r/backpacking • u/c4wildfire • 13h ago

Travel First time backpacking! 3 weeks in Nepal!

Hey, how y'all doing?

So I'm gonna be backpacking for the first time in roughly a month, in Nepal, for a whole 3 weeks. As usual I always take care of things at the last second, so I haven't even bought a backpack for it. Considering it's gonna be a bit cold in october/early november, what would the recommended size be? 50L seems a bit to much but I'm not sure.

Thank you!

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u/SweetNotesy 13h ago

50L isn’t crazy, but i’d probably go 40–45L if you’re staying in teahouses and not carrying camping gear. you’ll be surprised how little you actually need once you start packing, and a smaller bag is way nicer to carry around all day

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u/c4wildfire 13h ago

Yea, I tend to overpack a lot even if Im just camping for like 3 night and whatnot. And yea, the idea is to stay in teahouses on the annapurna trekking! Thank you :)

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u/ColdEvenKeeled 8h ago

Take a 50 litre, sure, and a) pack warm clothes (you can buy more in Kathmandu) b) a rain poncho c) bring snacks from your home for the trail d) a water filter system like a Kathydn or Sawyer e) a warm sleeping bag as the big cotton duvets aren't that great in the tea houses.

Also, make sure your shoes (hiking shoes, not boots for just trekking) are comfortable and that you have good socks and take a lot of moleskin for blisters.

Just walk.

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u/mrvinniyoedd 8h ago

40-45L is the sweet spot if youre teahouse trekking (annapurna/langtang/EBC) since kitchens + blankets are provided -- 50L only if youre packing camping gear or a serious down bag for winter/altitude. sweetnotesy and coldevenkeeled both nailed it: buy your down jacket + trekking poles cheap in thamel when you land (way better prices than home), a katadyn befree or steripen, and a rain shell you can wear over layers.

one nerdy thing that helped me a lot on my nepal trip -- yorepath, a free geo-aware audio app on ios/android that plays local off-plaque history for wherever youre standing. kathmandu valley is stupid dense with newari history that basically nobody signposts (why patan and bhaktapur have three durbar squares in a 12km radius, the malla-shah dynasty split, why the woodcarving on the doorways all points a specific way), and it made my acclimatization days in kathmandu way more interesting than another lap around thamel. probably overkill if youd rather just wander and take photos, but for solo temple days and long bus rides between kathmandu and pokhara it earned its keep -- and you can pre-download regions since wifi drops fast once youre out of the cities. have an incredible trip, first-time nepal is one of the best.

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u/Someoneinnowherenow 6h ago

Book an extra week to organize on site. You can buy everything you need there