- 7 Days
- 35 to 45 kilometers
- 6-7 hrs
- Spring/Autumn
- Flight/Public/Private Vehicle
- Hotel / Tea Houses
- Moderate
- Murma
- 2,990 m
Overview
Have you ever heard of Rara Lake? Yes Rara Lake, the biggest and most beautiful lake of Nepal. It is situated in the lapses of green western hills. The freshwater stretched over an area of 6.11 sq mi and surrounding green hills make this place a dreamland. This lake has attracted so many people till now and the trend is not stopping yet.
Among some ways to reach Rara Lake(2990m), the jeep tour is the most popular and exciting one. Rara Lake jeep tour is a 7 day escape from the ever bustling world. It is a thrilling jeep journey to the most rural yet beautiful part of Nepal. The jeep ride is equally scenic and adventurous until Rara lake and vice versa. The off-road journey of this tour is the most exciting. Body shakes like a milkshake and the level of thrill is in the air. And the view from the jeep window is awe-inspiring.
Rara Lake is a perfect place to stray in nature. The beauty that this lake holds is unexpressible. It is just like a nymph resting and guarded by several hills. The special thing about the Rara lake is that it changes colour, three colours in a day.
And, the backdrop Rara lake is as beautiful as the Lake, the green lush forest and hills. During Spring, the palace is heavenly decorated with varieties of flowers, adding the rainbow to the already colourful Rara.
To say it all, Rara Lake jeep tour is a superb journey which leads you in the lap of the queen of the lakes, i.e. Rara lake. Every other second of this tour is memorable, you will remember it for your lifetime. So, come and join the excursion to the piece of heaven on the earth.
Highlights of Rara Lake Jeep Tour
- Scenic jeep ride from Kathmandu to Kohalpur
- Picturesque and adventurous ride over Karnali Highway
- Short hike through the woods of Rara National Park
- Observing the breathtaking view of Rara Lake from close distance
- Strolling around the lakesides
- Spending the overnight in the banks of Rara
- Enjoying the delightful boat ride in the Rara Lake
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Itinerary
Drive Distance: 535km
Drive Time: 12 hours
Road Condition: Pitch road
Altitude Gain: 175m
Overnight in: Kohalpur
Kohalpur, the main city of western Nepal is 535km west from Kathmandu. So, the Rara Lake jeep tour will start with the ride to Kohalpur. This jeep takes around 12 hours to reach Kohalpur after leaving Kathmandu behind. With some tea and meal breaks on the way, it takes full daytime to arrive in Kohalpur. Throughout the drive time, you will enjoy a broad range of views.
The view includes serpentine rivers, green hills, lush forest and various modern and traditional settlements. You’ll also pass via Banke National Park. Enjoying views through the window all the way, you’ll reach Kohalpur. Overnight in Kohalpur at Hotel.
Drive Distance: 250km
Drive Time: 7 to 8 hours
Road Condition: Mostly pitch road, rough somewhere
Altitude Gain: 2033m
Overnight in: Manma, Kalikot
After resting overnight in Kohalpur, it’s time to hit the road again. On this day, you will leave the plainlands of Nepal and enter the hillsides. The ride will go through dense forests towards scenic hills. Your first break for today will be at Surkhet(1000m), the beautiful valley of Mid-western Nepal. Kohalpur to Surkhet is a 3 hours drive distance.
After lunch, the jeep will approach a gentle steep road for reaching Manma before nightfall. The ride will be equally scenic and adventurous as the jeep will wheel on turning roads of Karnali Highway. Drive time from Surkhet to Manma is nearly 4 to 5 hours. The road until Manma is good with few rough times where the jeep bumps like spring. Manma is the headquarters of Kalikot District and a good place to spend the night. Your overnight will be at Manma(2033m) which is located perfectly at the hilltop. You will take a rest after the long and tiring journey. The night view from Manma top will heal your pain away.
Road Condition: Rough road
Altitude Gain: 2990m
Overnight in: Rara Lake
This will be the regular third jeep ride day. After breakfast at Manma, you will leave behind your hotel to join the rough and thrilling highway. Firstly you will cross Sinja valley and then Nagma valley. The view throughout the ride time is scenic and exotic with varied landscapes, trees and rivers.
The highway until Nagma is somehow good but a few seconds after Nagma, the true road adventure starts. From Nagma it is a rough road which runs just above the long Karnali river. Crossing several villages and forests for 4 hours, the jeep arrives at Talcha airport(2735m) area.
The 30 minutes drive more from the airport and your jeep ride finally ends. Getting out of the jeep after a long and tiring journey is an awesome pleasure. From the jeep parking area, it is a 2 hours hike to reach Rara Lake.
This short walk to Rara lake is so alluring as you will walk through alpine forest feeling the cool breeze. After walking some hours, you’ll touch down the banks of Rara Lake. Just pause and enjoy the view of the most beautiful and pristine Rara Lake.
Today is the vital part of the Rara lake jeep tour, the reason behind all of your jeep trouble. It is a full day dedicated to exploring the wide vicinity of Rara lake. After all, it is the biggest lake of Nepal with a length of 14 km.
So, you’ll tour around the banks of Rara lake to enjoy the view of a crystal-clear lake with vast hills and mountains in the backdrop. Take enough of the pictures there because you won’t get such photogenic surroundings daily.
There are several other things to do except enjoying the view like boating, horse riding, lakeside hiking. Among these activities, boating is a must thing to do. The boating charge is around NPR 700(7$) per head. Do the boat ride and explore the Rara lake much better way along with some rare and unique fishes strolling around into the water. At the end of the day, you will find that one day is never enough for enjoying the serenity of Rara Lake. Overnight at the banks of Rara Lake.
Drive Distance: 250km
Road Condition: Rough road
Altitude Gain: 2033m
Overnight in: Manma
After a memorable stay at the lakeside of Rara Lake, it is time to drive back home. So, you will start by hiking up to the Jeep parked area. While hiking, glance at Rara lake and take some last-minute pictures. The jeep will be warming up to retrace the same road again to reach Manma. You’ll repeat the same views of rugged landscapes of Mugu from the window. Enjoying the ride, you will arrive at Manma once again for the overnight stay.
Drive Distance: 249km
Road Condition: Pitch plus Rough road
Altitude Gain: 175m
Overnight in: Kohalpur
Today will be the second homecoming day of the Rara Lake jeep tour. After breakfast, you will hop into the Jeep for a scenic ride to Kohalpur. The jeep will continue retracing the way back to Kohalpur. The ride back to Kohalpur takes around 6 to 7 hours to complete.
Until reaching Kohalpur, it will be already dark so you will check-in into the hotel. Refresh yourself and eat dinner before saying goodnight. This particular night will be the most relaxing as you will fall asleep within a few seconds due to the tiredness.
Drive Distance: 535km
Drive Time: 12 hours
Road Condition: Pitch road
Altitude Gain: 1400m
Overnight in: Kathmandu
This will be the last day of the Rara Lake jeep tour where you retrace the same highway to reach Kathmandu. The ride will be equally scenic like the prior rides. The jeep will reach Kathmandu after speeding for nearly 12 hours from Kohalpur. However, the duration can vary with the traffic congestion. Soon after reaching Kathmandu, you will check-in into the hotel. Just take rest and enjoy the success of the tour completion.
Best time for Rara Lake Jeep Tour
Rara Lake jeep tour is most favourable during dry seasons, i.e. Autumn and Spring.
The route from Nagma to Rara Lake is completely rough. And these roads are risky and troublesome during the non-dry seasons like Summer and Winter. The rainfall and snowfall makes the road travel a bit hazardous. There are high chances of road blocks due to the landslides and snowfall. So, Rara tour via jeep is risky during Summer and Winter and best during Autumn and Spring. Let’s talk about each of the peak seasons for Rara jeep tour:
Autumn season
Autumn is the best time for any of the natural adventures. September, October, and November are the months of Autumn. Throughout these months, you will experience the warm and ideal temperature. The skies are also clear with no clouds and overcasts. With clear blue skies, you can enjoy the clear visibility of Rara Lake and surrounding during Autumn season. It is one of the dry seasons so there is no chance of any rainfall and snowfall. The Rara Lake adventure during Autumn is a memorable experience.
Spring Season
Spring is another peak season for the Rara lake tour. Spring starts from the month of April and lasts till May in Nepal. Spring is also the season of flowers which means you can enjoy the view of Rara Lake and blossoming flowers. There is no rainfall during Spring season nor snowfall. This means a jeep tour is a safe and feasible thing to do in the Spring season.
The temperature of Spring is more or less similar to Autumn season. The view of Rara Lake is unbeatable during the Spring season. The surroundings of Rara lake are decorated with blossoming flowers and green forests. If you want to experience Rara Lake like never then do the Rara tour during Spring season.
Best Things to do while in Rara
The Rara lake jeep tour is not only about enjoying the lake view and return. It is not just that simple, there are several things you can do while strolling in Rara Lake. Here are the overviews of those things that you can try after reaching Rara:
Boating
Boating is probably the first thing that you think of when it comes to lake tours. And, Rara Lake tour is incomplete without a boat ride. As you have already known, Rara Lake is the biggest freshwater lake in Nepal. You just can’t view the proper beauty of the lake from the bank, the boat ride over the lake is a perfect way to explore the beauty of Rara Lake.
Renting a boat ride will take you to the centre of the Lake where you can see a panoramic view of the Rara. You will feel like sitting in the middle of the lake. The eyeshot from the boat is just wow with surrounding hills and mountains reflecting on the water. You’ll never get tired of taking pictures.
Also, you can observe some water animals clearly as the lake is crystal clear. Rara Lake is home to some species that can be only seen here, nowhere else. Rara Snowtrout (Schizothorax Raraensis) and Rara Lake frog(Nanorana Rarica) are the two species that are only found here. The boat service is operated in cooperation of both Nepal Army’s officials and locals. The boating charge is around 7USD(NPR700) per pax. Price is reasonable, just go hop in the boat and enjoy the ride.
Horse Riding
You might be wondering “What other than boating”. Don’t worry, there is an option of Horse riding for you. Horse riding is the most popular activity to do in Rara. Rara lake’s round length is around 14 km, if you wish to complete the round hike in feet it will take a lot of time. So, the quicker option is the horse riding on which you can cover the extra area of Rara to enjoy the view.
You also have an option to take the horse ride to reach the closest and popular viewpoint, Murma top. The horse ride to the top will be led by the horse guide.
If you are a horse rider then there is enough space near Rara lake where you can speed up the horse and enjoy the cool breeze. In overall, horse riding is a must-do activity in Rara.
Murma Top hiking
Murma Top(3,726m) is the best viewpoint of Rara Lake. And it is a short hike of 2 to 3 hours through the dense pine forest. The hike is exciting as you will approach the top by walking in green trails. Along the hike, you will also see some birds well flying here and there. The sound of birds and peaceful forest will enchant you.
Upon reaching the top, you can enjoy the broad vision of colorful Rara lake. The top provides panorama of the whole western Nepal’s landscape. Far-staying snow covered peaks also can be seen from the Murma viewpoint.
Some near settlements also can be seen from the top. Also, the vast forest of Rara National Park is observable from there. If you want to observe the entire Rara lake region then Murma top is the place you should hike.
Murma Village tour
If you are an explorer of cultures and lifestyle then you got the option here in Rara Lake jeep tour. Murma village is the nearest village from the Rara lake. It is inhabited by some of the old civilization of Nepal. This village has some 80 houses of Rokaya tribes of Nepal.
The houses are mainly made of either stones or woods. And the lifestyle and culture of people living in this village is quite explorable. Walking through the yards and farm fields gives the overview of their lifestyle. There are also some homestays available for the tourists. So, Murma village tour is also a worthy thing to do while in Rara.
Packing list for Rara Lake Jeep Tour
Rara Jeep tour does not involve long trekking so no need to carry numbers of gears. Just a few basic clothing and equipment are enough for the jeep tour. The checklist for the jeep tour is as below:
Headwear
- Sunhat
- Sunglasses
- Sunscreen and moisturizer
- Lip Balm
Feet
- Thin and warm socks
- Sandals or loafers
- Trekking Shoes
- Comfortable Shoes for cities
Body
- Warm and light gloves
- T-shirts
- Light jackets
- Pullovers
- Wind-stopper jacket
- Undergarments
- Hiking shorts
- Cotton pants or joggers
Accessories
- Earplug
- Electronics gadgets like camera, speaker
- Extra Batteries
- Notebook, pen, map
- Tour/Trekking Bag
- Sleeping Bag
- Down jacket
- Toiletries items like toilet paper, toothbrush, toothpaste, soap, shampoo, hand sanitizer, etc.
Real Stories from our TripAdvisor Page
Verified Breathtaking Had an amazing time doing the Everest basecamp with our amazing guide Gokarna (Goku) he looked after us and his friendly and calm nature as well as experience in the mountains really made us all feel safe. I am adding Manaslu circuit to my bucket list and coming back to radiant treks!Verified Incredible Experience on the Manaslu Circuit with Radiant Treks (March 2025) This was my second trek with Gokarna. I did the Annapurna Base Camp trek with him back in 2018, and recently completed the Manaslu Circuit in March 2025. Once again, it was an exceptional experience!Gokarna knows the Manaslu region inside out. He’s incredibly knowledgeable about the route, the villages, and the best places to stay. It was amazing to see how well-connected he is along the trail — locals would often greet him warmly, which added a really personal touch to the journey.He made sure we had the best possible accommodation each night by booking early, ensuring we were comfortable throughout the trek. His guidance was also key to avoiding altitude sickness — always reminding us what to do (and what not to do) to stay healthy and make the most of the experience.If you're planning a trek in Nepal, I can’t recommend Gokarna and Radiant Treks enough. Professional, caring, and deeply passionate about the mountains — you’re in the best hands.— AlexVerified Fantastic experience with Radiant Treks We went with my girlfriend on a trek to Nepal in March 2025. We did the Manaslu and Tsum Valley tour. During our hike we had the chance to meet the Radiant Treks team. Gokarna is a great guide. He is very professional, he has a lot of experience in the mountains and his infectious enthusiasm will both distract you and motivate you to advance even on the most difficult climbs. Like us, you will have wonderful memories of the mountain landscapes and the Radiant Treks team! We strongly recommend it!Verified Ebc The founder Gokarna guided me and my friends on a EBC trek a few years ago and we got all the support we needed for doing this once in a lifetime hike. It was well organised and we both enjoyed ourselves seeing all the grand views of the Himalayas. Highly recommend this company for all your trekking needs in Nepal!Verified Manaslu circuit and Tsum Valley We had the chance to rub shoulders with the Radiant Treks team during our tsum valley trek as well as the manaslu circuit. Gokarna is a professional and involved guide. He has experience in the mountains and will do everything possible to make your mountain experience as pleasant as possible and to keep you memorable.As a bonus his repertoire of stories and songs is inexhaustible and will make you laugh.Verified À very best trek with Radiant treks We have been very lucky to book the Ganduk trek with Radiant treks and guided by the manager Godarka which without any doubt is a real professional with a lot of mountain experience. Godarka is taken care of the people, watching if everything is going well, giving his help if need be.So should you intend to go to Nepal for a trek, don't hesitate to book with Radiant treks, you will be fully satisfied.Verified Discovery of the trek, Discovery of the magnificent landscape and especially view of Annapurna At the end of 2024 we had as a project a trek in Nepal.we searched for a guide. Gokama from Radianttreks was very quick to respond and the only one followed up our project.trek 3 days to ghandruck 4senoirs.He is young in the trade but professional, punctual, dedicated. Communicate in English. we advise you.Verified Trek inoubliable We are 2 French couples over 70 years old, and we did our 3 day trek with Gokarna. He had been very responsive to our request. It is a professional guide listening. Accommodation in Tolka and Ghandruk was of high quality with hot water.We are delighted , saw sunrise, Annapurna south, and made beautiful encounters with the locals. You could tell how rough life is in this country, but still smiling. We highly recommend the Ghandruk trek and our super guideVerified Manaslu Circuit with Tsum Valley , AMAZING!! Wow! What an amazing adventure start to finish! As a solo female traveller I had my reservations when trying to book a company but the service I received with Radiant Treks was second to none! From the fast responses back and forward from Nepal to Australia , to the arrival process all the way at through to the end of the hike, no detail was missed! You could tell my guide Gokarna was very experienced on the mountain, he has great character and provided everyone (not just me) with many laughs , mystical stories of the mountains, even pointing out different native plants that can be used as food sources by local villages. I always felt very comfortable and often Gokarna went out of his way at finding me a good room with ensuite toilet where possible , was always very aware of our surroundings and made sure I was comfortable at all times! I honestly can’t recommend this company enough, I saw several other guides providing a very substandard service and I felt very sorry for the guests. I can guarantee this won’t happen with Radiant Treks ! I hiked the Tsum Valley and Manaslu circuit , so amazing!!Verified GREAT HIMALIYAN EXPERIENCE I went to EBC last year in September.it was my first trek. Gokarna was our guide. He is excellent. He was very patient with us.Under his guidance we conquered our EBCdream.Load more
