35 experiences
Village life in the Himalaya
Homestays, farms and harvests
Nights in family homes, a hand in the fields and the kitchen, and money that stays in the village.
Photo: Oliver139 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Meet the herders' camps above Aru
From June to September, Gujjar and Bakarwal families camp in the meadows above Aru with goats, sheep and horses. A slow…
Photo: Zahid samoon · CC BY 3.0 · Commons
Walk Dawar's log-house villages
A slow walk through Dawar and the villages along the Kishanganga shows how Gurez lives: log houses built for long winte…
Photo: Deepank Ranka · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Wanla village and its hilltop temple
A short drive south of Lamayuru, Wanla is a farming village with an old Avalokiteshvara temple and ruined fort on a rid…
Photo: Dheekshi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
A night in Merak, Pangong's quiet shore
Merak is a small village about 40 km beyond Spangmik along the Pangong shore, with family homestays, barley fields and …
Photo: Suryadasika · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Turtuk Balti village walk
A slow walk through both halves of Turtuk: stone lanes, water channels, terraced barley and apricot orchards, the mosqu…
Photo: Amitabha Gupta · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Walk the cliff road to Roghi village
An easy 3 km walk from Kalpa along a road blasted into the cliff, with sheer drops to the Sutlej and the Kinnaur Kailas…
Photo: Jim Ankan Deka · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Village walks to Tosh and Pulga
Take the bus to the road head at Barshaini, then walk up to Tosh, a timber village with views of snow peaks, and across…
Photo: Royroydeb · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Uphill walk to Rumsu village
A steady climb of about 4 km from Naggar through apple orchards and deodar forest to Rumsu, a kath-kuni village that ma…
Photo: Piyush Choudhary · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Rakchham meadows and Batseri village
Visit Batseri, a village of finely carved wooden houses near Sangla, then continue to Rakchham at about 3,100 m for a w…
Photo: Ashish Gupta from Noida, India · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Day out to Kotgarh's apple orchards
Drive 80 km up the old Hindustan–Tibet road past Narkanda to Kotgarh, where Samuel Evans Stokes planted American apple …
Photo: Banchida · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Chehni Kothi tower and Jibhi village
Walk 2 km up from the Jibhi road to Chehni village to see Chehni Kothi, a 17th-century kath-kuni tower temple about 45 …
Photo: Arup1981 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Lhalung village and its old temple
A quiet side valley above Dhankar leads to Lhalung, a farming village with an old temple full of clay figures. Few visi…
Photo: This Photo was taken by Timothy A. Gonsalves. … · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Jispa village lanes and gompa
Walk up from the highway into the village, past potato and pea fields, to the small gompa that serves Jispa's families.…
Photo: Sanky cse · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Kibber lanes and the Chicham bridge
A slow afternoon in one of the highest villages in the world inhabited all year, then across the Chicham bridge for the…
Photo: Prof Ranga Sai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Evening walk around Nako lake
Circle the small lake at the heart of Nako, past willows, prayer wheels and stone houses, as families bring livestock h…
Photo: Deepak 13 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Mana village walk to Vyas Gufa and Bhim Pul
Wander the stone lanes of Mana, a Bhotiya village 3 km beyond Badrinath at about 3,200 m, then climb to the cave shrine…
Photo: E.F. Campbell (artist) · Public domain · Commons
Orchard walk and the story of Pahari Wilson
Walk through the apple orchards of Harsil and Dharali with a local host, hear the story of Frederick Wilson, the desert…
Photo: Anurag.vq · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Kharsali, where the Yamuna spends winter
Cross the river from Janki Chatti to Kharsali, the village of Yamunotri's priests, where the goddess is kept from Diwal…
Photo: Rajborah123 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Village trails on the edge of Binsar
Walk from the sanctuary edge down old paths to the terraced villages below, past naulas, stone houses with slate roofs …
Photo: Parthasarathi Chattopadhyay · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Ridge and village walk from Chaukori
Walk from the Chaukori ridge through oak and pine forest and orchards to nearby hamlets, past terraced fields, naulas a…
Photo: Deepak Rohilla · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Ramgarh orchards and the writers' hills
Ramgarh, on the road between Bhowali and Mukteshwar, is Kumaon's fruit belt, with apple, apricot, plum and peach orchar…
Photo: Bijaya2043 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Ghandruk's stone lanes and Gurung museum
A slow walk through Ghandruk's flagstone lanes, past slate-roofed houses and terraces, with a stop at the Gurung museum…
Photo: Bijay Chaurasia · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Kagbeni, the old gate to Mustang
Visit Kagbeni, a mud-brick village of tunnels and alleys at the meeting of the Kali Gandaki and Jhong rivers, with a re…
Photo: Auli Raha (অলি রাহা) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Orange orchard walk with a village family
Walk the terraces of Sittong with your homestay family in orange season, see how Darjeeling mandarins are grown and pic…
Photo: Amitabha Gupta · CC BY 4.0 · Commons
Sunrise walk above Tinchuley
Walk with a torch before dawn from your Tinchuley homestay to a viewpoint above the village, watch the sun rise over th…
Photo: Amitabha Gupta · CC BY 4.0 · Commons
An evening with a Lachenpa family
Spend your Lachen night in a family homestay rather than a lodge. Sit by the kitchen stove, eat rice, dal, local greens…
Photo: Indrajit Das · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
A walk through Lachung village
Spend two hours walking the lanes of Lachung, across the suspension bridge and between wooden homes, orchards and small…
Photo: Amitabha Gupta · CC BY 4.0 · Commons
Nathang valley on the high road
Continue beyond Thambi to the Nathang valley, a broad, high basin at about 4,000 m with a small village, grazing yaks, …
Photo: Jakub Michankow · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
A night in a Zuluk homestay
Spend a night with a family in Zuluk, eat home-cooked dal, rice and greens by a warm stove and wake before dawn for sun…
Photo: Christopher J. Fynn · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Farmhouse dinner and a hot stone bath
Spend a cold evening in a Phobjikha farmhouse: a wooden tub of water heated with river stones baked in a fire, followed…
Photo: Bernard Gagnon · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Field walk to Chimi Lhakhang
A flat 20-minute walk from Sopsokha village through rice and mustard fields to the small yellow-roofed temple of Drukpa…
Photo: Rohit Sharma · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Dirang Dzong village and the hot springs
Walk the lanes of an old stone Monpa settlement on a rise above the river, then go down to the hot springs where Dirang…
Photo: Neelanjana234 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
A day in the Sangti valley
A flat, quiet valley 15 km from Dirang with a clear river, fields, sheep pasture and Monpa villages. Walk the riverbank…
Photo: Research Institute of World’s Ancient Traditio… · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
An Adi village, the mosup and apong
Visit an Adi village near Pasighat with a local guide: stilt houses, granaries, the mosup community hall, orange and ar…
Photo: Bullo Doilyang · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Apatani village walk in Hong and Hari
Walk through two large Apatani villages with a local guide: stilt houses, granaries, clan platforms, shrines and the ri…