Jan 17, 2023
Fun and exciting adventure - We enjoyed our hike and the experience all in all was fantastic. Our guide Shishir was very knowledgeable and weāre pleased that he was patient with us. Loved the views of the Himalayas and the village people were so kind and welcoming.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 20, 2022
Lovely, great hike with gorgeous views! - My guide, Shishir, really made the hike fantastic! As someone who is not very physically fit, Shishir helped me a lot during the hike with motivating me and ensuring I had a good time while trying to catch my breath. He made me feel really at ease, and was great to converse with during the hike! I got so lucky to have great views and weather the day I went. Only ran into 2 other tourists so this is more of a remote and quiet hike, and the views are amazing! I would love to come back and arrange a private ABC or EBC trek with this company as I am very impressed with their organization and communication, as well as the provided guide. I came by myself as a solo female hiker and felt very safe during my time. Highly recommend!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Dec 13, 2022
Great, quiet day of hiking - I spent another good day of walking with my guide Shishir. We walked through small villages with great panoramic views of Himalayas, visiting Hindu temples. Our hike ended with amazing Namo Buddha Temple on the hill.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mar 3, 2020
Kathmandu Day Excursion - Outstanding tour! Himalayan Planet Adventures was very professional, even using WhatsApp to contact me. Our tour guide, Pankaj, was excellent! He really worked hard to accommodate all our needs! Highly recommend this tour company. We booked through Viator.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Aug 26, 2018
A lovely hike even in the rainy season - I went on this hike with Bidur who was a very pleasant person to be with. Knowledgeable, patient (with my low fitness level and innumerable photo stops :) ) and in a good humor always with a smile. The hike went nicely up and down the hills and although there was no sight to the snow covered mountains (saw butterflies instead š), walking through forest and villages along stupas to the monastery was just great. Stopped at some villagers who were super welcoming and also lunch was tasty. Did 2 more tours with the same company and was not disappointed.
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Apr 14, 2018
Very Poor Guide and Customer Service - I have hired tour operators and tour guides all over the world that I have found through TripAdvisor. I have always been thrilled. This is my first negative review for a tour operator and tour guide, but as I told Nabaraj, the tour operator for Himalayan Planet Adventures, I feel an obligation to the TripAdvisor community to provide an honest review.
The reason for the Poor rating is that our tour guide, Hari, provided no customer service at all, e.g.:
-- Hari did not communicate at all. We had to ask many questions to pry any information out of him.
-- When hiking with my 74-year-old husband, Hari raced ahead and left my husband behind.
-- I made detailed arrangements regarding our outings with Nabaraj and none of that information was communicated to Hari.
-- When I provided my candid feedback to Nabaraj, he blamed Hari and took no responsibility for his role as the tour operator and organizer of the outings.
In short, Hari did not act as a guide. He was merely a chaperone.
Details:
My husband did the Nagarkot sunrise hike one day and the Dhulikhel to Namo Buddha hike the next day. Even though there was poor visibility both days and he never saw the mountains, he liked the hikes a lot. He enjoyed the local scenery and villages. So these two hikes are good and recommended. The problem is the customer service, not the hikes.
For the Nagarkot hike, I paid the single supplement for my husband to go without me and told Nabaraj that it was OK if another person joined the hike in which case he could refund the single supplement. A young woman did join the hike. On the hike, Hari, the guide, raced ahead and the young woman followed peppering him with questions. My husband was left behind to hike on his own. My husband rolled with the circumstances as they were as he always does and did the hike as he chose and stopped and took pictures as he chose, etc., but he did the hike alone.
The next day for the Dhulikhel hike, I came along. I had arranged with Nabaraj to start the outing at 9:00 AM because mornings are difficult for me, but Hari told my husband at the end of the first day that we could be picked up at 7:30 AM or 8:00 AM. Knowing my difficulty in the mornings, my husband agreed to 8:00 AM.
I am disabled and mostly need a wheelchair. I went on the Dhulikhel hike with the intent of meditating at the monastery/Buddha while my husband hiked. I was very clear with Nabaraj about my physical limitations and asked that he provide a vehicle large enough to accommodate a wheelchair. On that day, I chose to bring my walker instead of the wheelchair, which is good because the wheelchair would not have fit in the car.
As the day before, Hari did not communicate at all and we had to pry information out of him regarding the outing. The series of events resulting in dropping off Hari & my husband to hike and then getting me to the monastery (Buddha) were unpleasant, but I won't go into detail.
At the monastery, the driver drove by and on up the hill and parked at the snack shop at the top, got out of the car and sat down. That left me with the option of sitting in the car and staring at a snack shop for a few hours while my husband hiked or making my own way to the monastery. I asked the driver to get my walker out of the back of the car and then he sat down while I stumbled my way down the very steep hill with my walker with cars zipping by. Thankfully, I made it to the monastery with no incident.
I have traveled all over the world and I always heavily emphasize my disability when making arrangements with tour operators, tour guides, hotels, etc. I have always received very kind, considerate, concerned and accommodating service from everyone including total strangers. This is the only time ever that I have been on a tour when there was no care or concern for me at all.
Meanwhile on the hike, Hari raced ahead again and left my husband behind. My husband lost ground on Hari on the up hills and closed the gap on the flats & downhills. In the end, he did what Nabaraj billed as a 3 - 4 hour hike in 2 hours. It was a blitz. He didn't have the opportunity to take any pictures. He had to blast through the hike,
In the car on the way back to the hotel, I mentioned to Hari that lunch was included in the cost of the hike. He clearly had no thought or plan for lunch and he just pointed to a place we were passing and said that we could have lunch there. At that point, I'd had it and just wanted to get the outing over with. We had lunch on our own when we got back to the hotel.
Nabaraj was good to work with to set up the two outings by email, but the execution of the outings was very poor. When I provided feedback regarding our unpleasant experience, he was apologetic, but he took no responsibility for the poor customer service. He blamed it on everyone and everything else. He offered no remuneration for the fees we paid him for the trips including the missed lunch. We did get a refund for the single supplement for the Nagarkot trip, but only because I asked and only because I had change for the $50 that Hari had on him.
I made it clear to Nabaraj that I am obligated to write an honest review, which I have now done.
Review provided by Tripadvisor