Khayer Lake, the sacred lake a day beyond Khopra Ridge
An eight-day trek past Khopra Ridge to a glacial lake under the Annapurna south wall. Pilgrims come once a year, and trekkers hardly ever.
By the Lakeshore team · 7 min read · Updated 5 October 2026
We surveyed twenty-five Nepali trekking operators. Two of them sell Khayer, and both of their sites spell it Khayar. One only adds it to a longer Khopra or Mardi itinerary, while the other runs it as a trek in its own right. So the lake isn't quite unheard of, but twenty-three of the twenty-five don't mention it anywhere. It sits at about 4,660 m in a cirque directly beneath the south face of Annapurna, roughly one day beyond Khopra Ridge, and few places in the region compare with it.
The lake is sacred. Every year at Janai Purnima, around the August full moon, pilgrims walk up here to bathe, and for a few days the empty cirque fills with people who have come for reasons that have nothing to do with trekking. For the rest of the year you will very likely have it to yourself.
Getting there
The route runs through the Ghorepani and Khopra country, in forest at first and then up to the community lodges on Khopra Danda at 3,660 m, with Dhaulagiri across the gorge. From there it pushes on beyond the ridge to the lake.
The Khayer day is long. It takes roughly ten hours there and back from Khopra, climbing about a thousand metres to roughly 4,660 m, with no shelter, no water and no facilities anywhere on the way. You leave in the dark and you get back tired.
That single day is why this is an eight-day trek and not a six-day one, and why we grade it strenuous even though the rest of the walking is moderate.
What's up there
A small glacial lake in a bowl of rock and moraine. The Annapurna south wall rises straight out of the far side, and from the approach you can see Nilgiri and Annapurna I.
There is a small shrine. At 4,660-odd metres, in a cirque where nothing grows, the scale is hard to take in. The wall above the lake rises more than three vertical kilometres. The lake is frozen for much of the year. In October it is usually open, and by December it is generally ice.
Altitude, and doing it safely
This is a serious day at serious altitude, on a trek that otherwise never goes very high. Going from around 3,660 m to about 4,660 m and back in one push is a big swing, and it is why we spend two nights at Khopra instead of one.
That extra night isn't padding. Sleeping at 3,660 m twice before the push makes a clear difference to how the lake day feels, and it gives you a spare weather window.
Turning around on time matters more here than on any other short trek we run. If we haven't reached the lake by a set time, we come down. There's no shelter up there, and the afternoon weather in that cirque is nothing you want to be caught in.
Going at Janai Purnima instead
During the August festival the trail fills with pilgrims, many in sandals, some elderly, some carrying children. It feels nothing like the empty cirque of the rest of the year, and it is a remarkable thing to see.
It's also the monsoon, which means cloud, leeches on the approach and a fair chance of seeing nothing of the mountains at all.
We'll take you if you want it and you understand the trade-off. Most people should come in October and have the cirque to themselves.
Walk it with us
Private departures on your dates, guided by the people who wrote this page.
Questions we get asked
How hard is it really?
The trek in is moderate. The lake day is hard: around ten hours and a thousand metres of ascent at altitude, with no support anywhere on it. When you book, tell us plainly how fit you are on hills.
Why do so few operators offer this?
It needs local knowledge, the lake day is committing, and it doesn't fit the standard Annapurna itineraries that Kathmandu operators already run. Of the twenty-five companies we looked at, two sell it, one only as an add-on to a longer trek and one as a trip of its own. We're in Pokhara, and our guides have walked it since they were young.
Can I do it without the Khopra section?
Not sensibly. Khopra is both the approach and your acclimatisation, and skipping it would put you at 4,660 m far too fast.
What if the weather closes in?
We use the spare day at Khopra and try again the next morning. If it still doesn't clear, we come down. The ridge on its own is worth the trip.
Is there anywhere to stay near the lake?
No. You go up and back from Khopra in a single day, and that is what makes it so demanding.
Still deciding?
Tell us your dates and how much walking you've done, and we'll tell you whether Khopra Ridge Community Trek is right for you. If it isn't, we'll say so.
Nothing to pay online. We confirm your dates first.
Or call the office +977 61-457830