Planning your trip to Nepal but stuck on finding the best trekking agencies. You are not the only one who faced this situation. It is indeed a challenging task.
According to the Trekking Agencies Association of Nepal (TAAN), there are more than 1500 licensed trekking agencies that are registered under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation, Office of the Company Registrar, and Nepal Tourism Board.
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In this post, we will be sharing the necessary steps that you need to carry on while selecting the best trekking agencies in Nepal.
Before jumping directly to select trekking companies or agencies in Nepal, you must first finalize the trek.
Depending on your physical fitness level, cost or budget, the total number of days, and hotels to stay inside major cities. Start choosing the best treks that suit your expectations.
Confused which trek to choose? Here is the list of the top 10 best short treks in Nepal. It will help you to give an insight about trekking in Nepal.
Nepal Government provides a license to trekking agencies for operating different trekking and tour activities legally.
Your next crucial step is to start searching the trekking agencies which are registered under the Ministry of Culture, Tourism & Civil Aviation, Office of the Company Registrar, and Nepal Tourism Board.
Nowadays, in most of the trekking agencies' websites, you can find the legal document's sections. In which, you will find the necessary documents attached online.
To ensure the safety from unforeseen circumstances, make sure that the total cost that you have agreed to pay covers the insurance of local staff – Guides and Porters hired by the trekking agencies.
It is also very important to have your own travel insurance if you plan for trekking. You may get altitude sickness, need to evacuate from a helicopter, and pay hospital bills. All need to be covered in travel insurance.
While lots of factors are associated when choosing the best guides. One important factor is asking for a guide license.
Approach with trekking agencies who provide guides with a valid license. The guide must have the qualities of trekking routes, teahouse accommodations, expertise in handling the guest both mentally and physically.
Guides are the one who makes your trekking journey successful. Some trekking agencies also provide a guide who can speak your native language.
Setting up a one-on-one meeting with guides will be a good idea. It will help you to know more about guides, their skills, attentiveness, level of flexibility, types of equipment, and a valid trekking license.
Reading past travelers' reviews in a site like TripAdvisor and Trustpilot can give a general idea about trekking agencies and their services.
Knowing what sort of service and guide are provided will help to plan your trip effectively.
Instead of choosing the cheap trek, select the trek which provides the best value for the money. Many travelers stick with the cost while selecting the trek.
It is very essential to match your expectations with the services provided under that total cost.
These days hotel accommodation in Kathmandu, airport pickup, and drop are not included in the packages. Ask the trekking agencies about services that are included and excluded.
Some online booking sites will show a cheap cost at first. But, as soon as we check the trek availability, booking sites tell you to add porters and others. This will increase the cost.
Make sure each and every service are included or not.
To check the responsiveness of trekking agencies, send a quick inquiry. This will help you to clear doubts and check the services that agencies offer.
This two-way communication will also help to build trust between you and trekking agencies.
The number of years the company runs the service, the more mature they grow. The higher level of experience will also ensure the reliability of that specific trekking agencies.
It doesn’t mean to say you shouldn’t plan your trek with newly established trekking agencies. But, check whether that trekking company is run by an experienced guide or not.
Always good to plan with the best trekking agencies which keep health and safety at the top.
Select those trekking agencies which provide enough training for their hired guides – Advanced health training, first aid training, operating health equipment, oximeter, and medical knowledge.
As per the professional guides advice, eat well-cooked foods but be careful while consuming salads and alcohol. These tips will help you to get healthy.
Under uncertain circumstances like Acute Mountain Sickness (AMS) and helicopter evacuation, you should check whether that trekking agencies can connect with helicopter agencies or focus on other remedial measures.
Select those trekking agencies where they can operate trekking activities in a responsible and sustainable manner.
Guides and Porters should be well-trained about conserving the environment. In this way, they will help you to guide as well as conserve the local environment.
Throwing litters such as; empty water bottles, cans, plastics, rubber, glass, and other non-bio degradable goods should be prohibited.
All these environments safety guidelines should be shared with both guides, porters, and travelers by the trekking agency. Overall this will help to conserve the natural resources of the local community.
Final Thoughts
To sum up, the above important and useful steps will certainly help to choose the best trekking agencies in Nepal. Though its quite a challenging task at first. Following the above guidelines will end up choosing the best trekking companies in Nepal
If you have any confusion regarding the trekking agency or have any questions in mind. Feel free to contact us. We will respond within 24 hours.
In the meantime, let us know what factors you look at while choosing the trekking agency in Nepal in a comment below.
Customize your trip with help from a local travel specialist.
