Nepal Motorbike Tour

Welcome to Nepal. When you arrive at Tribhuvan International Airport, an Amigo Treks & Expedition representative will meet you outside the arrival terminal and transfer you to your hotel in Kathmandu.

There is no motorcycle riding today. We deliberately keep the arrival day easy, especially for riders coming off a long international flight.

Once you have checked in, the rest of the afternoon is yours to rest, change money, buy anything you may have forgotten or simply recover from the journey.

In the evening, we meet again for a welcome dinner. This is also a good chance to meet your road team and the other riders if you are travelling on a group departure.

We do not overload the first evening with a long briefing. The detailed motorcycle check, riding discussion and test ride are kept for the following day when everyone is rested.

Today is important because it gives you time to get familiar with the motorcycle before we start riding across Nepal.

After breakfast, we introduce you to your Royal Enfield Himalayan 450. Before setting off, our road team goes through the basic controls, luggage arrangement, starting procedure and anything specific you should know about the bike.

We then leave Kathmandu for a test ride towards Nagarkot, a hill station on the eastern side of Kathmandu Valley. The ride gives you your first experience of Nepal's traffic, left-hand driving, junctions, narrower roads and hill bends without committing to a full day's journey.

Nagarkot sits at approximately 2,175 metres and is known for its Himalayan panorama. On a clear day, you may see a long line of mountains from the viewpoint, although mountain visibility always depends on weather and cloud.

The test ride is not a riding examination. Its purpose is to give you time to settle into the Himalayan 450 and for our road guide to understand how the group rides before we leave Kathmandu.

On the return journey, we stop at Bhaktapur Durbar Square, part of the UNESCO-listed Kathmandu Valley World Heritage property. Instead of simply riding past Kathmandu's history, we spend time walking through the old city, where temples, courtyards, brick streets and traditional Newar architecture remain part of everyday life.

We then return to Kathmandu.

Later, we hold the final route briefing. This is when we discuss the next day's departure, group riding procedure, communication on the road, fuel stops, luggage, support vehicle and what to do if you become separated from the group.

If something about your motorcycle does not feel right after today's test ride, tell our mechanic now so it can be checked before the main journey begins.

After breakfast, we leave Kathmandu and begin the main Nepal Motorbike Tour.

Today's destination is Bandipur, a preserved hill town approximately 140 km west of Kathmandu.

Leaving Kathmandu can be one of the busier sections of the trip, so we keep the group together and take our time through the city traffic. Once outside the valley, we join the main highway heading west.

The ride follows the hill and river corridors that connect Kathmandu with central Nepal. This is your first proper introduction to riding in the Nepali hills: bends, settlements, buses and trucks, changing road surfaces and sections where road construction may slow us down.

The distance does not look large on a map, but riding 140 km in Nepal is very different from riding 140 km on a motorway. We therefore do not rush the day.

We stop along the way for tea, rest and lunch. The road guide decides the exact stopping points according to traffic and how the group is progressing.

Near Dumre, we leave the main highway and begin the climb towards Bandipur. This final section changes the feel of the day completely as we gain elevation and leave the heavier highway traffic behind.

Bandipur lies on a ridge above the Marsyangdi Valley. Once an important trading centre, the town still has traditional Newar houses, temples and an old bazaar area that is best explored on foot rather than from the motorcycle.

After checking into the hotel and getting cleaned up, we take time to walk around Bandipur. If the weather is clear, the surrounding hills and distant Himalayan ranges provide a very different setting from Kathmandu.

Today's motorcycle ride is shorter, which gives us time to enjoy Pokhara after we arrive.

After breakfast in Bandipur, we ride back down towards the main road and continue west to Pokhara.

Although the distance is only around 80 km, we still treat the riding time as approximate. This corridor has seen ongoing road improvement and widening, and conditions can change between departures.

We ride at a comfortable group pace with stops where necessary rather than trying to reach Pokhara as quickly as possible.

As we approach Pokhara, the landscape opens into the Pokhara Valley. On a clear day, the Annapurna region begins to dominate the northern skyline.

Once in Pokhara, we check into the hotel and have lunch.

The motorcycles can then rest while we explore the city using a private vehicle. Keeping sightseeing and riding separate also means you do not have to negotiate city traffic every time we stop at an attraction.

Later in the day, we head to Phewa Lake for approximately one hour of boating. The lake is one of the places where Pokhara slows the pace of the tour: after several days around traffic and highways, you can simply sit back and enjoy the water and, when the weather is clear, views towards the Annapurna range.

We finish the day around Lakeside, one of the easiest places on the journey to find cafés, restaurants and shops.

The day begins early with a drive to Sarangkot before sunrise. Weather permitting, this is one of the best opportunities of the trip to see the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges in the morning light.

Mountain views can never be guaranteed. If clouds move in, Sarangkot is still a good viewpoint over Pokhara Valley, but the Himalayan panorama depends entirely on visibility that morning.

After sunrise, we return to the hotel for breakfast.

We then spend the day exploring Pokhara by private vehicle with a guide. Depending on opening hours, traffic and available time, the sightseeing can include some of Pokhara's best-known attractions such as Devi's Fall, Gupteshwor Mahadev Cave, Bindhyabasini Temple, the Seti River area and one of the city's museums.

The aim is not to race between attractions just to say we visited them. We keep enough time to actually see the places and still enjoy the day.

Lunch is arranged in Pokhara.

Towards late afternoon, we travel to the World Peace Pagoda, which sits on the ridge above the southern side of Phewa Lake. The hilltop location provides views across the lake and city, with the Annapurna mountains behind Pokhara when the sky is clear.

Today's destination is Tansen in Palpa, but rather than simply riding directly there, we include a visit to Rani Mahal.

The main route south from Pokhara follows the Siddhartha Highway towards Palpa. Compared with the flatter roads we will encounter later in the Terai, today's ride is very much a hill-road day, with bends, climbs, descents and constantly changing views.

We stop for breaks and lunch on the way.

Rani Mahal sits beside the Kali Gandaki River below Tansen. The historic palace was built by Khadga Shumsher in memory of his wife Tej Kumari and has become one of Palpa's best-known landmarks.

The road towards Rani Mahal is quite different from the major highway. Depending on recent maintenance and weather, sections can be narrower or rougher than what we have ridden during the first part of the trip. Our road guide checks local conditions and manages the pace accordingly.

After visiting Rani Mahal, we continue towards Tansen.

Tansen is an old hill town built along steep slopes and narrow streets. Its old bazaar shows strong Newar architectural influence, while the wider Palpa region has deep Magar cultural roots.

If daylight and road conditions allow, we visit a local viewpoint such as the Batase Danda/Srinagar area for views across the surrounding hills.

We then check into our hotel for dinner and a well-earned rest.

This is one of the more interesting riding days because it combines normal highway riding with smaller hill roads rather than simply covering distance between two cities.

Today's distance is relatively short, but the landscape changes dramatically.

After breakfast, we leave the hills of Tansen and descend towards Butwal and the Terai plains.

As we lose elevation, you will notice the temperature becoming warmer and the road gradually changing from mountain bends to flatter riding.

We continue towards Lumbini, the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, who became the Buddha. Lumbini is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and one of the most important Buddhist pilgrimage destinations in the world.

We expect to arrive around lunchtime, although our arrival time depends on traffic and road conditions.

After checking into the hotel and having lunch, we leave the motorcycles parked and start exploring Lumbini with a local guide.

This afternoon is focused on the Sacred Garden, particularly the Maya Devi Temple area. Here you can see the archaeological remains associated with the Buddha's birthplace, the Ashoka Pillar and the sacred area around the temple.

We deliberately keep the first Lumbini visit focused rather than trying to cover the whole development zone in half a day. Lumbini is spread across a large area, and rushing between monasteries would not do the place justice.

Lumbini is much larger than the Maya Devi Temple alone. The wider development area includes monasteries and Buddhist centres established by communities from different countries and traditions.

After breakfast, we explore the area by private vehicle with a guide.

The day's program can include the international monastic zones, where countries and Buddhist organisations have built monasteries in architectural styles influenced by their own traditions. This gives you a chance to see how Tibetan, Theravada and East Asian Buddhist traditions are represented within the same pilgrimage area.

We also visit the World Peace Pagoda and other important parts of the Lumbini complex as time and opening hours allow.

Lunch is arranged during the tour.

This is intentionally a slower day. By this point you have already ridden from Kathmandu through Bandipur, Pokhara and Tansen, so a full day away from the motorcycle also gives your body a break before we begin riding east again.

In the late afternoon, we return to the hotel.

After breakfast, we leave Lumbini and turn east towards Chitwan.

This ride feels quite different from the mountain sections earlier in the journey. Much of the day is across Nepal's southern plains, with longer and flatter stretches of road.

Do not mistake flat roads for empty roads, however. The east-west highway carries buses, trucks, motorcycles, tractors and local traffic, and settlements frequently sit directly beside the road.

Our road guide sets the pace, and we make regular stops rather than treating the open sections as an opportunity to ride fast.

The journey is approximately 160 km, and we aim to reach Chitwan around lunchtime or early afternoon.

Once we arrive, we check into our hotel in the Chitwan area, have lunch and take some time to rest.

Later in the afternoon, we head towards the riverside for sunset if timing and weather allow.

In the evening, we attend a Tharu cultural program. The Tharu are an Indigenous community with a long history in Nepal's Terai, including the Chitwan region. The program usually introduces guests to local music and traditional dance.

Today is completely different from the previous riding days.

The motorcycles stay at the hotel while we spend the day around Chitwan National Park, Nepal's first national park and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After breakfast, we begin the scheduled wildlife activities. The exact order may change according to park regulations, season, river conditions and local arrangements.

Activities can include a guided jeep safari, where we enter suitable areas to look for wildlife such as greater one-horned rhinoceros, deer, monkeys, wild boar and a wide range of birdlife.

Chitwan is also habitat for the Bengal tiger, but it is important to set realistic expectations: seeing a tiger is rare and can never be promised. A rhinoceros sighting is considerably more common, but wildlife is wild, so no particular animal sighting is guaranteed.

Depending on water levels and local conditions, the program may also include a canoe ride, guided nature or jungle walk and a visit to the elephant breeding centre.

Your naturalist or local guide explains the wildlife, vegetation and river ecosystem rather than simply moving from one activity to another.

Lunch is included during the day.

After the activities, we return to the hotel and have a relaxed evening. After several days on the motorcycle, this is another useful recovery day before the final ride back to Kathmandu.

We start early today with a short birdwatching walk around the Chitwan area.

Chitwan is particularly rich in birdlife because its river systems, grasslands and forests create several different habitats within a relatively small area.

After birdwatching, we return to the hotel for breakfast, pack our luggage and prepare for the final motorcycle journey of the tour.

There is more than one possible road back to Kathmandu. Depending on current conditions, our road team may use the main route towards Mugling and Kathmandu or choose an alternative route through the hills.

We do not lock ourselves into one return road months in advance simply because it looks good on a map. Before leaving Chitwan, our team checks the latest information on traffic, construction, landslides and road conditions and chooses the most practical route for that day's ride.

If we use the main highway, expect busy traffic as we approach Kathmandu. If a hill route such as the Daman side is selected, expect more bends, climbing and a longer riding day.

Either way, this is the final substantial ride of the journey, so we keep enough time for fuel, lunch, tea and rest stops.

Arriving back in Kathmandu can feel surprisingly busy after the quieter roads of Bandipur, Palpa and the Terai. We ride together until we reach the hotel and officially finish the motorcycle section of the tour.

In the evening, we meet for dinner and talk through the journey—from the first test ride on Day 2 to the final kilometres back into Kathmandu

After breakfast, you can relax at the hotel, organise your luggage or spend any remaining time in Kathmandu depending on your flight schedule.

We arrange your transfer from the hotel to Tribhuvan International Airport with enough time for international check-in.

If you are staying longer in Nepal, this is also where your planned program with us ends unless you have arranged additional accommodation, sightseeing or another trip.

You leave having ridden roughly 1,300 km across Nepal, from the Kathmandu Valley through Bandipur and Pokhara, south through Palpa to Lumbini, east across the Terai to Chitwan and finally back to Kathmandu.

More importantly, the journey is not designed only around kilometres. There are dedicated non-riding days in Pokhara, Lumbini and Chitwan so you actually experience the places you have travelled so far to reach.