Kanchenjunga circuit trek is a popular and challenging trekking trail. We trek to both North and South Base Camp of Mt. Kanchenjunga, and it is the third highest peak in the World. This is the one of the unexplored and pristine trekking routes situated at the eastern part of Nepal. The trail traverses several remote villages on high mountain ranges. Trekking in Kanchenjunga is enjoyable trail that offers incredible backdrops of Mt. Kanchenjunga, Mt, Lhotse, Mt. Makalu, Jhanu Himal, Nepal peak, Tibetan monasteries, meadows and grassland along with rhododendron forests and mixed culture.
The Kanchenjunga trek is less crowded route offering you with unique insight into Nepali culture and Nepali people’s lifestyle. Apart from this, Kanchenjunga area is surrounded by plenty of wildlife and natural heritages that will enthrall you during the trek. Subsequently, this challenging trekking will give you abundance of adventurous and remarkable memory to cherish for life time.
Tribhuvan International Airport (Google Map)
3 Hours Before Flight Time
Mount Kanchenjunga is the third highest peak in the world. Visitors will get Tibetan hospitality and traditional Nepali cultures. It is the home for most untouched natural heritages and wildlife such as Musk deer, Red Panda, Snow leopard, etc. Snow-capped mountains above 8000m consists of different landscapes from forests to meadows. There are lot of rivers and waterfalls including Kanchenjunga glacier and many others.
At your arrival to Kathmandu we will welcome you at the airport and transfer you the hotel. After refresh you can either take some rest or explore the area around your hotel.
Kathmandu is the cultural heart of Nepal and has been a famous destination for tourists ever since Nepal opened its borders to visitors. Today after breakfast we will explore Kathmandu valley, a guided tour will be conducted to major world heritage sites inside the valley. As Kathmandu valley is a beautiful combination of Hinduism and Buddhism we will visit historical sites like; Durbar Squares, Pashupatinath, Swayambhunath (monkey temple) and Buddhist shrine of Bouddhanath which is one of the largest Stupa in the world. After the tour you will prepare yourself for the trek, will be briefed about the trek; buy all the trekking equipments required and overnight at hotel.
With an early wake up call, you will get ready and be transferred to the airport from where you will fly to Bhadrapur. Landing at Bhadrapur there will be a vehicle waiting for us which will drive us to Ilam. It is a famous destination for natural scenery and landscapes, tea production, and diverse agricultural economy. We will stay the night here and prepare ourselves for tomorrow’s trek.
We leave Ilam early in the morning and drive to Taplejung through cardamom and tea cultivated area. The scenic drive offers you a first glimpse of Mt. Kanchenjunga and Mt. Jannu. In addition, you get to see pasture land and small villages. Then we begin to trek along paved road for one hour and take a gradual steep descent to the Tamor River that takes us to the village of Mitlung. We stay overnight in Mitlung.
With an early start we continue our trek following Tamor River along paved road and after one and half hour the trails lead to Siwa Bazar. Siwa Bazzar is a small market and you can see Limbus settlement, high school, hospitals and police checkpoint. We continue to follow Tamor River for one and half hours and stop at Tawa village for lunch. After lunch, we walk on zigzag path for about 1 hour that lead you to Thiwa Village and additional an hour walk will take you to our destination Chirwa where we stay overnight in camp.
After having breakfast we rejoin our trail; as we begin we follow trekking along the Tamur River. The trail passes through varied landscape, we trek uphill and downhill passing dense forest. After a couple of hours we arrive at Taplechowk where our trekking permit will be checked and its door way to Kanchanjunga Conservation area. We traverse the suspension bridge over the river and walk on the west bank along the cardamom farm. We will stop for lunch at Phembu and continue to walk zigzag path crossing over Suspension bridge of Tamur River. We will reach at Serkathum following Ghunsa Khola walking on zigzag trail. After 20 minutes of walk, we will arrive at our camp.
After breakfast we continue our trek crossing suspension bridge and enter dense forests of bamboo trees, Utis trees and varied types of trees. You are likely to see troops of Langur monkeys and musk deer. We then cross another suspension bridge over Ghunsa Khola and reach at Jaubari. You can see beautiful waterfall here. We continue to follow Ghunsa Khola that takes you to Lamatar where we stop for lunch. After lunch, we walk through zigzag trail and enter into dense forests. After that we cross one more suspension bridge and take gradual ascend for 2 hours and 20 minutes of walk through straight trails will takes you to our camp. We stay overnight in Amjilosa.
After having breakfast we continue our trekking. Leaving Amjilosa behind we trek from the river bank all the way through a thick bamboo and rhododendron forest to traverse the ridge. Then we walk down on the way to Ghunsa Khola where you can see many houses made up of stones. Further, we walk through several ascend and descend after a short climb before passing a large waterfall. Eventually we will arrive at Gyabla after a steep ascend. Gyabala is a beautiful village with Tibetan settlement where we overnight here.
We will have an early breakfast and rejoin our trail; as we begin trekking we descend down the river as the valley widens. We will have lunch once we reach at Phole, another Tibetan settlement where you can buy handicrafts handmade by the locals and visit monastery. On the way between Phole and Ghunsa, we pass memorial of helicopter crash casualties in 2002. Leaving the village, we trek further through pine forest to Ghunsa, it is a Sherpa village where you can see many wooden houses and vibrant prayer flags. You will find gompas, several shops here. We stay overnight in Ghunsa.
Today is an important day for acclimatization as we need to let our body adapt the altitude so that we can avoid altitude sickness. You can spend the time relaxing and exploring the village. A day hike can be organized to a close by monastery called Lapsang La Pass. From pass you can see beautiful view of Ghunsa peak and several other unnamed peaks. We will return back and can get some rest, we will stay overnight in Ghunsa.
After having breakfast we leave Ghunsa and trek towards our next destination. We trek along the river bank heading towards north; the trail offers us amazing views of the mountain. As we continue trekking we pass through meadows with wildflowers, rhododendron and pine forests. Trekking further we reach Rampuk Kharka where we cross a bridge and continue passing the waterfall and a landslide. As we cross the landslide area we will get to see view of Mt. Jannu. Soon we will arrive at Khambachen which is the Tibetan settlement consist of dozen houses situated in a grassy plain area surrounded by magnificent mountain. In addition you can see an incredible backdrop of the enormous north face of Jannu.
We will take rest after a week of walking. We will organize the program to explore the area around Khambachen and climb a ridge behind the village for better views of the mountains- or if you are feeling energetic you could visit Jannu’s Base Camp.
After having breakfast we begin to trek early as today is another challenging trek day. The trail ascends through open rocky fields to Ramtang (4,370m/14,337 ft) and then traverses moraines North West of the Kanchenjunga Glacier to Lhonak. The campsite at Lhonak is near some huge stone huts and you can see magnificent views of Wedge Peak (6,750m/22,145 ft), Mera (6,344m/20,813ft), Nepal Peak (6,910m/22,670 ft), and Twins (7,351m/24,117 ft) among others.
After having an early breakfast we begin to trek; as we begin we trek along the Kanchenjunga Glacier. We must be attentive and careful while trekking as we will trek through rocky trail as there are possibilities of landslides. Trekking further from here we reach Pangpema/Kanchenjunga North Base Camp, it is a flat grassy base camp. If we trek a bit higher we will be offered with splendid views of Kanchenjunga, Chang Himal, Nepal Peak and Tibetan Himalaya range. We will then descend back to Lhonak where we will camp overnight.
Walk back along the same trail through Kambachento Ghunsa village. Overnight camping.
After having breakfast we rejoin our trail; we trek on a steep trail as we pass through dense moss forest, rhododendron and juniper to Sele La pass at 4,290 m/14,074 ft. continuing to trek we will have our lunch on a suitable lunch spot. After lunch we continue trekking further until we arrive at High camp. We will find a suitable camping site and camp the night there. You can see superb view of Mount Makalu from the camp.
Today is another long and challenging trek day; we cross 3 passes through the trail. After breakfast we begin to trek, we trek uphill enjoying the south side view of Jannu and Makalu Himal. We traverse Sinion La (4,440m/14,566 ft) and followed by Mirgin La (4,480m/14,698 ft), Sinelapche Bhnajyang (4,646m/15,242 ft) after crossing the passes we then make a steep descend to Tseram; it is a small settlement above Simua Khola.
After breakfast, we ascend uphill for one and half hour to Yalung Kharka. Then, you will walk all the way through grassy area for 2 ½ hours that will take you to our campsite. We stay overnight in Ramche.
In the early morning after breakfast we hike up to Oktang view point for one an half hour passing through Yalung Glacier. While we ascend ridge we can see amazing views of blue sheep and Tibetan snow cock. After enjoying the view we then follow the stream and soon follow the Okhtang view point. Once you reach view point you will see splendid view of majestic peaks such as Yalung, Kambachen and South Kanchenjunga After enjoying the view we then we take descent to Ramche where there is a beautiful lake and a pasture land along with stone houses. You can see blue sheep grazing on the grassy slopes. Then we walk down to Tseram where we stay overnight in camp.
After having breakfast we take descend all the way through Tseram and walking all along the shaded rhododendron forest following the Simbuwa Khola to Tortong.
After having breakfast we climb up 1000m/3280 ft, the trail ascends steeply through mossy wooded area passing the landslide area.Then we arrive at Lamite Bhanjyang where we have a lunch break. We continue the trail that descend steeply to the Imja Khola and descend into Yamphudin. The village has a mixed community of Sherpas, Rais, Limbus and Gurungs and consists of another Kanchenjunga Conservation Area office.
Today we leave Yamphudin village and take the contouring trail soaring on top of the river to Mananke.
From Mamankethe trail, we walk through leveled and zigzag path and traverse a brook on a extended suspension bridge before ascending to Phumphe village. We then ascend to teashops on the ridge then cross through a sequence of valleys passing many villages. Finally, we climb up to Kande Bhanjyang where we stay overnight here.
After having breakfast we cross a ridge to the Limbu village of Khunjari and walk down to Phawa Khola. We then climb all the way through Shimu village to Thenbewa. Subsequently we keep on walking through beautiful village to Lali Kharka.
Today is a last day of our trek. After having breakfast, we continue to ascend from Lalikharka to Deurali. After that we take descending trials to the airfield at Suketar and further down to Taplejung. Arriving at Taplejung brings end to our amazing trek around Kanchenjunga.
We wake up early, have breakfast and take transportation that will drive us to Bhadrapur through Nepal’s highway offering different beautiful landscapes. Once we reach Bhadrapur we refresh ourselves and rest. We accommodate overnight here in Bhadrapur.
We will take a flight to Kathmandu. After landing in Kathmandu, our representative will transfer you at hotel. You can take rest, packing and souvenir shopping for beloved ones.
After breakfast, our representative will transfer you to airport for your final departure.