A private day hiking trip to Champa Devi
Swiss Family Treks Blog Posting
The best of Kathmandu Valley "A private day hiking to Champa Devi"
Highlights of the trip
• Enjoy a day away from the hustle and bustle of the Kathmandu city
• Enjoy fantastic aerial views of Kathmandu Valley and Pharping
• Fully narrated tour through the pine forests
• Well maintained walking trail with stone steps
• Different possibilities of starting the route to reach top (starting at Bhanjyang or Khahare/Taudaha or Dallu and ending at any of this points or Chandragiri with walking 7.3km walking further more)
• Private guide for a more personalized experience
• Private tour is operated with just your group/single person and a guide/driver
• Easily assessable by bus and easy walking uphill
Champa Devi hiking is an easy and enjoyable day hike in the southern hill of Kathmandu valley. Champa Devi is in the elevation of 2180 meters above the sea level and is one of the most popular pilgrimage sites in the Hindu and Buddhist religions. Walking through the lush pine forest on well develop trail is really wonderful experience. Superb view of Langtang, Gauri Shankar, Jugal, Dorge Lakpa Himalayas are the major attraction of the hiking. Apart from it, we can observe the bustling Kathmandu city and spectacular village settlements from the top. Several return routes are possible. Aside from visiting the temples, you will get a wonderful opportunity to explore the countryside with authentic and traditional houses and local culture during the hiking.
This tour starts in the morning after an hour drive to Pharping village. Leaving the village and monastery of Pharping, the trail makes its way through a lush pine forest. It will take 2 and half hours to reach the top of the ridge. Most of the walk is along the ridge and offers a spectacular bird's eye view of the Kathmandu valley and Himalayan range from Manaslu to the west and Gaurishankar to the east. Raptors can be seen soaring along the trails. The top of the hill is a sacred site where locals perform their rituals on auspicious days. From the top, you will have an amazing view of Langtang, Gauri Shankar, Jugal, Dorje Lakpa and others snow-capped mountains. When you are leaving, the summit trail descends steeply down to the village of Champa Devi. It goes through the dense forest which is rich with birds and other wildlife.
Beyond Champa Devi
From the summit of Champa Devi, you can continue down and up to the unnamed western peak of the fishtail – which is actually slightly higher, at 2286m. You can then continue west along the ridge for an hour (or somewhat less), following a well-made path down to a saddle and then up to a higher peak (2509m). From here, another ridge tracks south for another hour or so up to the highest peak of the range, Bhasmesur (2622m) – said to be the ashy remains of a demon tricked by Vishnu into incinerating himself. West of the Bhasmesur spur, a path turns north off the ridge (though the actual ridge-line is confused around here – and the illegal charcoal-burning pits don’t help), descending a steep and seemingly endless stone staircase down to the village of Machegaon (90min descent) from where various trails and roads lead back to Kirtipur.
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