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Hi everybody! In this submit, I’ll be sharing our itinerary for 16 days in South Asia visiting Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. Our preliminary itinerary didn’t embrace Malaysia, as we have been planning to fly on to Sri Lanka from Bangladesh, however on the finish, the flights via Kuala Lumpur have been twice cheaper, so we determined to spend 2 days in Malaysia as nicely.
This itinerary may be too busy and tiring for some individuals, so for those who choose relaxed journeys, I’d counsel dropping Bangladesh and Malaysia from this journey and specializing in Nepal, Bhutan and Sri Lanka.
Also, our itinerary didn’t embrace any trekking in Nepal, for those who’re planning to trek, enable not less than 7 days for the trek and ensure to spend 1-2 days to see Kathmandu!
Before we begin with the itinerary for 16 days in South Asia, I’ll attempt to reply the questions you might need earlier than the journey.
Do you want visas for the counties in South Asia?
Depending in your nationality, you may or may not be eligible for the visa on arrival. All the EU nation residents can get a visa on arrival in Nepal and Bangladesh. For Sri Lanka, you want to apply on your e-Visa earlier than the journey and for Bhutan, you want to purchase a tour package deal, because it’s not attainable to go to Bhutan with no tour.
For Malaysia, EU residents don’t want a visa for as much as 90 days.
How to maneuver between counties in South Asia?
The best (and quickest) method could be by airplane. However, for those who really feel prefer it’s an excessive amount of flying, you’ll be able to scale back the variety of nations visited on this journey. You can verify the costs and availability of the flights right here.
Are these counties secure?
We felt completely secure in Nepal, Bhutan, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. As for Bangladesh, we didn’t have any issues both, however some areas of Dhaka could be a bit tougher than the others. It’s at all times nice to have journey insurance coverage although. If you don’t have any, you’ll be able to verify the costs right here.
The finest time to go to South Asia
We travelled in November and stayed in Sri Lanka throughout the first week in December. It’s a superb time to journey round South Asia, because the climate is mostly good all over the place and never too scorching.
However, in Sri Lanka, we bought very unfortunate with the climate – we solely had 1 day with out rain. As for different counties, Bhutan was fairly chilly in November.
How costly was this 16-day journey to South Asia?
If you’re questioning, how costly was our 16-day journey to South Asia, I’m at all times open to speak about journey prices. The costliest a part of the journey was the tickets and the price of the tour to Bhutan. We flew from London and took a multi-city journey arriving in Kathmandu, Nepal and departing from Colombo, Sri Lanka. We paid £500 for every ticket (return).
Bhutan is dear as a result of you want to pay not less than $200-250 per day per individual for the tour. That’s why we opted for the shortest and therefore, probably the most inexpensive tour. The flights to Bhutan have been additionally costly. In complete, the Bhutan a part of the journey to South Asia price us ca $3000 or £2200. Is Bhutan price that worth? You can learn extra on this submit.
For the remainder of the journey (4 night time in Nepal, 1 night time in Bangladesh, 1 night time in Malaysia, 5 nights in Sri Lanka), we paid roughly £500 for motels, £350 for inner flights and £400 for meals. We additionally spent £130 on visas (visa to Bangladesh was the most costly one).
In complete, we spent round £4600 on this journey or £2300 per individual, which isn’t that dangerous in any respect for a 16-day vacation, however positively isn’t low-cost.
A 16-day journey to South Asia: Our Itinerary
4 night time in Nepal -> 4 nights in Bhutan -> interchange in Dhaka, Bangladesh -> 1 night time in Kuala Lumpur -> 5 nights in Sri Lanka
4 nights in Kathmandu, Nepal
An apparent itinerary to South Asia would come with India, nonetheless, as we went to India final 12 months, we didn’t embrace India within the journey this 12 months. Moreover, it could have made the journey much more tiring.
We needed to journey to Nepal, so we began with Kathmandu. We didn’t need to trek this time, as for trekking, we would want to enhance our bodily situation first. Moreover, I don’t really feel nice in excessive altitudes, which makes trekking a bit extra problematic. Anyway, it’s a bucket checklist exercise, that I hope to perform sooner or later!
We have been planning to remain in Kathmandu for two full days, nonetheless, because it turned out, we have been tied to the schedule of the flights to Bhutan and the one out there flight was departing on Wednesday. Hence, we stayed for 4 nights in Nepal and didn’t remorse it.
When we realised that we are going to be staying 4 nights in Nepal, we itinerary needed to go to one other metropolis, nonetheless, we discovered plenty of recommendation on Tripadvisor saying that 4 days wouldn’t be sufficient to see one other inner vacation spot in Nepal.
In Nepal, we spent the primary night time in Bhaktapur – considered one of 3 cities of Kathmandu Valley. We stayed on the Inn Sangrahalaya subsequent to Durbar Square. The remainder of the journey, we stayed at Kathmandu Suite Home – an incredible resort very near all the primary landmarks and eating places.
Kathmandu was a bit overwhelming typically with all of the visitors and the mud, however the structure was gorgeous, meals was nice and other people have been very welcoming.
I wrote one other weblog submit about our itinerary for 4 days in Kathmandu Valley right here, ensure that to test it out, for those who’re !
The highlights of Kathmandu that we visited:
Bhaktapur
Patan
Swayambhunath
Boudha Stupa
Pashupatinath temple
Kathmandu Durbar Square
Freak avenue
Thamel
4 days in Bhutan
Our subsequent vacation spot was Bhutan. As I discussed earlier than, due to authorities coverage, Bhutan could be very costly for non-SAARC nations.
We would love to remain in Bhutan for every week, however that may be too costly. However, because it turned out, 4 days have been good to see the primary highlights of the nation.
You can discover my itinerary for Bhutan and extra data on which company we used on this submit about 4 days in Bhutan.
Bhutan was very completely different in comparison with our expectations – it wasn’t higher or worse, simply completely different, that’s it. However, many individuals have extremely excessive expectations for Bhutan. Read my second submit about Bhutan and whether or not it’s price it and the way to not be dissatisfied in Bhutan.
As the whole lot was carried out and organised for us (as we had to purchase a tour in Bhutan), we couldn’t decide our motels and I can’t suggest you any.
The highlights of Bhutan that we visited:
Big Buddha in Thimphu
Chorten National Memorial in Thimphu
Dochula Pass
Punakha Dzong
Paro Dzong
Paro Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest).
1 day in Bangladesh – interchange in Dhaka
The most handy and inexpensive flight from Bhutan was to Dhaka, Bangladesh. However, whereas we have been nonetheless planning the journey, the flights from Dhaka to Colombo in Sri Lanka bought very costly, so we needed to give you a distinct plan.
We waited for a month and purchased promo tickets to Kuala Lumpur from Dhaka with Malindo Air, and from there, very low-cost flights to Sri Lanka with Air Asia. Because of the late departure time, we had over 12 hours in Dhaka and we determined to exit to the town.
As there isn’t any left baggage or lockers at Dhaka Airport, we needed to guide a really low-cost resort simply to depart the luggage, nonetheless, we ended up spending a little bit of time on the resort, as we bought very drained from the flight.
Our flight to Malaysia bought delayed by 6 hours, so ultimately, we had much more time in Dhaka.
Everybody had warned us that visitors in Dhaka is loopy! Well, it was, however we nonetheless managed to get to the town centre and see a few stunning buildings. Overall, I have to say that we didn’t see a lot in Dhaka, nonetheless, we managed to get an total impression of the town.
It’s actually not as dangerous because it’s usually portrayed and we’re completely satisfied that we managed to see it with our personal eyes!
Dhaka can also be altering lots and shortly there will probably be a metro that hopefully will assist to unravel the visitors downside not less than partially.
What we noticed in Dhaka
- Gulshan neighbourhood
- Gulshan 2 Lake Park
- Curzon Hall of Dhaka University
If you need to learn extra in regards to the issues you are able to do in Dhaka throughout an extended layover, right here’s a submit I wrote: 8-12 hours transit in Dhaka: what to do.
1.5 days in Kuala Lumpur: one of many highlights of the journey
Even although our flight from Dhaka with Malindo air was severely delayed (and I like to recommend staying away from Malindo Air as nicely) and we misplaced a little bit of our precious time in Kuala Lumpur, we nonetheless managed to see lots. We landed in Kuala Lumpur round 10:20 am.
In Malaysia, we had a day and a half or roughly about 36 hours. I already printed a submit about the very best issues to do throughout an extended transit or a stopover in Kuala Lumpur, you’ll be able to learn it right here. Just to summarise, I completely like to Kuala Lumpur and I believe the town deserves far more than two days or maybe even every week, if I had the possibility I’d keep there for not less than a month.
As we have been solely staying for lower than two days in Kuala Lumpur, we determined to guide a pleasant resort and it was additionally as a result of there are even the nicest motels in Kuala Lumpur is the place not as costly because the are in locations like Tokyo or Hong Kong. We managed to guide a Mandarin Oriental are for simply £140 per night time and that included a marvellous breakfast.
Our resort was positioned simply 10 minutes strolling to the well-known and well-liked Bukit Bintang – a buzzing buying district of Kuala Lumpur.
Bukit Bintang is among the fundamental highlights of Kuala Lumpur and it has nice buying and eating choices for any style. There is even a Japanese shopping center. There are so many meals choices in Bukit Bintang – from standalone eating places to the enormous meals courts on the numerous buying malls.
In case you received’t discover what you fancy consuming in Bukit Bintang, you’ll be able to head to the native avenue meals market, nearly 5-10 minutes from Bukit Bintang.
Some different superb areas to discover embrace Batu Caves that has just lately undergone a wonderful makeover, China Town and the Central Market. At the Central Market, you should buy plenty of souvenirs, meals and garments. Also, the world across the Central Market seems very fairly.
For me, Kuala Lumpur was a foodie capital of Asia – there have been so many superb locations to eat, from Japanese to Indian and the whole lot was superb.
If you continue to have time, ensure that to take a look at the Botanic Garden of Kuala Lumpur – it’s very spectacular; with a lake within the center, it resembled Central Park in NYC.
Overall, Kuala Lumpur was in all probability my favorite cease of your entire 16-day journey to South Asia, nonetheless, this submit isn’t over but, as I’ve a small half about Sri Lanka as nicely.
5 days in Sri Lanka: driving round Sri Lanka (with no driver)
The final leg of our 16 days in South Asia was Sri Lanka. I had little or no expectations from Sri Lanka, however I fell in love with this island. Food in Sri Lanka was superb, individuals have been pleasant and the costs have been very budget-friendly. It’s exhausting to consider that we solely extracted £100 and did not spend them throughout 5 days in Sri Lanka – and we ate in some nice locations and even paid for the gasoline.
We employed a automobile in Sri Lanka and determined to drive ourselves, with out hiring a driver. It wasn’t as difficult as we thought. However, we would have liked to acquire a Sri Lankan driving allow earlier than coming to the nation, so Sixt automobile rental simply made it for us for a payment. The automobile rental in all probability ended up being severely overpriced, however our automobile was good and new and introduced us to all of the superb locations in Sri Lanka.
I wrote two separate posts about Sri Lanka: a information to driving in Sri Lanka (issues you want to know) and whether or not Sri Lanka is price it – first timer’s information to Sri Lanka (spoiler alert – it’s 100% price it).
Overall, I have to say that 5 days weren’t sufficient to see all of Sri Lanka, because the distances within the nation are large and the roads are slender and filled with vehicles. You may find yourself driving 150 km for 4 hours and even longer. Make positive to not repeat our errors and don’t plan an excessive amount of throughout even 1 week in Sri Lanka. In 5 days, I simply suggest you to see Sigiriya and Kandy and possibly Ella or simply go to the South seashores as an alternative – e.g. Tangalle, Matara and different stunning seashore spots in Sri Lanka.
Summary of our itinerary for 16 days in South Asia
Overall, I actually loved this 2-week journey to South Asia and this itinerary for 16 days in South Asia was good. However, we returned a bit uninterested in this vacation. Then once more, our itineraries are often busy and jam-packed and permit us to see many of the world whereas working full-time for an organization in London.
If I had an opportunity to look again and alter one thing, I’d have spent solely 2-3 days in Nepal (not 4-5) and attempt to get to Sri Lanka instantly from Bhutan (by way of a change in Nepal or India). I believe that Bangladesh in 12 hours wouldn’t be sufficient and Kuala Lumpur actually deserves a separate journey (as there are superb locations to go to in Malaysia).
Some of the opposite posts you may like:
12 days in South-East Asia: Thailand, Cambodia and Singapore
Visiting India’s Golden Triangle