New website & new tours!

We are delighted to share our new Nepal Uncovered website with you. We've been wanting to update the design of the site, feature more about Bhutan and Tibet, and add some extra tour ideas for some time now, and are confident that the new site is a big improvement. We hope that you enjoy using it, and find it easy to move around and find the tour and country information you are looking for. We very much welcome any feedback on the website, good or bad, especially if you find it hard to find particular information or find some aspects of the navigation confusing.

To co-incide with the launch of the new website, we have also made some changes to the way we categorise our tours, and to some of the itineraries themselves. We feel that these are all improvements, and will make your experience better, both when searching for a holiday that will be right for you, and while you are actually on the tour. 

To help people who are familiar with our old website, we have made some notes below...

Travel Ideas and Comfort Ratings

We describe our tours using 'Travel Ideas'. which explain what type of holiday it is and what activities you should expect to be included, and then also using 'Comfort Ratings' which give an idea of the overall level of accommodation used. Each Travel Idea may feature tours with different Comfort Ratings.

Travel Ideas such as 'Trekking', 'Rafting', 'Wildlife Safaris' and 'Family Tours' are pretty straightforward. New however, are 'Cultural Adventures', which provide a balance of some adventurous activities such as short treks, white water rafting and wildlife safaris with sightseeing and insights into the local cultures; 'Classic Journeys', which are mainly sightseeing based tours without any strenuous activities; and 'Special Interests' which concentrate on a particular theme, activity or interest.
More information on Travel Ideas and Comfort Ratings.

Itinerary changes

We have made some amendments to several of our tour itineraries to improve your experience while on the tour. These changes include:

• Nepal Discovery - Changes to this tour follow feedback from our travellers that the old itinerary felt a little too slow and could fit more in to give a real overview of more of Nepal. We've been careful not to add too much and make the itinerary feel rushed, but the tour now also visits the birthplace of Lord Buddha at Lumbini, the fort/palace complex of Gorkha Durba, and finishes with time at the beautiful Dhulikhel Mountain Resort on the rim of the Kathmandu Valley.
• Nepal Explorer - This tour has only been amended slightly and is now a great example of our new Cultural Adventure travel idea. We have put in a short journey on a public bus for some added local flavour, used tourist coaches for a couple of journeys to keep the costs down, and re-arranged the itinerary a little using the Trisuli instead of the Seti river for the white-water rafting. We also include time exploring Bhaktapur and Nagarkot in the Kathmandu valley, as well as keeping the wildlife safaris in Chitwan, and Poon Hill trek in the Annapurna foothills.
  
• Nepal Uncovered - This tour used to follow an identical itinerary to the Nepal Explorer, except visit Bandipur instead of doing the white water rafting. As we now offer an option on the Nepal Explorer to spend an extra day in Chitwan if people want to miss out the rafting, this gave us the opportunity to do something different with this tour. We've therefore made it a shorter version of the Nepal Explorer tour, running alongside it as far as Pokhara, but then missing out the trek. Instead you head back to Kathmandu via Bandipur and Gorkha to finish the tour in 11 days. The option remains to miss the rafting if you wish.
• Nepal Wildlife Safari - This tour has been extended from 12 to 14 days to give us the opportunity to visit a few more places than just Chitwan and Bardia National Parks, and as a result to see some more different wildlife in different habitats. We have added a stay at the Shreeban Nature Camp in the hills between Kathmandu and Pokhara, which is good for birdwatching and has excellent mountain views. It also gives you more of a taste of typical rural Nepal in the foothills of the Himalayas. We've also added a day walk through the Nagarjun Forest in the Kathmandu Valley, again good for birdwatchers and views over the city. Finally, in Bardia National Park we are now using the newly opened Bardia Eco Lodge.
  

New tours

We have added several new tour itineraries to the website, mainly providing more options in Bhutan and Tibet. We'll be adding further itineraries in these countries, and in Nepal itself, over the coming months. Please follow us on Facebook or Twitter for announcements on these. 

• Everest and Gokyo Lakes - This is an extended version of our existing Everest Base Camp trek, and follows the same itinerary until you start descending from Base Camp. The route then diverts and makes an exciting crossing of the Cho La Pass (5420m) to the Gokyo Valley where you see beautiful glacial lakes and make an alternate descent through a much less visited valley back to Namche Bazaar. The tour is not available all year round due to weather conditions on the Cho La Pass, which always includes some walking on ice and snow but no technical equipment or mountaineering experience.
• Himalayan Explorer -This tour combines all three Himalayan countries of Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet within 16 days to give a great introductory taste of the region. The tour doesn't leave the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal, but is a great way to fit Tibet and Bhutan into one trip (these always need to be connected with some time in Nepal inbetween).
  
• Overland to Lhasa - Driving from Kathmandu up across the Tibetan border and over several 5000m passes to Lhasa is one of the world's great overland journeys. You get amazing mountain views along the way, and we also spend several days touring Lhasa and the Kathmandu valley at either end of the tour.
  
• Birds of Bhutan - Bhutan is one of the world's great birdwatching destinations, and this special interest tour spends 18 days travelling through the country with a specialist guide, searching for many different rare and exciting species including the Himalayan Monal, Satyr Tragopan, Black Necked Crane and White Bellied Heron.
  

Highlighted tours...

Overland to Lhasa

Tibet

From UK£1,595 per person

12days

Himalayan Kingdoms

Bhutan & Nepal

From UK£1,740 per person

12days

Himalayan Explorer

Nepal, Bhutan & Tibet

From UK£2,850 per person

16days