trek. I didn’t see him again but he would have struggled to hike up Tserko Ri. Niru and I left Mundu at 07.45. After the first 3 hours we were hiking through forest and there were minimal mountain views. At 12.30 we stopped for lunch at the settlement of Lama Hotel. After that we continued to Pairo (1,800 metres) which is the last settlement before the turn off for the trail to Gosainkunda.  The difference in altitude between Mundu and Pairo is 1,750 metres but we actually descended more than that as the trail was undulating. It took 7.75 hours to reach Pairo, including lunch. All the tea houses on this lower section of Langtang are very basic. There were 2 tea houses in Pairo and I chose the slightly less bad one! Initially I was the only guest at the tea house. However, while I was eating my meal I could see several lights coming up the trail.  Six Nepali trekkers had hiked in the dark and chose my tea house. My guide said they worked in the tourism industry and fortunately they were quiet. 28 November 2023 - Start of the Gosainkunda & Helambu Treks I had a good night's sleep and  we left Pairo at 07.45. Shortly afterwards there was a fork in the trail and we took the path southwards to Thulo Syabru and Gosainkunda. See my blog on the Gosainkunda and Helambu trek . Niru told me that it would have taken about 2 hours to hike from Pairo to Syabrubesi. Links to my other Blogs on the Langtang, Gosainkunda & Helambu Treks Planning the Langtang Trek Day Hikes on the Langtang Trek Planning the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek Gosainkunda & Helambu Trip Report

Contents Introduction 28 November 2023 - Pairo to Chyolangpati 29 November 2023 - Chyolangpati to Gosainkund 30 November 2023 - Surya Peak 1 December 2023 - Gosainkund to Ghopte 2 December 2023 - Ghopte to Kutumsang 3 December 2023 - Kutumsang to Chisapani 4 December - Chisapani to Kathmandu Links to Other Blogs on the Langtang, Gosainkunda & Helambu Treks Introduction I spent a week doing the Langtang trek ( click here to see my blogs ). I then continued on to the Gosainkunda and Helambu treks which took that another week. I like longer treks and it made sense to do all 3 of these short treks while I was in the area. I had considered adding on the 5 day Tamang Heritage trail as this links up with the Langtang trek. However, it didn’t appeal to me as it is a low altitude trek and I prefer the alpine scenery at high altitude. I met 2 Canadians who had done this trek and there were huge spiders in a couple of their tea houses. I was glad I didn’t do that trek! I was trekking with Niru who was a 31 year old porter/guide arranged through Enjoy Nepal Treks . He was a good guide and it was enjoyable trekking with him. For information on planning the Gosainkunda and Helambu trek see my blog Planning the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek . 28 November 2023 - Pairo to Chyolangpati Niru and I set off from Pairo on the Langtang trek at 07.45 and soon reached the junction of the trails for the Langtang and Gosainkunda treks. We turned southwards onto the trail for the Gosainkunda trek and the trail immediately ascended steeply.  After 1.25 hours we reached a suspension bridge and met the first and only other trekker on this quiet trail to Thulo Syabru. It was so different to the busy Langtang trek. This other trekker was a 70 year old Swiss woman who didn’t speak any English and her 50 year old guide. After the end of the trek I sadly learned that the guide was found dead in his room at a tea house at Gosainkunda Lake. After the suspension bridge there was a trail that ascended. Unfortunately that isn’t the trail to Gosainkunda which descends before climbing up to the village of Thulo Syabru. We later met some Nepali trekkers who had taken the upper trail at the suspension bridge and they wasted several hours hiking the wrong way. From Pairo it took us 2 hours to reach the very pleasant village of Thulo Syabru (2,210 metres). Most of the village is modern and there are several good hotels. This was the nicest village since the start of the Langtang trek. It was only 09.45 when we arrived at Thulo Syabru and so unfortunately it was too early to spend the night there. We therefore ordered an early lunch of dal bhat at the Hotel Mona Lisa. We spent 1.75 hours having lunch and relaxing before continuing the relentless ascent. Most itineraries for the Langtang and Gosainkunda treks take the trail from Thulo Syabru to Shin Gompa (Chandanbari) and then onto Gosainkunda the following day. I don’t understand why as there is a more direct route via Mukharka.  We took the more direct trail via Mukharka and reached our destination of Chyolangpati (3,620 metres) at 16.30 after 7 hours of walking. I descended 1,750 metres yesterday and ascended 1,800 metres today! There is a new tea house at Chyolangpati which is a vast improvement on the other old lodge. Initially there were only 2 other guests but at 19.00 six Nepali arrived in the dark. I had only seen 3 other trekkers on the hike the entire day. It was therefore a surprise to see many Nepali pilgrims passing Chyolangpati on the way back down to Shin Gompa. I learned that most pilgrims don’t stay at Gosainkunda lake due to the high altitude and visit Gosainkunda lake as a day trip from Shin Gompa. There were a lot of high clouds during today’s hike and it spoiled the mountain views. However, the weather cleared in the evening and there was a fantastic sunset over the mountains.  29 November 2023 - Chyolangpati to Gosainkunda Lake It was a quiet night and the temperature fell to 2 centigrade in the room. I feel the cold the most in the mornings and there was no fire in the dining room for breakfast as usual. The path from Chyolangpati (3,620 metres) to Gosainkunda Lake (4,420 metres) was fairly busy with pilgrims going up to the Gosainkunda holy lakes for the day. The path had been concreted in places and safety railings had been installed where there were drop offs. It was sunny but unfortunately high clouds blocked the views of the mountains again. It took 52 minutes to reach Laurebina which has 2 tea houses. There were good views despite the high clouds. We reached a view point near Ganesh Mandir (4,365 metres) after another hour. It then only took another hour on an undulating trail to reach Gosainkunda lake. There are four old and basic tea houses at Gosainkunda lake. Unfortunately they are very similar to the old and dilapidated tea houses on the first section of the Langtang trek! The Tibet Hotel seemed to be the best out of a bad bunch and I reluctantly took a room there. There were no other guests when I checked in. Shortly afterwards 3 Nepali and 2 Chinese flew into Gosainkunda by helicopter and checked into the tea house. They were a strange group and I contemplated moving to another tea house. Later on I wished I had! In the afternoon I slowly walked around the main Gosainkunda lake and enjoyed the views. It was sunny but there was a cold wind. Whenever there was some shelter from the wind  it was warm enough to comfortably sit out. The group of 3 Nepali and 2 Chinese guests were weird. The Chinese man believed in aliens and drew strange images on paper. They were at Gosainkunda for religious reasons and at one point they started chanting and swaying. Two of the Nepali were a mother and daughter. They were unconcerned about altitude sickness even though they were unacclimatised and had flown to Gosainkunda Lake, which is at an altitude of 4,420 metres. They were obviously wealthy as the return helicopter flight cost $4,000! 30 November 2023 - Surya Peak The Chinese in the room next to me were noisy last night. When they started talking at 01.30 I shouted at them to be quiet and they were. Niru wasn't so lucky and couldn’t sleep well because the young Nepalese woman in the room next to him had altitude sickness and her mother was administering oxygen.  The group had intended to spend 2 nights at Gosainkunda Lake but they left by helicopter at 07.00 the next day because of the altitude and primitive conditions.  I had a spare day as we had hiked faster than I had intended after leaving Kyanjin Gompa on the Langtang trek. One option was to return to Kathmandu a day early and the other option was to hike up Surya Peak (5,150 metres). Not many people  hike up Surya Peak as it is difficult to locate and the terrain is very rocky.  Niru was keen to go up Surya Peak as he hadn't been up before. He found out details of the route from the owner of the tea house. The owner estimated that it would take us 4 hours to ascend and 3 hours to descend. We set off for Surya Peak at 07.00 with a packed lunch of Tibetan bread and boiled eggs. My Garmin Inreach said that it would be sunny all day but it was cloudy and cold. Niru found the turn off to Surya Peak and I was surprised to see cairns marking the way. The terrain was extremely rough. We walked across stones and boulders the entire way and had to ensure they were stable before treading on them. There was some scrambling and in a couple of places a slip could have been fatal. I find it easier to ascend than descend on tricky sections and I was concerned about the safety of the descent. It took 3 hours to reach the summit and I was very happy to have made it. The trail had been well cairned the entire way. There were a lot of prayer flags at the summit but I was surprised that my Garmin Inreach showed the altitude to be only 5,049 metres. Surya Peak is meant to be at an altitude of 5,150 metres. I later learnt that we had climbed to the wrong peak. Someone on the internet called it "Gosainkunda Ri". See my blog on Planning the Gosainkunda Trek for further details. It was cloudy and cold but we could see a few peaks. We probably only spent 20 minutes at the top because of the cold wind. I was relieved when Niru said there was a safer, but longer, way back to Gosainkunda lake. We had hiked up the south side of Surya Peak and the safer descent was initially down the north side. After the initial steep and rocky descent from the peak we ate our packed lunches. We didn’t stop for long as it started to snow lightly. Niru was concerned about the deteriorating visibility as he was relying on being able to see the mountains for navigation. The route back to Gosainkunda lake was far less hairy than the route up although it still involved constant boulder hopping and the terrain was very rough. Every so often we would come across an isolated cairn and it provided reassurance that we were on the correct route. We reached Gosainkunda lake at 13.30 and the circular hike took us 6.5 hours. I immediately ordered lunch and found that there were several other Nepali trekkers in the dining room. In the afternoon it started to snow and up to an inch of snow settled on the ground. I relaxed in the warm dining room for the rest of the day. In the evening a young Nepali couple arrived in the dark. They live in the U.S.A. and were very friendly. The tea house was now full, which I never like. Fortunately it wasn’t noisy during the night and I slept well. 1 December 2023 - Gosainkunda Lake to Ghopte We left Gosainkunda lake at 08.00 and ascended 130 metres to the Suryakund/Laurebina pass. There was some snow on the trail but fortunately the weather had improved today and it was sunny. After the pass we descended steeply for over 2 hours until we reached a tea house at Phedi (3,630 metres). There were 2 newsworthy events here in the early 1990's: In July 1992 a Thai Airways jet crashed just below Phedi and 113 people died. A trainee air traffic controller was at fault. There were parts from the plane at the tea house. A young Australian doctor (James Scott) got lost here in December 1991 and survived for 43 days without food. He was eventually found through the great efforts of his sister. Unfortunately he suffered permanent damage to his eyesight from vitamin deficiency. I had read his book about this and was interested to see where it had happened. James Scott got lost in snow as he wrongly thought he had to descend at Phedi. In reality the path ascends steeply before descending. Unfortunately we had to do this ascent after having dal bhat! We reached the settlement of Ghopte (3,430 metres) after about 7 hours of walking from Gosainkunda lake, including a stop for lunch. There are 2 basic, but reasonable, tea houses at Ghopte. We were the only people staying at the Namaste Hotel & Lodge. It was quieter and warmer than at Gosainkunda lake. There were 2 other trekkers from the Czech Republic and Australia staying at the other tea house. The trail from Gosainkunda lake to Helambu is so quiet compared to the busy Langtang trek and the trail from Chyolangpati to Gosainkunda lake. 2 December 2023 - Ghopte to Kutumsang The day started with a 300 metre ascent to Thadepati Pass (3,730 metres) and it took 1 hour 40 minutes. There are good mountain views from a metal lookout tower at Thedepati . There are 3 or 4 tea houses there and we stopped for tea.  After Thedepati we left the trail for the Gosainkunda trek and started a section of the Helambu trek. We were going to hike south on the trail for the Helambu trek until we reached Sundarjal. We could have hiked east on the Helambu trek instead but it would have been more difficult to travel back to Kathmandu from that end of the trail. We hiked for another 1.5 hours to Magengoth (3,390 metres) and had lunch there. Three British trekkers arrived from the other direction. They were very poorly prepared for their Gosainkunda trek and didn’t even have enough cash. They were trying to use a debit card at the tea house and I was surprised that they might be possible. After another 2.25 hours we reached our destination of Kutumsang (2,470 metres). We found a new hotel which had good rooms and my guide negotiated a rate of R800 ($6). It was the best accommodation for some time. I even had a hot shower. The only problem was that the room had a funny smell, even with the windows open. Another trekker told me that it was probably because there wasn’t a U bend in the shower drain pipe to prevent smells coming from the sewer pipe. It seems to be a common problem with cheap hotels in Nepal.  There seemed to be only 3 other trekkers staying in Kutumsang. There was a Czech trekker staying at my hotel and a French trekker and an Australian trekker staying at other hotels.  The French trekker was in a rush to get back to Kathmandu and didn’t have time to finish the Helambu trek. He was taking a local bus from Kutumsang to Kathmandu early the next morning. The bus stops at most of the local villages and takes about 8 hours. 3 December 2023 - Kutumsang to Chisapani The trail had been beautifully quiet ever since we left Gosainkunda lake on 1 December. At the moment there are only 2 other trekkers descending. The pilgrims that go to Gosainkunda lake fortunately go back down the same way rather than continuing on to Helambu. The scenery is not as spectacular as higher up. However, when looking back there are often views of the Ganesh Himal, Langtang and Everest mountain ranges. Manaslu can be seen and it's the world's 5th highest mountain. After leaving Kutumsang we followed rough dirt roads for a while which I am not keen on. Fortunately the traffic on the dirt road was very minimal. Although we were descending towards Kathmandu there was also a lot of ascent! It took 3 hours to reach Chipling. There are 2 or 3 tea houses there and I had vegetable fried noodles for lunch. After Chipling there was a steep 500 metre descent followed by a steep 400 metre ascent to Chisapani. That took 3 hours. I stayed at a good hotel again and took their best room for R1,500 ($12). The other rooms cost R1,000. There were only 2 other trekkers staying there. There is a youngish trekker from the Czech Republic, who I am now friendly with, and a very quiet South Korean woman. Both were trekking by themselves. The hotel is temporarily being run by a 17 year old girl as her parents are in Kathmandu. She could only cook dal bhat for supper. Luckily I hadn’t had dal bhat for lunch. For breakfast she could only cook Tibetan bread and omelette and I liked that. In the evening I had a beer with Niru to thank him for the trek and I gave him his tip. I had enjoyed his company and he had been an excellent guide. The room was quiet and very nice except for the noise from stray dogs. A pack of them fought outside my room at 23.00 and 05.30. 4 December 2023 - Chisapani to Kathmandu Niru and I walked through Chisapani, passing an abandoned building that had been drastically tilted by the 2015 earthquake. After Chisapani the Helambu trek enters the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park. I had to buy an entrance permit for R1,000 ($8) and I paid R100 for Niru’s entrance permit. The trail for the Helambu trek steeply ascends 300 metres from Chisapani and afterwards descends 1,000 metres to the town of Sundarjal. The trail goes through forest and there are very few views. It took less than 4 hours to reach Sundarjal. We stopped for lunch and then took a taxi to Thamel that cost about R1,000 ($8). 5 & 6 December 2023 - Kathmandu My flight back to the U.K. was at 02.30 on 6 December. I had one full day in Kathmandu and occupied my time with a visit to Bhaktapur. I had been there last year but I always enjoy walking around its quiet streets. The Qatar Airways flight went well and I arrived back in the U.K. on the afternoon of 6 December. I had spent 42 days in Nepal and had trekked for 33 days in Kanchenjunga, Langtang, Gosainkunda and Helambu. It was a very enjoyable trip. Links to other Blogs on the Langtang, Gosainkunda & Helambu Treks Langtang Trek Blogs Planning the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek

I did the Gosainkunda and Helambu trek in late November and early December 2023. My blog provides detailed information that will assist you in planning your trek. I did the Langtang trek before continuing on to Gosainkunda and you can see my blogs on that trek by clicking here . Contents When to do the Trek Getting to the Trail heads of the Trek Itinerary for the Gosainkunda and Helambu Trek Permits Hiking Times Information on the Accommodation The Tea Houses Surya Peak Links to My Other Blogs on the Langtang, Gosaikunda & Helambu Treks 1. When to do the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek The main two considerations are the weather and the number of trekkers: 1.1 Weather The best months to do the Gosainkunda and Helambu trek are: March to early June Early October to mid December The monsoon season is from around 10 June to early October. The views would be restricted and there would be leeches during the monsoon. Click here to see the historic data for the start and finish dates for the monsoon (section 6 of the blog). The winter period from mid December to early March would be cold and there is a greater risk of snow. 1.2 Number of Trekkers on the Gosainkunda & Helambu Treks Nepal Tourism publishes annual statistics of the number of foreign trekkers on the main treks. These statistics show that October and early November is the busiest period and April is the second busiest period. These statistics only provide a partial picture as they exclude Nepali trekkers. Gosainkunda Lake is a holy lake and is very popular with Nepali trekkers and pilgrims. Many Nepali would visit it during the religious festivals and holidays. Most Nepalese use the trail from Dhunche to Gosainkunda Lake. They often spend the first night at Shin Gompa (Chandanbari). They set out early the next day to hike to Gosainkunda Lake, returning to Shin Gompa or Dhunche for the night. They don't often spend the night at Gosainkunda Lake due to the altitude and lack of time. If you are coming from the Langtang trek it is best not to hike from Thulo Syabru to Gosainkunda via Shin Gompa as suggested by many itineraries. Hike the shorter route via Mukharka and Chyolangpati instead. Shin Gompa will always be busy with Nepali trekkers and pilgrims, as will the trail from Shin Gompa to Gosainkunda Lake. I believe that the holiday period during the festivals of Dashain and Diwali (Tihar) would be the busiest period for Nepalese trekkers. The dates of these festivals are based on the lunar calendar and take place in October and November. In 2024 Dashain is from October 3rd to 16th and Diwali (Tihar) is from October 21st to November 2nd. The Nepalese often seem to take a holiday after Tihar and there could still be many Nepali trekkers on the trail 7 to 10 days after the end of Tihar. 1.3 Conclusion The Gosainkunda Lake trail would be very busy in April. March would be much quieter, but colder, and there is more risk of snow on the ground. May and early June would be quieter and it would be warmer. However, there is a risk of some pre-monsoon rain. In autumn the best weather is from late October to mid December. However, the trail is very busy from early October to mid November. The best time to do the Gosainkunda and Helambu treks in the autumn is probably from about 10 days after the end of Diwali (Tihar) to mid December. 2. The Trail heads for the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek The trail heads for the Gosainkunda and Helambu treks are: Near Pairo on the Langtang trail for trekkers entering from the Langtang trek. Dhunche for trekkers only doing the Gosainkunda and Helambu trek and going from west to east. I don't recommend this busy route. It takes 5 to 8 hours to travel between Kathmandu and Dhunche depending on the mode of transport. A private jeep would cost about $150 to $160. Sundarijal for trekkers going from east to west. It is only a R1,000 ($8) taxi ride from Kathmandu to Sundarijal 3. Itinerary for the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek 3.1 Itinerary when continuing on from the Langtang Trek If you are coming from the Langtang trek I would suggest the following itinerary: Take 2 days to hike to Gosainkunda Lake and stop for the night at either Thulo Syabru, Mukharka or Chyolongpati. I took 9.25 hours to hike from Pairo on the Langtang trail to Gosainkunda Lake. Spend 1 night at Gosainkunda Lake or 2 nights if you are hiking up Surya Peak. Gosainkunda Lake to Ghopte (5.25 hours) Ghopte to Kutumsang (5.5 hours) Kutumsang to Chisapani (6.25 hours) Chisapani to Kathmandu (3.5 hours hiking & 30 minutes by taxi) If you start trekking from Dhunche you should take longer hiking to Gosainkunda Lake because of the altitude. I don't recommend taking this trail as it is busy and ascends too quickly for good acclimatisation. See my daily trip report for the itinerary that I followed. 3.2 Starting from Dhunche If you do hike from Dhunche you should probably spend 2 nights at Shin Gompa/Chandanbari (3,330 metres) and 1 night at Laurebina (3,910 metres) before staying at Gosainkunda Lake (4,480 metres). 3.3 Starting from Sundarijal Some trekkers start the Gosainkunda and Helambu trek from Sundarijal and trek from east to west. If you aren't acclimatised this would be a safer route than from Dhunche. 3.4 An Alternative Route through Helambu It is possible to hike from Thadepati to Kathmandu on a trail further to the east of the Thadepati to Sundarijal trail. Thadepati is between Ghopte and Mangen Goth and this alternative Helambu trail turns east at Thadepati. It takes 2 days to descend southwards to Sermanthang from where it is a 6 to 7 hour bus ride to Kathmandu. 4. Permits for the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek The only permit required is for the Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park. I bought it at Chisapani and it cost R1,000 ($8). 5. Hiking Times on the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek These hiking times exclude stops at tea houses for drinks and lunch. DAY FROM TO TIME 1 Pairo Thulo Syabru 2 hrs 1 Thulo Syabru Mukharka 2 hrs 1 Mukharka Chyolangpati 2 hrs 45 mins 2 Chyolangpati Laurebina 52 mins 2 Laurebina Gosainkunda 1 hr 50 mins 4 Gosainkunda Suryakunda Pass 1 hr 10 mins 4 Suryakunda Pass Gyaje 1 hr 15 mins 4 Gyaje Phedi 35 mins 4 Phedi Ghopte 2 hrs 15 mins 5 Ghopte Thadepati 1 hr 40 mins 5 Thadepati Mangen Goth 1 hr 30 mins 5 Mangen Goth Kutumsang 2 hrs 20 mins 6 Kutumsang Chipling 3 hrs 10 mins 6 Chipling Chisapani 3 hrs 7 Chisapani Mulkharka 2 hrs 30 mins 7 Mulkharka Sundarijal 1 hr 6. Information on Accommodation for the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek 6.1 Quality of Accommodation on the Gosainkunda & Langtang Trek The hotels at Kutumsang and Chisapani are very good and the hotels at Thulo Syabru are excellent. The 4 tea houses at Gosainkunda lake are very basic and run down. They are very similar to the tea houses on the first section of the Langtang trek. The tea houses at the other main stops on the Gosainkund and Helambu trek are basic and don't usually have attached bathrooms. They are better however than the very poor quality tea houses at Gosainkunda Lake. 6.2 Other Guests at the Tea Houses When trekking I try to stay at tea houses that have few other guests and certainly no groups. On most treks you know that no other trekkers will arrive after dusk. Unfortunately this isn't the case with tea houses on the trail from Dhunche to Gosainkunda Lake. On this section Nepali trekkers often hike in the dark with torches and can arrive as late as 21.00 The tea houses on the other section of the Gosainknda and Helambu trek are mainly frequented by foreign trekkers. These tea houses are much quieter as long as you avoid the busy periods of April, October and the first half of November. 6.3 Cost of Rooms on the Gosainkund & Helambu Trek In the off season most tea houses cost R500 ($4) a night and if you negotiated you might get the room for free. Most of these tea houses don't have rooms with attached bathrooms. The accommodation improves as you get closer to Kathmandu. At Kutumsang and Chisapani I stayed in hotels rather than tea houses. The cost of good rooms with attached bathrooms was R800 ($6) to R1,000 ($8). 6.4 Food at the Tea Houses I always ate the local rice and noodle dishes so I can't comment on the western food served at the tea houses. Western food is available along the entire Gosainkund and Helambu trek. Dal bhat cost between R400 ($3) at Chisapani and R850 ($6.50). Black tea cost between R100 ($0.70) and R150 ($1.20). The cost of food increased with the altitude. 6.5 Internet, Electricity and Showers at the Tea Houses I couldn't obtain internet through Nepal Telecoms until I reached Ghopte when trekking from the west to east. There was no internet at all at Chyolangpati and Gosainkunda Lake. There was internet at Thulo Syabru but not during the daytime. There was solar power for lighting at all the tea houses. I am sure there would be free charging of electrical devices at Thulo Syabru. The owner of the tea house at Gosainkunda Lake charged my phone for free. There was free charging of electrical devices from Ghopte to Chisapani. 7. The Tea Houses on the Gosainkunda & Helambu Trek 7.1 Hotels at Thulo Syabru Thulo Syabru was the nicest village on the Langtang, Gosainkunda and Helambu treks. There were several very good hotels but I didn't spend the night there. I had lunch at the Hotel Monalisa which had been recommended by a guide. The food was good and the hotel seemed very comfortable. The Langtang View Hotel was opposite the Hotel Monalisa and also looked to be a very good hotel. 7.2 Tea Houses at Iba Iba is a 1.25 hour walk from Thulo Syabru. The tea house looked quite reasonable. 7.3 Tea Houses at Mukharka Mukharka (2,997 metres) is a 2.75 hour walk from Thulo Syabru and there are 2 tea houses there. The lady running the Himalayan Guest House was very pleasant and offered me a free room. I decided to hike a further 2 hours and 45 minutes to Chyolangpati (3,620 metres). Mukharka could be a good place to stop as it would be a 5.5 hour walk to Gosainkunda the next day. If you are tired when you reach Mukharka take into consideration that there is a 600 metre ascent from Mukharka to Chyolangpati. 7.4 Tea Houses at Chyolangpati There are 2 tea houses at Chyolangpati. I stayed at the Langtang Lerung View Hotel which is larger and newer than the Hotel Tibet Mountain View. Two rooms at the Langtang Lerung View Hotel had attached bathrooms. I didn't like these rooms as the wall between the 2 bathrooms didn't extend all the way to the ceiling. To make matters worse there was a gap in the wall between the bathroom and bedroom. I had the end corner room without a bathroom and it cost R500 ($4). The rooms with attached bathrooms cost R1,000 ($8). The tea house was fine and much better than the tea houses at Gosainkunda. It was a bit cold as Chyolangpati is at an altitude of 3,620 metres. 7.5 Tea Houses at Laurebina Laurebina is at an altitude of 3,910 metres and there are excellent mountain views. There are 2 tea houses and both of them look better than the tea houses at Gosainkunda. It would be difficult for them to be worse! 7.6 Tea Houses at Gosainkunda There are 4 basic and poorly maintained guest houses at Gosainkunda. They are all about the same standard. I stayed at the Hotel Tibet for 2 nights and it cost R500 ($4) a night. Unfortunately it was the busiest of the 4 tea houses as it is the first one when arriving from the west. A lot of Nepali trekkers and pilgrims visit Gosainkunda lake. Don't despair if it is crowded when you arrive as most of them don't spend the night due to the high altitude and lack of time. They usually commence the trek back to Shin Gompa (Chandanbari) in the afternoon. 7.7 Tea House at Gyaje/Phedi High Camp There is a tea house at Gyaje which is 2.5 hours east of Gosainkunda lake. It looked better than the tea houses at Gosainkunda lake and I had a cup of tea there. 7.8 Tea Houses at Phedi I had lunch at the Hotel Dawa Baby and I think there is another tea house lower down. 7.9 Tea Houses at Ghopte There are 2 basic tea houses at Ghopte. They are fine as long as they aren't busy. I stayed in the Namaste Hotel & Lodge and paid R500 ($4) for a room. I stayed in the new wing which strangely doesn't have a toilet. There was wifi which I negotiated for free. After I left my guide told me that the internet could be accessed on Nepal Telcoms. 7.10 Tea Houses at Thadepati Thadepati (3,730 metres) has 4 tea houses including the Hotel Yak & Yati, which is higher up the hill near the lookout tower. I believe there was only 1 trekker staying at Thadepati the previous night. Thadepati is in a nice location but I am not sure about the quality of the tea houses. 7.11 Tea Houses at Magen Goth The tea house in the photo was in the lower section of Magen Goth and is the first tea house reached when trekking from Thadepati. I had lunch there and it was pleasant sitting out in the sun. After this tea house the trail for the Helambu trek ascends through a forest to upper Magen Goth. There was a fancy tea house on top of the hill. 7.12 Hotels in Kutumsang I stayed at the Mountain View Lodge & Resort. The rooms in the main building cost R1,500 ($12) and the rooms in the outer buildings cost R1,000 ($8). I stayed in one of the outer rooms and Niru negotiated a rate of R800 ($6). All the rooms had bathrooms but I was told to shower in one of the rooms in the main building. The shower was free. There was a bit of a strange smell in my room. I t was probably because there wasn’t a U bend in the shower drain pipe to prevent smells from the sewer pipe. Otherwise it was a very good hotel 7.13 Hotels in Chisapani The first hotel I reached in Chisapani looked very good but it cost R3,500 ($27). We reached the modern Hotel Chisapani soon afterwards. I took their best room which cost R1,500 ($11.50). The other rooms with attached bathrooms cost R1,000 ($8). There were too many stray dogs around the hotel and they disturbed me at night. A South Korean trekker had to change rooms because of a strange smell. Once again there probably wasn’t a U bend in the shower drain pipe to prevent smells from the sewer pipe. It seems to be a common problem with cheap hotels in Nepal.  The main part of Chisapani is 10 minutes further from the Hotel Chisapani. There is a good hotel there but it could be noisy at weekends with people visiting from Kathmandu. 8. Surya Peak I wrote about my ascent of Surya Peak in my My trip report for the Gosainkunda and Helambu treks . This following section provides practical information on the hike as Surya Peak is difficult to locate. 8.1 My Ascent I only made the decision to hike up Surya Peak when I arrived at Gosainkunda Lake so I hadn't done any research. My guide hadn't been there before and he asked the owner of the Hotel Tibet for directions. He was told that the route up Surya Peak started near Surya Kund which is the third lake to the east after the main Gosainkunda Lake. This lake is slightly to the south of the main trail from Gosainkunda lake to Phedi. When we reached Surya Kund there were some abandoned buildings. We left the main trail there and started hiking up to the north. We soon spotted cairns and the route was well cairned all the way to the summit. The terrain quickly became very rough and it was hard going. The route went up the south west side of the peak. There were 2 or 3 sections that involved scrambling and were hairy. It took slightly less than 3 hours to reach the summit which was marked with stones and prayer flags. I was puzzled that my Garmin Inreach showed the altitude to be 5,049 metres whereas Surya Peak is at an altitude of 5,150 metres. This summit was at a latitude of 28.080342 N and a longitude of 85.432000 E. 8.2 My Descent We only spent 20 minutes at the summit as it was cloudy and cold. There would be excellent views in good weather. While we were ascending I had been concerned about our descent along the same route. Fortunately the tea house owner had told my guide that it was easier to descend down the north side. It crossed very rough terrain and we had to be careful walking over the numerous loose rocks and boulders. The route joined the main Gosainkunda trail where the prayer flags were on the path at the eastern end of Gosainkunda Lake. It took 2 hours and 45 minutes to walk back to the tea house. 8.3 The Proper Surya Peak Whe n I returned to the U.K . I did some research to find out why I had only reached an altitude of 5,049 metres when Surya Peak was meant to be at an altitude of 5,150 metres. There isn't much information about Surya Peak but it was clear that I hadn't been up Surya Peak. Other blogs referred to the peak that I went up as "Trekkers' Peak" or "Gosainkunda Ri". I don't think it has an official name. It seems that the peak I ascended has been cairned as it is easier to locate and reach from the main Gosainkunda trail. Surya Peak is further to the east and is shown on the map above. Both peaks are above 5,000 metres and the views from the real Surya Peak wouldn't be any better. 8.4 The Route for Surya Peak I found 3 blogs about the hike to the true Surya Peak that provide details of the correct route: Themtsarecalling.com This blog is by an American who is clearly very confident and able in the mountains. He set off by himself from Gosainkunda lake at 03.10 and took an exploratory route to Surya Peak. He made it up to Surya Peak and then hiked down to Dhunche the same day! I wouldn't recommend walking solo on this difficult terrain. Walkhighlands.co.uk This blog is by a Scottish woman who has hiked a lot in Scotland and is a competent hiker. She had a local guide and ascended by the conventional route to Surya Peak. Her pictures indicate the route and show that there is a plaque at the summit stating it is Surya Peak. The round trip took her 6.5 hours. Summitpost.org This website states the latitude and longitude for Surya Peak are 28.08330 N and 85.43967 E. These coordinates seem to be correct. The route I took back from the false Surya Peak is part of the route to the official Surya Peak. One blog says the route is well cairned and another says it isn't. I agree with the latter as although we saw cairns they only gave us reassurance that we were on the right route. They weren't frequent enough to help us with navigation. In reasonable conditions the route I took up the "Trekkers Peak" and down the north side could be used to go on to the true Surya Peak. Both 5,000 metre peaks could be done in one day. 8.5 Logistics for Surya Peak My guide told a New Zealander and his guide about our route. They went up to the false Surya Peak the following day and came down the same way. They did it faster than us and continued on to Ghopte the same day. He had hidden his rucksack near to where he had left the main trail before ascending the false Surya Peak. This meant he didn't have to hike back to his tea house at Gosainkunda to collect it. A local guide could be hired at one of the tea houses at Gosainkunda Lake for the trek to Surya Peak. It would likely cost about $100. Determine beforehand which peak your guide is intending to ascend. 9. Links to My Other Blogs on the Langtang, Gosaikunda & Helambu Treks Gosainkunda & Helambu Trip Report Langtang Trek Blogs

We drove to Lake Ohrid from Tetovo (see my blogs Serbia to North Macedonia - Week 3 and Tetovo & Skopje, Macedonia: Travel Guide ) and stayed 3 nights in the very pleasant Ohrid Town. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Ohrid Town Ohrid Town Centre Tsar Samoil's Fortress The Churches & Roman Theatre A Walk around Ohrid Town 3. A Half Day Excursion to the Monastery of Sv Naum 4. Accommodation in Ohrid Town 5. Links to My Other Blogs on North Macedonia 1. Introduction Despite some unsettled weather we really liked Ohrid Town and Lake Ohrid. Ohrid Town is an attractive town with a lot of character. With its picturesque lake setting it would be a great place to spend a week sightseeing and swimming in the summer. When we were there in early May the accommodation was cheap and meals were reasonably priced. It would probably be more expensive in peak season. I am sure Lake Ohrid would be a very popular vacation destination for North Macedonians in the summer. Some of the main things to do when staying in Ohrid Town are: Wandering around the streets of historic Ohrid Town. Walking on the walls of Tsar Samoil's fortress. Visiting the Roman theatre. Visiting 4 historic churches, some dating back to the Byzantine era. Walking along the lakeside promenade south of Ohrid Town. An excursion to the monastery of SV Naum on the Albanian border. Beaches and swimming in Lake Ohrid in summer. We weren't there in summer unfortunately! A day trip to the towns of Struga, Kalista and Radozda on the north western side of Lake Ohrid. 2. Ohrid Town 2.1. Ohrid Town Centre Ohrid Town's main shopping street is Makedonski Prosvetiteli which runs north from the quay. Ohrid Town's historic centre is to the west of this main street and it is an enjoyable area to explore. It is a pleasant walk along the promenade on Lake Ohrid which begins at the south end of Makedonski Prosvetiteli. It extends several kilometres southwards past what used to be Tito's summer residence. 2.2. Tsar Samoil's Fortress The fortress was built in the late 10th century by the Bulgarian Tsar but was extensively restored in 2003. There are very few buildings within the castle walls. The main reason to visit is to walk along the top of the walls and the towers. There are good views of Ohrid Town and Lake Ohrid. It cost Eur 2 to enter the fortress. There is a sign at the entrance warning that the steps and walls can be slippery. It was raining when we went and it was very slippery. 2.3. The Churches & Roman Theatre Ohrid Town has three beautiful churches dating back to the Byzantine era. The 13th century Church of St John at Kaneo has a spectacular setting but it attracts a lot of tour groups. A board walk on the lake leads from Ohrid Town, skirting around the cliff edge. There is an entry fee of Eur 2 but a Tripadvisor review stated that it wasn't worth it. The Church St Sophia is an important 10th century Macedonian church. It was converted to a mosque in Ottoman times and the Byzantine frescoes were whitewashed. The frescoes have since been restored and are the main reason to see the interior. The entrance fee is Eur 3. The Church of Holy Mary Peryvleptos was built in 1295 and has some very beautiful old frescoes. There is an entrance fee of Eur 3 and reviews indicate that it is worth seeing the interior. The Church of Saints Clement and Panteleimon looks old and fascinating from a distance but it was actually constructed recently. There had been an ancient church on this site but the Ottoman Turks converted it into a mosque. The mosque became dilapidated and it was replaced by a new one at the beginning of the 17th century. In 2000 the mosque was demolished and replaced with this church. There is an entry fee of Eur 3. I don't think the interior of the church is particularly worth seeing as it is so new. The Roman theatre was built in 200 B.C. It was buried after the fall of the Roman empire and only discovered in the 1980s. Entry is free. 2.4. A Walk around Ohrid Town You can do a circular walk around the north side of Ohrid Town which takes about an hour. Start at the Quay in Ohrid Town and walk westward along the Lake Ohrid towards the Church of St John. When you reach the church walk up the hill and follow the paved path northwards around the hill above Lake Ohrid. Stay high on the hill and don't take the path descending to Lake Ohrid. Later on follow a path eastwards which will take you to a road running north of the fortress. After the fortress you will be able to turn southwards back into Ohrid Town and descend back to the lakeshore. 3. Half Day Excursion to the Monastery of Sv Naum It is a half an hour drive from Ohrid Town to the Monastery which is very near the Albanian border. You could stop off on the way at Pestani, The Bay of Bones and Trpejca but they aren't anything special. The Bay of Bones Museum looks like a tourist trap. There is a large car park at the monastery charging Eur 0.60 and there are toilets nearby for a similar small charge. There are boat trips from Ohrid Town to the monastery that cost Eur 25. There used to be a daily ferry costing Eur 10 but I am not sure it still runs. If you are driving I suggest you come early in the morning to avoid the visitors arriving by boat. The interior of the monastery's 16th century church is very beautiful and worth seeing. There is a small entrance fee. The grounds around the monastery are extensive and there are peacocks roaming around. It is commercialised. There are shops lining the path from the car park to the church and there is a hotel and restaurant in the grounds. One of Lake Ohrid's best beaches is located at the monastery so take your swimming gear if the weather is good. It will be a popular location in the summer. It doesn't take long to see the main church at the monastery. Some people spend a few hours there wandering around the grounds, seeing the other churches, swimming in Lake Ohrid, renting a row boat etc. We only spent an hour there as it wasn't summer. 4. Accommodation in Ohrid Town We stayed in a 2 bedroom apartment that was a 10 minute walk into Ohrid Town along Lake Ohrid. We booked it through Booking.com and paid Eur 36 per night. I have reviewed the accommodation on my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1 " (number 11). 5. Links to My Other Blogs on North Macedonia Tetovo & Skopje, Macedonia: Travel Guide Serbia to North Macedonia - Week 3 North Macedonia to Greece - Week 4

Contents Introduction & Practical Information Budva Old Town Slovenska Beach in Budva Sveti Stefan Excursions from Budva Driving to & from Budva from Croatia and Albania Links to my other Montenegro Blogs 1. Introduction & Practical Information The traffic and parking in the Budva area can be horrendous, even on the main coastal road. I was glad that we weren't staying near Budva as it is too built up and congested for my liking. This will only get worse. We left Kotor (see my blog Kotor, Montenegro: Travel Guide ) at 08.00 to try to avoid the congestion and to find a parking spot. We went to a car park near Hotel Wow as it had good reviews on Google and it only cost Eur 1 per hour. The car park was already pretty full, but spaces free up fairly quickly. It is just 1 block from the seafront and a 10 minute walk to Budva Old Town. Enter " Parking kod hotela WOW " on Google maps to locate it. 2. Budva Old Town When we reached Budva's Old Town around 09.00 the streets were deserted and remained like that until just before 10.00. Then the guided tours came in! We had enough time to walk around everywhere without it being spoiled by the tours. We had wanted to walk on the city walls, but the gate was locked and it was not opened by the time we left Budva's Old Town at 10.15. Budva is yet another old Venetian town to wander around. It is in very good condition due to it being entirely rebuilt after the 1979 earthquake. It looks very authentic and one wouldn't know it had been rebuilt. There is a beach just outside the Morava Gate of Budva's old town. The beach has a public area as well as a private area with the usual sun loungers and umbrellas. It wasn't busy as it was early in the day. If you need to use a toilet there is one near the Morava Gate. It is on the left hand side as you come through the gate from the beach. I think it is meant to be for people using the private beach area but there isn't an attendant. 3. Slovenska Beach in Budva We walked along the promenade from Budva Old Town to the long Slovenska beach. It was 11.00 a.m. and the beach was absolutely packed. This was in late June so it could only be worse in July and August. Most of the beach is private with sun loungers and umbrellas for hire, but there are some crowded public areas. The lowest price that we saw for 2 sun loungers and an umbrella was Eur 12. The land side of the beach is packed with cafes, restaurants and shops. There are also several toilet facilities charging from Eur 0.50 to Eur 1.00. It was too busy for our liking. We decided not to swim there but to find a quieter beach away from Budva. 4. Sveti Stefan The entire famous and picturesque island of Sveti Stefan is a hotel managed by the Aman Resorts. Only hotel guests and people who have a reservation at their restaurants can enter the island. A few people have posted on the internet that they have had a tour of Sveti Stefan island for Eur 20 and that there were 2 tours a day. These posts are now several years old and it is doubtful that the tours now run. Anyway I am not sure how interesting it would be to tour an island that has been turned into a hotel. There are beaches on the mainland opposite Sveti Stefan. The beach south of the isthmus is known as Sveti Stefan beach. It has a free public section as well as a private section with 2 sunbeds and an umbrella costing around Eur 40 for the day. It will be absolutely packed in the peak season like all the other beaches around Budva. The best way to see Sveti Stefan is from higher up and there are 2 main ways to view it: The easiest way is to pull into 1 of the 2 laybys on the main coastal road above Budva when driving from west to east. These laybys are not very large and are often full of cars. The best way is to drive up to St Sava church above the main road. From there you have a wonderful view. It is a 15 minute drive from Sveti Stefan beach along a good road, except for the last few hundred metres when it is a bit narrow. To get there enter St. Sava Church (the one at Denasi) on Google maps. Some people want a photo posing in front of the island and St. Sava Church is ideal for that. There is a circular platform in front of the church which is used for that purpose. It is probably intended for wedding photos. 5. Excursions from Budva A good day trip to the north of Budva is to the beautiful Venetian town of Kotor . From there you can continue to Perast, which is another Venetian town but much smaller. For details see my blogs Kotor, Montenegro: Travel Guide ) and Perast & Herceg Novi: Travel Guide . The Lipa Caves to the east of Budva are very interesting and there is a good road there. A circular drive can be done by returning through Lovcen National Park and then down the slightly challenging Kotor Serpentine Road. See my blog The Kotor Serpentine Road to Lipa Cave . 6. Driving to & from Budva from Croatia and Albania We drove to Budva from Albania. See my blog Albania to Montenegro - Week 9 for details. Afterwards we drove from Montenegro to Croatia. See my blog Montenegro to Croatia- Week 10 for details. 7. Links to My Other Montenegro Blogs Kotor, Montenegro: Travel Guide Day Trip to Perast & Herceg Novi The Kotor Serpentine Road to Lipa Cave Albania to Montenegro - Week 9 Montenegro to Croatia- Week 10

Contents Nafplio Town Akronafplia Fortress Palimidi Fortress Accommodation in Nafplio Excursions from Nafplio My Other Blogs on Greece 1. Nafplio Town Nafplio is an attractive upmarket destination with many designer shops. It is a popular weekend retreat for Athenians. It is very pleasant wandering through the streets and along the waterfront. From Nafplio's harbour there is the iconic view of Bourtzi Castle which sits on a small island. It is particularly special at night time when it is lit up. It was recently renovated and was opened to the public in August 2023. It costs Eur 5 to enter Bourtzi Castle and the return boat ride costs another Eur 5. The boat only leaves when there are at least 4 people. It is only a 10 minute boat ride each way. Parking can be difficult in Nafplio. We used to park on the road called 25is Martiou . It's a wide street and in the off season we always found a place to park. 2. Akronafplia Fortress This is the oldest part of Nafplio and until the 13th century it was a town. The Franks and Venetians made it part of the Nafplio's fortifications. There is a road to the fortress from the south side of central Nafplio. You can drive up and there is limited free parking. Most people walk and it is only a 10 minute walk along the road to the top of the 85 metre high castle. There is no entrance fee and it is always open. The castle hasn't been well maintained and there is very little to see apart from the fantastic views of Nafplio, Bourtzi Castle and Palamidi Fortress. 3. Palimidi Fortress 3.1. About Palimidi Fortress The Venetians completed the construction of Palimidi fortress in 1714. Just one year later the Ottomans captured it. They held it until the Greeks won the war for their independence in 1822. 3.2. What to See at Palimidi Fortress It is definitely worth visiting Palimidi Fortress and it took us 1 hour to explore it. You should visit early or late to avoid the heat and the tour buses. The main, and well preserved, part of Palimidi fortress is by the entrance gate. On the bell tower there is a plaque with the emblem of Venice, the winged lion of Saint Mark. You can enter the small cell where Theodoros Kolokotronis, a hero in the Greek war of independence, was imprisoned. There are excellent views from the large terrace. Tour groups mainly stay in this main part of Palimidi fortress but there is a lot more to explore. The remainder of the site consists of fortified walls and ruins with superb sea views. The paths are a bit rough at times. Unfortunately there are very few signs at the site providing information about Palimidi fortress. 3.3. How to get to Palimidi Fortress The hard way is to climb 999 steps, and ascend 216 metres, from the centre of Nafplio. We took the easy option of driving up the good road to Palimidi fortress! Another option would be to take a taxi for the 10 minute drive up. There is a small free parking lot at the top. If it is full you can park along the road. 3.4. Entrance Fee, Opening Hours and Toilets In summer Palimidi fortress is open from 08.00 to 20.00 and the entrance fee is Eur 8. You can buy a ticket for Eur 20 that covers Palamidi, Mycenae, Tiryns, Asini and several museums. You can find more details of the hours and tickets on the odysseus.culture.gr website. There is a portable toilet in the parking lot and there are better toilets inside the fortress near the entrance. 4. Accommodation in Nafplio We booked a very spacious 1 bedroom apartment in Nafplio through Booking.com at a cost of Eur 77 per night for 3 nights. The apartment was on 2 levels and was fantastic. I reviewed it on my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 1 " (number 14). 5. Excursions from Nafplio We used Nafplio as a base to see the famous archaeological sites in the vicinity: 5.1. Epidaurus It is only a 30 minute scenic drive from Nafplio to the archaeological site at Epidaurus. The highlight of Epidaurus is the theatre dating back to 340 BC. See my blog Epidaurus, Greece: Travel Guide for further information. 5.2. Corinth It's an hour drive from Nafplio to Corinth where there is a lot to see in the area. In the new town of Corinth the only worthwhile site is the spectacular Corinth Canal. Acrocorinth is located a few kilometres away from the new town and  is the ancient acropolis of Corinth dating back to the 7th century BC. Ancient Corinth is nearby and is the ruined old city of Corinth. See my blog Corinth, Greece: Travel Guide for further information. 5.3. Tiryns and Mycenae The little visited archaeological site of Tiryns is only a 7 minute drive from Nafplio. From there you can drive a further 20 minutes to the famous archaeological site of Mycenae. See my blogs Tiryns, Greece: Travel Guide  and Mycenae, Greece: Travel Guide for further information. 6. My Other Blogs on Greece Monemvasia, Greece: Travel Guide Mycenae, Greece: Travel Guide Tiryns, Greece: Travel Guide Epidaurus, Greece: Travel Guide Corinth, Greece: Travel Guide Delphi, Greece: Travel Guide The Monasteries of Meteora: Travel Guide Naxos, Greece: Travel Guide Mystras, Greece: Travel Guide Tinos, Greece: Travel Guide Syros, Greece: Travel Guide Andros, Greece: Travel Guide North Macedonia to Greece - Week 4 Nafplio, Greece to the Peloponnese - Week 5 Peloponnese to the Greek Islands - Week 6 The Greek Islands - Week 7 The Greek Islands to Albania - Week 8

Contents 1. Introduction 2. Kotor Old Town 3. Walking up the Walls to St. John's Fortress About the Walls Entrance to the Upper Walls When to Go The Walk 4. Solila Beach 5. The New Part of Kotor 6. Places to Eat & Supermarkets 7. Accommodation 8. Driving to and from Budva from Croatia and Albania 9. Links to My Other Montenegro Travel Blogs 1. Introduction 1.1. Kotor as a Base We stayed in Kotor for 6 nights as it was a good base for visiting: Budva to the south. See my blog Budva, Montenegro: Travel Guide . Perast & Herceg Novi to the north. See my blog Perast & Herceg Novi: Travel Guide . Lovcen National Park & Lipa Cave to the east. See my blog The Kotor Serpentine Road to Lipa Cave . I had thought about splitting our time between Budva and Kotor. I am pleased we didn't as I found Budva to be too developed and congested. 1.2. Cruise Ships at Kotor In summer, on average 2 or 3 cruise ships dock at Kotor most days. Some of the ships have as many as 5,000 passengers! Unfortunately the influx of so many passengers and tour groups can overwhelm the Old Town of Kotor. It is therefore necessary to plan your visit according to the cruise ship schedule. Luckily there is a good website called Cruisedig.com that lists which cruise ships are visiting each day, the number of passengers and the arrival/departure times. This information enables you to determine when Kotor Old Town will be inundated with cruise ship passengers. 1.3. Traffic & Parking in Kotor The traffic going through Kotor can be very congested. The traffic island to the south of Kotor's Old Town can sometimes be totally blocked. There are several parking lots in Kotor and they are all busy. We used a parking lot on the seafront just opposite the main entrance (Sea Gate) and it cost Eur 1 per hour (payable on exit). If it is full you can queue at the entrance and places soon become available. We only had to do that once. You can locate it by entering " Kotorska luka Parking " on Google maps. 1.4. Tourist Tax Officially all tourists staying in Montenegro must pay a tourist tax and for Kotor the tax is Eur 1 per day. Hotels and a lot of other accommodation include it in their rate. Our accommodation didn't pay for it and we were tempted not to either. However, I had read that you could be asked for proof of payment when leaving the country. We therefore went and paid the tax at the office in the Old Town. I wish we hadn't as we weren't asked about it at the border with Croatia. From what I have read on the Tripadvisor forum it is extremely unlikely that border officials will ask about payment of the tourist tax. 2. Kotor Old Town Kotor's Old Town was destroyed in the 1979 earthquake and then totally rebuilt. It is a historic Venetian town like so many coastal towns in both Montenegro and Croatia. It is very pleasant wandering around this interesting town when it isn't swamped with tourists. There is a tourist office just outside the Sea Gate and they can provide free maps of Kotor's old town. The map isn't very easy to follow and we preferred just wandering around.1.5 to 2 hours is sufficient for wandering around the old town. 3. Walking up the Walls to St John's Fortress 3.1. About Kotor's Walls The old and impressive defensive walls, surrounding the Old Town of Kotor, date back to the 15th century. On the eastern side of Kotor the walls go up the hillside to the Church of Our Lady of Health and then onto St. John's Fortress. It costs Eur 8 to walk up to St. John's Fortress. It is free to walk along most of the lower town walls that back onto the Bay of Kotor and the Skurda river. You can climb up to the walls near the South Gate and walk all the way to the North Gate, or vice versa. It is definitely worth doing this, but choose a time when it's not too hot or busy. 3.2. Entrance to Kotor's Upper Walls There are 2 entrances: At the end of an alley near Kotor's North Gate. It is signposted. Near Pjaca Skaljarska Square and south of St Tryphon's Cathedral. Although the entrances to Kotor's upper walls have gates I don't think they are ever closed. There is a sign on the gate stating it is forbidden to stay on the ramparts after 22.00. I don't believe the attendant at the entrance stays that late. Some people on the internet have posted ways of avoiding the Eur 8 entrance fee: It used to be possible to hike part of the way up the Ladder of Kotor and then gain free access to the fortress walls through a small hole near St John's Fortress. I have posted a photo below showing that this has now been blocked. It's a shame as this hole in the wall enabled people to do a circular hike rather than hike up and down the same way. You might be able to enter for free before the ticket office opens at 07.00. However, when we arrived at the ticket office at 08.30 the attendant asked some people who were leaving to show their tickets. The only way that you may be able to enter without paying is by going in the evening after the ticket office closes. I don't know when it closes but it might be at 19.00. 3.3. When to Walk to St John's Fortress The evening is probably a very good time to walk up to St John's fortress even if you have to pay. It may be more crowded in the morning unless you start very early as: A lot of people, like ourselves, follow advice to go in the morning. We started at 08.30 and found it busy. Quite a few of the people were from the cruise ships. Even if we had started earlier we would have met them on our way down. Also the cruise ships usually depart Kotor in the late afternoon and early evening and therefore passengers can't do this walk in the evening. You may think I am making a lot of fuss about the number of people. The problem with the walk to St John's fortress is that the path is narrow and you have to go up and down the same path. Usually there are only steps on one side of the path and most people want to use the steps! You therefore have to stand aside for people coming the other way. I would be wary of doing the walk if it is wet as I think the path would be very slippery. 3.4. The Walk to St Johns's Fortress It took us 45 minutes to walk up to St John's fortress, but we frequently stopped to enjoy the views and take photos. It is a steep 260 metre climb up to St John's Fortress and there are about 1,350 steps to aid the ascent. I didn't count them! About halfway up you reach the Church of Our Lady of Health, but it is nothing special. St John's Fortress is at the top and it is possible to walk around it, but it is very derelict. We spent 15 minutes at the fortress and took another 45 minutes to walk down. It shouldn't have taken that long but we weren't rushing. The main reason to do the walk is for the fantastic views of Kotor and the bay. The walls, Church and Fortress aren't that special. 4. Solila Beach Most of the time we swam at Muo where our apartment was. Usually we just needed a quick dip to cool off and the estuary was just a couple of minutes from our apartment. It wasn't the best place to swim as the road was close by, there was algae in the water and there wasn't a beach. One hot day we fancied going to a better beach for a bit of a beach day. After reviewing beaches on the internet I found Solila beach which had good reviews and was only a 12 minute drive from Kotor. The only negative was that the beach access road is at a very tight angle off the main road. We really enjoyed our afternoon at Solila beach. There was plenty of parking space and the pebble beach and the sea were very nice. It cost Eur 20 for an umbrella and 2 sun loungers. There was a restaurant, free changing booths and free toilets. 5. The New Part of Kotor There is a 2 storey shopping centre north of Kotor's North Gate. The shops in it are of little interest to tourists, except for the good supermarket on the lower floor. There are free public toilets on the upper level and a restaurant that sells ice cream cheaper than in the Old Town. North of the Skurda river there is a seafront promenade. It is very pleasant to walk along, except for the boat tour salesmen! Boat tours lasting 3 hours go around the Bay of Kotor to the Blue Cave, Perast and Herceg Novi and cost around Eur 35 to Eur 40. We didn't go on a boat tour so I can't comment on them. 6. Places to Eat & Supermarkets in Kotor 6.1. Restaurants in Kotor Most of the restaurants are in the Old Town and aren't particularly cheap. We found a very small and basic restaurant called BBQ Tanjga which is located just before the roundabout in the southern part of Kotor. It is cheap and has excellent reviews on Tripadvisor and Google . We bought a really tasty whole barbequed chicken there for Eur 10 and enjoyed it in our apartment. 6.2. Supermarkets in Kotor There are 3 main supermarkets in the centre of Kotor: We liked the supermarket in the new shopping mall just north of the Old Town . There is a Voli supermarket very near the shopping mal but we didn't use it. Idea have a supermarket near the roundabout in the south of Kotor. There is parking next to the store and it costs Eur 1.70. We never had a problem finding a parking place. 6.3. Fruit & Vegetable Market in Kotor There is a fruit and vegetable market just south of the Sea Gate entrance to Kotor's Old Town. Saturday is the main day for the market, but there are stalls there every day. Watch the prices as they may not be competitive on days other than Saturday. 7. Accommodation in Kotor We stayed in a nice 1 bedroom apartment called Fortress View 2 in Muo, which is a 20 minute walk to Kotor. It can be booked through Booking.com for Eur 77 per night. My review is on my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 2 " (number 10). They also have another apartment called Fortress View 1, which can also be booked through Booking.com . 8. Driving to and from Budva from Croatia and Albania We drove to Kotor from Albania. See my blog Albania to Montenegro - Week 9  for details. Afterwards we drove from Montenegro to Croatia. See my blog Montenegro to Croatia- Week 10  for details. 9. Links to My Other Montenegro Travel Blogs Budva, Montenegro: Travel Guide Day Trip to Perast & Herceg Novi The Kotor Serpentine Road to Lipa Cave Albania to Montenegro - Week 9 Montenegro to Croatia- Week 10

We spent a week in the first half of July 2023 hiking in Val Gardena and based ourselves in Ortisei. It is a fantastic area for hiking and the chairlifts and buses make it so easy. This blog provides information gleaned during our stay there. Contents Planning Hikes in the Dolomites Crowds in the Dolomites When to Go to the Dolomites Weather in the Dolomites Chairlifts Maps Buses Sassolungo Hikes Rescesia Hike Seceda Hikes Alpe di Siusi Hike Accommodation in Ortisei My Other Blogs on Italy 1. Planning Hikes in the Dolomites I found the planning of hikes in the Dolomites to be the most difficult part of organising our 3 month European road trip. Click here to see the blogs of our road trip. It di dn't help that most towns in the Dolomites have 2 or 3 names. For example Ortisei is also known as St. Ulrich and Urtijei! The Dolomites is a large area and it takes time to drive from one area to another on the mountain roads. So I wanted to base ourselves in one area and to hike there. I bought the Cicerone Guide Book on Day Walks in the Dolomites which costs GBP 13.67 from Amazon . This seems to be the best English guide book on walking in the Dolomites but it didn't help in determining the best area to be based in. In the end I decided on Val Gardena as a number of websites said it was a good base for hiking in the Dolomites. It turned out to be a good decision and there were plenty of good hikes for our 5 days in Val Gardena. I then wanted to plan some hikes in Val Gardena which involved using the chairlifts to reach high alpine areas with mountain views. I tried using the Cicerone Guide book and travel blogs. The maps were confusing as the path numbers referred to meant nothing to me. I should have bought a hiking map from Amazon as the book and blogs would have made more sense. Once we arrived in Ortisei I bought a map and also got the free map from the tourist office. It was then easier to plan hikes and some other hikers gave us some advice. The short hikes listed on the reverse side of the free "Summer Hiking Map" provided by the Ortisei tourist office gave me some ideas of where to hike and the time required. I could then modify the hikes and make them longer if necessary. 2. Crowds in the Dolomites We were in Ortisei from the 9th July to the 15th July. The first hike we did was on Seceda. The start of our hike was delayed so we could buy maps. We didn't start the hike until mid morning. I was shocked by the number of people when we reached the top gondola station. I thought the number of people would quickly decrease as we hiked away from the Seceda gondola station but that took over an hour. A lot of people had no hiking etiquette and didn't allow faster walkers to pass on the narrow trail unless asked. I was despairing as I knew I wouldn't enjoy hiking in the Dolomites if it was that crowded. On subsequent days we left earlier and took chairlifts soon after they opened. This made a big difference as we could get away from the chairlift stations before too many people arrived. 3. When to Go to the Dolomites Try to avoid weekends as it will be even busier with day hikers from nearby towns and cities and people coming for a weekend break. The period after the first week in July to the end of August will be very busy and more expensive. The 2nd half of June is a good time unless you intend to hike in areas where snow might linger. September is a good month and all the chairlifts are still open. Some chairlifts close in the first week of October. 4. Weather in the Dolomites Mountain weather is very fickle and therefore hard to forecast. One morning we decided to risk hiking despite a bad forecast. We took the bus from Ortisei to St. Christina and when we got there it rained heavily. After sheltering for well over an hour we abandoned our planned hike. The forecast for the next day was for rain at midday. So we took an early gondola from Ortisei up to the Alpe di Siussi and hiked up to midday. It didn't rain all day! Meteoblue is a good weather website. There is a Radar and Precipitation Nowcast at the bottom of the page. This is a good way of determining if any bad weather systems will hit your location in the next 3 hours. You have to pay to get this information for longer than a 3 hour period. 5. Chairlifts One of the attractions of hiking in the Dolomites is that you can often use chairlifts to reach the higher alpine areas. This saves slogging up wooded mountains to reach open alpine areas with views. Hiking purists might not agree! The lifts are expensive. For example a return ticket from Ortesei to Seceda costs Eur 39.50. We decided to buy a Val Gardena lift pass so we wouldn't have to think about the cost each time we wanted to hike. Lift passes are also expensive, but it does work out cheaper if you hike every day. Val Gardena lift passes cost Eur 103 for 3 consecutive days or Eur 135 for 6 consecutive days. As the lift passes are for consecutive days you lose out if bad weather or sickness prevents use of chairlifts. Another issue we had is that we were in Val Gardena for 5 days and lift passes can only be purchased for 3 days or 6 days. We ended up buying a 6 day pass as we figured it would be cheaper than buying a 3 day pass and then paying for individual lifts for the remaining 2 days. We were right! The Val Gardena pass doesn't cover 6 lifts on the Alpe di Siusu. The Val Gardena website doesn't make this clear as it states that the pass covers all lifts in Val Gardena. On another page it states that the 6 lifts are excluded! 6. Maps 6.1. Free Tourist Office Map You can obtain a free " Summer Hiking Map " from the Tourist Office. It is a useful topographical map which clearly shows forested areas. I try to avoid walking in forests as I prefer open views. It also shows all the summer lift routes including those not covered by the Val Gardena lift pass. There are details of suggested hikes on the reverse side. It has a few drawbacks: The major drawback is that north is at the bottom of the map so everything is upside down! So if you buy another map, which you should, it is very difficult to use both maps to plan a route. The other drawbacks are that you need good eyesight to see some of the path numbers and not all the paths are shown. We didn't hike any paths indicated as "difficult" on the map. We hiked paths indicated as "easy" or "moderately difficult". None of these paths were at all difficult. 6.2. Tabacco and Kompass Maps I bought a 1:25,000 Tabacco map covering Val Gardena from the Tourist Office for Eur 7. It is a good map clearly showing the hiking paths and summer lifts. It was torn by the end of our 6 night stay in the Dolomites. It can also be bought from Amazon for GBP 12.99 and this map may be laminated. The Kompass maps are also good and can be bought from Amazon for GBP 10.33 . I mainly used the Tabacco map when hiking as it was much easier to read and more detailed than the free map. 6.3. Chairlift Map When we bought our lift passes we were given a map showing all the chairlifts covered by the pass. On the back it states the opening and closing times of each lift and the cost if you don't have a pass. It doesn't show the 6 chairlifts on the Alpe di Siusi that are excluded from the pass. You can get lift maps at the main lift stations and probably from the tourist office. This map is also on the Val Gardena website . 7. Buses in Val Gardena Virtually all accommodations in Val Gardena provide a free Val Gardena Mobil card that provides 7 days of free bus transport from the time it is first used. The bus times can be determined from the valgardena.it/en/ website. The bus service is excellent and the buses run frequently. We didn't use our car at all for the 6 nights we were in Val Gardena. It was a welcome change after 3 months of driving around Europe! You are meant to tap your card onto a machine when entering the buses but the machines were usually broken. It was only on the final day that we got on a bus that had a working machine! The free buses for Val Gardena also include the bus that goes to Bolzano if you want to do some sightseeing. At Bolzano you can ride the historic Ritten railway for free with the Mobil Card. 8. Sassolungo Hikes 8.1. The 3 Main Hikes for Sassolungo The hikes around Sassolungo are very popular as it is a spectacular mountain and the terrain isn't difficult. The paths are mainly out in the open so the views are excellent. As a result the trails are busy. The 3 main hikes for Sassolongu are: A full circuit around Sassolungo that takes about 6.5 hours. A half circuit of Sassolungo. This involves taking the "Coffin" gondola up from Passo Sella up to Forcella del Sassolungo (2,685 metres) in the centre of the massif and hiking down the northern side. If you then hike back to Passo Sella around the eastern half of the mountain it will take about 5 hours. A hike up to 2,958 metres on path 527 from the south east of Sassolungo. You can go down a different way to meet the path descending from the gondola station. There is a section at the top shown as being for expert hikers. I doubt that this trail would be busy. 8.2. Our Planned Hike around Sassalungo I decided to do a variation of the half circuit but it turned out to be as long as the full circuit! My plan was to: Take a bus from Ortisei to St. Christina. Take the chairlifts from St. Christina to Monte Pana and then from Monte Pane to Mont Seura. Walk around the eastern section of Sassolungo on paths 526 and 526C to the "Coffin" gondola station at Passo Sella. Take the "Coffin" gondola up to Forcella del Sassolungo (2685 metres). Walk down on path 525 to the junction with paths 526 to the east and 527 to the west. Walk on path 527 on the western side of Sassolungo until the junction with path 9A. It would probably be quicker to take the earlier turn off onto path 531A instead of path 9A. Follow path 9A and then path 7A to the Florian chairlift. The Florian chairlift descends to Saltner and is not covered by the Val Gardena pass. It costs Eur 14. Walk up path 9 to the Sonne to Alpe di Siusi chairlift. It saves a 20 minute uphill walk to the gondola that descends to Ortisei. Take the gondola down to Ortisei. 8.3. Our Actual Hike around Sassolungo We set off early and we were the first people on the St. Christina to Monte Pana chairlift when it opened at 08.30. We then had the choice of either path 526 or 526A along the northern base of Sassolungo. We took the slightly lower 526 path as it looked a bit easier and walked eastward. Initially it descended in to forest but after a while it was very open and we enjoyed great views. At one point two cows blocked the narrow path. In the UK cows can be dangerous so we were cautious and scrambled up the steep bank to get around them. We followed paths 526 and 526C until we reached Passo Sella. Everyone was excited about going up in the "Coffin". The attendants were very helpful and friendly. Two people can squeeze into the gondola. Each person is allocated a separate spot to stand in anticipation of having to individually jump into the gondola. They quickly lock the door and when you reach the upper station they unlock it. You quickly jump out one after the other. It is great fun and nothing to worry about at all. There is a mountain hut at the top station which is at an altitude of 2,685 metres. There are very good views both to the north and south. It is then a steep descent down the rocky and barren mountainside. It took us just under 2 hours to descend but it can be done a lot faster. Walking sticks definitely make it a lot easier. From there we turned westward onto path 527, rather than eastward for the half circuit hike. I was conscious that the Florian chairlift down to the Alpe di Suisi closed at 16.00 and time was running out. We rushed along path 527, and then path 9A, and reached the chairlift at 15.30. The Florian chairlift took us down to Saltner on the Alpe di Siusi. From there it is at least a 1 hour uphill walk to the Sonne to Alpe di Siusi chairlift. That chairlift closes at 17.00 and I doubted we would get there in time. If we missed it, it meant a steep 20 minute walk up to the upper station for the gondola to Ortisei. As we walked through Saltner I saw a bus stop with a lot of people waiting. It was going to Compaccio and some people told us that this was the gondola station. We were delighted as it would save a tiring walk. We had been walking for 6.5 hours. The bus soon came and we paid the Eur 3 fare. Unfortunately, on the way, I could see that we were going to the wrong gondola station on the other side of the Alpe di Siusi plateau! When we reached Compaccio we met a Norwegian couple who had made the same mistake. It seemed from Google that the best solution was to take a bus down from the Alpe di Siusi plateau. Luckily there was one leaving very shortly. The bus fare was an exorbitant Eur 16 but we had no choice. The bus went part of the way to Ortisei and we then had to transfer onto another bus that was free. We reached Ortisei at around 18.00 which was 10 hours after we had set off. We could have got back to Ortisei by 17.45 if we had continued walking from Saltner and taken the gondola down to Ortisei. It would have been possible for someone to do this hike faster and get back to Ortisei by 16.30 as: We spent time watching the "coffin" at both ends. We were slow descending from the Forcella del Sassolungu. It would probably be quicker to take the earlier turn off onto path 531A instead of path 9A. It was a fantastic hike and I highly recommend that you do a half or full circuit hike of Sassolungu. It was busy in sections but that didn't spoil the hike for us. 9. Resciesa Ridge Hike A funicular takes you up 800m from Ortisei to the Resciesa ridge. In the summer time it opens at 08.30 and it runs every 15 minutes. At the top there is an easy and scenic circular hike that takes about 3.5 to 4 hours. The route runs through high alpine countryside and there is very little increase in elevation. At the end of the hike you descend to the upper station of the Furnes to Ortisei gondola. If you want more exercise you can walk all the way down to Ortisei! The first section of this walk is described on the reverse side of the free "Summer Hiking Map" that can be obtained from the tourist office. It is route number 9. As I stated earlier north is shown at the bottom of the map! We went up the funicular at 09.00 as I thought that was the opening time. There weren't many people and it took 10 minutes to ascend to the upper station which is at an altitude of 2,093 metres. It was cloudy at the top so initially I didn't take many photos. We walked westwards on path 35 to the small and simple Holy Cross Chapel and then on to the Crucifix at Resciesa di Fuori (2,281 metres). Initially the walk is through forest but it soon opens up. There are meant to be fantastic views but unfortunately there was too much cloud around when we were there. From the crucifix we followed path 31 eastwards along the upper part of the Resciesa ridge. Path 31 eventually joined path 35 and we continued walking eastwards towards the Rifugio Brogles. On the ridge above Rifugio there was a sign saying it was closed for renovation so we didn't descend. We had a picnic lunch on the ridge and there were fantastic views of Seceda. Luckily the weather had cleared and we could appreciate the views. Unfortunately there were too many cows and they disturbed our lunch. From the 2,119 metre high ridge above the Rifugio Brogles, path 5 descends steeply through forest down to Ortisei. Half way down at Furnes (1,691 metres) we turned eastwards onto path 8. Very soon afterwards we reached the gondola station and took the gondola back to Ortisei. It is an easy and scenic half day walk. We weren't tired so in the afternoon we took the gondola up to the Alpe di Siusu and did a short walk there. 10. Seceda Hikes 10.1. Introduction to Seceda Hikes Seceda is a very beautiful area to hike in, but the area from the upper gondola station to the viewpoint (2518 m) is very popular and busy. The path from the viewpoint along the mountain edge and onto Refugio Pieralongia on path 2B is also very popular. As the path is narrow it is difficult to get past slower walkers. I found this section to be very frustrating when we hiked in mid morning. The solution is to go early to avoid the casual walkers and sightseers. Then you will be able to fully enjoy the scenery on this fantastic part of Seceda. 10.2. Our Hike on Seceda Hike number 6 on the Tourist Office's free "Summer Hiking Map" provides details of a 3 hour circular hike. It looks like a good hike. It could be shortened at the end by taking the Fermeda to Seceda chairlift back to the gondola station rather than hiking the 400 metres up. Our hike on Seceda was a variation of hike 6. We followed the same route to the Refugio at Pieralongia. Quite a few hikers then descended on path 4A but we continued walking eastwards on path 2B. About 15 minutes after passing Refugio Pieralongia there are 2 very distinctive triangular shaped rocks. It is a good spot to have your photo taken. We continued eastwards along the fairly quiet path 2B until it ended at a junction with Path 2-3 When we reached path 2-3 it was initially signposted as path 2. We turned right and descended northwestwards. We had to descend a section of scree that had no path. Fortunately a hiker came the other way and we could see that we had to be on the left hand side of the scree. Path 2-3 descended to Refugio Firenze (2,037 metres). From there we took Path 4 up to Col Raiser (2107m) and descended to St. Christina on the gondola. We took the free bus back to Ortesei Instead of taking the gondola to St. Christina we could have walked a short distance to the Fermeda to Seceda chairlift. This would have taken us to the gondola station on the top of Seceda which in turn would have taken us down to Ortisei. The hike took us about 3 hours and I highly recommend it. 11. Alpe di Siusi Hike 11.1. Introduction The Alpe di Siusi (Seiser Alm in German) is the largest high altitude Alpine meadow in Europe. It has a spectacular setting, particularly the view towards Sassolungo. There is some infrastructure on the plateau and there are roads and several chairlifts (not covered by the Val Gardena lift pass). There is even a bus service between Compaccio in the east and Saltner in the south. There isn't much change in elevation across the plateau so it is easy walking with fantastic open views. A blogger mentioned that it was better to cycle on the Alpe di Siusi than walk as the views are very similar wherever you are on the plateau. The roads and paths are ideal for cycling. As we aren't cyclists we did a 2 to 3 hour walk and really enjoyed it. There is a gondola from Ortisei to Alpe di Siusi. There are excellent views from the upper gondola station across the plateau to Sassolungo. 11.2. Our Hike on Alpe di Siusi We did a slightly longer variation of hike number 3 on the reverse side of the Tourist Office's free "Summer Hiking Map". From the Alpe di Siusi gondola station we walked westwards along path 6A. There are excellent views the entire way and initially the path is very level. The path eventually gently descends southwards to a short section of road (path 6) . The road isn't busy but is the least enjoyable section of the walk. Fortunately it is a short section and we soon turned eastwards onto a wide track (Path 6B). There were no vehicles. Path 6B would have taken us northwards back towards the gondola station. We continued eastwards by turning onto Path 19. We walked on path 19 until we reached the junction with path 9. There is a bench as the junction of paths 19 and 9 and we sat there enjoying the views. Path 9 runs between Saltran to the south and the Alpe di Siusi gondola station to the north. We contemplated walking down to Saltran but we didn't think that the views warranted the effort. Instead we walked northwards on Path 9 to the chairlift at Sonne. Since we had a lift pass we took the short ride up the Sonne to Alpe di Siussi chairlift. This chairlift ascends to an area close to the upper station for the Alpe di Siussi to Ortisei gondola. It probably saved a 20 to 25 minute uphill walk. 12. Accommodation in Ortisei Accommodation is expensive in the Dolomites. In the peak summer months of July and August it is necessary to book early. We booked a reasonably priced 1 bedroom apartment in Ortisei for 6 nights and we were very happy with it. We booked it through Bookiply.com for Eur 111 per night. It can also be booked through Booking.com for a bit more. I reviewed the apartment on my blog " UK to Greek Islands Accommodation - Part 2 " (number 16). 13. My Other Blogs on Italy Cornwall to Venice - Week 1 Venice to Serbia - Week 2 Rab to Dolomites, Italy - Week 12 Dolomites to Home - Week 13

This blog provides links to useful trip reports and information on the Tripadvisor forum about the Everest Base Camp trek, videos of EBC treks and live webcams at Lukla and Namche Bazaar. Click here  to read my other blogs about the Everest Base Camp and Everest 3 Passes treks. Contents Tripadvisor Posts Vlogs Webcam Nepal Live (Lukla, Namche, Khumjung & Pheriche) Links to my other Everest Base Camp Trek Blogs 1. Tripadvisor Posts My blogs on trekking in the Everest Region are based on my 2 treks there in May 2014 and May 2022. See my blog My Daily Reports on the Everest 3 Passes Trek . I am also an active participant on the Tripadvisor forum for Nepal. I follow this forum every day and obtain a lot of useful and up to date information. I have included some of this information in my blogs. It can be difficult to find relevant and useful posts on the Tripadvisor forum later on. I have therefore listed below some of the best posts regarding the Everest Base Camp trek. For easy reference the headings are linked to the posts on Tripadvisor. Some of the posts have over 300 threads and in such instances I have provided a summary of the most relevant and helpful postings. 1.1 Warning: Heavy Smoke Across Country This 2024 post highlights the problem from wild fires and pollution in Nepal during Spring. It wasn't the first year that this has happened but Spring of 2024 was particularly bad. Internal flights were cancelled and this included flights to Lukla for trekkers doing the Everest Base Camp trek. Views on the EBC trek were affected by the pollution particularly at lower altitude. The wild fires were put out by rain on 6th May 2024. In the past the pollution from wild fires hasn't been a problem from about this date. 1.2 How My Guide Almost Killed Me This Thorntree post about the Everest 3 Passes trek was written by a Canadian lady in 2014. She had a bad guide and they got lost in bad weather on the Ngozumpa glacier near Gokyo. They spent the night on the glacier and she suffered frost bite as a result. It is a fascinating report and highlights the risk in crossing the 2 glaciers on the Everest 3 Passes trek. In May 2022 I met several trekkers who had got lost on the Khumbu glacier after crossing the Kongma La. Luckily the weather was clear and warm. See my blog Guides, Porters & Trekking Agencies in Nepal . 1.3 Trekking in Nepal after April 1st 2023 - Live Reports The Nepal Tourist Board unsuccessfully tried to ban independent trekking in Nepal from April 2023. This post provides up to date information on this matter. 1.4 A Walk in the Khumbu in October/November 2021 This is a very interesting, and informative, Tripadvisor Forum post from a German trekker (aka Dharma Bum) who travels very lightly. He walks to Everest Base Camp from Dhap and does the Everest 3 passes trek. His backpack weighed 4.26 kgs ! He doesn't take a sleeping bag even though he trekked in November. He used the lodges' not so clean blankets and duvets. He is a fast trekker so take that into account when he mentions trekking times. Before the trek he asked Tripadvisor forum members to critique his proposed itinerary for his Everest Base Camp trek. After the trek he posts trip reports for his 29 day trek. It ends up being a very long thread with 192 posts from himself and other trekkers, many of whom know the Everest region very well. If you just want to read his trips reports these are the relevant links: Post 114 - Day 1 (Dhap) to Day 3 (Junbesi) Post 118 - Day 4 (Junbesi) to Day 8 (Namche Bazaar) Post 125 - Day 9 (Namche Bazaar) to Day 12 (Pangboche) Post 136 - Day 13 (Dingboche) to Day 16 (Lobuche) Post 140 - Day 17 (Pangboche) to Day 21 (Gokyo) Post 144 - Day 22 (Gokyo) to Day 27 (Namche Bazaar) Post 153 - Day 28 (Namche Bazaar) to Day 29 (Lukla) 1.5 Live report: Everest Base Camp Three Passes Trek in Spring 2022 An entertaining, informative and well written live trip report from an American (Ling) based in Thailand. He has trekked in the Everest region numerous times but until now always in the winter months. His Everest 3 Passes trek started on 30th March 2022 when the number of trekkers was fairly low due to Covid. There are 302 posts in this thread due to all the feedback from Tripadvisor forum members! Post 1 - Day 1: Flight to Lukla & trek to Namche Bazaar Post 21 - Day 2: "Rest day" in Namche and his day hike to Mong and Khumjung. Post 29 - Day 3: Namche Bazaar to Phortse Post 117 - Day 4: Phortse to Dingboche Post 148 - Day 5: Dingboche to Chukhung Post 170 - Day 6: "Rest day" in Chukhung Post 175 - Day 7: Chukhung to Lobuche via Kongma La Pass Post 180 - Day 8: Lobuche to Dzonglha Post 198 - Day 9: Dzonglha to Gokyo via the Cho La Pass Post 211 - Days 10 & 11: "Rest days" in Gokyo Post 232 - Day 12: Day hike from Gokyo to Renjo La Pass Post 256 - Day 13: Rest day in Gokyo Post 272 - Day 14: Gokyo to Namche Bazaar via Renjo La Pass Post 292 - Days 15–18: 3 Rest days in Namche Bazaar & the walk back to Lukla 1.6 Liveish Report: EBC Three Passes Trek December 2022 Another trip report by Ling for his second Everest 3 passes trek in 2022! Post 7 - Day 1: Kathmandu to Namche Bazaar Post 9 - Day 2: Rest day around Namche Bazaar Post 24 - Day 3: Namche Bazaar to Phortse Post 41 - Day 4: Phortse to Dingboche Post 53 - Day 5: Dingboche to Chukhung Post 58 - Day 6: "Rest day" in Chukhung with a stroll up Chukhung Ri Post 69 - Day 7: Chukhung to Lobuche via the Kongma La Pass Post 77 - Day 8: Lobuche to Dzonglha Post 81 - Day 9: Dzongla – Cho La Pass - Dragnag Post 96 - Day 10: Dragnag to Gokyo & Climb up Gokyo Ri Post 111 - Day 11: Hike to Gokyo Fifth Lake & Scoundrel's Viewpoint Post 132 - Day 12: Gokyo to Thame via the Renjo La Pass 1.7 Another Khumbu Report, off the beaten paths - October 2022 A trip report of an extremely exploratory trek in the Everest/Khumbu region. A lot of what he did is beyond the capability of the average trekker. That definitely includes me! The posts of interest to the ordinary trekker, looking to do side trips, are: Post 13 - The trail southwards of Thame that climbs up to Kongde and then descends to Toktok. Post 17 - Sunder Peak (5,368 metres) north west of Thame Post 33 - Lodges at Thyangbo (4,320 metres) on the way from Thame to Tashi Lasbsta 1.8 A Side Trail with Great Views between Lobuche and Gorak Shep Post 142 provides details of a very scenic route that runs from the Pyramid Lodge (north of Lobuche) towards Gorak Shep. It runs above, and parallel to the main Everest Base Camp trail. The trail is very scenic and not difficult. It is also possible to walk westwards from this path up a grassy slope to about 5,300 metres. 1.9 Daily Meal & Beverage Costs for the EBC 3 Passes Trek & trek in from Jiri Post 4 is by Ling again and he details all the daily meal and beverage costs he incurred during his December 2021 trek. Costs will have increased since then! 1.10 Pikey Peak on the way to the EBC Trek - where to sleep & eat? This Tripadvisor forum post provides pre Covid information on the trek from Dhap to Namche Bazaar. It is a thread of 20 posts with contributions from some trekkers who have done a lot of hikes in Nepal. 1.11 Dhap to Pikey Peak Trek Questions Another more recent Tripadvisor forum post on the Pikey Peak trek from early 2022. It is a thread of 59 posts. 1.12 Dharma Bum’s Recipe for Happiness: Boudhanath This post provides a lot of information on accommodation, restaurants and what to see at Boudhanath. 1.13 Back for more cake: Everest Three Passes Trek deep thoughts A trip report for Ling's Everest 3 passes trek in December 2023. In post 138 (written on 4 January 2024) he recounts his near fatal fall while crossing the Ngozumpa glacier near Gokyo! 1.14 Dharma Bum's Guide to Paths Less Travelled: Khumbu Edition   Information about alternative trails and day hikes when doing the Everest 3 passes and Everest Base Camp treks. 2. Vlogs There are quite a few interesting vlogs covering trekking in the Everest/Khumbu region. Watching one or two will give you a feel for the scenery and what to expect. I find that they usually provide little factual information and are not that useful for planning the Everest Base Camp trek. I have provided links to a few of the better English speaking ones. 2.1 Everest Three Passes Trek This is a vlog by an Australian couple who were driving from Australia to Europe. They drove from Kathmandu to Salleri in their vehicle and then did the Everest 3 Passes trek in 21 days. They were later arrested and imprisoned for almost 3 months in Iran for flying a drone! 2.2 Motor Bike Ride to Bupsa & then Trekking to Everest Base Camp This is a video by a Nepalese couple who ride a motorbike from Kathmandu to Tham Danda, which is north of Bupsa. It gives a good idea of the road if you want to drive in rather than fly to Lukla. The road appears better than I thought it would be, but after rain it would probably be a mess. After walking to Namche Bazaar they take the standard route to Everest Base Camp. The only thing I disagreed with was they took a helicopter back from Gorak Shep. 2.3 Gokyo Trek (Part 1) - Lukla to Ama Dablam Base Camp The trekker is German so there is also a German version of this vlog. It covers the first part of his trek to Gokyo. He first hiked to Ama Dablam Base Camp to acclimatize. 2.4 Gokyo Trek (Part 2) - Pangboche to Gokyo This video is of his trek up the Gokyo Valley to Gokyo and then back to Namche via the Renjo La and Thame. 3. Webcam Live Nepal This YouTube site has links to several webcams set up in the Khumbu. There are webcams at Lukla airport, Namche Bazaar, the Everest View Hotel above Namche Bazaar, Khumjung and Pheriche. This is very useful when you are sitting at Kathmandu or Ramechhap airport wondering if the weather will improve in Lukla so your flight can take off! 4. Links to my other EBC Trek Blogs My Daily Reports on the Everest 3 Passes Trek Day Hikes on the Everest Base Camp Trek Lodges and Tea Houses on the Everest Base Camp Trek When to trek to Everest Base Camp What to take for the Everest Base Camp Trek Kathmandu to Lukla and Back Guides, Porters and Trekking Agencies

Most trekkers start and finish the Everest Base Camp trek in Lukla. Unfortunately the Lukla flights aren't reliable due to the weather and now most of these flights don't land or take off from Kathmandu airport. This blog provides information about flying into, and out of Lukla, and the alternatives if the weather is bad. Click here  to read my other blogs about the Everest Base Camp and Everest 3 Passes treks. Contents Lukla Flights Ramechhap Accommodation & Transportation Accommodation at Lukla Drive/Hike between Kathmandu & Lukla in 2 Days Helicopter Links to my other Everest Base Camp Trek Blogs 1. Lukla Flights 1.1 Flights from Kathmandu and Ramechhap Airports Most trekkers fly into Lukla to do the Everest Base Camp trek and until recently these flights all took off from Kathmandu. Congestion at Kathmandu airport has resulted in the flights to Lukla being transferred to Ramechhap airport during the peak trekking season. This is from about mid March to the end of May and during the months of October and November. Flying from Ramechhap is inconvenient. It is about a 4 hour drive from Kathmandu at night but longer during the day due to road congestion. There are some hotels near the airport, so you can drive there the previous afternoon and stay overnight. The alternative is to leave Kathmandu between 01.00 to 02.00 to get an early morning Lukla flight! It is very chaotic at Ramechhap airport, even when there are no delays. Unfortunately flights are frequently delayed due to bad weather at Lukla. The effect of these delays have more impact at Ramechhap than Kathmandu as there isn't enough accommodation in Ramechhap. 1.2 Flights from Lukla Flying back into Ramechhap isn't as bad as departing, as you don't have to stay there or cope with the chaos at the check-in counters. The major drawback is the drive from Ramechhap to Kathmandu, which could take 6 hours due to road congestion during the daytime. Flight delays are common, although less frequent during the normally clear weather from mid October to mid December. Luckily this also coincides with the peak trekking season. Always try to get on the earliest possible flight as the weather usually deteriorates as the day progresses. If there are seats available on a different airline it is possible to transfer your ticket. Go to the airline office and get them to put the relevant stamp on your ticket which you then hand to the other airline. We did this at Lukla airport in 2014 and it only took 5 minutes. 1.3 Flight Cost & Weight Limit Flights between Ramechhap and Lukla currently cost $149 each way and between Kathmandu and Lukla cost $180 each way. These flights can be booked online through Yeti Airlines , although it shouldn't cost any more to book it through a trekking agency. The weight limit for these flights is 10 kilograms but the charge for excess weight is only about NPR 195 per kilo . If you are travelling with a guide he would usually have less than 10 kilograms of luggage and you can use his surplus weight allowance. 1.4 Cancelled Flights and Rebooking If your flight is cancelled you will have to rebook on the next available flight. In peak season only the later flights, which are at greater risk of being cancelled due to weather, will normally have availability. Your chances of getting rebooked onto an early flight will often depend whether your agency, or hotel at Ramechhap or Lukla, has good connections with the airlines. 2. Ramechhap Accommodation & Transportation 2.1 Hotels within walking distance of Ramechhap Airport Some of the hotels within walking distance of the airport are: Freedom Resort - This hotel gets reasonable local Google reviews and is an 11 minute walk to the airport. Rooms cost NPR 3,500 and tents NPR 2,500. The tents can be hot. Rooms and tents can be booked online through the above link. Lalu Hotel - The local reviews are also reasonable but there is no online booking. Hotel Manakamana Airport View - It also gets reasonable local reviews but again there is no online booking. 2.2 Transportation to Ramechhap Airport The first flights take off about 06.15 so if you don't spend the night in Ramechhap you would have to leave Kathmandu around 01.15 to get there in time. This early start would probably be only a couple of days after a sleep disturbed international flight and when you are still suffering from jet lag. This isn't an ideal start to the trek. Mini buses and buses leave around 02.00 each night and can be arranged through the trekking agencies in Kathmandu. They cost about $35 per person, but you would not arrive in time for the earliest flight. A private car arranged through a local trekking agency would cost from around $110 and a jeep about $160. Hiring a taxi yourself would be cheaper. 3. Accommodation at Lukla When flights are delayed for several days there isn't enough accommodation at Lukla, even though there are many more hotels than at Ramechhap. Some hotels, like the very comfortable Lukla Numbur Hotel and the more basic Sunrise Lodge have connections with the airlines which makes a big difference. They can often arrange for you to get on an early flight the next day and the early flights have a better chance of taking off. At the Lukla Numbur Hotel we didn't have to go to the airport until they told us that the incoming flights were going ahead. When we arrived at the airport the hotel owner and guide had already got our boarding passes for us. 4. Drive/Hike between Kathmandu & Lukla in 2 Days The Lukla flights are often grounded due to bad weather. It is often difficult to determine if the weather will clear or if the flights will be grounded for several days. The alternatives are taking a helicopter or doing a fairly gruelling drive and hike combination between Kathmandu and Lukla. The latter option is cheaper than flying when using shared jeeps or buses, but probably not when using a private jeep. In May 2022 we had a 06.00 flight from Lukla to Kathmandu but we woke up to rain. By 10.30 a.m. it looked like the weather wouldn't clear and an Australian at our lodge decided to hike and then take a jeep to Kathmandu. The weather suddenly cleared at 12.30 p.m. and our flight took off from Lukla at 1.30 p.m. We were surprised, and pleased, to see the Australian on the flight! He had luckily seen the weather improve and quickly hiked back up! 4.1. Logistics The 2 day drive and hike could be split as follows: Drive on the tarred road between Kathmandu and Salleri. It could take 7 hours by private jeep, longer by shared jeep and almost 12 hours by bus (NPR 1,700 at March 2023). Stay in a lodge at Salleri. Phaplu is an alternative to Salleri but the lodges there aren't good. Drive 6 hours by jeep on the rough dirt track between Salleri and Tham Danda (just north of Bupsa). Click here to see a 16 minute video of the jeep ride. I wouldn't want to drive on this track after a lot of rain. The cost of a shared jeep was NPR 2,200 in March 2023. Then hike the same day between Tham Danda and Lukla, which takes about 5.5 hours. If you are travelling from Kathmandu to Namche Bazaar you can bypass Lukla. The hike from Tham Danda to Namche Bazaar can be done in 2 days with an overnight stop at Ghat or Phakding. 4.2. Approximate Costs of Getting from Kathmandu to Tham Danda Cost of a shared jeep from Kathmandu to Salleri was reported to be NPR 3,700 in April 2022. Cost of a bus from Kathmandu to Salleri was NPR 1,700 in March 2023. Cost of a shared jeep from Salleri to Tham Danda was reported to be NPR 2,200 in March 2023. A private jeep from Kathmandu to Tham Danda is about $420. These are ball park figures that depend on the fuel costs, road conditions, type of private jeep and your negotiating skills! 5. Helicopters to and from Lukla The weather can be too bad even for helicopters! It is the quickest option if flights have been grounded but not the cheapest! The normal cost is about $400 a person, but if a helicopter has spare seats you can sometimes be lucky to get a seat for as low as $150. The weather was terrible the day of our flight from Kathmandu to Lukla in May 2022. By mid morning we had given up on flying out of Kathmandu and decided to pay $400 per person for a helicopter. The helicopter couldn't take off as the weather was too bad. This proved to be lucky as at 12.30 we were told to board the plane as the weather in Lukla had cleared. We later met some young Swiss trekkers who had taken a helicopter that day and had only paid $150 each. As the weather was too bad for the helicopter to land at Lukla they were taken to Phakding instead, saving a few hours of walking to Namche Bazaar. 6. Links to my other Everest Base Camp Trek Blogs My Daily Reports on the Everest 3 Passes Trek Day Hikes on the Everest Base Camp Trek Lodges and Tea Houses on the Everest Base Camp Trek When to trek to Everest Base Camp What to take for the Everest Base Camp Trek Forum Posts, Vlogs & Webcams for Everest Base Camp Trek Guides, Porters and Trekking Agencies