New trekking route in Valley on cards

The Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation has been working on developing a new trekking route connecting the four hills in the Kathmandu valley.

The Tourism Infrastructure Development Project, under the ministry, is trying to develop a new trekking route connecting the four hills — Phulchowki, Shivapuri, Champadevi and Chandragiri — surrounding the Kathmandu valley, according to project chief Prakash Raghubanshi.

The estimated 38-km trekking route will also be connected with radial routes, he said.

Phulchowki (2,782m) is the highest hill situated in the south of Kathmandu valley, whereas Shivapuri (2,563m) to the north of Kathmandu is the second highest hill around Kathmandu valley. Likewise, Chandragiri (2,275m) and Champadevi (2,285m) are also famous hills in the Kathmandu valley for trekking and hiking.

"Linking these four trekking routes will create a new route that will offer a new package for tourists," he said, adding that the project has been working on developing some more tourism infrastructure to offer more to both domestic and foreign tourists as tourism entrepreneurs have been asking the government to develop new packages to attract more tourists.

Similarly, the project is planning to establish service centres in each of the 18 tourism zones that the ministry has divided the whole country into for planned tourism infrastructure development. "Among the 18 service centres, some four have been started and others are in the pipeline," he added.