Three days to Ghandruk, the handsomest village in the Annapurnas

Slate roofs, stone lanes and Annapurna South closing the end of the street. The gentlest way to see a Gurung village properly.

By Dawa Gurung · 6 min read · Updated 1 August 2026

Ghandruk is the village that ends up on the cover of books about Nepal, and for once the cover is fair. It sits at about 2,012 m on a shoulder above the Modi Khola, built in tiers of slate-roofed stone houses, with Annapurna South and Hiunchuli standing at the end of the main lane like a backdrop someone painted in.

It is also a real Gurung town of a couple of thousand people rather than a trekking construction, with a school, a museum, farms and a long history of Gurkha service.

Three days gets you there, gives you a full day in it, and gets you back. That is enough, and it asks very little of you.

Why three days rather than a day trip

There is now a road most of the way to Ghandruk, so you can technically drive up, look at it for two hours and drive back. Plenty of tours do exactly that and it is a poor version of the place.

The village works on its own clock. Cloud usually clears off Annapurna South in the early morning and again sometimes at sunset, animals come in at dusk, and the lanes empty of visitors after the day-trip jeeps leave around four. Staying a night is the difference between seeing Ghandruk and photographing it. Walking in from Kimche or Nayapul rather than driving to the top also puts the village in its landscape — you arrive from below, the way it was always arrived at, and the reveal as you come up the last stairs is the point.

What to do with the full day

Walk up to the upper village and the viewpoint above it before breakfast, which is when Annapurna South is most reliably out. It is a short climb and you will have it largely to yourself.

Then the lanes: stone-paved, stepped, with carved windows and slate everywhere. Ghandruk is unusually well kept, partly because remittance money from generations of army service has gone into the houses.

In the afternoon, walk out toward Kimche or down toward the river for the view back at the village stacked on its shoulder. That composition — the whole settlement with the mountains behind — is the one people remember.

Where it leads

Ghandruk is the gateway to a lot of the Annapurna region. Annapurna Base Camp goes on from here via Chhomrong. Muldai and Tadapani are a day up the hill. Poon Hill loops round through Ghorepani.

That makes it an ideal first leg for someone unsure how much trekking they want to do. Walk to Ghandruk, see how you feel, and either turn around or carry on — you can decide on the second morning rather than at booking. We build a lot of trips that way for people who have never trekked and are honestly not sure they will enjoy it. Almost all of them carry on.

Walk it with us

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

Ghandruk Gurung Village Trek3 days · 2,012 mRs 30,700 · See dates →Poon Hill Sunrise Trek3 days · 3,210 mRs 46,800 · See dates →Muldai View Point Trek4 days · 3,637 mRs 52,100 · See dates →

Questions we get asked

Is Ghandruk suitable for someone who has never trekked?

It is close to the ideal first trek. Low altitude, three days, good lodges and proper food, and a road within reach if anyone needs to bail out. Children and older walkers manage it comfortably.

Can I just drive there?

You can, and we will arrange it if walking is not possible. You will see the village and miss the arrival, which is half of it. If you can walk in from Kimche — about two hours — do that instead.

How does it compare to Poon Hill?

Ghandruk is about the village; Poon Hill is about the sunrise. Ghandruk is easier, warmer and has no pre-dawn alarm. Most people with four or five days do both in a loop.

Is it crowded?

Busy in the middle of the day in October with jeep arrivals, quiet by evening. It handles visitors better than most places on this trail because it is a working town rather than a row of lodges.

Poon Hill in three days: the honest beginner's trekThree thousand stone steps, a village full of rhododendron, and a sunrise that has been photographed a million times and still works. Who it suits, and who should skip it.7 min read →Muldai has Poon Hill's panorama, 400 metres higher3,637 m, one ridge east of the famous viewpoint, with Dhaulagiri and Annapurna I on the same skyline and perhaps a dozen people at dawn.6 min read →What the Annapurna Sanctuary is really likeA 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.9 min read →How many days have you got? A straight answer for every lengthMost trekking sites sort trips by mountain. You do not arrive with a mountain, you arrive with a number of free days. Here is what each number actually buys.8 min read →

Still deciding?

Tell us your dates and how much walking you have actually done, and we will tell you honestly whether this trek is the right one for you.

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