Before you travel, the answers.

Yes. You travel only with the people you choose, on your dates. Your guide, porters and vehicles are yours alone, and the route can be adjusted before or during the journey.

Your Himkora Host and senior guide, porters, every hotel and lodge named in the itinerary, meals as listed, domestic flights, permits, park fees and private transfers. International flights, your Nepal visa, travel insurance, drinks and gratuities are not included.

A 30% deposit confirms your journey, and the balance is due 90 days before travel. Your proposal sets out the full price and the cancellation terms before you pay anything. Our full booking terms are on the Booking terms page.

For spring (March to May) and autumn (late September to November), six to nine months ahead is ideal. The best rooms in the Khumbu and lodges such as Shinta Mani Mustang fill early. For winter and the lower routes, two to three months is usually enough.

Yes. Every journey on this site is a starting point. We can add rest days, a helicopter section, extra nights in Kathmandu or Pokhara, a safari, or join two routes together. Your proposal is written for you.

Yes. You get the same private guide and porter team, and a room of your own wherever the lodge allows; we flag any exceptions in your proposal. Solo prices are shown on each journey page.

Quite a lot. A private helicopter takes you to Everest, or into the Annapurna Sanctuary, and back in a morning. Three days is enough for the Kathmandu Valley or a safari in Chitwan, and our Annapurna Foothills Short Trek takes six days from Kathmandu. Each can be booked on its own or added to a longer journey; see Short on time on the Journeys page.

Yes. The Nepal Family Trek and Safari is designed for children from eight. On routes that sleep between 3,000 and 4,000 metres, and on the Everest Helicopter Tour, the minimum age is 10. We do not take children under 16 above 4,000 metres.

Tipping is customary in Nepal and makes a real difference to guides and porters. It is never compulsory. We send a simple guide with your final documents so you don't have to guess, and many guests give a single envelope to the team on the last evening.

Spring (March to May) and autumn (late September to November) are the main trekking seasons. Winter suits lower routes and the Kathmandu Valley. Each journey page lists its seasons.

Each journey has a walking grade, explained on its page. Before you book, we send a short health questionnaire and talk through your walking history. If a route isn't right, we will say so and suggest one that is.

Above 3,000 metres our itineraries raise sleeping altitude by about 500 metres a night, never more than 700 metres and then only next to a rest day, with acclimatisation days built in. Guides check blood oxygen and pulse twice a day, carry bottled oxygen on high routes, and always have the authority to turn back.

Mild symptoms such as a headache or poor sleep are common and usually pass with rest and water. If symptoms get worse, the treatment is to go down, and your guide will descend with you straight away. On high routes we carry oxygen, and a helicopter can be called when the weather allows.

Talk to your doctor or a travel clinic. Many trekkers carry acetazolamide (Diamox) on high routes, either to prevent or to treat symptoms. Your guide can't prescribe, but will know whether you have it and when you might need it.

Check with a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you go. Routine vaccines, hepatitis A and typhoid are commonly recommended for Nepal. Your clinic will advise on anything else for your route and season.

Yes. Your policy must cover trekking to the highest altitude on your route (up to 6,000 metres on our high journeys), emergency medical treatment, helicopter rescue and repatriation. We check it before you travel.

Often not. Many standard policies stop at 2,500 or 3,000 metres, or exclude helicopter rescue. Look for the words 'trekking to [altitude] metres' and 'helicopter evacuation' in the policy wording, or ask the insurer to confirm in writing. Specialist adventure travel insurers usually cover both.

We strongly recommend it. Buy your policy as soon as you pay the deposit, so you are covered if illness or a family emergency means you can't travel.

Mountain flights depend on the weather, and in busy months they may leave from Ramechhap rather than Kathmandu. Every Everest itinerary keeps a spare day in Kathmandu after the Lukla flight, so a weather delay doesn't cost you any of the trek. If delays run on longer, a helicopter can be arranged at cost.

Flights to Lukla and Jomsom usually allow about 15 kilograms in total: 10 kg in the hold and 5 kg in the cabin. Your porters carry a duffel for you on the trail, and anything you don't need stays safely at your hotel in Kathmandu.

Most visitors, including from the US, UK and Australia, can buy a tourist visa on arrival at Kathmandu airport, or fill in the online form shortly before travel and pay on arrival. Fees are currently US$30 for 15 days, US$50 for 30 days and US$125 for 90 days, paid in cash. Check the latest rules with the Nepal Department of Immigration before you fly.

Kathmandu is well connected through Doha, Dubai, Istanbul, Delhi, Bangkok and Singapore. We suggest arriving at least a day before your journey begins. Send us your flights and we will meet you at the airport.

An early breakfast, three to four hours of walking, a long lunch, then an hour or two more. Most days end by mid-afternoon, with time to rest, wash and explore the village. Your guide sets the pace to suit you.

Only a daypack with water, layers, sun cream and a camera. Porters carry your main bag between lodges. We send a packing list with your final documents.

Most lodges on the main trails have Wi-Fi, though it can be slow and is sometimes paid. Mobile signal is good low down and patchy higher up. Your guide carries a phone and, on remote routes, a satellite device.

Licensed Nepali guides, most from the regions they work in, trained as Wilderness First Responders. On every trek there is a senior guide and a porter for every two guests.

Low in the valleys we use the region's best lodges, with en-suite rooms, heated beds and good food. Higher up, every lodge is simple: we book the best rooms early and say plainly on each journey page where the comfort steps down.

Yes. Couples and friends travelling together share a room, and anyone can ask for their own. In the busiest weeks at the highest villages a single room can't always be guaranteed; we will tell you in your proposal if that applies.

Yes. Vegetarian food is easy everywhere in Nepal, and our guides brief each kitchen on allergies, gluten-free and vegan needs. Tell us on your booking form and we will plan for it.

Not straight from the tap. We provide treated or boiled water every day on the trail, so there is no need to buy plastic bottles.