Our family story
We are Sam and Gyalgin Sherpa, son and father, and SherpaHolidays, San Jose, is our family company.
You talk to the family
We don’t have a call center or a booking algorithm. When you reach out to us, you reach one of us. We reply within one business day.
A US company, paid in dollars. Our office is in San Jose, California, and we are a registered California Seller of Travel, #2169657-50.
Our journey so far
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Sam’s grandfather
San Tsopel Sherpa
Cooked for Sir Edmund Hillary and his team throughout their work building schools for the Sherpa community.
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Sam’s father
Gyalgin Sherpa
Gyalgin has been guiding in the Himalayas since before most of our guests were born. He learned these mountains from his own father: their passes and weather, and how the body copes with altitude, things no textbook teaches.
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Early 2000s
Gyalgin Sherpa starts South Asian Holidays
He had to work on Mount Everest to make ends meet, and that work led him to build South Asian Holidays from the ground up. For decades he led large-scale expeditions through Nepal, building routes, relationships and instincts we still rely on.
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Gyalgin at ITB Berlin
South Asian Holidays grew into one of Nepal’s most recognized expedition companies, working at an international level and earning the trust of Nepal’s own tourism authorities. At ITB Berlin, an international travel trade fair, Gyalgin met Nepal’s Prime Minister.
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March 2026
SherpaHolidays opens in San Jose
Sam was born in Nepal and grew up in the places he now takes guests to, living in villages, at altitude, among the people and culture that most visitors only glimpse. SherpaHolidays is a new company rooted in the same family, for guests who want Nepal as our family has always known it. Sam and Gyalgin plan every trip together.
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2027
Group dates in spring and autumn
Our 2027 dates are open to book. In February, you can meet us at our booth at the Bay Area Travel & Adventure Show.
You travel with people who grew up in the landscape you came to see.
Our Sherpa guides are part of our family operation, with knowledge passed from father to son for generations.
We work with a local partner company in Nepal, give our team steady work on dates they can staff, and never undercut them.
We choose our hotels and lodges carefully and hire locally at every level. What you spend stays in Nepal.
From our family archive
Before SherpaHolidays, there was South Asian Holidays
Its files from 2008 to 2011 show Everest treks, climbing expeditions and tours planned for travel companies in Spain, France, Germany and the United States.
The photos and map here come from those files. SherpaHolidays is a new company. What carries over is our family’s experience on these routes.
Everest at the center
An 18-day Everest Base Camp trek, with routes to Tengboche and Kala Patthar.
Climbing programs
Everest, Cho Oyu and Ama Dablam expeditions, and Island Peak and Mera Peak climbs.
Five countries
Trips in Nepal, India, Bhutan, Tibet and China.
Its own route maps
In 2009 the company drew 47 route maps of its own, like this Everest map.
Nepal, as Nepali families live it
We started SherpaHolidays so American travelers can share Nepal’s food, faith, villages and mountains with a Sherpa family who knows both sides.
18 days to Everest Base Camp
Room to acclimatize
We stop twice to acclimatize before Base Camp.
Flights, permits and meals included
Round-trip Lukla flights, park and local permits, and breakfast, lunch and dinner on the trek.
Private, custom trips
Our connections in Nepal go back decades: boutique lodges that don’t appear on booking platforms, monastery stays arranged through personal relationships, and helicopter operators who know us by name.
Our promises
Guests first
We only sell trips we know we can deliver.
Fair prices, locked in
You see what’s included before you book. Once your deposit is in, the price is locked, apart from any new government taxes or park fees.
No minimum group size
Scheduled departures have no minimum group size. We do not cancel them because too few travelers book. This is not a promise to operate through unsafe conditions or government restrictions.
Your deposit is not lost
Cancel 90 or more days before departure and your deposit stays as credit toward any SherpaHolidays trip for 24 months.
If Nepal’s travel advisory goes up
If the US State Department raises Nepal to Level 3 or higher, or your trek region is closed, within 60 days of departure, you can move your dates free or take full credit toward any SherpaHolidays trip for 24 months.
Ready to see Nepal the way we know it?
The mountains are waiting. Tell us what you have in mind. We reply within one business day.