First time in the Himalayas – a confidence guide for women trekking Nepal

When I told people in 2005 that I was flying to Kathmandu to trek to Annapurna Base Camp, most of them asked the same question in different words – are you sure you can do this? I wasn’t, particularly. I’d never done anything like it. Eleven days later I was standing at 4,130 metres with a beer in my hand and snow up to my knees, having the time of my life! You can read my trek diary here.

If you’re sitting where I was, wondering whether you’re the “right kind” of traveller for Nepal, here’s everything I’d want you to know before you book anything.

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“Should I go solo, with a guide, or with a group?”

This one’s simpler than it used to be, because as of 2023 it’s no longer really your choice on the major routes. Nepal now requires every foreign trekker to have a licensed guide, whether you’re travelling alone or with others. So the real question isn’t a guide or no guide, it’s how much company you want around that guide.

Going as a pair or small group of women, with one shared guide and porters, gives you built-in companionship on the hard days (and there will be hard days), someone to laugh with over dinner and a bit of safety in numbers without losing any of the independence of the experience. That’s exactly how Kell and I did it, as two friends joining an organised group and it’s still what I’d recommend to a first-timer over going entirely alone with just a guide for company.

“What’s a teahouse actually like?”

Basic, and better than you’d expect. Simple rooms, often twin share, walls that don’t do much to keep the cold out and a shared dining room that becomes the heart of the evening, where everyone’s boots and wet gear end up drying by the fire. Showers range from a proper warm shower to a “hot bucket,” which is exactly what it sounds like – you stand in an open-air room and wash yourself from a bucket of hot water. It sounds rough on paper. In practice, after a big day of walking, it’s one of the best feelings going.

Food is simple, hearty and better than it has any right to be given how remote some of these places are. Dal bhat, fried potatoes, garlic soup, and memorably for me, a deep-fried Snickers bar the guides called a “snicker roll.” You will eat like you’ve earned it, because you have.

“Will I make friends, or will I feel like an outsider?”

You’ll make friends. Trekking has a way of accelerating friendship that ordinary travel doesn’t, you’re tired together, cold together, relieved together and there’s very little room for pretence by day three. Some of the best conversations I had on that trek happened mid-climb with people I’d known for 48 hours and some of the biggest laughs happened over a shared, slightly ridiculous Nepali massage that neither Kell nor I could take seriously.

If you’re travelling as part of a small women’s group specifically, this effect is even stronger. There’s a particular kind of camaraderie that builds among women tackling something hard together, away from the usual context of home, work and everyone’s expectations of who they normally are.

“What if I’m not naturally outdoorsy, or I’m doing this later in life than I ‘should’ have?”

There’s no “should.” Women in their 40s, 50s and 60s take on treks like this every year, often bringing more patience and perspective to the hard days than they would have in their twenties (I am exhibit A!). What matters more than youth or outdoor experience is willingness, a decent baseline of fitness you build in the months before and the mindset to keep walking on the days it’s raining sideways and you want to cry (that day exists on every trek, mine came on day two).

I built Travel Her Way on exactly this idea – that women don’t need to have done it all before to do something bold now. You just need the right information, the right support around you and permission to go at your own pace rather than someone else’s.

“What does the trek actually feel like, day to day?”

Some days are steady and gorgeous, walking beside rivers, through rhododendron forest, past kids on their way to school. Other days are brutal, hours of stone steps straight up, rain that doesn’t let up, legs that stop cooperating. Then there are the days that make the whole thing worth it – watching the sun rise over a mountain until it looks like it’s on fire, sitting at Base Camp in complete disbelief that your own legs got you there.

The rhythm of it is part of what changes you. Early nights, early starts, no phone signal, nothing to do each day except walk, eat and sleep. It has a way of quietening your mind that very little else does.

If you’re still deciding

I’d tell you what I wish someone had told me – you don’t need to feel ready. You need to be willing to be a beginner at something, to be the slowest one in the group sometimes, to cry on a mountain and laugh an hour later and to trust that the version of you standing at Base Camp will be glad the version of you sitting at home right now said yes.

If this is the kind of trip that’s been sitting on your someday list, here’s the good news: I’m gauging interest in a future Nepal women’s group trip right now. Register your interest here, it’s a two-minute form and it’s exactly how a trip like this gets the green light.

Want to hear about all upcoming women’s adventures as they’re announced? Join the Travel Her Way email list and Facebook community group, too.