Nepal may be a mountaineering paradise, but this humble nation offers something to travelers of all altitudes. Challenge yourself on the world's highest peaks or roll out your mat and find your inner peace in Pokhara. If you’re on an adrenaline kick, choose your poison: Everest, Annapurna, or Mustang. All three boast (literally) breath-taking peaks and endless plates of dal bhat. If you’re out for culture and stupas, you can’t get more hustle and bustle than the city of Kathmandu, a stark contrast to the rural mountain villages where the only sound is the wind whipping through endless lines of prayer flags. Nestled among the fabled Himalayas, and blessed with transcendent landscapes, the only thing more enchanting than Nepal itself is the warmth of its big-hearted people.

Searching for the Sacred in Nepal

Although hemmed in by giants – India on one side and China on the other – tiny Nepal still moves to its own unique rhythms. In this one-time Himalayan kingdom, Hinduism and Buddhism flow together like the rivers that gush down from the high Himalaya and drain out into the Indian plains. Tiered temples and medieval monasteries perch atop mountain passes and mountaineers and trekkers throng to trails that climb through rhododendron forests and high- altitude deserts to the summits of the world’s tallest peaks. Then there are the overlooked lowlands, sprinkled with wilderness reserves that shelter tigers, elephants and rhinos. Disasters – both natural and man-made – have often pushed the country to the brink, but somehow, Nepal always bounces back. If there’s a better stand-in for Shangri-La anywhere on Earth, we’ve yet to find it.

Nepal still moves to its own unique rhythms

Nepal may be a mountaineering paradise, but this humble nation offers something to travelers of all altitudes. Challenge yourself on the world's most (literally) breath-taking peaks or roll out your mat and find your inner peace.

Customized travel to Nepal. Trek Kathmandu and epic peaks of the Himalayas. Visit Pokhara's Buddhist temples and Boudhanath Stupa. Local travel. Responsible travel.