Packed with countless different ways to explore, Nepal attracts travellers, trekkers, mountaineers and more from all over the world – but if you’re looking for a remote adventure, where sdo you start to look? Our Nepal trekking holiday Product Manager Kit Wilkinson, explains how to trek secret trails and find the hidden heart of Nepal. 

One of the greatest of all adventure travel destinations, Nepal is blessed with a wonderful mix of landscape; from the rich forest and terraced farmland of the ‘middle hills’, northwards to the separate and spectacular mountains and massifs of the Nepal Himalaya; from Kanjiroba in the west to Dhaulagiri, the Annapurnas, Manaslu, the Ganesh peaks, Langtang, the Rolwaling, the Khumbu, Makalu and Kangchenjunga. Attracted by its natural splendour, the world’s travellers quickly fall under the spell of Nepal’s other main attraction: a charming and welcoming people.

The Everest and Annapurna regions have always exerted the greatest pull on incoming tourists and in these areas, within the last 25 year or so, the entrepreneurial Nepalese have built lodges and developed the infrastructure needed to provide trekkers with many of the comforts of home whilst enjoying their holiday-of-a-lifetime beneath the world’s biggest peaks.

But there is another way to explore and one which harks back to a time when anyone wishing to get close to Nepal’s mountains travelled with full camping gear and needed to be self-sufficient. Thankfully, there are still parts of Nepal where this holds true, where there are no lodges, where the next night’s camping place is not always certain and where the local people still treat trekking groups as something of a novelty. This, we would suggest, is the ‘real Nepal’ and there are lots of KE holidays which can take you there.

High and wild, Dolpo is the land that time forgot, with a mix of ancient Tibetan religions and a hardy people who make their living through farming and through trade with both Tibet and Nepal. Peter Matthiessen’s book, ‘The Snow Leopard’ shed some light on this special place and little has changed here since the author’s visit in the early 1970’s.

Accessible and yet off-the-beaten-track, this is a brilliant trekking holiday that no-one else is offering in a quiet region inhabited by Gurung people. It follows ridge-top trails up to the eastern end of the Annapurnas with spectacular views of a range of well-known peaks, such as Manaslu and Machhapuchhre, from wholly new perspectives.

The Langtang Himal is one of the most accessible trekking destinations in Nepal yet still remain unspoiled. Less busy than the Everest and Annapurna regions, this combination of Gosainkund and Langtang offers brilliant trekking amongst some of Nepal’s most spectacular landscapes. A fantastic week of ridge walking along the crest of the Thare Danda, with views of the Annapurnas, Manaslu and the Ganesh peaks from the Laurebina La.

Crossing from the Burhi Gandaki to the Trisuli, through a mix of ancient forest and terraced farmland, this is another camping-based holiday where you can expect to meet few (if any) trekkers. There are mountain views extending from the Annapurnas to the Langtang and lots of time to meet the local people at a succession of timeless villages.

This is one of the world’s great treks and our version will take you to Kangch’s south and north basecamps for some of the very best Himalayan views. Whilst basic lodges are now being developed on this classic route, we prefer to run this one as a camping trek so we can maintain the level of service we provide and have the flexibility to stay in all the best locations.