Enfield Escape – Motorcycle Nepal

Day 1 – Arrival and Transfer to Nargakot
Your host will pick you up at the airport and we will head straight out of town towards the little hill town of Nagarkot.
Meals: none

Day 2 – Ride to Charikot
After an amazing sunrise, we will have a breakfast of champions and then by mid morning, after our bikes have arrived from Kathmandu, we will set out on our biking adventure. We drive slowly down the hill to Bhaktapur while we familiarize ourselves with the bikes before we hit the Arniko Highway and head for Tibet. By lunch we’ll be riding along the Bhote Kosi river and will find a nice spot for a local dal bhat (rice and lentils) meal. We then leave the main highway and head towards Jiri on the little used hill road, it is a huge climb out of the valley and we will need to give the bikes a rest somewhere, so we will test out the local tea. By late afternoon we should arrive in Charikot and check into the lovely little Charikot Resort where our host for the next two nights, Top, will take good care of us. Top always makes sure to have cold beer ready for our arrival.
Meals: B, L, D

Day 3 – Ride to Jiri and back to Charikot
Today we head to Jiri; the trailhead for the Everest Base Camp trek. It is a great ride, continuing on the Swiss-made hill road we followed up to Charikot yesterday. In Jiri we will find a good spot for lunch and take in the surroundings before we head back to Charikot. If we arrive back early, we can ride down to Dolakha to visit the famous Bhimsen Temple. This shrine attracts pilgrims from all over Nepal. The deity is famed not only as a protector of merchants, but also as a harbinger of national events. It is said that when cataclysmic changes are about to occur in the country, “sweat” appears on the idol, and propitiatory offerings are rushed in from Kathmandu. We will spend another night drinking beer from Top’s fridge and enjoying the views from this charming little resort.
Meals: B, L, D

Day 4 – Ride to Tatopani, Stay at The Last Resort
This morning we ride back down to where we left the main highway to Tibet and we turn north towards the border. We will go up to the bridge that divides Nepal and Tibet for a look before we head a few km back down the road to the aptly named Last Resort where we will spend the night in safari style tents.
Meals: B, L, D

Day 5 – Ride to Kathmandu
This morning we will sleep in a bit and maybe some in the group would like to do the 160 meter bungee jump, or even the world’s biggest canyon swing before we head off towards Kathmandu! We ride back along the Arniko Highway (named after a Newari Architect who went to China and build the first Pagoda style temple there) and cross back into the Kathmandu Valley at Nala. From Bhaktapur we will take fun, small roads into the city and end our ride at our hotel in the heart of the city.
Meals: B, L

Day 6 – Ride to Nuwakot
In the morning we will leave the hotel in a van which will take us to the edge of Kathmandu (out of the totally manic traffic) where our bikes will be waiting for us. For the next 65 kilometers we ride on one of the nicest little mountain roads you could ever imagine. Our target today is the town of Trisuli, from where we have 5 km up to the old fortress town of Nuwakot. Here we check into our charming little hotel ‘The Old Farmhouse’ and enjoy a well deserved shower and a cold beer!
Meals: B, L, D

Day 7 – Onwards along the river
Today we have a big ride ahead of us… 140 km, while this might not sound a lot you will find that we will probably average 25-30 km/h on our ride, so we have a few hours in the saddle today. For most of today we will ride along the Trisuli and Marshyangdi river valleys. We have 17 km of dirt road which gives us a good opportunity to slow down and take in the villages along the river, well worth it as they are quite different from the ones we see along the highways and up in the hills. We will stop for a local lunch in one of the many towns along the main Kathmandu to Pokhara highway, which we join after the first 30 km. In the afternoon we leave the Trisuli river and join the Marshyangdi river valley and, if the weather is clear, we will start seeing the Annapurnas shortly afterwards. Our final 12 km is on a tiny little mountain road up to the hamlet of Bandipur, an old Newar trading town with magnificent mountain views in clear weather.
Meals: B, L, D

Day 8 – Ride to Pokhara
Today Pokhara is only 65 km away, so we should be able to reach there in time for lunch by the lake in one of our favourite restaurants. We’ll stay “lakeside” next to the Phewa Lake in Pokhara. It has spectacular views of Machhapuchhare (the sacred and unclimbed Fishtail Mountain) and three of the world’s 8,000m peaks, Daulagiri, Manaslu, and Annapurna. If the weather is clear we might go for another little Enfield ride up to Sarangkot, a view point outside Pokhara, in time for sunset with the Annapurna massif in the background.
Meals: B

Day 9 – Enjoy Pokhara
This morning is yours to enjoy with a plethora of options: explore Pokhara town, try paragliding, go fishing, boating, trekking, bird watching, golfing or curl up in a comfy chair and soak up your views of the lake and the snow-capped mountains. After lunch we will head out on the lake in canoes and then hike up to the International Peace Pagoda for great views of the lake, Pokhara and the Annapurna mountains beyond. Talk about options! We will meet up at the local Enfielders club for a drink before heading out to one of Pokhara’s best restaurants for dinner.
Meals: B

Day 10 – Up the road to Tansen
Today we head out on the real mountain roads; the road to Tansen from Pokhara is seriously beautiful and winds its way up over a couple of small passes and then drops back down into the valleys. We will have lunch in a little town about halfway, before continuing to our destination, Tansen, a beautiful old town set right below the Srinagar hill. There is plenty to see around town, so once we have checked in to our hotel we will head out for a walk around the old town.
Meals: B, L, D

Day 11 – To Lumbini via Tamghas
We get an early start today as we are going exploring. The road from Tansen to Tamghas is all paved and one of the most beautiful in all of Nepal but once these 75 km is done, then we have a couple of hours of hard riding ahead of us. We head south from Tamghas towards Sandikharkha on rough dirt roads and this is a great adventure as we have now left behind the Nepal that sees tourists! We hit the road to the lowland a bit before Sandikharkha and we are now back on the tarmac and only approximately 100 km from Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha and our home for tonight.
Meals: B, L, D

Day 12 – Safari here we come
Before we leave Lumbini, we will go for a wander around the sacred garden where Buddha was born and maybe even check out some of the (for Nepal) exotic monasteries from all the different Buddhist countries. We then hit the road for Chitwan 200 km away, the ride has something we haven’t had much of until now, some long fast stretches of road with much less traffic than we saw coming into Pokhara. We will arrive in Chitwan well before sunset and settle in at the bar for some nice drinks overlooking the river and, incredibly from this altitude and distance away, with views to the Himalayas in clear weather!
Meals: B, L, D

Day 13 – Chitwan National Park Safari
This is a day never to be forgotten – a full day of safari action including wildlife viewing from an elephant’s back, jungle walks, bird-watching, Landrover drives, river safaris, elephant camp visits, wildlife viewing and photographing from machans (blinds). All wildlife activities are escorted by an experienced naturalist who will astound you with knowledge of all things big and small. Wildlife in Chitwan National Park includes the great one-horned rhinoceros, spotted deer, hog deer, sambar deer, barking deer as well as a wide variety of birdlife. With a bit of luck, there is even the chance of glimpsing a leopard, sloth bear and royal bengal tiger.
Meals: B, L, D

Day 14 – A final day of Action!
We leave Chitwan mid morning for our final day of riding, and what a day it is! The first 60 km is still on the flat roads of the Terai, riding along with the National Park on our south side. We leave the Terai at Hetauda and head up into the hills to Bhimphedi, this is where in the old day people would get off the horse cart or vehicle and start walking for 2-3 days to get to Kathmandu. The first car that came to Kathmandu was carried in over the mountains from here; you won’t believe it when you see the hill in front of you! We will have lunch here in Bhimphedi and maybe even have a look at Nepal’s 2nd oldest hospital. After lunch we start climbing up over the first row of hills towards Kathmandu, it is an amazing little road with hairpin after hairpin bend and suddenly we are at the top overlooking the Himalayas once again. From here we descend on an equally amazing road to the bottom of the Kulekhani Hydro electricity dam and here the action really starts. We now have almost 20 km of dirt road to climb back into the Kathmandu Valley, entering from the southern most end of the Valley. Once we reach the top and enter the valley we again have amazing views of the Valley and the mountains beyond – keep your eyes on the road! Finally, after an incredible days riding we enter Kathmandu and ride through the mad traffic to our hotel and a deserved shower. In the evening we head out for a celebratory dinner in one of Kathmandu’s finest restaurants.
Meals: B, L

Day 15 – Almost free in Kathmandu
Mads will top things off with an amazing foot trip through the alleyways and forgotten courtyards of old Kathmandu, taking you into the heart of locals’ lives. Spend the remainder of the day shopping at ancient bazaars and/or sipping coffee on a rooftop patio before our final feast together when we’re bound to be telling some tall stories reminiscing about the trip!
Meals: B

Day 16 – Homeward Bound
Enjoy a final breakfast at your hotel, tell one final round of tales about the trip, then we’ll transfer you to the airport, where we bid farewell and look forward to our paths crossing again.
Meals: B