21-Day Nepal Itinerary: Everest Base Camp, Pokhara and Chitwan (2026/2027 Guide)

Is 21 days the right length for a trip to Nepal?

Yes, if you want to do the big walk properly and still see the rest of the country. Three weeks is the first length where I can fit the full Everest Base Camp trek, two days in Kathmandu, a couple of days by the lake in Pokhara and a short wildlife stay in Chitwan without rushing any of them. With 10 days you pick one thing. With 14 days you get a short trek plus culture and a safari. With 21 days you can make the mountains the centre of the trip and still have a proper holiday around them.

This is the plan I would give a friend who had three weeks and wanted to do it well. It is built from packages we run, so the days, altitudes and walking hours below come from our own itineraries, not from a guidebook. If you have fewer days, our 14-day itinerary is the shorter version of the same idea.

What does a 21-day Nepal itinerary look like?

Day	Where	What happens
1	Kathmandu	Arrive, transfer to your hotel, rest
2	Kathmandu	Sightseeing, trek briefing and gear check
3	Lukla to Phakding	Morning flight to Lukla (2,860 m), short walk of about 3 hours
4	Namche Bazaar	6 to 7 hours, 3,440 m
5	Namche Bazaar	Acclimatisation day, short walk of 2 to 3 hours
6	Tengboche	5 to 6 hours, 3,860 m
7	Dingboche	5 to 6 hours, 4,410 m
8	Dingboche	Acclimatisation day
9	Lobuche	5 to 6 hours, 4,940 m
10	Everest Base Camp	Via Gorakshep, 7 to 8 hours, Base Camp at 5,364 m
11	Kala Patthar to Pangboche	Sunrise at Kala Patthar (5,545 m), then descend, 7 to 8 hours
12	Namche Bazaar	6 to 7 hours down
13	Lukla	5 to 6 hours
14	Kathmandu	Flight back from Lukla, about 40 minutes
15	Kathmandu	Spare day for a delayed flight, or Bhaktapur and Patan
16	Pokhara	Drive or fly to Pokhara, evening by the lake
17	Pokhara	Fewa Lake, World Peace Pagoda, rest
18	Sarangkot to Chitwan	Sunrise at Sarangkot, then drive of 5 to 6 hours to Chitwan, Tharu dance in the evening
19	Chitwan	Jungle safari, canoe on the Rapti River at sunset
20	Kathmandu	Drive back, 5 to 6 hours
21	Kathmandu	Departure

Days 3 to 14 are our 12-day Everest Base Camp trek, counted from the Lukla flight to the flight back. Days 16 to 21 follow our Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan tour. Days 1, 2 and 15 are the ones that make the whole thing work.

What should you do in Kathmandu on days 1 and 2?

Do very little on day 1. Most long-haul flights land tired, and you are about to spend twelve days walking, so sleep. Walk around Thamel in the evening, eat dal bhat, and get used to the noise.

Day 2 is for the valley's big sights, and I would keep it to three or four. Boudhanath is the largest stupa in Nepal and is best late in the afternoon. Pashupatinath sits on the Bagmati River and is the most important Hindu temple in the country; non-Hindus can walk the grounds but not enter the main temple. Swayambhunath has the hilltop view over the city. If you want more detail on any of them, our Kathmandu travel guide covers the valley properly.

In the afternoon your guide will brief you on the trek and check your kit. If you have not brought a sleeping bag or down jacket, you can borrow ours for the trek; we will sort that out at the briefing.

Kathmandu hotels are not part of the trek price on any tier, so I quote the nights around the trek separately. That matters on this itinerary, because you spend nights 1, 2, 14 and 15 in Kathmandu before and after the walk.

How does the Everest Base Camp trek work on days 3 to 14?

The trek is twelve days from the flight to Lukla to the flight back. It is not a technical climb. It is a long walk at altitude, and the itinerary is shaped around acclimatisation: a rest day at Namche Bazaar (3,440 m) and a second one at Dingboche (4,410 m). Those days matter more than anything else in the plan. Do not shorten them.

The high points are Everest Base Camp at 5,364 m and Kala Patthar at 5,545 m, which is where you stand for the sunrise over Everest. The day to Base Camp is the longest of the climb, 7 to 8 hours via Gorakshep, and the day you go up Kala Patthar at dawn and then descend to Pangboche is also 7 to 8 hours. After that it is all downhill: back to Namche, back to Lukla, and the flight to Kathmandu.

Every morning and evening your guide checks your oxygen level with a pulse oximeter and asks how you slept, how your head feels and whether you are eating. If you want to read more about what we watch for, our guide to altitude sickness and how to prevent it explains the symptoms and what we do about them.

What does each tier include on the trek?

The 12-day Everest Base Camp trek is USD 1,399 on Budget, USD 2,499 on Standard and USD 4,999 on Luxury, per person for one traveller; larger groups pay less each. The tier changes the support, not the route.

• Budget: guide and permits, shared teahouse rooms, no porter (you carry your own bag) and meals not included.
• Standard: all meals on the trek, private rooms and one porter for every two trekkers. A solo trekker on Standard has no porter and the guide carries part of the load.
• Luxury: your own porter, all meals with fruit, nuts and unlimited soft drinks, private deluxe rooms with bathroom, and the helicopter to Lukla and back.

Every tier includes the Sagarmatha National Park permit, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality permit and a TIMS card, which come to NPR 8,000 (about USD 52) for a foreign trekker. We buy the TIMS card in Kathmandu and your guide buys the Khumbu permit on the trail. You can read the current fees in our trekking permits guide.

What if the Lukla flight is delayed?

This is the honest risk in any Everest trek, and it is why day 15 is left open. Flights to and from Lukla depend on the weather, and a delay on your return day eats into the days after it. If everything runs on time you spend day 15 in Bhaktapur, the best-preserved of the old royal squares in the valley, or in Patan. If the flight is late, day 15 absorbs it and nothing else in the plan moves.

A few things help. Our package includes the road transfer to and from Manthali if a flight is rescheduled to fly from there. Luxury uses a helicopter to Lukla instead of the scheduled flight. And your insurance must cover trekking above 5,500 m and helicopter evacuation; we check your policy before you walk, and I would not run this trek for anyone without it.

If your international flight home is tight, do not schedule it for day 21 and hope. Give yourself the spare day, or leave Kathmandu on day 22. It costs you a hotel night and saves you a rebooking.

Is Pokhara worth two days after the trek?

Yes, and after twelve days of teahouses it feels like a different country. You can drive from Kathmandu on day 16 (about 7 hours by tourist bus) or fly, which takes 25 minutes. After twelve days of walking the flight is easier on tired legs, but the drive through the river valleys is worth it if you have the time.

Day 16 is for arriving and sitting by the lake. On day 17 take a rowboat on Fewa Lake early, before the motor boats start, and walk or cycle to the World Peace Pagoda in the afternoon. Day 18 starts early with the sunrise at Sarangkot (1,592 m), where on a clear morning you see Dhaulagiri, the Annapurnas, Machhapuchhre and Manaslu in one line. Then you drive to Chitwan. If you want to fly from Sarangkot rather than just look at it, read our Pokhara guide for paragliding and the other options.

What do you do in Chitwan on days 18 to 20?

Chitwan is in the lowlands of the Terai, about 5 to 6 hours by road from Pokhara, and the change from the mountains is part of the point. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the best places in Nepal to see wildlife. You arrive in the afternoon, and in the evening you can watch a Tharu cultural dance; the Tharu are the indigenous people of the Terai, and the stick dance is worth seeing.

Day 19 is the main wildlife day. We run it with a jeep safari through the forest and grassland, a dugout canoe on the Rapti River at sunset, a guided walk with a naturalist, and time for birdwatching. The rhinoceros is the animal most people come for. Tigers are rare, and I will not promise you a sighting of anything, because that would be a lie. What I can promise is that you will see the place properly, on foot, by canoe and by jeep.

We do not offer elephant-back safaris or visits to elephant breeding centres. It is a position we hold on purpose, and our blog on ethical jungle safaris in Nepal explains why. On day 20 you drive back to Kathmandu, about 5 to 6 hours, and I would stop at Bhaktapur on the way in if you did not use day 15 for it.

How much does a 21-day Nepal trip cost?

There is no single package for 21 days, so I quote it as a combination of two we already run and adjust the days. These are the published prices, per person for one traveller, with larger groups paying less each:

• 12-day Everest Base Camp trek: USD 1,399 Budget, USD 2,499 Standard, USD 4,999 Luxury.
• 8-day Kathmandu, Pokhara and Chitwan tour: USD 949 Budget, USD 1,199 Standard, USD 1,949 Luxury. The tour includes its hotels; the trek does not.

Those two do not simply add up to your price, because the days overlap and because the extra Kathmandu nights before and after the trek are extra. Send me your dates and group size and I will give you one quote for the whole three weeks, with the real number and nothing hidden. What is not included in either package: international flights, your Nepal visa, travel insurance, Kathmandu hotel nights around the trek, tips and personal spending.

To book, you pay a 10% deposit to confirm and the balance is paid in Kathmandu. The deposit is non-refundable, but you can reschedule free of charge with at least 72 hours' notice, to any date within one year. If you pay the balance by card it carries a 3.5% bank charge; cash in Kathmandu has none. For the wider picture on what a trek costs, see our Everest Base Camp trek cost guide.

When is the best time for a 21-day trip?

October and November are the clearest months for the Everest trek and the most popular, so the good dates fill early. March to May is the spring window, warmer and with rhododendrons in bloom lower down. December to February is cold above Namche, and June to September is the monsoon, which I would not choose for this itinerary. The details are in our guide to the best time for Everest Base Camp.

What visa and insurance do you need for 21 days?

A 30-day tourist visa at USD 50 covers a 21-day trip with room for a delayed flight. The 15-day visa is not enough, and the Department of Immigration publishes the fees on its visa information page. Our Nepal e-visa guide walks through both the online route and visa on arrival.

Travel insurance must cover trekking at altitude and helicopter evacuation. Do not buy it in Nepal. Buy it at home, before you fly.

Can you change this itinerary?

Yes. The plan above is the one I recommend, but the shape is flexible. If you would rather cross a high pass than stand at Everest Base Camp, the Annapurna Circuit (12 days, from USD 720 on Budget) can take the trek's place, and we would rebuild the order of the other days around it. If you want less walking, swap the trek for a shorter one and add days in Pokhara. If you want more, tell me and we will look at the longer Everest routes instead.

How do I book a 21-day trip to Nepal?

Send me your dates, group size, how fit you are and which tier you want, and I will reply with one clear quote for all three weeks. If you are not sure whether 21 days suits you, say so, and I will tell you honestly whether a shorter trip would be better.

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Email: [email protected]

Written by Shreejan Simkhada, CEO of The Everest Holiday and third-generation Himalayan guide. TAAN Member #1586.