Nepal Travel Forum

Hey all, I'm very new at this so bear with me. I'm planning my first O/S trip and the wishlist is to meet friends in Delhi then go on to Pokhara to begin a trek of the Annapurna circuit.
I understand from an earlier entry that I read that you can't fly from Delhi to Pokhara direct; you need to go via Kathmandu. Does anyone know if it's possible to bus it from Delhi to Pokhara, and if so, how long the journey is?
Getting to India seems the easy part, but I'm having trouble getting information on moving around once I'm there. Any info from people who have walked the path before me would be greatly appreciated.
Cheers, Rodg

If you have money, and no time, fly from Delhi to Kathmandu. From there, you can take a bus (six hours to Pokhara). If you have time, less money and you don't mind a very long trip, you can take a train from Delhi to Gurakpur (15 hours!) and from there a bus (another 3 hours) to the Sonoli border crossing. It costs 30 dollars for a visa. From there, it's another 9 hours by "bus" (a rickety thing they call a bus) to Pokhara (really horrible travel conditions but beautiful view). If it's your first trip to the East, this will be a kind of "baptism by fire" but you will always remember it. You need to organize things in Pokhara for a few days before you leave (you will need to hire a porter, get a permit,etc. ), but Pokhara is a peaceful place with great food and many things to see. Recommended! If you like name-brands, this is where you can get some super cheap, good quality fakes. Still, the trek will be the most amazing part.

You are quite correct that you can’t fly direst from Delhi to Pokhara – Pokhara isn’t an international airport, although Cosmic Air did do a few flights to Delhi from Pokhara a few years ago but that ahs now stopped.

I would travel overland from Delhi to Pokhara, I wouldn’t catch the bus all the way though as it is a long uncomfortable journey !!
I would Take a train from Delhi to Gorakhpur. The Vaishali Express leaves Delhi at around 19:45 and arrives at Gorakhpur Junction at 09:10 next morning, or there's another train from New Delhi at 17:20 arriving Gorakhpur at 06:35 next morning. The fare is around Rs 2440 ($55) in AC1, RS 1240 ($28) in AC2, Rs 785 ($18) in AC3 or Rs 315 in Sleeper Class - see www.indianrail.gov.in for times and fares as my prices are over a year ago.

Day 2: Take a bus or jeep from Gorakhpur to the Nepalese frontier at Bhairawi (Indian side)/Sunauli (Nepalese side). Journey time about 2 or 3 hours, Rs 30 ($1).

Walk across the frontier, it's then a few minutes walk to the Sunauli bus station.
From there, there are regular busses to Pokhara -- around the 6 hour mark to get there.

For general transportation ideas on both Kathmandu and India then check out my transportation tips on the relevant pages

The Annapurna Circuit starts at Besisahar, You need to catch a local bus and that takes around 3 hours.

I hope that helps a little but If you need more info then feel free to drop me a line
Happy Travels
Rob

I was there in May and my agent was a mine of information and gave me great prices. they might be able to help you.

Prem Silwal
Heian Treks
Kathmandu,Nepal
Tel 00977-01-4700579,4701443
Cell 00977-98510-30913
Email info@heiantreks.com
URL www.heiantreks.com