- Via Poon HillNayapul 1,070 → Ulleri 2,070 → Ghorepani 2,860 → Poon Hill 3,210 → Tadapani 2,630 → Chhomrong 2,170 · 3 days · then the Sanctuary
- DirectNayapul/Siwai → Ghandruk 1,940 → Chhomrong 2,170 · 1–2 days · or jeep to Jhinu 1,780 → Chhomrong
- SanctuaryChhomrong → Sinuwa 2,340 → Bamboo 2,310 → Dovan 2,600 → Himalaya 2,920 → Deurali 3,200 → MBC 3,700 → ABC 4,130 · 2–3 days up, 2 down to Jhinu
- Walking times5–7 hours a day; Ghandruk–Sinuwa 7–8; base camp–Bamboo 6–7 with 1,800 m of descent
- TransportKathmandu–Pokhara 200 km, 7 hours by tourist bus or 25 minutes by plane; Pokhara–Nayapul 1 hour, to Siwai or Jhinu 2–3 hours by jeep
5, 7, 10 or 13 days: what the number in the title means
The trek itself takes five to ten days, depending on the approach. Five days (Holiday Planner) means jeep to Jhinu, three days up, two down – without Poon Hill, without buffer. Seven days from Pokhara (Nepal High, MDA, CAN) go via Ghandruk or Jhinu, with one more day in the gorge. Eight to nine (Trekking Planner, Nepal_first, Base Camp Adventure) add Poon Hill or a calmer rhythm. The packages from Kathmandu count transport, hotels and return: ten days with Great Adventure and Himalayan Recreation (direct), twelve to thirteen with Ace, Everest Trekking Routes, Nirvana, Scenic, Glorious (via Poon Hill), fourteen to fifteen with Green Valley, Adventure Treks Nepal and Mission (with city day or Pothana exit).
What you should not cut: the night in Deurali or at Machapuchare Base Camp before base camp. Going from Sinuwa to ABC in one day means 1,800 m of ascent in a row to over 4,000 m – the programmes that do this have the most altitude dropouts.
The stages
Seven sections as they appear in the itineraries. Altitudes per Ace, Trekking Planner and Holiday Planner; operators differ by up to 100 m (Deurali 3,200 to 3,250, ABC 4,130 to 4,170).
Rice terraces, slate roofs, and at the end of the valley the Fishtail already stands.
An hour by jeep from Pokhara, then the path begins at Nayapul or by now further up at Siwai, Kimche or Syauli Bazar – the road eats a little further into the valley every year. If you go via Poon Hill, you turn right after Birethanti and climb the 3,000 steps to Ulleri; if you want the Sanctuary directly, you go left via Ghandruk, the big Gurung village with museum and slate roofs. Both paths meet in Chhomrong. The jeep roads are the reason five- and seven-day treks exist: Holiday Planner drives to Jhinu, Nepal High Trek to Syauli Bazar.
At five with a headtorch, at six Dhaulagiri stands in the sun.
The detour via Ghorepani costs two days and brings the most famous viewpoint hill in Nepal: from Poon Hill at 3,210 m Dhaulagiri, Nilgiri, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli and Machapuchare line up from eight-thousander to Fishtail. In March and April the rhododendron forest blooms red; in October there are a hundred people on top. Ten of the 19 products take the detour; if you already know it from the <a href="/en/tours/poon-hill/">Poon Hill trek</a> or want to save time, go direct.
The last village, the last bakery, the last socket without a surcharge.
Chhomrong hangs on the hillside above the Modi Khola, with views of Annapurna South and Machapuchare, and is the gateway to the Sanctuary: from here there are no more villages, only lodge settlements in the forest. All paths meet here, and the ACAP checkpoint checks permits. From Chhomrong it is 400 m down to the river and up again to Sinuwa – the stairs everyone talks about. If your permits are not in the package, you pay for them here.
A gorge of bamboo, waterfalls and mist, and the path climbs through it.
Beyond Sinuwa the path leads into the Modi Khola gorge: bamboo thicket, dripping forest, waterfalls from both sides, lodges in clearings – Bamboo, Dovan, Himalaya, Deurali. Here the porters go ahead, usually 20 to 25 kg on their backs; with twelve products they are included, with six at a surcharge (Outfitter USD 20, CAN USD 25 a day). From Deurali at 3,200 m the valley becomes steep and avalanche-prone: between Deurali and Machapuchare Base Camp avalanches come down in winter and spring, and the guides decide when to walk this section – in the morning, quickly, not in fresh snow.
The forest ends, the valley opens, and the Fishtail suddenly stands right above.
Machapuchare Base Camp is not one: the mountain is considered sacred and may not be climbed, since a British attempt in 1957 that turned back just below the summit. The lodges at 3,700 m are the last station before the Sanctuary and for many the better night: 400 m lower than base camp, warmer, less headache. The five- and seven-day treks sleep only one night at this altitude – from here it is decided who experiences the base camp morning with a clear head.
An amphitheatre of eight-thousanders, and you stand in the middle.
The Sanctuary is a glacial amphitheatre entered through a single gap: all around Annapurna I with its south face, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Gangapurna, Annapurna III, and behind you Machapuchare. Base camp is five lodges at 4,130 m on the edge of the moraine, with memorial plaques for Anatoli Boukreev and others who stayed on the south face. You arrive at noon, walk to the viewpoint above the glacier, freeze, eat, sleep badly and get up at five when the sun turns the south face orange. That is the moment you came for.
Two days downhill, then you lie in hot water by the river and listen to the Modi Khola.
The way back is the same as the way up as far as Chhomrong, only faster: to Bamboo on the first day, to Jhinu on the second. Jhinu Danda has hot springs twenty minutes below the village by the river – three stone pools, entry a few hundred rupees, the best thing after 1,800 m of descent. From Jhinu the long suspension bridge crosses the Modi Khola to the road; most packages drive back to Pokhara by jeep from Samrung, Siwai or Nayapul. Tips for guide and porter are handed over on the last evening – expressly extra with 17 of 19 products.
The route in stages: altitudes and itineraries from the operator data, photos illustrate the places. The boxes show where the four compared offers differ at the same spot.
Day-by-day itineraries of the products
Three itineraries from the Viator data: the 13-day classic from Kathmandu via Poon Hill (Ace), the seven-day trek from Pokhara via Ghandruk (Nepal High Trek) and the five-day trek from Jhinu (Holiday Planner).
Ace the Himalaya · 13 days from Kathmandu with Poon Hill 13 days · 12 nights
Pickup with a sign, hotel, pre-trek meeting at the office.
☾ 3-Sterne-Hotel 1.400 m6:30 am pickup, tourist bus from 7:30 am along the Prithvi Highway, at Phewa Lake in the afternoon.
☾ 3-Sterne-Hotel 900 mAn hour's drive to Nayapul, through Birethanti along the Modi Khola, gently uphill to Tikhedunga.
☾ Lodge 1.570 mThe stone staircase to Ulleri – over 3,000 steps – then through oak and rhododendron forest via Banthanti and Nangethanti to Ghorepani.
☾ Lodge 2.840 mAn hour up Poon Hill before sunrise with Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South and Machapuchare, breakfast in Ghorepani, over the Deurali pass and Banthanti to Tadapani.
☾ Lodge 2.610 mSteeply down through rhododendron forest, via the Gurung village of Gurjung to Chhomrong, the gateway to the Sanctuary.
☾ Lodge 2.140 mDown to the Chhomrong Khola, up to Sinuwa and Khuldighar, through bamboo and forest via Bamboo and Dovan to the “Himalaya” lodge.
☾ Lodge 2.950 mPast the Hinku Cave to Deurali, to Machapuchare Base Camp (3,700 m) and two hours on into the Sanctuary – all around Annapurna I, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Machapuchare.
☾ Lodge 4.130 mSunrise in the amphitheatre, then 1,800 m down the same path to Bamboo.
☾ Lodge 2.345 mVia Sinuwa and Chhomrong, then steeply down to Jhinu – in the hot springs by the river in the evening.
☾ Lodge 1.780 mAlong the right bank of the Modi Khola to Birethanti and Nayapul, drive to Pokhara, Barahi temple and Phewa Lake in the evening.
☾ 3-Sterne-HotelTourist bus back, farewell dinner in the evening.
☾ 3-Sterne-HotelTransfer for departure.
Nepal High Trek · 7 days from Pokhara, all in 7 days · 7 nights
Jeep to Syauli Bazar, four hours over rice terraces to the Gurung village of Ghandruk.
☾ Lodge 1.935 mThe long day: down to the Kimrong Khola, up to Chhomrong, down and up to Sinuwa.
☾ Lodge 2.210 mThrough bamboo and forest via Bamboo, Dovan and Himalaya to Deurali.
☾ Lodge 3.200 mVia Machapuchare Base Camp into the Sanctuary.
☾ Lodge 4.130 mDescent to Bamboo.
☾ Lodge 2.345 mVia Chhomrong to Jhinu, hot springs.
☾ Lodge 1.780 mShort walk to Samrung Danda, jeep to Pokhara.
Holiday Planner · 5 days from Pokhara with porter 5 days · 4 nights
Jeep to Jhinu Danda, via Chhomrong to Sinuwa.
☾ Lodge 2.340 mThrough the gorge to Deurali.
☾ Lodge 3.200 mVia MBC to base camp.
☾ Lodge 4.130 m1,800 m down.
☾ Lodge 2.310 mTo Jhinu, jeep to Pokhara.
Stops and walking times from the operator's Viator product data, edited for length. Maps and figures illustrate the route and are not for navigation.
Transport: bus, flight, jeep – and where the path begins today
From Kathmandu to Pokhara it is 200 km and seven hours by tourist bus along the Trisuli and Marsyangdi – all packages from Kathmandu except Scenic take it both ways; Scenic flies out (25 minutes) and drives back. A flight costs foreigners around USD 100 to 130 each way at market rates. From Pokhara the operators drive by private vehicle or shared jeep to the trailhead: an hour to Nayapul, two to three hours on gravel roads further to Siwai, Kimche, Syauli Bazar or Jhinu Danda. The roads are why the packages are getting shorter: what was two days on foot from Nayapul ten years ago is a jeep ride today. If you go via Poon Hill, you still start at Nayapul or Hile.
