The mountain people who live in the beautiful villages of western Nepal welcome tourists like they were one of their own.Travel here and you will feel like this is your second home.
Apart from watching the Himalayas from up close, this trip offers an opportunity to visit all the beautiful villages you see in the pictures of the Annapurna region. You will stay in villages like Dhampus, Ghandruk and Ghorepani which serve as perfect viewpoints for gazing at the Himalayas and as cultural centers for understanding the local tradition and values. And the prime attraction of this trip is the Khair Lake which lies nearly 16,000 feet high from the sea level.
We will receive you at the airport in Kathmandu (4,600 feet) and take you to your hotel.
We will drive you from one monument to another in Kathmandu so you get a sense why this ancient city is so popular among tourists. Kathmandu has been included in Unesco’s list of World Heritage Sites for its cultural, aesthetic, religious and historical importance so you won’t be disappointed. We have a pre-trip meeting scheduled for the day where we run you through the itinerary.
A tourist bus will take you to Pokhara, the famous tourist town on the bank of the Phewa Lake. We reach Pokhara in seven hours and have to pass green hills after hills to get there. Everyone going to or returning from Annapurna stays at Pokhara, so you will meet plenty of travellers like yourself here. The lakeside area offers an amazing nightlife to relax you ahead of your trekking trip.
We will begin the day with a one-hour drive to Dhampus village where the trekking circuit around Mount Annapurna begins. Dhampus is surrounded by mountains is so beautiful that movies have been made about its beauty. We begin our expedition by climbing up through forests to Pothana and it takes about one and a half hours.
It is a day for downhill trek. We walk through rhododendron and oak forests for slightly less than three hours to reach Landruk. Landruk is another village lauded for its beauty in this region, apart from Dhampus and Ghandruk.
We trek downhill for one hour till we reach the ModiKhola River. But after that comes four hours of uphill trekking, most of which involved steep slopes. Ghandruk is perfect to mix with the local people, who are very friendly, and get a sense of the culture. There is a monastery, a temple and even a museum here to keep you busy throughout the day. The view of the Annapurna Range is another prime attraction. Oh and yes, you have to try the local food here. It is something to die for.
We trek for six hours this day with one stop for lunch. This is tough and tiring but there will be spectacular view of the Himalayas in the distance (but they seem so close) throughout the way while we ourselves pass through forests and streams. The view from Tadhapani is even more beautiful.
We will gain more than 2,500 feet in elevation today and it will take an entire day to trek from Tadhapani to Bhaisi Kharka. There is a steady climb till our lunch. After lunch, the trail gets steeper. This is one of the toughest trekking days in western Himalayas.
Chistibung is downhill from BhaisiKharka and it takes about three hours to get there. We walk through a forest which is famous for sightings of wild animals. It will be a tough day due to the excruciating trip the earlier day but you just have to carry on.
We climb up the Khopra ridge today. We walk through a forest and as we get higher the landscape changes in grasslands and then to barren slopes. It takes about seven hours to make this climb. From the top of Khopra, the Annapurna massif can be seen very clearly.
We can make to the Khair Lake and back before lunch. But you can rest at the guesthouse if you are too tired. Nevertheless, Khair Lake is beautiful and is a steady climb from Khopra. The lake is considered holy by Hindus and a big religious fair takes place here every year in August.
We walk all the way down to Sota today. We walk for six to seven hours through forests and pass Chistibung on our way till we reach Sota. After so many days of walking, even downhill treks like this are tough but the Himalayas and possibilities of chance encounters with Himalayan wildlife should get you going.
We again walk through forests in the hills today. It takes six hours to reach Ghorepani. The forests and the hills provide a very good distraction from your fatigue.
Poon Hill lies in the village and we trek to its summit. People say the western part of the Himalayas look more beautiful than the eastern ranges and nowhere is this true than from Poon Hill at 10,535 feet above the sea level.
This downhill trek will take over five hours but thankfully it is the last of it. This far in the journey, even downhill walking hurts. After resting for some time at Nayapool, we drive to Pokhara and rest in the comfort of a city.
We will return to Kathmandu in a luxurious tourist vehicle. As the Annapurna gets farther and farther away as we move closer to Kathmandu, you will surely be thinking of stories to tell once you get back home. We will host a farewell dinner for you to end your holiday in the Himalayas.
We will drop you off to the airport for your long flight back home.
In Kathmandu, you will stay in a three-star hotel while you will be staying at standard guesthouses during your travel. There will be electricity, internet, laundry and hot showers in all of the places you stay. You will have to share your room with a fellow traveller in our typical package. Single supplement will be served on request and will cost an additional USD 250.Also note that single rooms is easily available in Kathmandu and the trekking regions at lower elevation but it might be difficult to find them at higher elevations.
General
We give you the power to choose the departure date that suits your group best. A private trip is a perfect solution if you can’t find a published departure date that you and your companions agree on. You can set up a private departure for most of the trips we offer.
We never force our customers to follow our set itinerary.You can customize your itinerary exactly the way you want. Please share with us your ideas.
As one of the core guiding principles for Mountain Kick, we always give back to the mountain community in any way we can as a means of gratitude. The people who live in the Himalayas and share their homes with us deserve to have all their little problems fixed which seem very basic for outsiders but are commonplace in rural Nepal. The people lack proper access to healthcare, sanitation and education but a little effort from travellers goes on a long way to solve these issues. Mountain Kick has made it its corporate social responsibility to help improve the living standards of the local community. We make donations to their cause, organize social campaigns and programs and also have a few trips designed to mix a little volunteer work in your holiday.
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