Considering taking this tour:
http://www.bohemiantours.com/nepal.html

Has anyone traveled with Bohemian Tours? I'd love to hear your feedback, if you have.

Thanks in advance!

I haven't traveled with them. Is there a reason you want to go with a group? If not, Nepal is remarkably easy to do independently. There is nothing on their itinerary you can't easily do on your own.

Kathie,

Thank you for your response. We've been planning to go to Spain this summer, but I just saw this deal on Groupon for this tour:
http://www.groupon.com/deals/ga-m-bohemian-tours?p=27

I typically try to stay away from tours, but this seemed like a good option for a reasonable price. Thoughts?

If a gruelling trekking tour with fellow yoga enthusiasts, complete with awful hotels, dysentry and relentless uphill slog <i>already</i> appeals to you, then you're exactly the kind of bright-eyed Omm-bunny these companies prey on. Book it immediately. If you're still alive at the end, write a trip report.

Ha! Okay, point taken. Thank you for your response, dogster.

I had a brief moment of extreme laziness where I thought perhaps taking an organized tour might be a good idea. Back to my senses now. Thank you, Fodorites.

We are here to serve. Heh...

Yes, that was exactly the e-slap that I needed.
In your debt, dogster. Many thanks.

dogster,
Is it really that bad? Have you dealt with Bohemian tours yourself? or is your comment more of general experience in group tour packages?

tucantravel.com decent Nepal experience in the past. Bohemian
look s photoshopped scammy expensive to me more Nepal tout scammers on the boards thany anything. DIY with a nice hotel boots on the gound cheaper for me last albeit years past.

http://www.booking.com/hotel/np/shan...hmandu.en.html

Caveat Emptor!

Odds are you will get a crap hostile and some tents for $3k
with your famous "Yogi". Do check them out CAREFULLY

Official site of Nepal Tourism Board. Offers a business and resource directory with information on nature, culture and tourism.

www.welcomenepal.com

Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation | Government of Nepal

Contacts. Ministry of Tourism and Civil Aviation Singha Durbar, Kathmandu, Nepal. Tel.: 977-1-4211870, 4211879, 4211607 Fax: 977-1-4211758. E-mail: [email protected] ...

tourism.gov.np

Most of these guys not even licensed disappear your money.

Most common "yogi" magic trick there they are quite good.

Hi TravelMickey: Nope, I've never dealt directly with these guys, but after the six trips to Nepal in the last five years you get a pretty good feel for this stuff. I've seen the results, many times. I suggest you into their home site and judge for yourself. Look at the itinerary and the tour leaders. Look at the price. Yoga and trekking are not words that commonly fit together in the same sentence.

I first went to Kathmandu in 1971 as a card-carrying, bright-eyed Omm-gobbling hippie. So it's all probably my fault. There's an industry built around it all now. Indeed, an entire district: Thamel - as I'm sure you know.

I'll just ignore the strange rambling above - and I suggest you do the same. Nepal changes hourly.

Definitely appreciate the insight - thanks, folks!

Was eyeing the same trip even though I am not really a group-tour person. It's the supported trekking that really appeals to me -- the yoga I can take or leave. Basically I want to take a trip in March or April, preferably 1 week supported hiking/trekking/walking, preferably somewhere in the vicinity of India - SE Asia, and don't have a ton of time to plan. This trip seemed appealing for price, support, & length of trek.

If anyone has a better idea of how to make something like this happen, I would love to hear your thoughts.

Never been to Asia before.

Just to finish up...

It certainly occurs to me that 'Groupon' and Yoga' are two words never before seen in the same sentence.

Let's conjure with that scenario looking again at this company that initially appeals to you...

You arrive in Nepal, not famed for its standards of hygiene, jetlagged and suddenly rather confused at what you've arrived in. Never been to Asia? Well, Nepal may well not be the place to start. After just one night you're on a five + hour bus trip to Pokhara, Ommming all the way. Next morning, after a yoga session, you're climbing mountains with a group of total strangers.

Now, an army moves as fast as its slowest member. Shall we assume that everybody has the same level of fitness? Shall we assume that altitude has the same effect on everybody simultaneously? Shall we assume that everybody is able to stomach the food? The water? The climb? The group dynamics?

No problem - let's all do some yoga.

So what happens when one or more of the group goes down? Do we all just charge ahead, leaving them vomiting huddled in a lotus position by the track?

Shall we assume that your guides are experts? Look at the personnel on the website. The main guy is an expert in the noble science of Laughing Yoga. Oh well, no troubles there.

Shall I go on? lol.

There are about twenty thousand companies who specialise in trekking in Kathmandu. They spam in here all the time. Google 'trekking in Nepal' to find about a hundred pages of them. Choose one - or just arrive in Kathmandu and dive up the nearest set of stairs. You'll find a trekking company.

Now - how to trust them? That really cool guy might just turn not so cool on the top of a mountain. What if he turns nasty, demands more money - or, as recently reported, just leaves you alone and disappears? What do you do then? Catch a bus?

By the same token, there are excellent companies who really <i>do</i> specialise in supported trekking. I suspect not too many of them attract their clientele on Groupon.

So how to tell who is cool and who is a scam-meister? How to tell whether that really great website accurately represents a company - or merely reflects a smart web-site designer and a company with its offices in a cupboard under the stairs?

Dunno.

'Never been to Asia before...'

Famous last words.

So I'd be researching. I'd be asking around. I'd be looking for the biggest, most reputable company I could find. I'd be carrying a sat-phone and insurance. I'd be asking my questions in another forum. You're in the wrong place for trekking questions in here. Try Lonely Planet, Thorntree. Get a guidebook. There are chapters on how to do this in L.P. I think.

With luck someone else will chime in with better suggestions... because, for all my words of doom above, there really are some great companies who do this stuff. Don't abandon hope - but keep my words in mind, eh? Just a heads up.

'Cos if this goes pear-shaped, when you're stuck on the side of a mountain throwing up, then the words 'pear-shaped' will assume a whole new meaning...

I meant that several time constraints (including the need to travel within the next few months) will limit my ability to research and plan a detailed multi-country trip on a continent I'd never been to -- not that I didn't have time to research a tour company.

I am fairly confident when planning my own unguided trips to Central America because I have a better idea of what "the deal" is, there is less of a language barrier, and I've already done months and months of research on it for previous visits I've planned. But I have no doubt that Asia is quite a different story. In fact, I kind of hope it is because I am looking for a little more culture shock than I'd get in Central America. But I'm certainly not looking to be abandoned by a laughing yogi on the side of a Himalayan peak dying of a pulmonary edema.

Duly noted on your advice and your impression of the particular company the folks on this thread were posting about.

Seriously do it yourself. Hi, just returned from the Spirit of the Himlayas Tour and extension tour which commence on 17 February 2012. I was very disappointed with the arrangement of the tour. I loved India though! The company owner Tara Das (this is his yogi name not his real name) neglected the group regularly, failed to give information and didn't provide any commentry on India at all. He also fails to clearly identify on his website that both him and his assistant (Nanda - a lovely man) are both Hare Krishna's and therefore most chanting and discussions about the yoga ladder will one way or another lead to dicussions on Krishna or lead you to a Krishna temple. 6 people on our group missed dinner the first night because we arrived late to the hotel and he failed to tell us there even was dinner. With a group of 16 people you would think he'd notice 6 people missing, but he didn't. We also arrived to our first yoga lesson an hour early on the first morning because again the time had been changed and we hadn't been told. We were woken at 3am to leave Rishikesh to head to Virindivan to only be sent back to bed 45 mins later because the bus was still 3 hours away (you'd think he would have checked before waking us all up). We were hoping to learn about India but we weren't given any commentry on its history, population...nothing other than Krishna. We also weren't aware that there wasn't the option NOT to be vegetarian or not to drink alcohol. Every restaurant we were taken to was vegetarian and the one occassion where meat was an option we were laughingly told we could order whatever we wanted as long as it was vegetarian. Two people on our group who hadn't yet paid for the extension part of the tour until after we arrived were approached by Tara and asked to pay the hotel bill for the whole group as he didn't have the money to pay for the bill the group had racked up!! When we flew domestically from Udaipur to Delhi the 5 of the 9 of us had seats seperate from the rest of the group including my 16 year old daughter who ended up squeezed in between two Indian males...we arranged a quick seat swap around amongst ourselves. Tara basically showed very little concern for his guests at all. During long bus rides we had to reguarly ask for toilet stops and he failed to give information such as the bus ride will be 10 hours so pack some snacks. Most days we thought we were out on a short outing only to find out it was an all day drive. I don't think he had any intention of stopping as we only delayed his timing and plans. Tara also didn;t accompany us on day trips, he sent us off with local guides. You only get what you pay for. The trip was cheap off a coupon website but after having been there, you could still do it chepaer yourself. We never felt unsafe at anytime during out travels. The yoga teacher (Nanda) as nice a guy as he was had basically the same lessons every day. We went to India to experience Yoga in India! Instead Tara brings along one of our own westerners. I wish we had of had different instructors every day for variety and to not only say we'd done yoga in India but we'd had Indian instructors. I'd give India 10 out of 10 for being an amazing place, but Bohemian Tours only 1 out of 10. I couldn't shake the feeling it was only a way to make money for Tara and not a love of entertaining guests despite his website saying differently.

Why am I not surprised?

I'm sorry you had that horrible trip, Happy, but I'm very glad you came in here to tell us about it. No amount of warning from me can possibly be as accurate as someone who has actually had the 'Bohemian Tours Experience'.

Just finished a tour which ran 18 Feb until 3 March. I would like to say positive things about Bohemian Tours but I can not. India itself was fantastic. Bohemian Tours left us with vague travel plans, little communication and 3 days of the tour stuck on a bus. The tour director, tara (not his real name but a yogi name) sat at the front of the bus and did not once stand up and give information on India. At sightseeing places he could secure the services of a local guide and often did not join us. Even as we departed we still did not had a complete itinerary and no hotels details for the last stop. During the tour, Tara asked 2 different members of our group if they could pay the hotel bill as he did not have the funds....unbelieveable! The tour was advertised on a group buying website as a discounted price yet 2 other travellers joined our tour and paid the same price by booking directly off Bohemian Tours website. We would get on a bus without information of the duration of travel and on more than one occassion found out the trip was 6 to 11 hours and no pre-warning was given to grab some food for the trip as no lunch stop would be made. The yoga instructor that joined us was very nice but the yoga classes were repetative and without variety. Sorry to say, I would not recommend them.

Forgot to add it was a Hare Krishna tour. No mention of this on the website. The Hare Krishna compentent was not offensive in any way and quote interesting but the 3 days in Vindarvin were dedicated to hare Krishna temple vists and chanting sessions. I was unaware this was the direction of our 3 day stay in Vindarvan.

Thank you for sharing your experiences, Ninsgonnatravel and HappyTraveller070272. I started this thread during a serious lapse in judgment, because truly I am not a tour person, but I think it has turned into a very important warning for anyone considering this tour group in the future.

For what it's worth, I'm back working on my originally scheduled plan to visit Spain this summer, but will return to this section of the forum when I'm ready to plan my own trip to Nepal.

Dogster--You will never know how much I value your straightforward advice, so expertly mixed in with humor and that much-needed reality check.

many interesting posts about the experience with Bohemian tours on Lonely Planet's Thorn Tree Forum/Departure Lounge/Asia-India Subcontinent.