What is the Indiahikes Camping Experience Like?

If you have signed up for a trek, or are planning to, your first questions are likely the basics:

Where will I sleep? What food will I eat? What about toilets? How safe is it?

You have probably come here looking for those answers. And we get that. In this article, we will walk you through exactly what to expect when it comes to your stay, food, and toilet facilities on a trek with Indiahikes.

You will also see that this experience is much more than just logistics.

Because when you register for a trek with Indiahikes, along with signing up for a few days in the mountains, you’re signing up for a thoughtful, ethical, and sustainable outdoor experience — one that reconnects you with nature, gently introduces you to minimalism, and helps you feel completely at home in the outdoors.

Over the years, we’ve redefined what camping means for trekkers in India. It’s no longer just about pitching a tent or eating “pahadon wali Maggi” (we’ll be honest — we don’t like that phrase at all).

With Indiahikes, it’s about finding your rhythm in the outdoors. It’s about snuggling into your sleeping bag after a long trek, sharing stories in the warmth of the dining tent, and experiencing a system built on responsibility, comfort, and care. It’s about leaving the mountains better than we found them.

Let us show you what that looks like.

Where Do We Camp?

The campsites you stay at during your trek are never chosen at random. Each Indiahikes campsite is carefully handpicked after weeks — sometimes months — of exploration.

We choose them with intention, guided by five core principles:

• Safety: from landslides, unstable terrain, poor water sources, and risky altitude gains
• Scenic beauty: because every camp should make you stop and stare
• Ecological sustainability: to ensure we camp where nature allows, not where it suffers
• Minimal impact on local flora and fauna: to preserve the delicate ecosystems, we step into
• Reliable access to natural water sources: so we can provide fresh potable water always

We rotate between campsites across seasons to ensure no single campsite gets overused. Our Green Trails team regularly inspects campsites to ensure they remain clean, safe, and ecologically healthy.

Some of the best memories our trekkers carry are of the tranquil evenings spent soaking in the views from their tents, watching the first light hit the mountains, or enjoying warm conversations under starlit skies.

What does the accommodation look like on the trek?

At every Indiahikes campsite, you’ll stay in our signature Hillman Expedition Tents — a symbol of years of relentless innovation and field-tested reliability.

These are not ordinary tents. Our founders and on-ground team have spent over 16 years perfecting them, designing every detail to meet the unique challenges of the Himalayan terrain and weather. These tents are expedition-grade shelters, built to withstand torrential rain, heavy snow, and brutal mountain winds, while still offering the comfort and security of a home.

The journey began with basic A-frame models. But when dome tents were virtually unheard of in India, we broke ground — importing custom four-pole, double-fly designs that could withstand the worst of Himalayan weather. Today, that legacy continues.

What you get may look like any other tent — it’s a battle-hardened shelter you can rely on. You’ll stay warm, your gear will stay dry, and your space will feel secure — even in the remotest, most unpredictable parts of the Himalayas.

What about accommodation in the basecamps?

Right from the beginning, one of our biggest dreams at Indiahikes was to create a space where you could truly connect with fellow trekkers—not just during the trek, but even before it began. We didn’t want it to be just a place to stay. We wanted to build a community space, one that brings people together.

That’s exactly what our Indiahikes Community Campuses are today.

When you arrive at our campus, you’ll find yourself in a buzzing space filled with conversations, laughter, and shared experiences. You might find yourself chatting with someone from another group, watching children play in the open, or simply soaking in the energy of a shared outdoor experience.

Even before the trek begins, you’ll start feeling like you’re already on one. Staying in tents, using common washrooms, sleeping in bunk beds—it all puts you in trek mode from the get-go. This early immersion helps you settle in quickly, so you’re more prepared and comfortable when the trek actually begins.

Our community campuses have completely changed how trekkers experience a trek. This makes the journey deeper, more meaningful, and far more memorable. For many trekkers, this is what makes an Indiahikes experience so special.

And this is just the beginning. Our campuses are growing into spaces more than just being basecamps for treks. We see them becoming experience centres and community homes that you’ll want to return to, again and again.

How many trekkers share a sleeping tent?

Our tents are on a double-sharing basis. They are spacious for two people, with enough room for your backpacks and gear. We recommend double-sharing because it helps you stay warm at night. This makes a big difference in cold mountain conditions.

However, if you have a genuine medical concern or an unavoidable reason that requires you to have a tent to yourself, we do offer a single tent option. This comes at an additional cost and is subject to availability, which depends on the difficulty and length of the trek.

That said, we’re only able to accommodate a single-tent request per group, due to logistical constraints on high-altitude treks. So we encourage you to opt for it only if it’s essential.

Sleeping Tent Etiquette

To ensure cleanliness and respect for the outdoors, we follow certain etiquette inside the sleeping tents:

• No shoes inside. Leave them outside on the balcony, where they will not get wet even if it rains. Your trek leader will guide you through this.
• No food or snacks inside that tent to avoid attracting insects or animals
• No open flames or smoking. It’s a safety hazard.
• No waste dumping. Keep the tent free of wrappers or used tissues.

What’s Inside the Sleeping Tent?

Each sleeping tent comes equipped with:

• A ground sheet (tarpoline) is placed below your tent to keep the base from getting wet
• A foam mat placed on the inside of your tent acts as insulation
• A sleeping bag to keep you warm at night. Since it’s not feasible to wash sleeping bags after every trek, you also get an inner hygiene liner at the base camp itself. You can put it on before getting into your sleeping bag. Hygiene liners are thoroughly washed and dried after every trek.

Note: We will give you the hygiene liner at the basecamp on Day 1. You must carry it throughout and return it safely at the end of the trek.

These ensure warmth and comfort no matter how cold it is outside.

What are Sleeping Bags?

A sleeping bag may look like a cosy blanket. But remember, it is your primary defence against the biting cold of the Himalayas. It works by trapping your body heat and creating a warm cocoon around you, which is essential for survival and rest in freezing mountain temperatures. Without it, a good night’s sleep outdoors is nearly impossible.

At Indiahikes, we don’t leave this to chance. We have designed Hillman sleeping bags, specially engineered for the extreme conditions of the Indian Himalayas. These are not off-the-shelf bags — we’ve built them with high-performance synthetic insulation and rugged outer shells that hold up against sub-zero temperatures, frost, and condensation. You can count on them, even at our highest camps, where temperatures drop well below freezing. 

What our trekkers appreciate about the sleeping bag experience: 

• Hygiene-first: Every sleeping bag comes with a detachable inner liner, which is thoroughly washed after every trek.

Note: The liner will be given to you at the start of your trek. You will carry it with you throughout and return it at the end of your trek.

• Fresh for every trekker: The outer bag is regularly aired and sun-dried, even at high-altitude camps, to keep it moisture-free and fresh. The inner bag is washed after every use and sun-dried to maintain hygiene.
• Engineered for cold Himalayan nights: Designed to trap body heat and retain warmth, even in damp, sub-zero conditions.
• Compact: Despite their warmth, these bags are lightweight and easy to pack, making them ideal for high-altitude trekking.

Want to see how these are made?

Watch this behind-the-scenes video on how our Hillman sleeping bags are designed and manufactured.

The Community Tent

The dining tent, also called the community tent, is at the heart of the Indiahikes experience. Along with being a place to eat, it is also a space where the community comes alive.

Every meal is served here — warm breakfasts, nourishing lunches, evening snacks, and hearty dinners. But just as important, this is where daily briefings take place, and where some of the most meaningful conversations unfold during post-dinner reflections.

These are spacious, high-altitude tents, built to host over 30 trekkers at a time comfortably. A great deal of thought has gone into their design — from the way they’re anchored to withstand harsh mountain winds, to the way they shield you from cold and rain, offering a warm, welcoming space no matter the weather outside.

• Insulated floor mats or tarpaulin to keep the cold at bay
• Low seating mats for warmth and comfort
• A dedicated food-serving area to keep things clean and organised
• Lanterns or solar lighting for well-lit, cosy evenings

Note: Dining tents are cleaned after every meal and closed securely.

Food on Indiahikes Treks

When you trek in the mountains, food becomes more than a meal — it becomes your fuel. At Indiahikes, every dish is thoughtfully designed to meet your nutritional needs, support your journey, and minimise environmental impact.

Menus are planned keeping altitude, weather, digestion, energy demands, and sustainability in mind. What you eat on the trail is purposeful, not incidental.

Important note: If you follow a vegan, gluten-free, lactose-intolerant, or Jain diet, accommodations can be made with prior notice. Food preference is now part of your trekker profile; you will have to select your preference while filling it out.

What a typical meal schedule looks like on a trek:

You begin and end each day with warm, freshly cooked food. While the timings and exact details vary from trek to trek, a typical meal flow looks like this:

• Masala Black Tea (Early morning only) – Aids gut health and starts the day smoothly
• Breakfast – Often includes dalia, poha, or upma
• Lunch – Simple and light: jeera rice, chapati rolls, or pulao
• Evening Snacks – Items like soup, chivda, or corn after the trek
• Dinner – Balanced thali with dal, rice, roti, sabzi, and occasional dessert.

Each meal is prepared with local ingredients, cooked on-site, and tailored to your activity level. Along with this, you will also get trail snacks, such as nuts and dry fruits, to keep your energy up and high!

Note: Please carry your own cutlery (a leakproof tiffin, mug, spoon).

Important: Do not carry packaged protein bars. We make our protein bars, minus the packaging, at lower costs: Introducing Urjino

At the base camp, you’ll find a line of healthy snacks by Urjino — a subsidiary of Indiahikes.

Urjino’s snacks are designed for trekking conditions and include:

• Berrileous Energy Bar – With 5 berries, whey and plant protein, oats, and prebiotic fibre
• High Protein Granola – With seeds, nuts, and natural protein for sustained energy
• 6-Grain Granola – Made with ragi, jowar, bajra, oats, and amaranth
• Fresh-baked cookies – Organic, preservative-free, and high in nutrition

These snack bars are sustainable and affordable — ideal for mid-day energy or post-trek recovery.

At Indiahikes, we believe your camping experience isn’t separate from the trek — it is the trek. The warmth of your tent after a cold day, the shared meals in a dining tent, the quiet comfort of a clean toilet deep in the forest — these moments shape how you feel on the trek, how you connect with nature, and how you grow through the journey.

This experience is designed with care to foster comfort, awareness, and a deeper connection with the outdoors. We hope this article has given you a clear picture of what to expect — and why we believe that the way you camp changes the way you trek.

The Kitchen Tent

At every Indiahikes campsite, you’ll find a dedicated kitchen tent — the beating heart of our camp. Managed by our Mountain Kitchen team, who are trained chefs, this tent is where fresh, hot vegetarian meals are cooked from scratch three times a day — no matter the altitude, no matter the weather.

Our cooks work around the clock, often starting their day as early as 3 AM, so that trekkers can have a warm breakfast and packed lunch ready by 6 am. In freezing temperatures, under headlamps, they begin washing, chopping, stirring, steaming — creating nourishing meals that fuel you for the day’s trek.

There’s a reason we never rely on packaged or pre-cooked food. That’s a conscious choice. By cooking fresh meals on-site:

• We ensure the food retains its natural nourishment — vitamins, minerals, and essential nutrients that your body needs on the trail.
• We drastically reduce packaged waste on the mountain, protecting the fragile environment we trek in.
• We create skilled employment for local staff trained in high-altitude cooking
• We celebrate and include local cuisine, using regional ingredients.

Even the provisions we carry are procured with minimal packaging, so we’re not bringing unnecessary waste into the outdoors.

Our staff is trained to uphold rigorous hygiene standards, even in cold, damp, or remote conditions. Kitchen waste is carefully segregated, packed out, and composted wherever possible, in line with our Green Trails principles.

If you ever feel curious, step inside and take a look. You’re always welcome — it’s one of the most inspiring spaces on a trek.

The Water Saver Stand

Water is a precious resource in the mountains, and at Indiahikes, we treat it with utmost respect. That’s why we’ve implemented a carefully designed Water Saver Stand system at every campsite.

What is a Water Saver Stand?

A water saver stand is a simple innovation – a contraption built to minimise water usage during handwashing and utensil cleaning. It is a vital part of our water and hygiene practices.

The system includes:

• A metal stand holding two containers, with holes for dripping water
• A stone arrangement underneath the dripping container to naturally filter the water and prevent pooling
• A bucket of fresh water, from which you can pour clean water into the containers and then use the dripping flow to wash your hands after a meal, or clean your utensils
• You’ll find two small bottles filled with hand wash and dishwashing liquid, each with a small hole at the top for controlled use, kept near the water saver stand.

This setup ensures that very little water is wasted. Even leftover food particles are managed responsibly — composted or fed to mules — and the surrounding area is kept clean and dry. The stand is always set up on a slope to ensure there’s no stagnant water. Every morning, our team cleans the net, refills the water drum, and checks that the scrubber and handwash are in place. If food waste collects in the bucket, it’s emptied right after meals.

It’s a small system with a big impact — helping trekkers stay clean without wasting water.

Toilet Tents at Indiahikes: Hygienic, Comfortable, and Environmentally-Friendly

Toilet tents are one of the most innovative and environmentally conscious elements of the Indiahikes camping setup. 

Not many people realise this, but even human waste needs to be carefully managed in the outdoors. If not handled responsibly, it can quickly become an environmental hazard, contaminating soil, water sources, and harming local ecosystems.

That’s why we’ve designed our bio-toilets, tailored for high-altitude trekking. Over the years, this system has proven to be remarkably effective, clean, and easy to use — even in the most remote locations.

Picture by Jothiranjan.

Picture by Jothiranjan.

How do you use a Bio-Toilet?

Our toilets follow a dry composting method, with deep pits dug into the earth under a covered toilet tent. 

Here’s what makes it work:

1. There’s a squat-style seat placed above the pit where you do your business. And for those who are unable to squat, we provide a raised stool with a western-style seat.
2. After use, you cover your waste with sawdust, which is provided inside the tent
3. This prevents odour and begins the aerobic decomposition process
4. We also place essential oils in every tent to neutralise any occasional smell
5. Most importantly, no water is used. Even a small amount can disrupt the composting process and lead to odour or contamination

It’s completely normal to feel unsure if you’ve never used a dry toilet before. Many trekkers are hesitant at first.

But once they try it — usually just once or twice — the hesitation fades. In fact, by the end of the trek, most trekkers are surprised by how clean and comfortable the experience is. Many even tell us they prefer these toilets to any public restroom outside their home, simply because they are private, hygienic, and odour-free.

Watch this explainer video: How to Use a Dry Toilet

Cleanliness Protocols We Follow

• Three toilet tents for every 21 trekkers
• A full orientation on how to use the system neatly
• Eco-friendly handwash stations outside the toilets
• Essential oils to ward off any occasional smell.

In the end, this is not just a toilet system — it’s a well-researched, responsible solution that makes you feel at ease in the outdoors, while protecting the very mountains we’re here to enjoy.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS:

Q1. How many trekkers share a sleeping tent?

A1. Two trekkers share a sleeping tent.

Q2. I do not want to share my sleeping tent with another person. Can I get a single tent?

A2. Generally, tents are allotted on a double-sharing basis. But if you have a genuine medical concern or an unavoidable reason that requires you to have a tent to yourself, we do offer a single-tent option. This comes at an additional cost and is subject to availability, which depends on the difficulty and length of the trek.

Q3. Do I have to rent sleeping bags and hygiene liners?

A3. No. We will give the hygiene liners to you at the base camp. You will have to carry it with you throughout the trek and return it after the trek is completed. You will get the sleeping bags directly at each campsite.

Q4. I am a vegan. Can you make food separately for me?

A4. If you follow a vegan, gluten-free, lactose-intolerant, or Jain diet, accommodations can be made with prior notice. Food preference is now part of your trekker profile; you will have to select your preference while filling it out.

Q5. Will I be given hot water to drink?

a5. Yes, you will get hot water to drink twice a day.

Q6. Why We Don’t Encourage Campfires at Indiahikes

A6. At Indiahikes, we promote sustainable practices that all trekkers can follow. Campfires, unfortunately, are not one of them.

a. They aren’t scalable.
A single campfire needs 8–10 logs for just a couple of hours. Multiply this across campsites and groups, and the wood demand becomes unmanageable. Trees take years to grow, and constant firewood use isn’t sustainable.

b. Deadwood isn’t free to use.
Deadwood plays a vital role in forest health. It supports insects and fungi that enrich the soil. It’s also a crucial fuel source for local communities. Removing it disrupts both ecosystems and livelihoods.

c. Campfires pollute.
They release fine soot particles—up to 100 times more than usual—that harm our lungs and the environment.

Instead, we encourage quieter, low-impact ways to connect with nature—ones that don’t leave a trace but leave you deeply fulfilled.

Q7. Are bio-toilets clean?

A7. Yes, they are! We follow a meticulous set of cleanliness protocols.

• Three toilet tents for every 21 trekkers
• A full orientation on how to use the system neatly
• Eco-friendly handwash stations outside the toilets
• Essential oils to ward off any occasional smell.

However, we understand that it is completely normal to feel hesitant to use the bio-toilet for the first time. But as you get used to it, you will realise how easy it is to use, as well as how much cleaner and comfortable it is compared to public toilets.