Nepal

Nepal is for people who want to be in mountains — not look at them. The Annapurna and Everest treks deliver the most dramatic high-altitude walking on earth. Kathmandu is chaotic and exhausting; Pokhara is the chill counterpoint with a lake and a view of the Annapurnas.

Trekking days fall into a rhythm fast: walking by seven, dal bhat for lunch, a teahouse bed by mid-afternoon, cards and ginger tea while the peaks go pink. Kathmandu is worth two days — Durbar Square, Boudhanath, and gear shopping in Thamel, where everything is cheap and half of it is fake. Then a flight to Lukla or a long jeep ride to the Annapurna trailheads. Your money goes to flights, permits, and guides; the walking itself costs almost nothing.

The honest part: Kathmandu's dust and traffic wear you down, Lukla flights cancel for days at a stretch in bad weather, and road construction has eaten the lower sections of the Annapurna Circuit. Teahouses are cold and basic; a hot shower is a rumor above 4,000 meters. Altitude sickness is a genuine danger, not a footnote. If your holiday needs comfort, skip it. If you want the biggest mountains on earth at backpacker prices, nothing else comes close.