Nepal's Mountainside Teahouses Elevate the Experience for Trekkers

I always love reading about Nepal. I've been a handful of times, for various short climbs and for some far longer 30+ day expeditions.

If you're reading this and need a short escape from life, I really recommend looking into doing the trek to EBC. It's extremely accessible (and cheap), and I've personally seen people as young as 8 y/o and as old as 80 y/o doing it and having the time of their lives.

I've been all over the world. Antarctica, climbing in Pakistan, trekking through the Middle East... Nepal was one of my first adventures and remains one of my favourites.

To stay on topic... Teahouses can be found along every route through the mountains. Most of my fond memories are in teahouses, where you get to sit, have a black tea, and reflect on just how beautiful the people (and the mountains) are. It's also a great opportunity to meet people from other cultures. I'll always remember the Russian's who bought me a beer after climbing Island Peak, the cards I played with some kids in Samagaun... I could go on.

Go visit Nepal!

I did the hike from Pokhara to Ghorepani (Poon Hill is breathtaking btw) and a few other small villages (about a week and half of backpacking). This was after a month in Kathmandu before and a month after. My absolute favorite parts of the whole trip were the teahouses and the roadside food stands. The food was excellent. The hosts were always extremely kind. This was back in 2009. It's now almost 20 years later and I've been itching to go back. Nepal will always have a place in my soul, there is no place like it.

I trekked to the summit of Mera Peak some 25 years ago. We slept in tents every night. There were very few, if any, teahouses between Lukla and the summit back then. I guess it is good that more Nepalis are making a living from trekkers with their tea houses.

It was an incredible experience, but not for the faint-hearted. A couple of people in our group were unlucky and had serious issues (oedema and an aneurism) and were too high for helicopter evacuation, but they both survived. If you want to do something like this, go with a reputable company (such as KE Experience in the UK).

This is main difference between backpacking in the US vs backpacking in India/Nepal/Bhutan.

You just pack clothes, no matter how remote your destination is, there’s going to be food and shelter available every 6-8hours.

Tea truly elevates the experience! I lived in western India years ago, and remember a trip to the mountains with a friend on a moped. It was raining and the tropical drizzle added to the fun. Reaching the top, we found a small tea vendor and a woman selling "pakoras" (deep-fried snacks). I can't quite describe the elevated experience at that point.

Aren't you no longer allowed to go hiking without a hired guide anywhere in Nepal (even on well-marked non-technical trails)?

Not being able to solo hike really ruins the experience for me, so I'll be avoiding Nepal until that changes.

It took me a minute to realize that "Trekkers" in this headline is not referring to fans of Star Trek.

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