Annapurna Base Camp Trekking

Your journey to Nepal starts the moment your plane touches down at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. If you need a visa on arrival, head to the kiosk machines first. Scan your passport and fill out the short form on screen. Print the slip and take it to the bank counter to pay the fee in cash (US dollars are strongly preferred, so bring USD 30 for 15 days or USD 50 for 30 days). Once that is done, join the immigration line and wait for your passport to get stamped. Then collect your bags and walk out.

Outside the terminal, you will find a crowd of drivers holding signs with names written on them. Scan the group for your name or the logo of our trekking agency. Your driver will greet you and carry your bags to the car. From here, it’s a 30 to 45 minute drive from the busy streets of Kathmandu to the Thamel area. Once you reach your hotel, you can check in, unpack, and take a hot shower to wash off the tiredness of your flight.

Your alarm will ring early today, somewhere around 6:00 AM, as you get ready for the ride to Pokhara. After a quick breakfast, you will check out of your Kathmandu hotel and make your way to Tourist Bus Station, just a short walk or taxi ride from Thamel. The bus pulls out right on time and starts the long drive west.

The road out of the Kathmandu Valley follows the Prithvi Highway and the Trishuli and Marsyangdi rivers for much of the way. You will stop once in the late morning for tea, coffee, and a light bite, and again around early afternoon for a proper lunch break. By mid to late afternoon, the bus enters the Tourist Bus Park in Pokhara, where your guide or a waiting taxi will pick you up and drive you straight to your hotel in Lakeside.

The day starts with an early breakfast at your Pokhara hotel before your guide picks you up at 7:30 AM. The drive follows the Baglung Highway with views of Machhapuchhre (Fishtail Peak) before reaching the trail town of Nayapul (1,070m) after about two hours. Here, you can rest your legs and meet your porters as they get your bags ready for the trail ahead.

With your daypack on your shoulders, you will take your first steps toward the riverside village of Birethanti (1,025m). Your guide will stop here so your permits can be checked and registered at the counter. From there, you will cross a suspension bridge over Bhurungdi Khola, which will stay close by your side for the rest of the day.

Around 1:00 PM, you will stop for lunch at a small teahouse in Sudame or nearby Hille. After lunch, the path rises a little more, and by early afternoon, you will reach the village of Tikhedhunga (1,540m), where slate-roofed teahouses welcome you for the night.

After a good breakfast, you will set out around 7:15 AM for the famous Ulleri staircase, a 3,300-stone-step staircase built into the hillside. Take your time here. Short, careful steps and good use of your trekking poles will save your legs a lot of pressure. By around 10:00 AM, the steps finally slow down as you reach the large Gurung village of Ulleri (2,080m). This is a great spot to rest at a teahouse with a hot lemon tea and look back at how far you have climbed.

From Ulleri, the trail enters a forest of old rhododendron and oak trees wrapped in moss. If you are here in spring, the whole forest turns pink, red, and white as the rhododendrons bloom. Around 1:00 PM, you will stop at the forest village of Nangethanti (2,460m) for lunch before continuing for another one and a half to two hours to reach Ghorepani (2,860m). Once you drop your bags at the lodge, step outside and look west to see Dhaulagiri (8,167m), the seventh-highest mountain in the world.

Long before sunrise, put on your warmest layers, strap on your headlamp, and meet your guide in the lobby by 5:00 AM. From there, you will join a line of headlamps climbing a stone staircase up the ridge, gaining about 350m over 45 minutes to an hour. Just as you reach the top of Poon Hill (3,210m), the peaks of Dhaulagiri and Annapurna I turn gold and pink right before your eyes. From up here, you can see more than 20 peaks on the horizon, including Machhapuchhre and Nilgiri.

Once you have had your fill of photos, you will walk back down to your lodge in Ghorepani for breakfast and pack up before hitting the trail again. Around midday, you will stop at Deurali Pass (2,960m) for lunch before the trail drops down toward a stream and then climbs back up to Tadapani (2,630m). Step out from your teahouse porch in the evening, and you will find Machhapuchhre and Annapurna South looking closer and bigger than ever before.

Once you hit the trail after breakfast, the path drops through an oak and rhododendron forest toward Chuile village, where fields of millet and stone houses give you a real mountain life experience. The trail keeps dropping past local schools and farms until you reach the bottom of the canyon and cross a suspension bridge over the Kimrong Khola at 1,900m.

Once you cross the river, the trail wastes no time and sends you straight back up into bamboo groves to the small junction village of Taulung, a perfect stop for lunch. From here, the trail joins the main path coming up from Ghandruk; before long, you walk into Chommrong (2,170m), the largest village on this part of the trail. Chommrong is considered a sacred village, and meat is not allowed on the trail beyond this point out of respect for the local mountain gods. So, enjoy your last plate of eggs or a favorite treat here, since the menus from here onward will turn simple, vegetarian, and full of carbs to keep you going.

An early breakfast gets you ready for the trail, and right from the start, you will come face to face with the famous Chommrong staircase. The steps bottom out at the canyon floor, where you will cross a big suspension bridge over the Chommrong Khola. The moment you step off the bridge, the trail flips completely and sends you climbing up rocky steps through the jungle. After an hour of climbing, you will reach the ridge village of Upper Sinuwa (2,360m).

From Sinuwa, the trail enters a forest full of moss, ferns, and tall orchids, so keep your eyes open for Gray Langur monkeys that you may spot on the branches above. The path then drops down a stone staircase into the village of Bamboo (2,310m) for lunch before a final hour of walking brings you to the forest settlement of Dovan (2,600m).

The trail takes you uphill from the start today to Himalaya Hotel (2,920m), a cluster of lodges situated under a huge cliff. Not far past here, you will walk by the old Hinu Cave, a large rock overhang used by early explorers and shepherds as shelter from the weather. As you continue, the tall trees and bamboo start to thin out and give way to low shrubs and dry grass as you reach Deurali village (3,200m).

Deurali is a good place to rest for about an hour to adjust your body to the altitude, and a hot bowl of garlic soup here is a local favorite believed to help with the effects of altitude. Leaving Deurali, the trail follows the bank of the Modi Khola River before climbing up the moraine of the glacier. As you reach the top of this climb, the valley opens wide, and the huge peak of Machhapuchhre, also called Fishtail Mountain, comes into view right in front of you.

By mid-afternoon, you will walk into Machhapuchhre Base Camp (3,700m), where you can drop your bags and head to the warm dining hall to relax. At this height, avoid sudden exertion, drink plenty of water—around 3 to 4 liters a day—and let your guide know right away if you feel a headache or any dizziness so they can keep an eye on you.

Bundle up in your warmest gear, switch on your headlamp and set off with your guide well before sunrise. The route climbs the rocky edge of the South Annapurna Glacier before reaching Annapurna Base Camp (4,130m). The massive face of Annapurna I stands right above you alongside Annapurna South, Hiunchuli and the Machhapuchhre peak.

After breakfast, you will pack up and turn back down the valley, and this part of the day moves fast as every step downhill brings more oxygen into your lungs. You will pass quickly by MBC and drop down to reach Deurali by around noon for a quick lunch. By late afternoon you will arrive back at Bamboo (2,310m) village. Drop your bags, treat yourself to a hot shower and enjoy an evening with your team after reaching the center of the Annapurna Sanctuary.

Today you get a small break from the early wakeups and can enjoy a comfortable breakfast before setting off. The route takes you straight to the Sinuwa (2,360m) settlement, a good place to pause and take one last look back up the valley at the high peaks of the sanctuary you have just left behind. From here the trail drops down to the suspension bridge over the Chommrong Khola. Once you cross the river, you come face to face with the Chommrong stone steps again, only this time you are heading up.

By late morning you will reach the top of the ridge in Upper Chommrong. You are now back below the sacred sanctuary boundary so the menu opens right up, and you can eat eggs or a plate of Dal Bhat to mark the end of your high altitude trek. After lunch, you will leave the main trail toward Ghandruk and head towards Jhinu Danda (1,780m).

Just minutes out of the village, you will reach the famous 287m long Jhinu Danda suspension bridge above the Modi Khola river. You will pass subtropical scenery with banana trees and small farmhouses along the way until you reach Nayapul settlement, where your journey on foot comes to an end.

At Nayapul, your jeep or shared transport will be waiting to take you the rest of the way. The first part is a drive on the rough mountain road through the Modi Khola valley, passing back Hemja and Phedi where your trek first began. From Nayapul, the road smooths out as you join the paved Baglung Highway all the way down to Pokhara. By midday you will pull up to your hotel in the Lakeside area, ready for the small luxuries you have missed for the past week.

north to Mahendra Cave, a large limestone cave first found by local shepherds back in the 1950s. Just a short walk away is the Bat Cave, also known as Chameri Gufa, a darker experience where a headlamp lets you spot thousands of horseshoe bats clinging to the ceiling above. From there you will head to the K.I. Singh Bridge to look down into the Seti River Gorge.

The tour continues south to Davis Falls, locally called Patale Chhango, where the Pardi Khola river disappears straight down into an underground tunnel instead of falling over an open cliff. Right across the street you can walk down spiral stairs into Gupteshwor Mahadev Cave, one of the longest cave systems in Nepal, and reach a spot where you can see the base of Davis Falls from underneath.

After lunch back near Lakeside, your vehicle will carry you up to the World Peace Stupa. To end the day, you will head back down to the lake and board a wooden Dunga boat for a row out to Tal Barahi, a two-tiered temple situated on its own tiny island in the middle of Phewa Lake.

Once you find your bus and hand your bags to the driver, you can settle into your seat as the bus pulls out and starts the long ride back toward Kathmandu. The route follows the Prithvi Highway once again and runs beside the Marsyangdi and Trishuli river canyons. The road can get a little slow in places due to ongoing construction, so keep a book, some music or a charged power bank handy to pass the time.

By late afternoon, the bus will roll back into Kathmandu. From there, a taxi ride or a meeting with our agency driver will take you straight to your hotel in Thamel, where you can relax after two incredible weeks in the mountains.

Your final morning starts with packing up your gear for the last time. Once your bags are ready head down to the front desk to check out and settle any last bills before your driver arrives to take you to the airport. Since Kathmandu traffic can be unpredictable, it is best to leave your hotel around three and a half hours before your flight, even though the airport is not far from Thamel. 

At the airport, you will show your passport and ticket to enter the terminal before heading to your airline counter to drop your bags and collect your boarding pass. Hope to see you again soon, with the same level of energy and enthusiasm you have shown throughout these past few weeks!