- Spend six day walking in the Annapurna foothills, staying in luxury trekking lodges on full board with superb mountain views
- Visit Pokhara, nestled on the shore of Lake Phewa with wonderful views of the Annapurna Range and Machhapuchhare
- Enjoy two nights full-board in river-facing boutique eco-cottages at Barahi Lodge – observe Chitwan wildlife from the infinity pool, your private balcony, or sip a sundowner in the Tiger's Den Bar
- Ride a dugout canoe down the Rapti River in search of crocodiles, take a jeep safari to encounter rhinos, and embark on a walking safari to spot bird life
![Annapurna Trails & Chitwan – Premium Adventure](https://res.cloudinary.com/enchanting/q_80,f_auto,c_lfill,x_w_mul_0.52,y_h_mul_0.41,g_xy_center,w_360,h_270/exodus-web/2022/02/Boudha-stupa_Kathmandu_-Nepal-2-1.jpg)
Annapurna Trails & Chitwan - Premium Adventure
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- Annapurna Trails & Chitwan – Premium Adventure
Reviews
Add your own reviewGreat adventure covering highlights of Nepal in comfort
I really enjoyed the mix of activity, culture and trekking on this trip. The accommodation was good quality relative to Nepal standards and the adventurous nature of this trip, I wouldn’t call them 5* luxury but definitely solid 4* and the Chitwan lodge was a particular highlight! The trekking lodges were much nicer than the stories I’d heard about Nepalese teahouses, really comfortable and excellent service, with some spectacular views (when the weather cleared).
The trekking was a good pace and not too challenging but there were a lot of steps in parts which tested my knees. The road journeys were not the most “premium” experience, the vehicle was comfortable but the roads in parts were pretty rough and the journey was really long between Chitwan and Pokhara. I know flying isn’t great for our Carbon footprint but a flight on that route would make it a more premium experience.
Most Inspirational Moment
Chitwan National Park was a personal highlight for me, seeing rhino's in the wild and the canoe dug-out paddle down the river to a sunset drinks and canapes on the river bank (trying to spot crocs) was really special.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Worth taking a walking pole if you have weak knees for parts of the trek. You get fed a lot of food but might want snacks for some of the long road journeys.
An amazing holiday!
A holiday of contrasts -the hubbub of Kathmandu, the magnificence of the Annapurna range and the luxury of the Bahari Jungle Lodge in Chitwan.
We had a superb tour guide in Kathmandu who was happy to answer any question and who took us to see the living goddess! Our original hotel was very average but we were moved to the much more upmarket Yak and Yeti for the final night, which was the original hotel when we booked the trip and is now advertised for future trips.
I really enjoyed the trekking experience, the scenery was spectacular, the lodges were very comfortable, the food really good and the staff excellent. Our guide and porters were amazing, it was very sad bidding them farewell.
Chitwan was a complete contrast, much warmer, very luxurious. We were kept busy there. The jeep safari was my favourite, fortunately we did this early in the morning when the park inhabitants are more lively. To get to the National Park we simply took a boat across the river from the lodge, so easy! We didn’t see a tiger but saw several one horned rhinos, including a mother and calf whom we observed for some time. It would have been great to have one more day there to chill, to enjoy a dip in the pool, to sit on our balcony of our lovely ‘hut’.
Our last full day, the ‘approximately 5 hours’ on a coach turned into about 8 hours on a holiday, a day when traffic is much quieter than normal. We did not arrive in Kathmandu until about 4pm, it left little time to do anything before our farewell meal. I would have preferred to pay a little extra to fly! It was a disappointing end to our holiday.
Most Inspirational Moment
Getting up before sunrise each day to see if we could see the mountains, which were obscured by cloud later in the day. Our last morning of our trek granted us a spectacular view, which lasted until our departure from Pokhara.
Thoughts on Group Leader
This is a large part of the reason why I did not give the trip a 5 star rating. A premium adventure is supposed to have an expert named leader, there seemed to have been a change at the last moment about which we were not notified, and ours was neither. He was a very pleasant, kind individual and got us from A to B with no problem. However, he had not led a group for four years, hence he was a little out of practice and his English was somewhat rusty, which led to much confusion. On previous trips we have had some excellent Exodus group leaders from whom we learnt so much about the country we were visiting, unfortunately we learnt more in a day with our excellent Kathmandu tour guide than we did in the whole trip with our group leader.
Annapurna Premium Tour
My family saved up money to have a holiday of a lifetime. We were promised in the brochure and online that this was a Premium holiday with 4/5* hotels, an expert guide and superb mountain views. This was not the holiday we received in many areas. Some parts such as the trekking and lodges were excellent but as you will see below in my comments a lot fell short of what we had paid for and I would not book another ‘premium’ holiday with Exodus again.
Most Inspirational Moment
The guided tour round Kathmandu with Suresh, the trekking with our guide Bikash and the Bahari Lodge in Chitwan.
Thoughts on Group Leader
Poor group leader. Not one of the 'expert named guides chosen for their expertise and spoken English' that we had been promised. Gave out no information on culture, politics, history, religion etc. His English was fairly poor and his communication and organisational skills were poor meaning that we constantly had to ask him to clarify meeting times, flight transfer arrangements and other daily details.
Advice for Potential Travellers
Temper your expectations of how much of the Annapurna Range that you will see. Pollution is bad and unless there is rain during the night to clear the pollution out of the air and on the basis that it is not cloudy then you may see the Himalayas some of the time but by no means all the time. Ensure that what you have asked for (such as 2 x twin rooms at each location) is what is delivered. We ended up with 1 x twin and 1 x double at each location which meant me having to share a bed with my adult son. Not what I had requested. How difficult is it to get the administration and basic requests right? If you have any trips changes - make sure you get the real reason why they have been changed. Our initial hotel in Kathmandu (a 5 star hotel) was changed to the Hotel Mulberry which was no better than a UK 2 star hotel and the reason given was not credible. Ask about the road conditions on the land trip from Chitwan to Kathmandu. We were told that we weren't flying because of the regular delays at the local airport. Instead we were told that we would have a leisurely morning in Chitwan and a scenic 5 hour trip back to Kathmandu. In the event we had to be breakfasted and ready to leave at 8am and did not arrive at the hotel until 4pm. An 8 hour journey on appalling unmade dusty roads for over 75% of the journey being bounced around like a fairground ride. Even local airport delays would not have amounted to an 8 hour delay. It meant basically losing one whole day of our holiday. Cost cutting?? Think very carefully about what you expect from a 'premium' holiday and the additional cost to you above a standard trip. There were many areas of the trip that came nowhere near 'premium' and that was really disappointing as my family had saved up for this 'trip of a lifetime'.
We are grateful to you for taking the time to submit a review, Sally, and are pleased that you enjoyed the trekking and the lodges. On the other hand, we are incredibly sorry that you felt it did not live up to its premium description in several areas, as this is not the type of feedback we like to receive. The tour leader assigned to your group has a wealth of experience leading group tours and was selected for his strong language skills and charismatic personality, so we do regret if this was not evident during your trip. We always act on the feedback we receive and, following your helpful comments, we are currently considering whether your leader is suitable for future Exodus departures. Regarding the changes to your tour, these were made with our customers’ best interests in mind, although we admit that certain decisions backfired and we will endeavour to learn from them to ensure that future departures of this tour run more smoothly, in keeping with our expectations. We hope to be able to resolve your concerns via direct correspondence and would sincerely like to regain your trust on a future Exodus trip.
-Sarah Puttnam, Product Manager
Start
Finish
Availability
Land Only Trip Price
Optional Single Supplement
Tuesday Monday
15 Oct 2024 14 Oct 2024
Sunday Sunday
27 Oct 2024 27 Oct 2024
Availability
Guaranteed (Available)
Land Only Trip Price Usually 4 798 €Now 4 380 €Saving 418 € Usually 6 658 €Now Saving 418 €
Optional Single Supplement +1 200 €
Availability
This departure is available for new bookings and has reached the minimum number of passengers required to go ahead. Please click Continue to proceed with booking or contact our Sales team for assistance.
View Trip NotesTuesday Monday
19 Nov 2024 18 Nov 2024
Sunday Sunday
01 Dec 2024 01 Dec 2024
Availability
Guaranteed (Available)
Land Only Trip Price Usually 5 278 €Now 4 800 €Saving 478 € Usually 6 778 €Now Saving 478 €
Optional Single Supplement +1 200 €
Availability
This departure is available for new bookings and has reached the minimum number of passengers required to go ahead. Please click Continue to proceed with booking or contact our Sales team for assistance.
View Trip NotesWould you like to include flights with your booking?
- ATOL protected
- Competitive flight prices
- Full refunds in the event of FCDO cancellations or major disruption at your UK departure airport
- Specialist support to rearrange flights and transfers
- Regional flights available from many UK airports
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