---
title: "An Eastern Nepal Route: Janakpur, Koshi Tappu and the Tea Hills"
canonical: "https://lokoon.com/blog/eastern-nepal-route"
author: "Lokoon"
published: "2026-11-15T04:53:41.723857+00:00"
modified: "2026-11-15T04:53:41.724039+00:00"
kind: "blog"
---

# An Eastern Nepal Route: Janakpur, Koshi Tappu and the Tea Hills

> Ten days in the country's least-touristed quarter: a temple city, a great wetland, tea gardens and a sunrise over Kanchenjunga.

Tourism in Nepal is concentrated in the centre. The east, from the Mithila plains to the hills below Kanchenjunga, has a distinct culture, the country's best birdwatching and its prettiest tea country, and it receives a tiny share of foreign visitors. This ten-day route links the highlights from west to east, with a flight at each end.
The outline
Kathmandu → fly to Janakpur → Koshi Tappu → Dharan and the hill road to Hile → Ilam → Bhadrapur → fly to Kathmandu.
Day 1: Kathmandu
Arrive, rest and confirm your domestic flights.
Day 2: fly to Janakpur
A flight of about twenty-five minutes brings you from the cool valley to the warm, flat south-east.
Afternoon: visit the great white temple of Sita in the centre of town and the pavilion beside it that marks her legendary wedding to Ram. Stay for the evening ceremony of lamps and bells.
Day 3: Janakpur
Morning: walk between the sacred ponds as residents bathe and pray. Then take a rickshaw to the women's art centre on the edge of town to watch painters working in the bold local style.
Afternoon: explore the bazaar and its sweet shops, or drive out to a village where house walls are decorated with the same designs.
Day 4: Janakpur to Koshi Tappu (4 to 5 hours)
Travel east along the main highway to the wildlife reserve on the floodplain of the Sapta Koshi. Check into a birding camp beside the embankment.
Late afternoon: a first walk along the bank as waterbirds come in to roost.
Day 5: Koshi Tappu
Dawn: a boat trip on a river channel for ducks, waders, storks and the reserve's wild water buffalo.
Afternoon: walk the embankment with a naturalist, or drive to the barrage to look for river dolphins.
Even non-birdwatchers find the dawn hours here remarkable in winter.
Day 6: Koshi Tappu to Hile (4 to 5 hours)
Drive to Dharan at the foot of the hills, then climb the well-built road north. Stop at the ridge-top viewpoint of Bhedetar for tea and continue through the orange-painted town of Dhankuta to Hile, at about 1,900 metres.
Evening: a pot of hot millet beer in one of the town's lodges.
Day 7: Hile to Ilam (6 to 7 hours)
Sunrise: look north from the end of the bazaar for the Makalu range.
Then descend to the plains and drive east before climbing again into the tea district. It is a long transfer, broken by lunch in a highway town. Arrive in the gardens around Kanyam or continue to Ilam Bazaar.
To shorten the trip, skip Hile and drive directly from Koshi Tappu to Ilam in about five hours.
Day 8: Ilam
Morning: walk among the tea bushes and visit a factory to see leaf being withered, rolled and dried, with a tasting.
Afternoon: drive up to the village of Shree Antu, near the Indian border, and settle into a homestay.
Day 9: Shree Antu to Bhadrapur
Before dawn: walk to the viewing tower for sunrise over Kanchenjunga and the plains.
After breakfast, descend through the gardens to the airport town of Bhadrapur, two to three hours. If flights allow, return to Kathmandu the same afternoon; otherwise stay the night nearby.
Day 10: Kathmandu
A spare day for delays, or for a last look at the capital.
Variations
A week. Janakpur (2 nights), Koshi Tappu (2 nights), Ilam (2 nights), flying in and out.
Two weeks. Add the rhododendron ridge walk beyond Hile in spring, or a short trek on the border ridge with views of Everest and Kanchenjunga.
Overland to India. From Ilam, the border crossing at the eastern end of Nepal leads on to Darjeeling and Sikkim.
In reverse. Fly to Bhadrapur and finish in Janakpur. This works well if a Janakpur festival falls at the end of your dates.
When to go
- November to February: best for birds and comfortable on the plains. Hill nights are cold. Fog can disrupt lowland flights in midwinter.

- March and April: first-flush tea, flowering rhododendrons, warm plains, hazier mountain views.

- October: clear skies and autumn festivals.

- May to September: heat, then rain. Koshi Tappu floods and hill roads suffer.

Why go east
Variety, above all. In ten days you move from a pilgrimage city that looks towards the Ganges plain, to a wetland alive with birds from Siberia, to hill bazaars, to slopes of clipped tea beneath the world's third-highest mountain. You will meet very few other travellers, and a great many people pleased to see one.

Source: https://lokoon.com/blog/eastern-nepal-route