The far eastern corner, hard against Sikkim and Tibet: three weeks to the north and south base camps of Kanchenjunga (8,586 m), through country where you will go days without meeting another trekking party.
What the walking is like
Long. This is the biggest commitment in our catalogue — twenty days-plus of walking, some of it on trails that a landslide can rearrange between seasons, with two base camps and a high pass between them if you take the full circuit. Days of seven to nine hours are normal rather than exceptional.
The reward is a Himalaya almost nobody sees: rhododendron forest that turns the lower valleys red in April, Limbu and Rai villages that have no relationship with tourism, and a north base camp at Pangpema where the mountain fills the entire northern sky.
Lodges, tents and self-sufficiency
Basic teahouses now cover most of the route, but not all of it, and not reliably in the shoulder weeks. We plan the harder sections with a cook crew and tents rather than gambling on a lodge being open, and we carry a comprehensive medical kit because evacuation from Pangpema is a serious undertaking rather than a phone call.
Permits and access
Kanchenjunga is restricted: two trekkers minimum, licensed guide, permit issued in Kathmandu before you fly east. Access is a flight to Bhadrapur, then the best part of a day's drive up to Taplejung — plan on two travel days at each end before you have walked a step.
- Kanchenjunga Restricted Area Permit — minimum two trekkers, licensed guide required
- Kanchenjunga Conservation Area entry permit
- Flight to Bhadrapur plus a long road transfer to the trailhead
Kanchenjunga & the Far East FAQs
Fitter than for Base Camp. Three weeks of consecutive walking days with big ascents and no rest-day town is a different proposition from the Khumbu, and we will ask about your last multi-week trek before we confirm a booking.
Patchily, in the lower villages, and effectively not at all above them. We carry a satellite phone for the trip, and we tell families at home to expect silence rather than daily check-ins.
A mix, and we decide section by section based on what is actually open that season rather than what a brochure says. Where lodges are unreliable, we bring tents and a cook crew.
