We use a range of excellent 4-star category hotels & can be tailored to your preference. During the trek, you will be staying at tented camps, where we provide spacious 2-person tents (foam mattresses are also provided), a dining tent complete with table and chairs where you will eat your meals and relax, a kitchen tent in which the Kitchen crew will cook your meals and one (or more usually two) toilet tents. Your local crew will set up the camp each evening and take it down again in the morning.

An experienced Cook and a team of Kitchen assistants accompany our camping holidays. Breakfasts will include porridge or cereals or Tibetan bread and eggs on alternate days, with tea, coffee, and hot chocolate. Lunches are generally prepared on the trail and can include cooked or tinned vegetables, rice, chips, freshly made Tibetan bread, as well as tinned tuna, meats or cheese (alternate days). On occasion, this can be augmented by noodle soup. Dinners always start with soup, followed by a locally inspired main course such as rice, dal, and spicy vegetables, or a more international dish like pasta with tomato sauce or pizza and chips. Dessert can be tinned fruit with custard or rice pudding or cake with custard. The emphasis is on providing a high-carbohydrate and largely vegetarian diet, which we have found to be easily digestible at high altitudes. During this trek, there will be very few opportunities to purchase snacks and drinks from simple shops and tea houses. All meals while on trek and also while staying in hotels in Kathmandu and in Nepalgunj are included in the trip price. As for water; boiled water will be provided in your individual bottles. Additionally, you should take purification tablets or a filter bottle (such as a Water-To-Go bottle) to treat your water.

Our view is that the best time to do this trek is during May. This gives you the best chance of crossing the high passes. It is also possible to do this trek in September into October. In most years the conditions on the passes are fine in the Autumn season. In some years there are early winter snows in October due to a cyclonic depression. If there is early snow this makes travel impossible for the pack animals.This trek will have a wide range of temperatures depending on the season, altitude and time of day. During the first couple of days, it can be quite hot with temperatures up to 25 Celsius. The coldest temperatures will be in Sangda Phedi at an altitude of 5,100m. Overnight lows here can get down to around -12 Celsius.

Please remember that in any mountain area, the weather is never wholly predictable and you should be prepared and equipped to deal with any differences in weather beyond the conditions described above.

This holiday involves going to very high altitudes. During the course of your trip. you will be spending at least one night above 4000 meters and/or trekking to 5000 meters or above. This is not something that you should worry about; the human body is quite capable of adapting to a very wide range of altitudes, but it is important that we follow some simple rules in order to acclimatize successfully.On this trip, we carry bottled oxygen for use in emergencies.

The Upper Dolpo trek can be categorized as one of the strenuous level treks. Trekkers must be physically and mentally fit as days can involve 6/8 hours of walking in a remote and rugged terrain. Altitudes are generally more or less than 4000 meters with a Passes crossing above 5000m. The terrain will often be rugged and some walks may be exploratory, venturing far off the beaten track. Weather conditions may be harsh at times, and you will need to be comfortable trekking in adverse weather conditions.Remote areas are sometimes unpredictable and itineraries may be altered. To get the most out of your adventure it is important that you are flexible, positive, and eager to take on all the challenges that arise. We suggest up to one hour of strenuous exercise each day, interspersed with a relatively demanding bushwalk at the weekend. The best exercise for trekking is bushwalking involving relatively steep ascents and descents; multi-day walks are ideal preparation for our challenging adventures.

Approximately $400-500 (or Euros, Pounds etc) changed into local currency, should be allowed for
miscellaneous expenses including porter and trek crew tips, drinks, snacks, etc. It is not necessary to obtain local currency before departure. US Dollars, Pound Sterling, and Euros are equally acceptable for exchange in Nepal. We recommend that you carry your travel money in the form of cash, or else it is possible to withdraw money from ATMs in Kathmandu using your debit or credit card.

Tipping is the accepted way of saying thank you for good service to the support staff at the end of the trek. Your Nepali Trek Guide will advise the group on an appropriate level of tipping. Most groups will hand out the tips with a bit of ceremony (or sometimes a party) on the last evening, to mark the end of the holiday.As a guide, we recommend that each group member contribute around $200 to these tips. At the end of their trek many people also like to donate various items of equipment to the porters and trek staff who work so hard to make the trip a success. Boots, gloves, hats, scarves and even socks are always warmly received by the porters, whilst technical clothing and equipment such as head torches and trekking poles are highly prized by the Sherpa team. Your Trek Guide will make arrangements for a fair distribution (possibly by raffle) amongst the trek crew.

We strongly recommend you have a valid Travel + Medical insurance policy to cover the cost of medical treatment, and emergency helicopter evacuation and to protect the value of your holiday in the event of cancellation. When taking out insurance please ensure the policy you choose covers you for the activities and altitude included in your itinerary.

Your main item of luggage should be a sturdy kit bag, duffle bag or similar which will be carried during the trek by porters and should weigh no more than 15kg. You should also take on your holiday a daypack of approximately 40 liters capacity. For all STOL (Short Take-Off & Landing) flights in Nepal, the normal allowance for hold baggage AND hand baggage combined is 15kg. But, for our Camping Holidays, we have arranged an allowance of 15kg hold baggage PLUS 5kg cabin baggage. Please be aware that you will have to pay any charges for excess personal baggage above this allowance at check-in, and that excess baggage may have to be flown separately. It is possible to leave items not required on trek at the hotel in Kathmandu. For your international flights, please check the baggage allowance with your airline.