The Himalayan Wellness Journey: Yoga, Mountains & Spiritual Retreat

Below are the details Singapore guests usually ask about before committing nine days to yoga and slow travel. Your quotation confirms the hotels, the meal plan, the yoga sessions, any spa treatment and which entrance fees are included.

Pace

Most days carry one main move, and Day 7, from Astam via Pokhara airport and Kathmandu to Pharping, is the longest. The walking is gentle: lakeside paths in Pokhara, an optional walk up to the World Peace Pagoda and an unhurried walk to the caves at Pharping. The optional Jamacho hike on the last day is longer, so choose it only if you enjoy a proper walk. Every yoga session is optional and adapted to your level. The highest point is Nagarkot at about 2,175 metres, so this is not a high-altitude trip.

Weather and what to wear

All year, Singapore keeps to a narrow band of 25 to 33 degrees. Nagarkot and Astam do not: mornings and evenings in the hills are cool, and from December to February they are clear and cold. Pack warm layers alongside your yoga clothes, a warm top for sunrise practice and comfortable walking shoes. For temples and monasteries, keep shoulders and knees covered. October to November and March to April are the best seasons, and June to September is the monsoon, with daily rain and cloud.

Domestic flights and luggage

Domestic flights in Nepal depend on weather and schedules and can be delayed or cancelled at short notice. We confirm the route and timings before you book, and if a flight does not operate we travel by road instead. Domestic baggage allowances are tighter than international ones, so pack light or leave a bag at your Kathmandu hotel, and we confirm the allowance with the airline.

Money

Prices in Nepal are in Nepalese rupees (NPR). Cards work in larger hotels and shops, while markets, temple stalls and small cafés use cash, and in villages such as Astam cards are rarely accepted. Carry some rupees for small purchases and tips.

Power, time and connectivity

Hotel rooms from Kathmandu to Astam have 230 V sockets of type C, D and M, so bring an adapter for each type G plug from home. Set your watch back 2 hours 15 minutes on landing, as Nepal keeps UTC+5:45. Anyone who must stay on call for work should say so before booking, and we will check the Wi-Fi and signal at Nagarkot, Astam and the other stays for your dates.

Food

Breakfast comes with every night's stay; beyond that, unless your quotation lists other meals, you are free to eat by the lake in Pokhara. Drink bottled or filtered water. Share any vegetarian, halal or allergy needs with us at booking instead of waiting until you land.

Your nine days start and finish at Tribhuvan International Airport, and that is where a Singapore passport gets you a Nepal tourist visa on the spot. There is no need for an embassy visit before you fly, though a little preparation makes the arrival queue shorter.

Before you fly

The arrival form can be done online in advance at nepaliport.immigration.gov.np, with its barcode receipt in your bag, or on the kiosks in the arrivals hall if time runs short. Check that your passport has six months or more of validity left. Once off the plane, the order is simple: the fee counter first, then the immigration desk with your passport, form and receipt. Keep the form receipt, the US dollar cash and your passport together in your hand luggage so they are ready at the counter.

Fees

Visa prices depend on how long you stay, at US$30 up to 15 days, US$50 up to 30 and US$125 up to 90. Nine days sit well within the 15-day visa, leaving room for an extra night either side if you extend. Clean US dollar notes, changed before you leave Singapore, are the surest way to pay. Anyone staying on in Nepal once the retreat ends should pick a visa long enough for the whole stay. The visa fee is yours to pay and is not part of the package.

After landing

Recent schedules from Changi land in Kathmandu at night. Your representative waits for you after immigration and drives you to Hotel Barahi Kathmandu, and nothing else is planned for Day 1, so a slow queue costs you nothing.

Check before travel

Because entry rules and fees are not fixed, look up the Department of Immigration's latest guidance a few weeks ahead of your trip. Any local site or entry fees on the itinerary are set out in your quotation.

Singapore Airlines connects Changi with Kathmandu's Tribhuvan International Airport on a nonstop flight of roughly five hours. Seven flights a week appear on its schedule to October 2026. Arrival has recently been at night, so nothing is planned on Day 1 beyond the hotel transfer. Recent schedules have also had the flight home leaving late at night and landing in Singapore the next morning. Timings shift between seasons, so confirm them for your own dates.

Why everything goes through Kathmandu

Pokhara International Airport has no regular scheduled international service, so all international travel goes through Kathmandu. The domestic hop from Kathmandu west to Pokhara is about 25 minutes in the air. We book the domestic legs on Day 4 and Day 7 as part of the trip where the confirmed schedule permits, and arrange road transfers when it does not.

Planning around it

International flights are not included. Nepal is 2 hours 15 minutes behind Singapore, so the clock works in your favour on arrival, and Day 1 has nothing planned, so a late landing leaves the itinerary intact. Avoid a tight onward connection on the day you land back in Singapore, and make sure your travel insurance covers delay. If the nonstop does not fit your dates, other airlines link Singapore with Kathmandu via regional hubs.

The highest point on the Himalayan Wellness Journey is Nagarkot, at about 2,175 metres. It is not a high-altitude journey, and you spend only one night there before flying to Pokhara. The hills are cooler than Singapore, so mornings and evenings in Nagarkot and Astam call for warm layers alongside your yoga clothes.

Yoga and your body

Yoga sessions are led by an instructor and adapted to your level, with modifications for beginners and anyone carrying an injury. Every session is optional, and you can sit one out or stop partway without explanation. On the mat at Nagarkot or Astam you are there for the practice and the view, not for therapy, and we make no health claims for any session.

Tell us before you travel

If you have a heart, lung or joint condition, or are pregnant, check with your doctor before travelling and tell us when you book. Nepali pharmacies may not stock your usual medicines, so carry everything you take regularly, still in its original packaging, in hand luggage, with a few spare days' worth beyond the nine.

Water, food and insurance

Drink bottled or filtered water, and take unfamiliar food gently in the first days. No insurance comes with the trip, so we strongly recommend arranging a policy for medical treatment and cancellation that would also cover a disrupted domestic flight.

Sun and comfort on the trip

The sun in the hills can feel stronger than the cool air suggests, so bring sunscreen, sunglasses and a hat for outdoor sessions and walks. If you feel unwell or tired on any day, tell your guide, who can adjust the plan or let you skip a session without fuss.

Swayambhunath, Boudhanath and Pashupatinath belong to the Kathmandu Valley World Heritage Site, inscribed by UNESCO in 1979, and all of them are living places of worship rather than museums.

At stupas and temples

At Buddhist stupas such as Boudhanath and Swayambhunath, walk clockwise with the stupa on your right. Remove shoes before entering shrines, and keep shoulders and knees covered at temples and monasteries. Ask your guide before photographing inside a shrine.

Pashupatinath

At Pashupatinath Temple, non-Hindus may visit the ghats and outer shrines but not the main sanctum. On the riverside ghats, cremations happen in public view; stand well back and leave the camera down.

In Astam and the villages

In Astam and other villages, you are a guest in someone's home landscape. Ask before photographing people, dress modestly on village walks, and greet people with a namaste. If you practise yoga outdoors, choose spots your guide suggests rather than fields or courtyards in use.

At Pharping

At Pharping, monasteries are active places of practice. Sit quietly, silence your phone and follow your guide's lead on where visitors are welcome. Taking part in prayers or teachings is never guaranteed and depends on the monastery on the day.

Small courtesies

Walk clockwise around prayer wheels and mani walls as well as stupas. Avoid pointing your feet at a shrine, a monk or another person, and do not step over someone sitting on the floor. Give and receive things with your right hand, or with both hands, and keep public affection low-key at temples and in the villages.

Your dedicated guide travels with you and your driver handles every road transfer in an air-conditioned vehicle, so moves between Kathmandu, Nagarkot, Pokhara, Astam and Pharping are taken care of. If a domestic flight changes, we rearrange the day and the transport, not you.

Support line: +65 80961243
Support email: travel@hsj.sg

Before you travel

We confirm accommodation, instructor availability and flight plans in writing, and help with flight timings, visa steps and packing. Tell us about your yoga experience, injuries and dietary needs, and we pass them to the instructors and hotels before you arrive.

While you are in Nepal

When something is beyond what your guide can fix there and then, such as a cancelled Pokhara flight or a last-day change of plan, our Kathmandu team takes it on.

If plans change

Weather, a domestic flight or a slow road can move a day. When that happens, your guide and our Kathmandu team rework the transport and hotels and tell you the new plan, and the free afternoon on Day 8 means a delay inside Nepal should not cost you the flight home.