Adventure Sports

Eight peaks above 8,000 m meet tropical lowlands in less than 200 km, and Nepal's terrain does the rest. Everything here follows from that drop: rivers with real gradient, reliable thermals off the ridges, and gorges deep enough to jump into. The Bhote Koshi bungee is a 160 m fall from a suspension bridge over a gorge, about three hours from Kathmandu, and among the highest commercial jumps anywhere.

The Sun Koshi is the serious one. It runs 270 km through eastern Nepal over roughly nine days of Class III to IV water, and it is regularly listed among the world's best river expeditions. Shorter trips on the Trishuli and Bhote Koshi work as two-day add-ons. Paragliding at Pokhara launches from Sarangkot at 1,592 m with the Annapurnas across the valley and Phewa Lake below, and it is one of the most consistent flying sites in Asia.

Tandem paragliding, bungee and commercially rafted rivers are all guided, so none of it requires experience. That is worth saying plainly. What they do require is an operator who maintains gear and carries real insurance, because Nepal's safety regulation is thinner than the marketing suggests. Ask who underwrites the operator and when the equipment was last replaced. A week is enough to stack a jump, a flight and a river; Pokhara is the base for most of it.