Langtang Valley Luxury Trek

The Langtang Valley luxury trek begins with a private helicopter from Kathmandu to Syabrubesi, replacing the seven-hour mountain road most operators still drive. From the trail-head, you walk north over six days into one of the Himalaya's least-walked high valleys -through rhododendron forest with grey langurs in the canopy, past mani walls polished by a hundred winters of pilgrim hands, into the glacial bowl beneath Langtang Lirung at 7,234m.

We use the most comfortable lodges in the valley — warm rooms, heated dining halls, kitchens that cook properly — and pace the trek so altitude never punishes. Above Kyanjin Gompa, you climb the prayer-flag ridge of Kyanjin Ri at 4,773m, with Tibet across the northern skyline and the entire valley you walked up unspooling south. A second helicopter then lifts you off the moraine and sets you in Kathmandu thirty-five minutes later.