Langtang Valley is the third most popular hiking region in Nepal and Himalayas after Annapurna and Everest regions. Langtang Valley was severely affected in 2015 Nepal Earthquake destroying nearly all its residents and houses. Today, locals have rebuild Langtang just a few meters from the original place, however you can still see the remarks of the earthquake - you will need to cross the landslide in order to get to the village and continue your trek. It is very weird experience. Locals will value you coming to Langtang region though as they are trying to rebuild their lives and tourism supports their economy.
Why Nepal? For excellent hiking, trekking and mountaineering experience in the world's tallest mountains. Also for culture and spirituality.
Top Things to see - Kathmandu, Pokhara, Everest, Annapurna, Langtang.
Best time to visit - Spring and Autumn.
Safety - Reasonably safe.
Costs - Cheap.
WHY LANGTANG?
After doing my own research and initially having my eye on Annapurna Circuit, in the end I opted out for Langtang Valley trek for the following reasons:
It is one of the shortest treks (8 days with getting there from Kathmandu and back)
The journey from Kathmandu is short and does not require a plane ride (which I am not going to lie did scare me knowing Nepal aviation safety records)
It is great for first time hikers as it does not go to such high altitudes as Annapurna or Everest treks (except on the day we did Tsergo Ri). Average altitude did not exceed 4000m
It is not as cold there compared to other areas and I am not a lover of cold. We hiked in October and temperatures in the lower altitudes were around +5 during the night and +25 during the day whilst in Langtang Valley and Kjanging they were around -1 at night and +10 during the day. We were lucky and all days were clears and sunny without the rain.
PACKING ESSENTIALS
I read a few blogs myself and took the general advice from the company we did the trek with on what to pack and here is my essentials list:
Clothing
Clothing (leggings, shorts, hiking pants, fleece pants for sleeping and layering on colder days)
Fleece jumper
Rain jacket and rain pants
Light dune jacket
Hat and a beanie
Gloves (for Tsergo Ri)
Hiking boots (I also had a pair of trainers) and flip flops for evenings and going to a shower
Some t-shirts and long sleeve thermo layer
Socks and underwear In lower altitudes you can wash your clothing and air dry or in higher altitudes hang it in the common room over the fireplace.
Hygiene
Quick dry towel
Sheet pocket soap and fabric wash (most outdoor stores sell them)
Wet wipes and hand sanitiser
Toilet paper (most places will sell it on the trek, but you will not find any in the toilets)
Personal hygiene items (toothbrush, deodorant etc)
SPF
Mosquito spray
Hiking specific and other
Headlamp (for evenings going to outside toilet/ hiking Tsergo Ri)
Water bottle
Backpack
External battery and adapter (most places have outlets however not all)
Water purification tablets (you can refill your water bottle along the way in any tea houses, however it is recommended to use water purification tablets)
Sleeping bag (company may provide you with one) - we used them at higher altitudes
First aid kit (plasters, medicine, altitude sickness tablets)
Neck scarf (useful when hiking Tsergo Ri)
Hiking poles (we did not use them but many people did)
Camera, phone
If you have forgotten to buy something, you will find most things in Kathmandu to buy.
USEFUL INFORMATION AND CONSIDERATIONS
Accommodation - you will be staying at mountain tea houses run by the local families. They are generally very basic. Some will have private bathroom and shower and some will not. Some will have charging outlets but not all. We had private bathroom, shower, charging outlets and free wifi in Syadrubesi, Langtang Valley and Kjanjing Gompa. We did not have private bathroom, shower, charging outlets and any kind of wifi in Lama Hotel and Bamboo Village. Generally speaking Lama Hotel is the most basic (you will be staying there on day 2). Langtang Valley had the nicest tea houses. Most places have hot shower (in Lama Hotel I paid 250 rupees for it however in Langtang and Kjanging Gompa we did not have hot water. It is powered by solar panels but sometimes they run out of it. Walls are very thin and in most places you will hear everything in the next room. Ear plugs are essential if you are a light sleeper. I found that on most nights trekkers go to bed early and it gets silent around 9-10pm.
Food - is very similar everywhere. If you opt for Dal Bhat it will be unlimited top ups of food. Langtang Valley is very remote and mostly Buddhist so after Syadrubesi food will be vegetarian. At higher altitudes you will also have very limited vegetable selection. As you go higher up everything also gets more expensive. You can buy snacks in the local tea houses too. Example pricing - Dhal Bhat (around 500-700 rupees). Breakfast omelette/pancake (400-600 rupees). Beer (between 600-900 rupees). Snickers (250-350 rupees). Tea/coffee (150-250 rupees). Hot water (50-150 rupees).
Altitude sickness - if you trek with an experienced guide and take rest, drink plenty of water and acclimatise, you should not have any issues. I had slight headache at Langtang Valley (3400m) but after that had no symptoms. Most people we met on the trek were also fine. If you are worried, you can get altitude sickness medicine.
Budget - our trek was organised by a company and included all transport, tea houses, 3 meals a day (except drinks), guide, porter, airport transfer, 2 nights in a hotel in Kathmandu, dinner in Kathmandu, trekking permits and cost us USD700. On top of that we had a return jeep of USD350. Budget per day for additional expenses such as drinks, hot shower, snacks is recommended USD10-15 per day.
Guide and porter - from April 2022 it is mandatory to have a guide to trek in Nepal. It is not strictly regulated yet, however we had to pass 3-5 check points with army and police on our way to Langtang so for this trek guide is mandatory. You can get one in Kathmandu or organise it online. I have great contacts, if you need an experienced guide. Porter is optional. Generally, you will have 1 porter between 2 people that can carry up to 25kg (12.5kg per person). We opted to have a porter.
Jeep vs Bus - we opted for a jeep ride as bus can take long, you may need to stand and through mountain roads it is not the safest. Bus will cost you USD20 return vs jeep USD350 (you can share it with others). Bus will take around 8-12hrs vs jeep 5-6 hrs.
Insurance - I highly recommend getting a helicopter rescue insurance as after Syadrubesi there is no access for cars. If anything happens your only way down is a donkey/porter carrying you or a helicopter rescue. If anything happens at Kjangjing Gompa it will take 2-3 days to get down. There are no doctors or hospitals, except in Kjangjing. We used True Traveller (from the UK) and World Nomads (from AUS). It will cost around £200 per week.
8 DAY TREK (6 ACTUAL TREKKING DAYS)
Langtang trek is a return journey of 60km that takes you from Syadrubesi to Kjangjing Gompa and return.
DAY 1 - Kathmandu - Sydrubesi (around 1550m)
On day 1 we set off for 6 hour jeep ride from Kathmandu to Syadrubesi at 8am. It is only 80km however road conditions are not great - varying between paved and dirt roads through the mountains. We then relaxed in our guest house.
DAY 2 - Sydrubesi - Lama Hotel (around 2380m)
Started day with breakfast at 7am and started trek at 8am. On this day you will be walking first 2 hours on the road and then start the actual trek where you cars have no access. The rest of the trek goes through jungle feel forest where you can spot monkeys. We hiked in an average pace and it took us 6-7hours to reach Lama Hotel stopping at Bamboo Village for lunch and having a tea break. Most of the trek is steps so it will be moderately challenging. In October average temperature in the area was +25 so shorts, mosquito spray are recommended. Our home for the night was Lama Hotel which is very basic, located in the middle of forest. Hot shower cost 250 rupees and place had no charging outlets. The food was the best there though.
DAY 3 - Lama Hotel - Langtang Valley (around 3430m)
Again, we started the day early at and set off at 7:30am. The day continues walking along the river through forest and you have to complete many steps. Until lunch it will be pretty challenging hike and then the road gets more steady and flat - you have completed hiking through steps. After lunch we felt like it was walk in the park compared to what we had completed. You will also start to see snow peaked mountains and peak views of Langtang Lirun (over 7000m). We arrived in Langtang Village around 2-3pm. Again, total trekking time took us between 6-7 hours with lunch and tea break. From this day you can also enjoy local Himalayan berry tea - it is very healthy and delicious. Tea houses in Langtang Valley are probably the best on the trek - we had private bathroom, western style toilet, hot shower.
DAY 4 - Langtang Valley - Kyanjing Gompa (around 3780m)
Today the trek was comparatively easy. It was steady uphill and the views were probably the most scenic compared to other days. You will start to also spot yaks - local animal that is traditional to Himalayas. Guide told us not to go too close to them as they can be aggressive especially during the mating season. On one of the days we had a yak running towards us and luckily our guide knew what to do - he scared it off with his hiking stick. You can also try yak cheese and curd in the local factory and there are some temples along the way as well as ‘memorial' for those who lost their lives in 2015 earthquake. Kyanjing Gompa village also has bakeries and proper coffee. We arrived there in 3-4 hours, had lunch and in the afternoon went to see glaciers. Tea houses here are equally nice to Langtang. We did not have hot water though in our private bathroom.
DAY 5 - Tsergo Ri and back to Langtang Valley
This day started very early at 4:30am with a hike to Tsergo Ri (5033m). This is an optional hike and you can also opt for Kyanjing Ri which is slightly easier. Hike to the peak takes between 3-6 hours. For the fittest in our group it took 3.5-4 hrs and for me it took nearly 5 hours. I consider myself moderately fit, however this was the hardest thing I have done physically (much harder than running half a marathon). The ascend is very steep, rocky, windy and you will fell altitude. During the last hour I had to stop after every 3 steps to gain back my breath and energy. There are no facilities, no water, food during this trek. Was it worth it? Totally! Once you get on the top, the views are magnificent. As I am scared of heights I also had to challenge my fear as it does get scary. The descend took us 3-4 hours. We took a different route which was equally scary and scenic. After lunch we headed down to Langtang Valley for another 2 hours.
DAY 6 - Langtang Valley - Bamboo Hotel
After having breakfast we headed down to Bamboo Hotel (which is around 1.5 hours further down from Lama Hotel) for the night which took us around 4-5 hours. The hike down is not difficult at all however you will feel your leg muscles at this point completing many steps down. It was definitely the most ‘painful day’. We arrived at Bamboo just after lunch, relaxed and spent a night there - facilities are very basic, however it was nice to sleep at lower and warmer altitudes.
DAY 7 - Bamboo Hotel - Syadrubesi
We set off again at 7:30am after breakfast and completed the easiest day. 3 hours down to Syadrubesi and we were done with the hike. We relaxed and celebrated after having lunch and enjoyed views to Himalayas and Tibet that is a very short distance away.
DAY 8 - Syadrubesi - Kathmandu
Same as on Day 1, we took 6 hours jeep ride back to Kathmandu.
We did the trek with a company ‘Cordial Trek’ and experienced guide Prakesh who took good care of us, was friendly, caring and funny. I collaborate with the company and if you are interested in any trekking experience in Nepal, Bhutan or India get in touch with me!
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