After breakfast, you’ll get to know the incredible Kathmandu Valley with a full day of guided sightseeing. You’ll meet your expert in your hotel’s lobby and will be chauffeured by private car to three incredible UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Your first stop is Patan (also known as Lalitpur), the ancient city of fine arts. You’ll visit Patan Durbar Square, which showcases stunningly preserved temples and palace complexes.

Next up is Boudhanath Stupa, one of the biggest stupas in the world. The structure is embellished with four pairs of eyes, each looking out in one of the cardinal directions, keeping watch for righteous behavior and human prosperity. The stupa is constructed on an octagonal base inset with prayer wheels and is ringed by houses of Lamas (Buddhist priests), monasteries, and shops.

Your final destination on today’s tour is one of the holiest temples in the Hindu religion: Pashupatinath. The temple is revered as the birthplace of the Hindu god Lord Shiva and is therefore dedicated to him. You’re bound to be joined by a constant stream of sadhus, Hindus making the pilgrimage to this important site by way of India and other regions in Nepal.

Pashupatinath rests on the banks of the sacred Bagmati River, which serves as an access point for cremation. Note that this is the main cremation site for Hindus in the Kathmandu Valley, and you’ll notice cremation ghats lining the edge of the water.

Accommodation: Hotel Manaslu
Meals included: Breakfast

Locals taking a rest for a chat at Boudhanath Stupa © Per Daugaard Christensen

In the morning we will leave the hotel in a van which will take us to the edge of Kathmandu (out of the totally manic traffic) where our bikes will be waiting for us. For the next 65 kilometers we ride on one of the nicest little mountain roads you could ever imagine. Our target today is the town of Trisuli, from where we have 5 km up to the old fortress town of Nuwakot. Here we check into our charming little hotel ‘The Old Farmhouse’ and enjoy a well deserved shower and a cold beer!

Accommodation: The Old Farmhouse
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Slow Drive - Long Life © Mads Mathiasen

Today we have a big ride ahead of us… 140 km, while this might not sound a lot you will find that we will probably average 25-30 km/h on our ride, so we have a few hours in the saddle today. For most of today, we will ride along the Trisuli and Marshyangdi river valleys. We will stop for a local lunch in one of the many towns along with the main Kathmandu to Pokhara highway, which we join after the first 30 km. In the afternoon we leave the Trisuli river and join the Marshyangdi river valley and, if the weather is clear, we will start seeing the Annapurnas shortly afterward. Our final 12 km is on a tiny little mountain road up to the hamlet of Bandipur, an old Newar trading town with magnificent mountain views in clear weather.

Accommodation: The Old Inn
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Local lunch © Mads Mathiasen

Today Pokhara is only 65 km away, so we should be able to reach there in time for lunch by the lake in one of our favorite restaurants. We’ll stay “lakeside” next to Phewa Lake in Pokhara. It has spectacular views of Machhapuchhare (the sacred and unclimbed Fishtail Mountain) and three of the world’s 8,000m peaks, Dhaulagiri, Manaslu, and Annapurna. If the weather is clear we might go for another little Enfield ride up to Sarangkot, a viewpoint outside Pokhara, in time for sunset with the Annapurna massif in the background.

Accommodation: Mums Garden Resort
Meals included: Breakfast

Are those clouds or mountains © Don Bethune

This morning is yours to enjoy with a plethora of options: explore Pokhara town, try paragliding, go fishing, boating, trekking, bird watching, golfing or curl up in a comfy chair and soak up your views of the lake and the snow-capped mountains. After lunch, we will head out on the lake in canoes and then hike up to the International Peace Pagoda for great views of the lake, Pokhara, and the Annapurna mountains beyond. Talk about options! We will meet up at the local Enfielders club for a drink before heading out to one of Pokhara’s best restaurants for dinner.

Accommodation: Mums Garden Resort
Meals included: Breakfast

Relaxing in Pokhara © Don Bethune

This morning we head out on the real mountain roads; the road to Tansen from Pokhara is seriously beautiful and winds its way up over a couple of small passes and then drops back down into the valleys. We will have lunch in a little town about halfway, before continuing to our destination, Tansen, a beautiful old town set right below the Srinagar hill. There is plenty to see around town, so once we have checked in to our hotel we will head out for a walk around the old town.

Accommodation: Hotel Srinagar
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

On the road to Tansen © Mads Mathiasen

We get an early start today as we are going exploring. The road from Tansen to Tamghas is all paved and one of the most beautiful in all of Nepal but once these 75 km is done, then we have a couple of hours of hard riding ahead of us. We head south from Tamghas towards Sandikharkha on rough dirt roads and this is a great adventure as we have now left behind the Nepal that sees tourists! We hit the road to the lowland a bit before Sandikharkha and we are now back on the tarmac and only approximately 100 km from Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and our home for tonight.

Accommodation: Buddha Maya Garden
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Buddhist pilgrims Lumbini © John Ehbrecht

Before we leave Lumbini, we will go for a wander around the sacred garden where Buddha was born and maybe even check out some of the (for Nepal) exotic monasteries from all the different Buddhist countries. We then hit the road for Chitwan 200 km away, the ride has something we haven’t had much of until now, some long fast stretches of road with much less traffic than we saw coming into Pokhara. We will arrive in Chitwan well before sunset and settle in at the bar for some nice drinks overlooking the river and, incredibly from this altitude and distance away, with views to the Himalayas in clear weather!

Accommodation: Jungle Villa Resort
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Flat Terai roads © Clare Mathiasen

This is a day never to be forgotten – a full day of safari action including wildlife viewing from an elephant’s back, jungle walks, bird-watching, Land rover drives, river safaris, elephant camp visits, wildlife viewing and photographing from machans (blinds). All wildlife activities are escorted by an experienced naturalist who will astound you with knowledge of all things big and small. Wildlife in Chitwan National Park includes the great one-horned rhinoceros, spotted deer, hog deer, sambar deer, barking deer as well as a wide variety of birdlife. With a bit of luck, there is even the chance of glimpsing a leopard, sloth bear and royal bengal tiger.

Accommodation: Jungle Villa Resort
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Rhino © Mads Mathiasen

We leave Chitwan mid morning for our final day of riding, and what a day it is! The first 60 km is still on the flat roads of the Terai, riding along with the National Park on our south side. We leave the Terai at Hetauda and head up into the hills to Bhimphedi, this is where in the old day people would get off the horse cart or vehicle and start walking for 2-3 days to get to Kathmandu. The first car that came to Kathmandu was carried in over the mountains from here; you won’t believe it when you see the hill in front of you!

We will have lunch here in Bhimphedi and maybe even have a look at Nepal’s 2nd oldest hospital. After lunch we start climbing up over the first row of hills towards Kathmandu, it is an amazing little road with hairpin after hairpin bend and suddenly we are at the top overlooking the Himalayas once again. From here we descend on an equally amazing road to the bottom of the Kulekhani Hydro electricity dam and here the action really starts. We now have almost 20 km of dirt road to climb back into the Kathmandu Valley, entering from the southern most end of the Valley. Once we reach the top and enter the valley we again have amazing views of the Valley and the mountains beyond – keep your eyes on the road!

Finally, after an incredible days riding we enter Kathmandu and ride through the mad traffic to our hotel and a deserved shower. In the evening we head out for a celebratory dinner in one of Kathmandu’s finest restaurants.

Accommodation: Hotel Manaslu
Meals included: Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Lots of hairpins © Mads Mathiasen

We will top things off with an amazing foot trip through the alleyways and forgotten courtyards of old Kathmandu, taking you into the heart of locals’ lives. Spend the remainder of the day shopping ancient bazaars and/or sipping coffee on a rooftop patio before our final feast together when we’re bound to be telling some tall tales!

Accommodation: Hotel Manaslu
Meals included: Breakfast, Dinner

The Azon Bazaar © Dan Barham

Enjoy a final breakfast at the hotel, tell one final round of tales about the trip, then we’ll transfer you to the airport, where we bid farewell and look forward to our paths crossing again.

Accommodation: None
Meals included: Breakfast

See you © Mads Mathiasen