What the Annapurna Sanctuary is really like

A week from our office to a glacial amphitheatre ringed by six thousand metres of ice. Here is the honest version — the stairs, the weather window, and why we start you at Jhinu.

By Dawa Gurung · 9 min read · Updated 1 August 2026

The Annapurna Sanctuary is the only place in Nepal where you can stand in a flat meadow at 4,130 m and turn a full circle without leaving mountains. Annapurna I is directly above you, close enough that you hear the ice move at night. Machhapuchhre, which you have been looking at from Lakeside for your whole trip, is suddenly behind you and the wrong shape entirely.

It is also the trek most people underestimate. The altitude is modest by Nepali standards and the teahouses are comfortable, so it reads easy on paper. What the paper does not tell you is that the route between Chhomrong and Bamboo loses and regains about 600 m of stone staircase, and that you will do it twice — once each way.

We run this trek most weeks from March to May and again from late September to early December. This is what we tell people who walk into the office and ask whether they can handle it.

The shape of the walk

You leave Pokhara early and drive to Jhinu Danda or Kimche depending on the road. The first two days are village walking — Ghandruk's slate roofs, buffalo on the path, kids who will absolutely beat you uphill. Chhomrong at 2,170 m is the last real village and the last place with a proper bakery. Everything above it is a trekking lodge built to serve the trail and nothing else.

From Chhomrong the valley narrows and the character changes completely. Bamboo, Dovan, Himalaya, Deurali — the names are just places to sleep, strung along a gorge that gets steeper and colder. You are walking inside the mountain now, with rock walls on both sides and a river you can hear but rarely see.

Then Machhapuchhre Base Camp at 3,700 m, and the following morning a short, thin-aired hour and a half to ABC. Most people arrive by nine and spend the rest of the day sitting outside in a down jacket, not talking much.

The Chhomrong stairs, and other things nobody warns you about

There are roughly 2,500 stone steps dropping out of Chhomrong to the Chhomrong Khola, and then the same again climbing to Sinuwa. On the way up you are fresh and it is merely long. On the way down, with tired quadriceps and eight days of walking behind you, it is the hardest hour of the trek. Trekking poles are not optional here — they take about a third of the load off your knees.

The second thing: the Sanctuary makes its own weather. Cloud comes up the gorge most days between ten and eleven in the morning, and by two you are walking in a grey box. This is why we start every day early rather than sleeping in. It is not military discipline, it is just where the views are.

The third thing is water. Above Chhomrong, bottled water gets expensive and the plastic has to be carried out by someone. Bring a filter bottle or purification tablets and use the safe-drinking-water stations. You will save around 3,000 rupees over the trek and about twenty bottles.

Altitude: modest, but not zero

4,130 m is high enough to matter. The usual pattern is a headache on the MBC evening that clears with water and a decent night's sleep. Real altitude sickness on this route is uncommon but not unheard of, and the reason is almost always speed — someone doing Jhinu to ABC in four days because they have a flight.

Our itinerary sleeps at Deurali or MBC before pushing to ABC, which gives your body an extra night in the 3,000s. Guides carry a pulse oximeter and check everyone each evening. It is a thirty-second thing that turns a vague worry into a number.

If your saturation is dropping and you feel bad, the fix is to lose altitude, and from MBC you can drop 900 m in three hours. That escape hatch is one of the genuine safety advantages of this trek over Everest routes, where losing height quickly is much harder.

When to go

October and November are the postcard months: stable weather, clean air, and Annapurna I visible almost every morning. They are also the busiest — in peak October the lodges above Chhomrong fill by mid-afternoon and rooms get shared. We book ahead, but on the busiest nights nobody has a private room at MBC.

March to early May is our own favourite. The rhododendron forest between Ghandruk and Chhomrong turns red and pink for about three weeks, the trail is quieter, and the afternoon haze is a fair trade for having the ridge to yourself. Late April brings some afternoon cloud but the mornings stay clear.

December and January are cold and beautiful and mostly empty. The Sanctuary can hold snow, some upper lodges close, and you need a proper sleeping bag. June to August is monsoon — leeches, cloud, and no mountain views. We will happily take you, but we will tell you first that you probably will not see Annapurna.

What it costs, honestly

Our seven-day Annapurna Base Camp package covers the guide, permits, transport from Lakeside, teahouse rooms and three meals a day on the trail. What sits outside it is what varies most person to person: hot showers, wifi, charging, beer, chocolate, and tips.

Budget roughly 1,500 to 2,500 rupees a day above the package for those extras if you like a hot shower and a beer at the end of the day, less if you do not. Prices climb the higher you go, because everything up there arrived on a porter's back or a mule. Tipping is customary and not obligatory. A common figure is around ten percent of the trip cost split between guide and porter, handed over on the last evening. Nobody will ask you for it and nobody will sulk if you do not.

Walk it with us

Private departures on your dates, guided by the people who wrote this page.

Annapurna Base Camp7 days · 4,130 mRs 100,400 · See dates →Ghandruk Gurung Village Trek3 days · 2,012 mRs 30,700 · See dates →Poon Hill Sunrise Trek3 days · 3,210 mRs 46,800 · See dates →

Questions we get asked

How fit do I need to be?

If you can walk five to six hours on consecutive days without dreading the next one, you are fit enough. It is a stamina trek, not a technical one — no ropes, no exposure, nothing you need to have learned. The single best preparation is walking downhill on stairs, because that is what hurts.

Can I do it in fewer days?

Yes, and people do — the short version cuts Ghandruk and starts higher. We are cautious about anything under six days on the trail, because the day you save comes out of your acclimatisation, not out of the walking.

Do I need a guide by law?

Permit rules for the Annapurna Conservation Area have shifted over the last few seasons and are worth checking close to your dates rather than trusting a blog. Message us and we will tell you what is current the week you arrive, whether or not you book with us.

Is there phone signal and wifi?

Ncell and NTC cover most of the route as far as Chhomrong, patchily above. Lodges sell wifi vouchers up to Deurali. At MBC and ABC, assume you are offline and enjoy it.

What about hot showers?

Available up to Deurali for 300 to 600 rupees, gas-heated and properly hot. At MBC and ABC it is a bucket of warm water if anything. Most people skip it and stop caring by day four.

I am travelling alone — will I be put in a group?

Only if you want to be. Every trip we run is a private departure on your dates, so a solo trekker walks with their own guide rather than being folded into someone else's schedule. If you would prefer company we can look for another party on similar dates, but that is your call, not a condition.

Is it safe for a woman trekking alone?

Yes. This is one of the most walked trails in Nepal, the teahouses are family-run, and you are with your guide all day. We guide solo women on this route most weeks, and will do our best to arrange a female guide if you ask in advance.

What if I have to turn back partway?

Then we turn back, and we help you get comfortable in Pokhara rather than leaving you to sort it out. It happens — a stomach bug, a knee, altitude that does not agree with someone. Nobody has ever been made to feel it was a failure.