Permits, the guide rule and the best time: the rules of the Annapurna Conservation Area, altitude in four days and the months when the ridge is clear

The conservation area: ACAP since 1986, Mardi since 2012

The Annapurna Conservation Area Project began in 1986 as a pilot in Ghandruk, was designated a conservation area in 1992 and at 7,629 square kilometres is Nepal's largest: 1,226 flowering plants, 105 mammals, 523 bird species, among them the danphe, Nepal's national bird, which you may see with some luck in the forest between Forest Camp and Low Camp. Unlike the national parks it is managed not by the state but by the National Trust for Nature Conservation, which receives no regular government funding and finances itself from trekkers' entry fees – that is why the permit costs double if you only buy it at the post.

Until 2012 the Mardi ridge was a route for herders and tented expeditions. That year TAAN, ACAP and NTNC opened the route after a survey; a committee from the village of Sidhing, the Mardi Himal Tourism Trek Management Committee, built the first lodges. In 2018 the Kathmandu Post still described the trail as 'newly opened' with twenty foreign trekkers in a week; after 2015, with the boom in domestic tourism, it grew into the most-walked short trek in the region. In March 2026 ACAP counted 48,513 foreign visitors across the whole Annapurna area – in one month.

Permit, TIMS and guide: what you need and where to get it

Two papers and one person. The ACAP permit costs NPR 3,000 (about 20 euros) for foreigners, 1,000 for SAARC nationals, children under ten are free. It is available online via the NTNC ePermit portal by card with a 2.9 percent fee, at the Nepal Tourism Board counter in Pokhara (Damside) or Kathmandu (Bhrikutimandap) in cash, or at the checkpoint – but there at double the price. The TIMS card from the Nepal Tourism Board costs NPR 2,000 for foreigners, 1,000 for SAARC, and since 2023 is issued only through registered operators; it needs a passport copy, photo and insurance details. The guide has been mandatory since 1 April 2023: the Nepal Tourism Board prescribed licensed accompaniment for foreign trekkers in national parks and protected areas, the Kathmandu Post reported it on 4 March 2023. All 38 packages here include the guide; the operators arrange ACAP and TIMS in advance and need a passport copy and photo for it – Pokhara Adventure, Nomad Mountain Club and Alliance say so explicitly, it applies to the others too.

With 29 of the 38 packages ACAP and TIMS are in the inclusions list. With nine they are missing – Base Camp Hike, Mosaic, Amazing Nepal, Nepal Treks, Heaven Himalaya ('all fees'), Wander Walkers, Trip Pokhara, Adventure Blossom, Shiva Excursion. Ask there; NPR 5,000 is not nothing, but no reason to reject an otherwise suitable package.

Altitude: 60 hours from Pokhara to 4,500 m

Mardi is lower than Everest, the Annapurna Circuit and Langtang, but faster than all of them: from Pokhara at 820 m you stand at 4,500 on the third morning in the four-day packages, after 48 hours in the three-day CAN trek. The highest sleeping point is High Camp at 3,580 m – Himalayan Recreation correctly writes that 'adverse health effects at this altitude are common regardless of age and fitness'. The rule of thumb above 3,000 m is 300 to 500 m of sleeping altitude per day; the four-day treks break it on day two (Forest Camp 2,600 to High Camp 3,580), the five-day treks with a night at Low Camp or Badal Danda roughly keep it.

What helps: walk slowly, drink three to four litres, no alcohol at High Camp, and be honest on the summit morning – headache, nausea and dizziness are reasons to turn back, and the viewpoint at 4,200 m is a good place to do it. The all-round packages (Mission Himalaya, Ace, Heaven Himalaya) build in a short fourth day 'because we are above 3,000 m'; Nepal_first sleeps twice at High Camp. The descent is the cure: from High Camp to Siding is 1,800 m in a day. Anyone considering Diamox talks to a doctor first; insurance must cover trekking to 5,000 m and helicopter rescue, a flight from High Camp to Pokhara costs USD 2,500 to 4,000.

Best time: month by month

What to bring – and what eight packages lend

A teahouse trek needs no tent and no stove, but a sleeping bag rated to minus ten (the blankets at High Camp suffice in October, not in December), a down jacket for the summit morning, hat, gloves, headlamp, sunglasses and sunscreen for the ridge, sturdy shoes with grip for the descent to Siding, microspikes in winter. Eight packages lend sleeping bag and down jacket: Nepal Wilderness (with poles and microspikes), Mission Himalaya, Heaven Himalaya, Alliance, Ace, Alpine Club, Nepal Treks, Himalayas On Foot 'if necessary'. None of the others do; in Lakeside rental shops charge NPR 100 to 200 a day per item, and Himalayan Recreation writes that the guide helps arrange it. Water: bottles cost NPR 250 up top, tablets or a filter save money and plastic. Cash: no ATM after Pokhara. Poles pay off for the 1,800 m of descent.

Questions about permits and best time

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