Green Valley Nepal Treks — Attraction in Kathmandu Metropolitan City

I am not a person who does online write-ups but this time I feel compelled to do so because of this unbelievable wonderful experience. As a well traveled hiker in the US and other places in the world, I had always dreamed about seeing the tallest mountains in the world. However, planning a trip to Nepal was difficult because of needing enough time off (I am a 59 year old doctor), and frankly my concerns about altitude and fear of getting sick in a foreign country. (I did well on both concerns.)

I am so lucky I learned about Green Valley Nepal Trekking from someone very well travelled. I couldn’t get over how easy it was to correspond with Arjun (one of the two owners. The other is Raj who my friend worked with). We were able to correspond easily by text, email and by phone on WhatsApp. I was impressed by the way he always got back to me promptly. With Green Valley you cut out the middleman, which has great advantages. One, you get your your answers direct from the source who is on the ground and knowledgeable, not a middleman who acts like a relay station. Secondly, your cost is much more reasonable and you feel good that your payment is going directly to the hard working local people who are really running the trip.

I contacted Arjun often before the trip. He was always very open to all my detailed and neurotic questions and while he gave me choices and was open to my requests, he always steered me in the right direction.

My trip was a private one to Annapurna Base Camp with a private guide and 2 porters. Arjun himself, picked me up at the airport and took me to my superb Marriott hotel in Kathmandu. Promptly I met Krishna my trekking guide and likely my lifelong friend. Krishna is a super enthusiastic, friendly and dedicated guide who has worked for Green Valley I believe for about10 years. Despite having plans to have a separate private guide at the end of the trip in Kathmandu, Krishna was available to walk me around Kathmandu which he did until I was too exhausted. By the way, I am from the NYC area and know how to drive and walk the streets of Manhattan but truly was outside of my element and needed help crossing the streets of Kathmandu that first day.

The next day we flew to Pokhara where I had a wonderful tour. The next 10 days were spectacular, hiking with Krishana and my 2 Supermen (they are technically called porters. But I am telling you, Sahila and Bhim are each a Superman.) These three people on my team, were so happy to see me enjoying myself, and they did everything they could everyday to help find ways to make it easier or more enjoyable for me. Krishna often called ahead to the tea house we were going to stay in to make sure I got the best room. The gods of Nepal must have been on our side this trip. We had fantastic weather and views the first 2 weeks of November.

I will ramble on to anyone who will listen to me since returning from this trip about the stunning hike, the monkeys that came out to entertain us on the trail, the excellent vegetarian food I was surprised to enjoy so much, the amazing star gazing at Annapurna base camp and fortuitously after the trek being lucky enough with Krishna to see the Buddhist Monkey Temple, the Aarati ritual ceremony at the Hindu Pashupati Temple and witness the celebration of the Festival of Tihar on returning to Kathmandu.

My experience from beginning to the end of this trip with Green Valley was perfect. Arjun the owner and my team that I trekked with fantastic. They were honest, friendly positive and beyond helpful. You will want to tip your guides and porters well. You will see, they earned it.

While I thought this trip to Nepal was a once in a lifetime trip. I was wrong. I am already planning another trip with Green Valley with Krishna as my guide during rhododendron season in the spring.

Let me very clear. I without hesitation, will tell you most of your issues with planning a trek to Nepal are over if you decide to use Green Valley. I give them as many stars as are in the photo I am including that I took at...

The Welcome in Kathmandu: We arrived in Kathmandu, being warmly welcomed with local flowers and a friendly cab driver that brought us safely to the hotel where Raj, the owner of Green Valley was already waiting in front of the door to welcome us personally. A small thing that for us showed they deeply care about their clients. We received a briefing about the itinerary and what we have to consider and take with us when leaving for this adventure, which prepared us very well.

Before and all throughout the trip, Raj was always reachable by WhatsApp and able to answer every question we had. When we were sick, he made sure to check in with us and find a solution together according to our health.

The Trek (EBC + Three Passes) and pricing The Trek was unbelievably beautiful with our highlight being the view from Gokyo Ri. Initially the itinerary suggestion for the Three passes was 16 days, but we soon understood this is quite ambitious with limited acclimatization/recovery days times so we extended one day for a very reasonable price. In general, we found that the GreenValley prices were very competitive in comparison to other tours. The accommodations and included services where at the same level or better as other groups which had payed considerably more than we had. We received free sleeping and duffle bags of high quality as well as poles from GreenValley for the trek.

The accommodation were standard lodges with a room with two beds, bed sheets and pillows. We often received complementary wifi so we could stay connected to our families

End of November/ beginning of December was the perfect time to do the trip (EBC + Three Passes). We had sun and a clear sky every single day during the trip - and - due to less crowds, we had some of the mountain peaks such as Gokyo Ri and Kala Patthar all to ourselves.

We were super happy, proud and overwhelmed by the beauty of Nepals mountains, its lakes and also their people and would recommend this trek to anyone with a good fitness level and more time available as Gokyo Ri and the Chola glacier pass are definite highlights on this route besides the popular EBC trek.

Difficulty It is the mix between the low temperatures, little sleep because of altitude and very long steep hikes that makes it a hard track to tackle. In the end we managed one pass (Chola) + EBC + Kala Patthar + Gokyo Ri due to falling ill during the trek.

THE Guide, Anil: Anil our guide was just phenomenal. During the trip everything was arranged by him so we could completely focus on the trek and feel safe at all times (Lodges, food orders, briefing about the next day, payment, measuring of the blood oxygen level etc..) He took care of us in every situation, checking in on us when we felt sick and searched for a solution. measured our Blood Oxygen levels every single day to make sure we are well off with the altitude. It made us feel safe (We worried a little bit about the altitude sickness before the trip and he took us the fear.) Anil was really knowledgable and answered every question we wanted to know about regarding culture, mountains and hiking. After a couple of days it felt like he was a friend that knew everything about the trek and led us the 17 Days through ups and downs

When coming back to Kathmandu everything was arranged and included to pick us up, bring us back to the Hotel where we spent another night and then to the airport. On the last day we even had a feedback dinner with green valley to let them know what they could have done better, which showed that they care about their customers and to further improve on their services they are delivering.

Thank you so much Green Valley for what you have done for us, this experience was just over the top! We would definitely choose this company again for our next trip to Nepal.

Best...

I took a 19 day solo trek for the Three High Passes + EBC with me, a guide and porter in April/May of 2023. TL;DR - Great experience with Arjun at Green Valley, and my guide Lakpa Tamang was fantastic!

When I contacted Arjun at Green Valley to explore my options for a trek, he was very quick to respond and we had several calls and some text chats via WhatsApp. He customized the intinerary for me as I wanted a couple extra days for acclimatization and in case of weather (which we did end up using). And the price for a solo trek really wasn't that much higher than a group one.

Arjun arranged everything from when I landed in Kathmandu until I departed for the airport. Flights to Lukla, guide, porter, lodging, etc.

The only things I did on my own were meals in Kathmandu. Arjun met me when I arrived in Kathmandu and when I returned from the trek too. He was very available anytime I needed him, and also just to check in to make sure all was going well.

The lodging choices in Kathmandu and on the trek ranged from extremely good for their location to just acceptable. Some of this is due to the remote nature of the places (the high altitude tea houses are ALL very basic and there's very little choice). Arjun and I discussed some of the challenges there and he took good feedback on this. Mostly though I'd say the lodging was of average to above-average in quality compared to what is available in the areas, with a few of the tea houses being really great (like the one in Namche - excellent!). In Kathmandu I would have liked a slightly better hotel and when I told Arjun this he made sure they gave me a better room (at the same hotel) on the return to Kathmandu.

My guide Lakpa Tamang - I can't say enough good things about him. Experienced (20+ years guiding trekking in the Himalaya), patient, measured, kind, and a great coach in the challenging high altitude environment. He helped me feel safe, and confident. And, he knew all about the mountains and could always tell me what we were looking at, how tall it was, etc. He is truly excepceptional and I think we became good friends over 19 days! My porter Laxman was also fantastic - an energetic young man who listened to Lakpa, always worked very hard, and had a great positive attitude and smile. These two were fantastic.

We had a couple itinerary changes along the way due to weather and how I was feeling (altitude). When those changes arose, and we needed to stay a couple different places, Lakpa and Arjun were very accomodating, so I really appreciated their flexibility and adaptability.

I also met several of the other guides from Green Valley as we shared the same intinerary for part of our trek. DB and Gopal were both very experienced and their clients were also extremely happy with them. Both were great guys.

When I arrived back in Kathmandu after the trek (which was long, and very hard but I felt supported well by Lakpa and Arjun), Arjun met with me and asked for feedback on things that went well, what could have gone better. Its clear he really cares about the experience of his clients and also works to help train guides & porters, and support them both during the trekking season and the off season.

I also had a city day tour in Kathmandu arranged by Arjun - and led by local tour guide Shanti. Shanti is getting her master's degree in Nepali culture and really knows the history and customs of Nepal - and all about the historic and culturally significant places we visited. She was a fantastic tour guide and even sent me a summary of the places we visited (via WhatsApp) afterwards to I could keep it all straight.

Overall great experience with Green Valley, very reasonable prices, and if you have a request for customization, or need to make a change I found the team very adaptable. Highly...