It is likely your flight will arrive in Kathmandu late morning or early afternoon.  If so this will provide sufficient time on Day 1 to put your camera to work in the late afternoon and evening. After collecting you from the airport and taking you to your hotel for check-in and a freshen up, your guide we will conduct a guided evening walk through the busy street and laneways of Thamel.  Thamel offers plenty of activity and interesting photo opportunities even in the evening.  Then back to the hotel for dinner about an hour or two after sunset.

Accommodation– Kathmandu

Meals - Dinner

Rise early for the dawn golden hour. Explore early an morning temple at the Sleeping Vishnu - Budhanilkantha Temple in northern Kathmandu.  Then explore surrounding streets and market.

We then take a short drive to Bhaktapur and ancient royal city adjacent to Kathmandu. There are many fantastic photo opportunities in the ancient Durbar Square with its wonderful royal architecture, pagoda and rich history. We will then walk over to the Pottery Square to see traditional potters at work and continue on exploring surrounding streets with traditional Bhaktapur architecture.  Bhaktapur Durbar Square is a World Heritage listed royal building and temple complex with many wonderful pagoda and ancient monuments and buildings.

By mid-afternoon we will move on to Changu Narayan Temple. A traditional pagoda temple set high on a hilltop east of Kathmandu with views to the Himalaya Mountains.

Late afternoon we take a short drive to Nagarkot for the evening golden hour watching sunset over the Himalayas from the resort terrace.  Nagarkot is a hilltop resort region east of Kathmandu with spectacular Himalaya Mountain views that feature the snow-capped Langtang and Ganesh Himal to the north and stretch to the Annapurna summits to the west and the summit of Mount Everest to the east.

Accommodation  - Nagarkot east of Kathmandu

Meals – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Watch dawn rise of the icy peaks of the Himalaya Mountains from your Nagarkot resort terrace.  A great opportunity for some sunrise time-lapse photography as the sun sweeps across countless Himalayan peaks.

Drive to Kathmandu Airport and fly to Chitwan National Park.

Visit the Elephant Breeding Centre on the northern edge of the Chitwan National Park.  See adult and baby elephants up close and being trained and cared for.

Enjoy sunset across the Narayani River on a canoe wildlife safari.  Glide slowly along the river seeking wildlife drinking at the water’s edge as the sun slowly sets.  Your guide is a very accomplished Nepali wildlife photographer. He will know where to search and all the tricks to great wildlife photography.

Accommodation– Chitwan

Meals – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Rise early for a dawn elephant ride safari through the Chitwan National Park.  Seek wildlife such as rhino and tiger as your elephant carries you high and gracefully through the Chitwan jungles and grasslands.

Drive to Pokhara stopping along the way at photogenic towns, villages, river crossing forests and high passes as we go.  Ask the driver to stop where ever great photo opportunities arise – river crossings, farming villages, village markets, terraced hillsides, roadside temples, daily life in Nepal.

Late afternoon, explore the busy downtown streets and markets of Pokhara.

Enjoy a slow evening golden hour and sunset on Lake Fewa, take a small boat and explore Tal Barahi Temple on an island in the lake and also explore the picturesque lakeside area.

Accommodation–Pokhara

Meals – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

Rise early for a dawn spectacle. Watch the beautiful sunrise over the Annapurna summits from Sarangkot.  Sarangkot is a spectacular vista point just west of Pokhara. A short early morning drive can provide fantastic sunrise views of the stunning Annapurna Massif and its countless beautiful snow-capped summits.  This is one of the best mountain photography locations in Nepal that is accessible by vehicle.

(Optional extra cost experience.  Can be paid for on-site on the day. Prices range from US$75 to US$110 on flight length.) Take your camera aloft on a Sarangkot Paraglide ride.  Either take the challenge and fly with your camera on a tandem flight or choose the say on the ground and photograph the other adventurous flyers in the group.  A great short video opportunity.

(Optional extra cost experience.  Can be paid for on-site on the day. Price is US$68.) Take your camera down the mountain on the world’s longest zip-line, the Zipflyer ride, from Sarangkot.  1,800m long ride that descends 2,000 feet and reaches 120kph.

Return to Pokhara and explore Bindyabasini Temple and the busy streets of Pokhara.  The temple is a busy place of worship, life, colour and traditional architecture.

Spend the evening golden hour on Fewa Lake.  An opportunity for some sunset time-lapse photography as the evening boats and reflections pass across the lake.

Accommodation - Pokhara

Meals - Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

We start the day with a morning flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu.  Try to get a window seat on the left side and get ready for Himalaya views.

Our first location back in Kathmandu is a walking tour of Kathmandu Durbar Square. This is the ancient royal palace and temple complex of the Kingdom of Kathmandu and Nepal.  It hosts some of the very best traditional pagoda architecture and religious statuary in Nepal. Always a busy place with visitors, worshippers and even ash-covered sardu mystics roaming the streets. The great photo opportunities here are as wonderful as they are countless.

A little later in the afternoon we head to Pashupatinath temple in eastern Kathmandu.  This is a very large and architecturally impressive Hindu religious complex.  Everywhere you look is another beautiful photograph or new angle.    

Relax with the evening golden hour exploring Boudhanath Stupa.  This is the largest Buddhist stupa in the world and makes a huge impression on every visitor.  Visit a Thangka school to watch skilled artists at work.  Then circle the stupa and spin prayer wheels as the sunsets.  The colours and shadows of the stupa change each minute as the sun slowly sets.

Accommodation– Kathmandu

Meals – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

We start the day with a most wonderful experience – an early morning Mount Everest Mountain Flight.  This flight will take you eastward over the Himalaya foothills and deliver spectacular northward views along the entire central Himalaya on Nepal and the border with Tibet.  There are countless impressive peaks to wonder at and the highlight is spectacular views of Mount Everest itself and the many beautiful surrounding peaks such as Mt Ama Dablam, Lhotse and Pumori. 

By mid-morning we will be back at Kathmandu Airport and then drive to the southern edge of Kathmandu to explore the historic temples and architecture of Patan Durbar Square.  Patan was once another royal city adjacent to Kathmandu.  It had its own king and royal family and its own palace and temple complex.  More fantastic examples of traditional Nepal architecture and stone and timber carving.

We now have a free afternoon exploring and shopping in Thamel.  A couple of hours for some gift shopping and exploring the streets of Kathmandu and Thamel.

This evening we spend the golden hour at Swayambhunath Temple overlooking Kathmandu.  This another wonderful temple complex sitting high on a hilltop overlooking the countless streets and buildings of Kathmandu.  The temple has many wonderful stupa and colourful bells to keep the gods awake.  Watch the sun slowly fade over the Kathmandu Valley.

Accommodation – Kathmandu

Meals – Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner

We will collect you from your hotel in plenty of time for a smooth transfer to Kathmandu Airport for your flight.  Just enough time perhaps for some early morning street photography before breakfast.

Meals – Breakfast