Orchid Travels Nepal will accompany you in immigration formalities and give you a warm welcome in Nepal. After baggage claims, we will ride you to the hotel in Kathmandu, which is pre-booked in Thamel. 

You have a free day to rest in a hotel exploring Basantapur, Kathmandu Durbar Square. You are offered a welcome drink and even a Nepali Khaja set. The Nepali flavors and spices are as warm as their hospitality, hope you have a good rest and we can discuss the further itinerary for dinner.

If you have not been to Basantapur yet after a long day at the airport, we bet you this is going to be so far exciting. You will love the sound of temple bells here at Maa Annapurna temple (devi of food) as they worship in Asan. Even see the statue of Kal Bhairav, Swet Bhairab, and the temple complex in Kathmandu Durbar Square. We have breakfast in this area only. 

Now we head to Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple) for further exploration post lunch. At around 2-3 pm, we head to Boudhanath, explore a bit, have some Tibetan Laphing and momos, and go to explore the Pashupatinath temple. You will love the architectural designs and holy feeling here and how people worship this place with all their hearts and even burnt in the open-ground cremation area as per Hindu rituals. 

By the evening, we will be tired, so we will dine at a Thakali set at the nearby hotel and call off the day. The sightseeing tour is interesting and we get to take many pictures. But be respectful, as clicking pictures inside the holy temples is not allowed.

We take an early morning drive to Nagarkot, at around 4 am. So that we can capture Nagarkot sunrise, this hill station is probably the best spot for sunrise, and this morning gives you great views of Mt. Everest and its sanctuary. 

We take a rest day exploring Nagarkot with spa treatments, even rent a bicycle and make it a fun trip, capture memories, and dine Newari and local Nepali dishes to make the tour more interesting. 

We will return to Kathmandu that same day, so we won't have a stay here, probably next time in Nepal, if you like. We have a next-day flight to Lhasa, Tibet; if it's fine, we arrange a stay here too, depending on when the flight is. All meals are scheduled on the itinerary, we can have alterations or even order food as per our interest.

It's around a 90-minute flight from Kathmandu to Lhasa Gonggar Airport. We cover that today and only three days a week do we have a direct flight to Lhasa so arrange that accordingly. The Potala Palace and Jokhang are all waiting on the other side, and we would love to help you with Tibetan Buddhist heritage exploration at an altitude of 3,650 meters. 

We pack winter gear and the one used for hiking too. We need to acclimatize properly at such altitude levels and look for altitude sickness symptoms, as mild as can be seen. The night stay at the hotel is a good experience, as we are served with Tibetan food of our choice.

We take a morning visit to the most sacred temple of Buddha Sakyamuni, Jokhang Temple, which is a few kilometers away from our hotel. Then we walk around Barkhor Street, have our food there, and join locals in kora (circumambulation), which is a form of prayer too. 

In the afternoon, we strolled around Potala Square, which was the winter place of the Dalai Lama. We witness the grand architecture and chapels and have a leisurely walk through the places. We keep it light and have a rest at our hotels, with traditional supper.

We start our day at 8 in the morning with breakfast at the hotel. Then we take an 8 km drive to Deprung Monastery, arriving there by 9 am. We explore the 1416-founded monastery, its Coqen hall, and Garden Palace, and participate in the Kora walk. If we have time, we listen to Monk debate their philosophical discussion. 

We take our packed lunch at around noon in the vicinity of Ganden Monastery. This one is at a height of 4300 meters, founded by Lama Tsongkhapa. We enjoy this ambiance, just an hour's ride from the previous monastery. We have a spiritual experience here and depart for evening rituals at Sera Monastery. We make our way to these “great three” Gelug monasteries of Tibet and end our day at dinner in our hotel in Lhasa.

The day begins with a hearty breakfast at the hotel, then we take a bus ride and depart to Shigatse via Gyantse. It will be a long day, but we will enjoy the views of Yamdrok Lake, the Karola Glacier, and the Gyantse Kumbum.

We arrive at Yamdrok Lake just 30 minutes to the drive and enjoy it a bit. Our second stop on the bus will be Karola Glacier, the blue ice contrasting the views. We arrive in Gyantse, where we first have our lunch and then continue to explore. We visit the unique stupa Gyantse Kumbum, with intricate murals and hundreds of images of Buddha. 

After 2 hours here, we leave for Shigatse, which is just an hour's ride away. We check into a hotel here and take our time to reach the famous Tashilhunpo Monastery. We enjoy our hot Tibetan meal at around 7 in the evening.

We take a vehicle to EBC, which is 7 to 8 hours on route. We drive through scenic paths, see Tibetan landscapes, and see the passing by notable Tingri and Rongbuk Monastery. The plan for the day is to charter a minibus and be at the Northern EBC camp with our services. 

A group tour here requires the necessary permits and the best time here for clear weather and views of EBC is selected to be here. The earlier we took the ride, the better, as the wind blows more in the evening and the weather can get adverse any time soon. So, we make the most of the stunning landscapes early and camp at a little lower level. 

We pay a visit to Rongbuk monastery, which is the highest monastery. For our food, we have pre-packed meals and snacks for the trip. We even cook our noodles and hot soup here and call the day off at warm tents we arrange. If camping is not your thing, we can pre-arrange a hotel stay, but this can be expensive. 

We get to Gyirong Border, which is a 25-kilometer journey from where we last stayed. Our guide will help us to make our way through the Khumbu region, grant access, and even cross into Tibet through the Gyirong border. 

We wake up at 7 am, have breakfast, then take the route to Old Tingri, and the trek is going to take approximately 2 to 3 hours. But by ride, it's 70 kilometers to go to Gyirong town; we plan to reach that by 1 pm.  
 
The famous Everest Base Camp (EBC), the route to the border takes you back along the small road to Rongbuk Monastery and onto the G318 at Old Tingri. We can make a border crossing from Gyirong town and reach Rasuwa, where we can stay for the day. But this needs a pass, a special permit, and other details. However, we returned to take a flight to Kathmandu, which is a safe place.

We continue our way to the airport from where we last started and then transfer to Kathmandu on a flight.  Activities in Tibet are mainly mountain sightseeing, base camp, monastery retreat, and now we wrap this up. We have a connecting flight to Paro Bhutan the next day, we rest here a bit, have meals, and stay in a nice hotel in Kathmandu.

It's a scenic and convenient option if we book a flight to Paro, Bhutan. In the morning in Kathmandu on the 11th day, we freshen up, wake up with proper rest, and pack ourselves for the afternoon flight to Bhutan. 

We fly up to an hour either with Bhutan Airlines, Druk Air, or Hahn Air technologies. After a decent flight experience, we do baggage claims and transfer to a pre-booked hotel in Bhutanese hospitality. 

Bhutanese also believe that “the guest of one night is like a god." They simply regard us with respect, have influenced social interactors, and often have a good host-guest relationship under the traditional Neypo system, and thereby we enjoy their welcome akin. 

On our first night in Bhutan, we are offered traditional alcoholic beverages, aza, and butter tea, with snacks and meals with their flavors. They are generous, as is the stay in Bhutan. We walk in the neighborhood of Paro and explore some of the streets on the same day to engage more in their rich culture.

Thimphu, the capital here, has a lot to offer in terms of culture. We will wake up early for breakfast with sweet tea or coffee and then head to Trashi Chho Dzong spots in Thimphu. We extended our day plan to visit the impressive 51-meter-tall statue of Buddha gilded in gold. 

There are many more places we can visit like Dechen Phodrang Monastery, Changangkha Lhakhang, National Memorial Chorten, but we cover only a few and keep the day less busy. We understand Simply Bhutan, and we can even be part of an interactive living museum in its open hours and also enjoy the performances and demonstrations. 

We shop at the weekend markets and local streets, shop for our souvenirs, and praise their handicrafts. Throughout the day we taste the fine cuisines, and street specialties like Ema Datshi (the national dish), fried beef (Shakam Paa), and Jasha Maru curry, and continue exploring food at the dinner too. We stay at Thimphu only and pack our bags for the next morning's departure.

The day arrived when our Bhutan, Tibetan and Nepal trip came to an end. We have pre-booked tickets from Bhutan to your respective home country. You return with good memories, taste different momos in Tibet, Bhutan, and Nepal, cherish the hospitality, and now with a bag full of memories and souvenirs, return back. The farewell lunch is going to be special as we sit together for the last time before your flight leaves.