Deals & Routes

Package Holiday vs Booking It Yourself in 2026: The Real Cost, and the Protection Most DIY Travellers Miss

A package can cost more than booking flights and hotels separately — or less. But in the UK the bigger difference is legal: ATOL and the Package…

By Laxman Rawal · Aug 20, 2026

Read the full story

Every trip planner eventually hits the same fork in the road: buy a ready-made package — flights, hotel and transfers in a single price — or book each piece yourself and assemble the holiday from scratch. In 2026, with airfares swinging week to week and…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

The cost question has no fixed answer

Start with the myth. "Packages are a rip-off" and "DIY is always cheaper" are both wrong, because they describe different travellers. A tour operator buys seats and beds in bulk on contracted rates you can never see as an individual, then folds in the airport…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

The protection gap, in plain English

This is the part most people never price in. When you buy a UK package that includes a flight, it is protected by ATOL — the Air Travel Organisers' Licensing scheme run by the UK Civil Aviation Authority. In the CAA's own words, ATOL gives "financial…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

When each one genuinely wins

Choose a package when the trip has moving parts you don't want to babysit, when a supplier going under would ruin you, or when you simply value one company owning the outcome. Choose DIY when flexibility and control matter more than a safety net, when you are…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Why a guided Nepal trek is really a "package"

This is where the debate stops being abstract for anyone heading to the Himalaya. Trek independently and you personally arrange the TIMS card and national-park permits, the domestic flights or jeeps, a licensed guide, and a bed in every village along the…

Travel Himalaya Nepal · News

Plan your trek

Everest Base Camp Trek — 15 Days

NMA-certified guides · permits sorted · 5,000+ treks since 1998.

$2050 pp

Plan this trek

Free guide

Get the free Nepal Trek Insider Guide

Permits, costs, seasons and routes — the essentials we send every traveller, plus a free, no-obligation trip quote.

↑ Swipe up

Your free Nepal trek kit

Read the full report and grab the free Nepal Trek Insider Guide — or ask our Pokhara team for a tailored, no-obligation quote.

Read more & get the free guide Plan my trip — free quote Browse Everest Base Camp Trek — 15 Days