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Adventurous Travels | Adventure Travel | Best Beaches | Off the Beaten Path | Best Countries | Best Mountains Treks

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If you love trekking and want to experience the most famous mountain range in the world - The Himalayas firsthand, the best way to begin your adventure is to hike the trails of Annapurna Range - located near the city of Pokhara (200 km/125 miles from Kathmandu). The loop trail to Poon Hill - the popular view point via lush green forests and little, cozy mountainous villages of Ulleri, Ghorepani, Tadapani and Ghandruk offers absolutely breathtaking views of the Himalayan snowy peaks (if the weather permits of course). It's very easy to get to the start point from Pokhara and once you've started, you can give yourself as much time as you need - there are literally hundreds of guest houses along the way where you may stay overnight.

Nepal is really inexpensive and it's cheap to hire a guide who will walk the trail with you and provide you with some good information about the area and local customs. It's also a common practice to hire porters that will carry the luggage, however me and my friends carried the backpacks ourselves. It's another way to earn some money for the locals, however sometimes it seemed inhuman.

My advice is, if you hire a guide, ask him to take you to the local centers of the villages, I know that sometimes trekkers didn't even sea the villages as they slept in the 'modern' hotels quite far fro the actual village!

You don't have to have a guide to do the whole trek, it's pretty straightforward, however you must check in and get a travel pass (which is really cheap - not more than a couple of US dollars) at a checkpoint at the start of the trail. If you have a guide, you don't have to worry about the checkpoints nor finding accommodation. In case you need an inexpensive and reliable guide or tour services in Nepal, I know personally a great local company that could assist you. For more info, contact me via the contact form here.

Although you should be reasonably fit to do the trek, it's pretty easy. You can find great sport equipment on ONLYSPORTSGEAR.COM

Don't forget:

waterproof jacket

good trekking shoes

sunscreen

sunglasses

water bottle (in some places you can only refill water, no plastic bottles available to buy)

if you trek for 3 or 5 days - there's no point to take too much luggage - take only the essential things

toilet paper (sometimes available only at a ridiculously high price)

The place to start the trek is called Nayapul (40 km/25 miles from Pokhara). To get there, you can try to catch a bus from Pokhara bus station, however the whole journey will take a long time as buses are not reliable. It's better to get a taxi (if you're alone, join some people) for around 20 USD - the journey takes 1,5 hours and you can stop to take some photos along the way.

The trek starts in Nayapul - it's not very impressive but in 30 minutes you'll get to Birethanti which is a much nicer, more local style village. It's also here where the checkpoint is. Now you can start the loop: you can either hike towards Ghorepani or the other way around - Ghandruk. It's easier and better to go to Ghorephani first and then go back through Ghandruk, which is the most spectacular of all the villages along the way (we got there on day 3).

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Annapurna Range Loop Trek To Poon Hill, Nepal - Day 1 - Trek From Birethanti To Ulleri

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If you love trekking and want to experience the most famous mountain range in the world - The Himalayas firsthand, the best way to begin your adventure is to hike the trails of Annapurna Range - located near the city of Pokhara (200 km/125 miles from Kathmandu).

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There's probably something to be said for researching in advance. Or buying a guidebook. Both things I never do. Today's trek from Nayapul to Ulleri was intense.

What's the benefit of my intentional ignorance? Surprise, and deep immersion into messes adventures that I would never attempt if I were more educated, thus resulting in misery hilarity and more stretch of the comfort zone than a pair of pantyhose on an elephant.

Ignorance is bliss. Until you're in way over your head and think you might die it's not. I told Kaji I wanted to trek. Clearly, I had no idea what that meant.
The day started so innocently.
I awoke in Pokhara and Kaji and I made our way to the bus station. There, Kaji secured a cab to take us the 45 minutes to Nayapul, where my "easy" trek would begin.

Being transported anywhere in this country is an act of faith, with no functioning seat-belts, seemingly no rules of the road, and plenty of animal and human obstacles, it is an adventure. Horns blast as we wind up the mountain, passing colorfully-painted trucks decorated like glittering shrines.

Nayapul sits at a height of 2070 meters. It's a one-road town lined with shops catering to trekkers. This is the start of the popular and difficult Annapurna Base Camp Trek and the easier Poon Hill Trek, which we intend to do.

Walking through town, children approach us: "Namaste! Gimme chocolate!"

While I appreciate this no-nonsense approach, I am not endeared by it. With no chocolate to give, we continue on. The children make it clear that without chocolate I am a useless intruder that has ruined their day.

By the time we finish breakfast, the sun is already baking. We walk along a dirt road for hours, occasionally stopping for milk tea at one of many brightly-colored restaurants on the way. I am taken by the Nepalese love for color.

Happy foreigners walk past, well-equipped with the latest sweat-wicking, light-reflecting, water-resistant, color-changing, memory-stimulating, shock-absorbing, skunk-repelling, rip-resistant, body-enhancing, sun-protecting, age-reducing, odor-eliminating, reversible, breathable, atom-splitting, ultra-light, hand-warming, ipod-accommodating, drawcord-adjustable, ultra-compressible, brand-new outfits.

Behind them come the porters, carrying the gigantic bags of the clients, no doubt filled with more sweat-wicking, light-reflecting, water-resistant, color-changing, memory-stimulating, shock-absorbing, skunk-repelling, rip-resistant, body-enhancing, sun-protecting, age-reducing, odor-eliminating, reversible, breathable, atom-splitting, ultra-light, hand-warming, ipod-accommodating, drawcord-adjustable, ultra-compressible, brand-new outfits.

The loads are too large for any human to ethically carry; the weight, perhaps 100 pounds (45 kilos) or more, carried by a band around the forehead. The porters' clothes are soiled with dirt. Their t-shirts soaked with sweat. And their shoes unfit even for a walk down the street. "Agency", Kaji says, indicating that tour agencies often exploit and abuse porters, who are largely uneducated and have no other employment options. He also tells me the men are probably happy to have work. They are paid around $8 US/day for their Herculean efforts. Sobering.

I passed on the porter option, confident that I could carry my load. Not the brightest move I ever made.

For hours we walk, gaining elevation slowly. By 1 PM, I am super tired but confident that we must be close to our destination. Wrong.

As we cross a suspension bridge, Kaji informs me that we will have to " walk up a little bit " before arriving in Ulleri. We arrive at stone stairs. "We go up there", Kaji says.

I nearly perform a back-bend to see "up there" - the top of a very high mountain. Surely he must be joking.
He's not.
As we ascend we walk with heavily-loaded donkeys, old women, children, and locals carrying cages of live chickens on their backs or huge baskets filled with heavy goods from the city.

Stone memorials dot the path frequently, marking the place where villagers have been killed by landslides due to monsoons. Fresh blood spatters dot the stairs for an hour, the source unknown.

Roughly two hours and 3200 grueling stone steps later, we arrive in Ulleri, an ancient village of stone houses sitting above terraced farmland and drop-off cliffs. The snow-capped mountain of Annapurna South (7,219 m (23,684 ft) is in the distance.

I am a whimpering fool. I want to cry but am too proud. Have I ever been this tired?

The village is dotted with guesthouses. Kaji chooses one and there I have a room of my own. I am stunned by a full menu offering delights such as pizza and enchiladas! Here?! To think that nearly every ingredient has been hand-carried up those stairs is mind-boggling. My gratitude for a meal and a bed overflows. I am asleep by 7 p.m.

Surely, tomorrow will be easier?

Photos of Day 1, Nayapul to Ulleri:

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Trekking Nepal - Poon Hill Trek from Nayapul to Ulleri

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There's probably something to be said for researching in advance. Or buying a guidebook. Both things I never do. Today's trek from Nayapul to Ulleri was intense. What's the benefit of my intentional ignorance?

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Nepal is a small land locked country hidden between Indian and China boarded by Tibet. Today, most people around the world know very little about our country like, the world's tallest mountain, Mount Everest, Chitwan National Park, Kathmandu, the capital city and so on.