In a couple weeks we leave for a six week trip flying in and out of Delhi. When we first thought about this trip, it was intended to be only a trip to Nepal. But, we have the time available, and winter here is awful, and with all of the travel time and expense needed to get there from the US we decided to make it a six week trip. So, a second trip to India got added in too.

Now that I have had time to thoroughly research Nepal, I think I have come to the conclusion that for the non-trekker two weeks might be max. We're in our sixties so not looking for the laid back party scene. We always tend to take more off-the-beaten-path and non-traditional trips than many of you here, so that needs to be factored in. I think we may do a four day trek and we may also do a three day rafting trip. Other than that it would be the usual things in the Kathmandu Valley plus a couple days at some more out of the way places. This still all adds up to only about two and a half weeks. That means three and a half weeks for India.

Or, do you recommend that I spend more time in Nepal than this? Are there any lesser-known places you visited (not via a long, arduous trek) that you'd recommend? We have the budget to hire a car and driver and don't need to solely rely on public transportation. We've visited India before for six weeks and will return again in the future, whereas this will be our only trip to Nepal. Thanks in advance for the advice.

We spent 8 full days in the Kathmandu Valley. If you want to see all the World Heritage sites, that's how long it takes. I have a report from a few years ago: http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...mandu-2008.cfm I agree, unless you are interested in trekking, two weeks should be enough.

This was my second trip to Nepal. I also was not interested in trekking, nor rafting, not the wildlife parks (though on my first trip, I thoroughly researched Bardia.

If you want to add in a less visited place in India, do consider Sikkim. We loved Sikkim, and I would return, but I would not return to Darjeeling. http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...p-to-india.cfm

Well, if you want a really out of the way place you might see whether Phulbari is operating.... See: http://www.fodors.com/community/asia...omment-6801198

I think eight days might be overdoing it for the Kathmandu valley, but there is plenty to see. I found Pokhara disappointing, but I never saw the view because of the clouds.

Do consider riding the Himalayan railway up to Darjeeling - see: http://www.darjeeling-himalayan-railway.net/

Kathie--We too have extensively researched Bardia. Why did you reject the idea? (I think we are doing the same.) You primarily did the UNESCO type places during your eight day visit to the Kathmandu Valley, correct?

Kathy--Loved your trip report segment on this and during the part about the farm laughed at the reference to the typical "high maintenance Fodorites". If you had been up to walking, how would this place have been? We are looking at a number of different places in the general Kathmandu area that are nice and also have good day walks from the.

We must have similar interests because The Old Inn at Bandipur with the Newari houses is also of interest to us. And, we'd look at doing walks from there. But, it also sounds as though you weren't particularly enamored of this place. And, finally, from the reading I've been doing about Pokhara it sounds to me as though it is just a typical tourist town (something that doesn't tend to interest us) in what was at one time a nice setting.

Finally, did either of you go to Nepal directly from Sikkim? If so, what are the logistics? Thanks.

oops, I forgot to include these links. Kathy, I am assuming this is the place you are referring to.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Hotel_Rev...al_Region.html

http://203.142.15.154/nepal/nepal1.html

I think there may have been some walks around Phulbari. dogster suggested riding a motor bike (as a passenger!) to Namo Buddha, but you might be able to hike. Photo of Namo Buddha at the bottom of this: http://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com/...from-phulbari/

I would have liked Bandipur a lot more if I could have seen the view, and would definitely rate it above Pokhara (which is indeed mostly a tourist strip these days). There were hikes there I had been planning to take.

I didn't go to Sikkim from Nepal - I went south by bus to Lumbini and taxi into India to pick up the railway at Gorakhpur (which has nothing to recommend it except the railway station). Did you go to Varanasi on your last trip? It's five plus hours by train from Gorakpur to Varanasi.

When I research Bardia for the 1994 trip, the info I found (mostly first-person accounts) indicated that while the environment wasn't as degraded at Chitwan, it was still problematic. One women I corresponded with saw a dead tiger in the road (had been shot) and it was the only big wildlife they saw. Getting to Bardia then was a very long trip with about 4 hours drive in addition to the flight. I felt it wasn't worth the bother.

Yes, we spent much of our time at the World Heritage sites in the KTM valley. I had visited all of them in 1994, but still found the return trip worthwhile. There is a lot of walking and soaking in the atmosphere available in Kathmandu. I spent time doing that both trips.

No we did not cross the border between Nepal and Sikkim. I expect it might be a bit complicated given the history, but possible. We loved Sikkim - saw only one other western couple while we were in Gangtok, and a couple of other couples at Pelling. Most visitors are Indian. If you opt to go, read up on the fascinating history of this tiny country, now a part of India.

Yes - those links look right. I arranged my visit through the Courtyard (http://hotelcourtyard.com/ - spring for the deluxe), where I was staying. I rather doubt you need to do it in advance.

I'd briefly looked at the idea of going into Sikkim directly from Nepal, but it is a pretty daunting endeavor I believe. So, that is probably out.

I'd love to visit Varanasi again, but my husband feels we've been there so why return. However, as a gateway to Nepal it is an intriguing idea.

Thanks to both of you for the help.

Hi Julies,

I am tagging on to your posts since my husband and I, who are in our sixties, are leaving for Nepal in three weeks! We are going for two weeks. One of the weeks will be spent in the Kathmandu area. Our son is in school studying Tibetian there. He lives in the Boudanath area so we are staying at the Hyatt. We will travel for five -seven days with our son out of the valley during the first week.

Would love some ideas for seeing other places, culture, villages and take some walks that are not in higher elevation. He wants to go to the Mustang area - fly into Jomosom and drive around there. Has anyone done this trip and not trekked? Has anyone been to some of the villages around there? Our son is adventurous and will do this trip some other time if we don't go up there this time.

My son said that Pokhara is very westernized with hotels and cafes, so we might not go there. What is Banipur suppose to be like? Has anyone been to Tansen?

Any ideas will be welcomed.

Mustang is at high elevation. It sounds like you may want to let your son do that trip alone.

I didn't go to Tansen because dogster, who had, said it was very similar to Bandipur. For info on Bandipur see my TR linked above, or go here for pix: http://mytimetotravel.wordpress.com/...f-in-bandipur/

Marilyn--

We too are leaving in a couple weeks, but we'll first spend time in India. We'll have roughly two weeks in Nepal, and I think that may be about right (we'll see) for people who do not intend to do long treks. I am vacillating between doing a four day trek and just finding some places to stay where we can do nice, local day walks (I think this may be winning out).

We are way past the backpacker, willing-to-stay-anywhere phase. And, in a poor country like Nepal I will not pay the prices that some of the super top-end luxury places are asking. One group is asking, on top of the lodging, $20 for breakfast per person, $28 for lunch, and $32 for dinner! I know it is acceptable some people, but that is not us. If we chose we could pay these prices, but we don't chose to.

I am finding that there is not a very large intermediate segment as far as lodging, so the same few places keep coming up over and over again. However, I see you are staying at the Hyatt, so some of these more top end places may be perfect for you.

I'll share some info I have found and places we are thinking about as I've been researching.

http://www.smh.com.au/travel/activit...705-21jc8.html

These seem like nice places, but the price is more than I am willing to pay in Nepal.

http://nepalluxurytreks.com/ and http://kerdowney.com/properties/nepa...untain-lodges/

Places to stay I am thinking about adding to my itinerary.

http://www.balthalivillageresort.com/index.php

http://www.namobuddharesort.com/Page...mmodation.html

http://www.nepalvillage.com/home/form/sirubari.php

http://www.rural-heritage.com/

http://www.shivapuricottage.com/location.php

http://www.himalayanencounters.com/d...seti_khola.php for a rafting trip

And, these are some of the other things I am thinking about doing (in addition to the usual biggies):

http://travel2photograph.wordpress.c...lage-in-nepal/

http://www.socialtours.com/index.php?Itemid=219

http://www.threejewelsadv.com/unseen...-day-tour.html

Hope this helps. Just putting together this posting helped me to clarify a little bit what I hope to do.

Julies, as you are probably already on your trip perhaps you will post your trip results when you return. My boy/man friend and I are planning to travel to Nepal and India in the fall, October I think and will go for 4-5 weeks. We are 55 and 60 and never travelled in Asia before so feel that your experiences may help us with our trip. So many choices and all a bit bewildering. Looking forward to your updates. also has anyone information on using airmiles or other point plans from Canada?

I am the OP. We spent three weeks in Nepal, and while we really enjoyed our time and the country (other than Pokhara), we also spent several days doing day hikes so this took up some of our time. For people who aren't planning to do any walking, two weeks is probably more than enough time.

I am going to try to put together a trip report one of these days.