Plan your first trek with the FindTrekkingPartner itinerary builder

The itinerary builder lets you plan a first trek in about twenty minutes: pick one of our Nepal routes, set a start date, add a rest day, check the walking hours, distance and ascent for each day against your fitness, look at the weather, save a version, share a link with a partner and, when you are ready, post the plan as a trip to find companions. It is a planning tool, not a booking service, and everything you build is private until you share it. This guide walks through the steps with the real stages of a first trek, so you end up with a plan you can take to an agency.

Step 1: choose a starting route

Open the builder at /plans/new after signing in, and you see a trail picker. It lists our Nepal routes with filters, including months, which come from each region's best trekking seasons, and a map where you can tap a route. Choose a route that fits your time and fitness. For a first trek, good starting points are the four-day Poon Hill trek, the seven-day Annapurna Base Camp trek or the eight-day Langtang Valley. If you are unsure, our decision guide and short treks from Pokhara help you choose.

When you choose a route, the builder copies its days, routes and stops into a new private itinerary that you can change freely. You can also start with a blank map and add days yourself, which suits a custom route but takes more work. For a first trek, copying a standard route is the sensible choice, because the stages have been planned around sensible villages and altitude gains.

Step 2: set a start date

Set a start date and the days follow on one after another from that date. With dates in place, the builder can show daylight and weather for each day. If you do not know your dates, you can leave this for later. Think about the season: spring (March to May) and autumn (October to November) are the best windows, and our best time to trek in Nepal guide explains the trade-offs. If you choose October, remember that flights and lodges fill early.

Step 3: read each day card

Each day is a card showing where you start, where you end and the figures for the day: distance, ascent and descent. On the Poon Hill route, for example, day 1 goes from Pokhara to Ulleri at 2,070 m, day 2 climbs to Ghorepani at 2,860 m and day 3 reaches Tadapani, with walks of five to six hours on days 1 and 3 in our plan. Use the cards to check the plan against your fitness. If a day looks too long, such as the six-hour Ghorepani to Tadapani stage, you can change where it ends, split it or add a day.

The builder's totals count walking days and rest-day hikes only. Distances are approximate: where no trail is mapped, the builder draws a straight line, so treat the numbers as a guide. Compare them with the stages in our Poon Hill itinerary or Annapurna Base Camp itinerary.

Step 4: add a rest or acclimatisation day

On routes that go above 3,000 m, add rest days. The CDC suggests, above 3,000 m, raising your sleeping altitude by no more than about 500 m a night, with an extra night for every 1,000 m gained. In the builder, you can insert a rest or acclimatisation day, which is a day spent where you slept, with optional waypoints for a short side hike that returns to the same lodge. Our Langtang plan has one at Kyanjin Gompa at 3,870 m, and the Everest Base Camp plan has two. If you are building a high route, check the plan against our acclimatisation schedule and add a buffer day at the end for delays; our buffer days guide explains why.

Step 5: reshape the route on the map

If you want to change a stage, you can drag a day's line on the map to reroute it, add a via point, set a new end point by tapping the map, or search for a place or a lodge. The search covers places and lodges and points of interest. The map needs WebGL; if it does not load, you can still pick a trail from the list. Keep the day titles simple, using village names rather than lodge names, because day titles are shown publicly if you later post the plan as a trip.

Do not over-engineer your first plan. Moving a stop by a village is fine, but major changes to altitude gain deserve a conversation with a guide or agency.

Step 6: check the weather

When you have dates, the builder shows weather for where you end each day. Within the forecast range of 16 days it shows a forecast that updates every hour; beyond that it shows typical weather for the time of year, which is an average from a climate record and not a forecast. Treat both with care: mountain weather is hard to predict, and the display tells you so. Weather data comes from Open-Meteo. Use it to choose a month and to prepare your clothing, not to promise yourself a clear day.

Step 7: packing list and checklist

The builder has a gear sheet where you can add items from your gear locker to pack for this itinerary, and a checklist to track what is done before you go. Add your permits, insurance, flights and gear tasks. Our minimum gear guide and packing list tell you what to include. Use the checklist for the things first-timers forget: a doctor's visit, insurance that covers helicopter evacuation, a copy of your passport and a buffer day.

Step 8: save a version and share a link

You can save versions of your itinerary, for example one with an acclimatisation day and one without, and go back to an earlier one if you change your mind. When you restore a version, what you have now is saved first, so nothing is lost. The number of versions per itinerary is limited.

To discuss the plan with a partner, turn on sharing. Anyone with the link can see the itinerary without signing in, and your name is not shown. You can turn the link off at any time and the old link stops working. Send it to a prospective partner, a friend or an agency to get a quote for the same stages. Treat the link as you would any private document: anyone who has it can see the plan.

Step 9: post it as a trip and find partners

When you are ready, you can start a trip with this itinerary. Posting the plan as a trip lets other trekkers see the route and ask to join, and the public view shows village-level stops without dates, lodge names or notes. Day titles are shown publicly, so use village names. Contact details stay hidden until both trekkers agree; our guide to finding a trekking partner safely explains the checks, and what to agree before you book covers the conversation. Once a trip is posted, edit rights follow the trip's current host.

You can also browse existing partners through the trekking partner hub or a route page such as the Poon Hill partner page.

Step 10: take the plan to an agency

FindTrekkingPartner is not a trekking agency: it does not sell treks, employ guides or handle money. Your itinerary is the starting point for a conversation with a registered agency. Send it to three agencies and ask for written quotes for the same stages, as described in how to book a Nepal trek. The guide rule applies: a licensed guide through a registered agency is required in restricted areas (Department of Immigration) and, under the Nepal Tourism Board rule of April 2023, in national parks and conservation areas, where 2026 operator reports say checkpoints enforce it in Annapurna and Langtang but not in Khumbu (checked 19 October 2026). Ask the agency to confirm permits, flights and the guide arrangement.

A short sample plan

If you are unsure where to start, try this: choose Poon Hill, set a start date in late October or March, add a spare day in Pokhara at the end, add a gear list and a checklist, save a version and share the link with one person. That is a complete first plan, and it takes twenty minutes.

For more beginner guidance, read the first-time trekking guide, the first-timers hub and our FAQ of 30 questions.