Ride in the mountains in this all thrill trip to the legendary Mustang region. You will cycle to the foot of the Himalayas in the farthest corners of the planet in this mountain biking adventure.
We will be there to receive you at the airport as you land into Kathmandu and take you to your hotel.
Representatives and guides of Mountain Kick will meet with you at your hotel. Your journey starts the next day so we will run you through the itinerary. We begin our trip with visiting different heritage sites in Kathmandu and stopping at some of the popular tourist hangouts. Kathmandu is rich in culture and the ancient parts of the city have not changed for hundreds of years.
We ride to the famous tourist town of Pokhara in a tourist bus. It is a seven hour trip through serpentine roads carved into the hills with stops for lunch and snacks in villages along the way. At Pokhara, the lakeside area offers an amazing nightlife to relax you ahead of your trekking trip.
A less-than-twenty-minutes flight takes you toJomsom, a tourist town which lies on the either side of the Kali Gandaki River. Vegetation cease to appear further from here and it is all rocky and barren terrain. We begin our first day of cycling by going uphill to Kagbeni, a village made up of mud houses. The beautiful Mustang Valley below and the Himalayan range above are clearly visible from Kagbeni.
You can ride all the way up to Muktinath. The Muktinath Mandir is one of the holiest shrines for both Hindus and Buddhists as is believed to be the home of the god of liberation, Lord Muktinath (Lord Shiva). A lot of devotees, including holy Sadhus, make the pilgrimage to this place.
We make a heavy descend today all the way from the Himalayas to the lowlands. The whole road is ride-able as most of it is either cobbled or graveled. We pass through Jomsom and the landscape from Jomsom is all waterfalls and steep mountain ridges alongside the Kali Gandaki River. Further downhill, apple orchards will come into view as we move towards Marpha which is famous for its apple brandy. There are souvenir shops, a monastery and breweries around the village if you wish to go for a leisurely stroll.
The Annapurna massif will be on the background throughout the trip as we pass through forests and villages to reach Tatopani. “Tatopani”, translates into “hot water” in Nepali, and you will spend the evening in the natural hot water spring here that will heal your body of all the pain of cycling so much.
We follow the Kali Gandaki River down to Beni till we reach the Baglung Highway. We take the highway and ride uphill to Nau Danda from where the road to Sarangkot separates.The trip is tough but once you get there, you will be treated with a beautiful panoramic view of the Himalayas. Mount Annapurna, Mount Dhaulagiri, and Mount Manaslu can be seen ahead of you while Pokhara city and the Phewa Lake are visible below. Sarangkot is also a popular destination for paragliding enthusiasts and for viewing sunrise and sunset.
It is an easy downhill ride to the bank of the Phewa Lake in Pokhara. Cycling ends here and it will be a relief after a week of excruciating pain. Pokhara is a perfect place to celebrate what you have just achieved.
We take the same road back through which we had arrived at the beginning of our journey. Look out the window from your bus to see what places you remember. The view of the Himalayas in the distance will surely remind you of your travel there. Mountain Kick will host a farewell dinner for you to culminate your vacation.
We will see you off at the airport. It will be a happy-sad moment as we know that it is hard to leave this wonderful country but you will be leaving with very rich memories.
In Kathmandu, you will stay in a three-star hotel while you will be staying at standard guesthouses during your travel. There will be electricity, internet, laundry and hot showers in all of the places you stay. You will have to share your room with a fellow traveller in our typical package. Single supplement will be served on request and will cost an additional USD 50.Also note that single rooms is easily available in Kathmandu and the trekking regions at lower elevation but it might be difficult to find them at higher elevations.
We never force our customers to follow our set itinerary.You can customize your itinerary exactly the way you want. Please share with us your ideas.
As one of the core guiding principles for Mountain Kick, we always give back to the mountain community in any way we can as a means of gratitude. The people who live in the Himalayas and share their homes with us deserve to have all their little problems fixed which seem very basic for outsiders but are commonplace in rural Nepal. The people lack proper access to healthcare, sanitation and education but a little effort from travellers goes on a long way to solve these issues. Mountain Kick has made it its corporate social responsibility to help improve the living standards of the local community. We make donations to their cause, organize social campaigns and programs and also have a few trips designed to mix a little volunteer work in your holiday.
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