Trekking in Nepal's Annapurna Conservation Area (Poon Hill trek)

We decided to write this post detailing our trek in Nepal as we hope this might be useful for people looking to do the same as we did. You can read about the route we took day by day (also in the map below).

The complete Annapurna Circuit (in red below), which our trek is a small part of, runs around the mountain ranges and would take weeks and weeks of dedicated trekking to complete.

We had just 5 days to play with, so we opted for a relatively small trek, passing by Poon Hill for the renowned mountain sunrise. Here's a map of the Annapurna Circuit and in the bottom left corner (in blue) is our route. (Looks tiny, but trust me it isn't!)

Going clockwise, starting at Birethanti

Welcome to the ACA!

You can opt to have a guide as well as your own porter to carry all your stuff, but quite frankly we didn't feel that was necessary for what we were doing (we only took what we needed for the time we were there, and left the bulk of our possessions at the hotel in a safe place).

If you're fit and well, doing this sort of trek is relatively straightforward. We actually met up with some really great people along the way who were doing the same as we were, so we stuck together and found our way.

Being a national park it's fairly straightforward in terms of trekking. Some of the paths were even signposted along the way so quite easy to follow.

To take us from Pokhara to the start of our trek, we had gotten a taxi from the hotel to the local bus station for 300NPR (Nepalese Rupees), where we got a ticket each for 105NPR, that's about 60p, for a two and a half hour ride to Nayapul (the bus leaves every 30 minutes).

If you don't fancy squeezing yourself into the local bus, which is an experience you won't forgot, taxis do run up Nayapul, but expect to pay between 1700-2000NPR (that's approx. £12, with a journey time of about 1 hour 45 minutes).

Here's a little video of the inside of a local bus. Because this was the morning, it was quite empty...

From Nayapul it's a 30 minute walk to Birethanti through small villages and alongside market stalls. Birethanti marks the official beginning of the trek, and is where you hand in your Annapurna entry card to the officials.

Just a bit before you reach this checkpoint, there's also a TIMS checkpoint which every trekker is supposed to visit. You'll need these documents before setting out. Our hotel back in Pokhara was able to sort us out with both our TIMS card and the entry permit the day before we left (they're both about $20US each per person). You'll need a couple of additional passport-style photos for the paperwork (worth printing out 3-4 each before you go).


And here's our trek...

Day 1 - Birethanti to Ulleri (approx. trekking time 5.5 to 6 hours)

The before photo

We decided to go all the way up to Ulleri on our first day as we were on a bit of a roll. 

We had met a couple who had actually gone all the way to Ghorepani from Birethanti in one, which is quite a trek, and we suspected they must have set off pretty early that day. 

Before you reach Ulleri, however, it involves going up steps for about 2 hours straight, which is horrible! Just got to keep on pushing… the porters put us to shame, as they walk by in flip flops carrying multiple backpacks strapped to their heads. So impressive and admirable, the Nepalese are incredible people.

We stopped over in Ulleri in a tea/guest house (the first one we came across, a guy said “room” and we simply replied with a tired but enthusiastic “yes!”

The room here cost us 400NPR for the night, plus 100NPR for a hot shower (cold showers are free, but not very inviting when the temperature drops down quite low in the evenings in the mountains in October).

Guest houses in the Annapurna Circuit are the same price throughout a village, but can range from between 100-500NPR between villages.

The quality of the rooms, well don’t expect luxury. Toilet roll, a torch (for the constant powercuts), and flip flops are a must!

The trek is one of stunning natural beauty, taking you over rivers, around waterfalls, along valleys, up many, many rocky steps. 

Sometimes we would be walking for hours and hours on ends just walking up or down steps... a real endurance test!

Some pics of the scenery surrounding the ACA...

Day 2 - Ulleri to Ghorepani (approx. trekking time 6 to 6.5 hours)

Seeing as we had made it all the way to Ulleri on the previous day, thankfully we didn't have to endure the steps first thing in the morning on our second day.

But, the steps just kept on coming!

Hours pass and, although crossing over streams, walking through quaint villages perched on hillsides, checking out the mountains in the distance, it’s mostly steps… and more steps… then, when you think they’re over, STEPS!!

We reached Ghorepani at around 4pm, having set off from Ulleri at just after 9am.

This took us closer to 7 hours in account of my bad knee making climbing steps slightly trickier. Anyone 100% fit could shave an hour off our time.

Say hello to Ghorepani!

Finally we made it, relieved that Poon Hill was just on the horizon and waiting for us the next morning...

Or so we thought… as it started to rain and become cloudier as the evening went on.








Day 3 - Ghorepani to nowhere... rained all day!

Trekkers wearing plastic bags

Sunrise was at 6.15am up on Poon Hill, and seeing as it takes around 45 minutes to get to the top, we woke at 4.30am on our day 3. 

But it was still raining, and we realised that not only wasn’t it safe to go up, but sunrise won’t look anything like the pictures in the brochure... So we dozed off back to sleep before breakfast.

We had breakfast to the sound of more heavy rain, and spent most of the day sat, as so did everyone else, in the guest house’s heated room, reading and chatting to some of the other travellers. 

We got talking to some very interesting people, some doing the same trail as we were and others coming from different locations of the Circuit.


Day 4 - Ghorepani to Poon Hill, back to Ghorepani (approx. trekking time 45mins to 1 hour each way) - Ghorepani to Tadapani (approx. trekking time 5 to 5.5 hours)

View point tower at Poon Hill at 6am

To our delight the rain had stopped and the ground was walkable in the morning.

So we headed off in a group with the guys who we spent the whole of the previous day with while it was raining, and made the 45-minute walk up to the Poon Hill viewpoint.
















The clouds eventually cleared and the sun rose up over the Annapurna mountains. We got some pretty nice pictures up there. What a worthwhile wait it was for this beautiful sunrise.

3,210 metres up

Annapurna mountain range on Poon Hill

Once the sunrise had had its moment of glory, we headed back down to Ghorepani where we had some breakfast in our guest house, picked up our bags which we were able to leave in our room, and reconvened with our group, a couple from Germany and a couple from Australia.

Never End Peace And Love

We headed off together in a sort of convoy of amateur trekkers. Our next destination, Tadapani; a stopping point on the way to Ghandruk.

By the time we reached Tadapani, it was getting on late afternoon. We knew we had another day to spare before needing to be back in Pokhara, so rather than going all the way to Ghandruk, we decided to stop off in Tadapani.

The Australian couple had plans to make it all the way to ABC (Annapurna Base Camp), with their route changing at Tadapani, so it made sense to hang out with these guys for the remainder of the day, and see them off in the following morning.

Horses at Tadapani

Tadapani has lots of guest houses on offer, and some, if not all, with great views.

Food is cheap, and especially for the amount you get. The menus in the tea houses we came across were pretty much the same (we imagined they had been standardised at some point to make it easier), so you know what you’re getting if you order the pasta in one place, and then the same in the next.

Taking in the view at Tadapani

The range of meal options is also incredible, and the quality of food is excellent. We recommend the macaroni and cheese. And the pancakes.

The shower situation was a bit of a no-show at times, and so in order to save a couple of quid we skipped our evening wash...





Day 5 - Tadapani to Ghandruk to Birethanti (approx. trekking time 7-7.5 hours)

On reflection, if you’re planning on doing Ghandruk to Birethanti in one, then it’s worth passing through Tadapani and getting a guest house in Ghandruk to start the last leg of the journey with fresh feet.

Although the majority of the trek is downhill, mostly steps, the distance from Ghandruk to Birethanti is a long one.

Time for a pose!

You'll end up passing through some pretty remote villages, and the scenery is just stunning. There are plenty of places to stop for that perfect picture, adding to your overall time of course.

A good spot for a pic

Some man-made rock formations

Broken bridge

On the way down to Birethanti

We finally reached Birethanti! Now's a good time to catch our breath, take a look at some stalls selling souvenirs, and also ‘check out’ of the ACA (will need doing for both entry card and TIMS card on the way back to Nayapul).

We...

made...

....it!

For the return journey back to Pokhara, we shared the taxi cost four ways with our German friends. The buses were simply too packed and would have been a real sweatbox of a ride.

The taxi fare came to 2,000NPR (around £12.60) for the return journey back to Lakeside, Pokhara, where we experienced some of Nepal’s finest beats…