The route at a glance

• Distance: about 10 to 12 km round trip
• Time: 3 to 4 hours up, 2 to 3 hours down. Plan for a 6 to 8 hour day including stops at the summit.
• Elevation gain: around 1,000 metres. You’ll start at about 1,400 m and finish at 2,278 m.
• Difficulty: moderate. Most reasonably fit walkers manage it. No technical sections.
• Permits: none needed.
• Best season: October to April for clear views. Avoid June through September (monsoon, leeches, no view).

The trailhead

The main route starts from Pikhel, a village about 15 minutes’ drive from Kirtipur. We can drop you there in the morning or arrange a taxi. There’s also a longer route starting closer to Kirtipur if you’d rather walk from the homestay, but it adds 90 minutes each way and isn’t more interesting.

What you walk through

The first hour is a steady climb through pine forest. Easy underfoot, well-shaded, mostly empty even on weekends. You’ll pass a few small tea houses where you can stop for water or a glass of milk tea. We recommend the second one if you go through there. The owner is a friend.

After the pines, the trail enters rhododendron forest. This is the part most guests remember. In March and April it’s in full bloom, deep red and pink against the green leaves. The path gets steeper here, and the trees close in overhead. About 90 minutes of this gets you to the ridge.

The final 30 minutes are along the ridge to the summit. The temple is small, painted in faded yellow and red, dedicated to the goddess Champadevi (a form of Durga). A few prayer flags. Sometimes a sadhu. Almost always a few local hikers.

If the sky is clear, you turn 180 degrees and see the Himalayas. Annapurna II is the pyramid on the far left. Manaslu is the wide massif to its right, the eighth highest mountain in the world. Then Ganesh Himal. Then Langtang straight ahead. On the very clearest days you can see further east, but those days are rare.

How hard it really is

We tell guests it’s “moderate” because that’s the honest answer for a reasonably fit walker. But moderate in Nepal isn’t the same as moderate in Europe. The climb is steady and steep enough that you’ll feel it the next day if you haven’t been walking much. People who haven’t done elevation in a while may need more breaks than they expect.

The descent is harder on the knees than the climb is on the legs. Hiking poles help. We can lend you a pair.

If you’re not sure whether you can manage it, walk somewhere short first. Try the loop around our garden and up to Bagh Bhairab temple. If that feels easy after two days here, Champadevi is fine.

After the hike

We don’t expect you to do anything else that afternoon. Hot shower. Tea on the terrace. Whatever’s in the kitchen for an early dinner. If you want to walk Kirtipur old town slowly, that works too.

Some guests like a cold beer on the rooftop. We don’t keep alcohol at the homestay, but the small shop two streets down has cold ones.

Going with us

If you’d rather not walk alone, one of us can come with you, or we can arrange a guide through Voyage Himalaya Treks & Tours. Either way, no markup. The walk is short enough that a guide is more about company than safety.