Annapurna Panorama Trek

Yes, and it is the trek we recommend most often to people in exactly that position. Four walking days, three to six hours each, nothing technical and a top altitude of 3,210 m. If you take hilly walks at home now and then, you have enough.

Two things. The staircase from Tikhedhunga to Ulleri is over three thousand stone steps and around five hundred metres of climbing, and it takes most people two hours with stops. The other is getting out of bed at half past four in the cold for the viewpoint. Neither is dangerous and both are tiring.

The circuit carries on east from Ghorepani to Tadapani and Ghandruk rather than turning round, which adds three days, a lot more up and down, and about three hundred dollars. This trek goes up, stands on Poon Hill, and comes back down the same trail. Both see the same sunrise. Choose this one if your time in Nepal is short and the circuit if it is not.

Yes, and families are a large part of who walks this route. Children of eight and up manage it with a pace set for them, and a private departure is the sensible way to do that. Under tens need no conservation area permit at all, which is a small saving and a nice welcome.

No upper limit, and we take walkers in their seventies on this trail every season. What matters is whether you walk regularly at home, not your age. The staircase is the only thing to think about, and there is a jeep option that starts you above it.

Twelve at most, and departures run from one. From thirteen we add a second guide. A private trip on your own dates costs the same from a party of five, and for one or two it costs more only because the guide is not being shared.

Probably not. You sleep one night at 2,874 m and stand at 3,210 m for an hour. Mild symptoms are possible from about 2,500 m and a few people do get a headache at Ghorepani, but serious altitude illness on this route is rare. Anyone who tells you this trek needs acclimatisation days is selling you days.

Ghorepani at night is around freezing from November to February and a few degrees above it the rest of the year. The cold you will actually notice is on the viewpoint at dawn, which runs from about 0°C in October to around −10°C in January once the wind is counted. You stand still up there for half an hour, so dress for it.

A policy covering trekking to 4,000 m, including medical evacuation and repatriation. It is cheaper than a high-altitude policy, around $70 to $120. The realistic emergency here is a twisted ankle and a jeep rather than a helicopter, but buy the cover that includes the helicopter anyway.

It happens, and no operator can promise you a clear morning. In October, November and December it is clear most days. If Ghorepani wakes up in cloud, you can wait a day and go up again the following morning, and building a spare night into your week costs about $60. We will tell you the night before how it looks.

In October and around Easter, a few hundred people are on the platform with you, and the trail up is a moving string of headtorches. It is more cheerful than it sounds. We leave early and stand at the quieter eastern end. In December, January and February you may share it with twenty people.

Every night, which is unusual. Hot showers cost $2 to $4 at all three teahouses, wifi is free or a couple of dollars including at Ghorepani, and you can charge a phone for a dollar or two. Mains power reaches most of this route.

Yes. Dal bhat is cooked fresh, refilled free and the safest thing on every menu. Because the road head is close, the kitchens here restock daily, so vegetarian and vegan are easy and meat is fine at this altitude. Tell us about gluten or allergies when you book.

Not necessarily, and this is the only trek we run where we say that. Three nights of clothing fits in a 40 litre pack that most people can carry themselves. Take the porter if you would rather enjoy the stairs, and it costs $20 to $25 a day shared between two.

Simple and comfortable. A twin room with a mattress, pillow and blankets, a dining room with a stove at Ghorepani, and hot food all day. They are warmer and better equipped than lodges on the high treks because a jeep can reach the bottom of the hill.

Two. The Annapurna Conservation Area permit is NPR 3,000, about $22, issued by the National Trust for Nature Conservation in Kathmandu or Pokhara. The TIMS card is NPR 2,000, about $15, issued by the tourism board and the trekking association through a registered agency. Both are in your trip price and both are checked at Birethanti.

Yes. Since April 2023 foreign trekkers in Nepal's conservation areas must walk with a licensed guide, and it is enforced at the Birethanti checkpoint. Your guide is in the price. The rule is not ours and it is not negotiable at the check post.

$100 to $150 in small notes, changed to rupees in Pokhara. That covers showers, charging, drinks, snacks and tips over four days. The last reliable cash machine is in Pokhara and no lodge on this route takes a card.

On arrival at Kathmandu airport for most nationalities: $30 for 15 days, $50 for 30, paid in cash. Fill in the online form within 15 days of arriving to shorten the queue, and bring a passport photo and a passport with six months left on it.

October and November for reliability, March and April for the rhododendron, and December for the combination of clear skies and an empty hill. Because the trek never goes high, winter stays open here when it closes elsewhere. July and August we do not run at all.

Six weeks is comfortable and three days is genuinely possible outside peak season, because the permits are same-day and there are no mountain flights to chase. For October and the fortnight either side of Nepali New Year in mid-April, book two to three months out so we can hold rooms at Ghorepani.

Yes, and it is easy on a trek this short. Start on any day, add a night at Ghorepani for a second chance at the sunrise, drive to Ulleri and skip the stairs, add Pokhara nights at the end, or extend east to Ghandruk and make it the full circuit. Ask before you book so the permits match.

Yes, and it takes two days off the trip and about $180 off the price. If you are already in Pokhara, the walking part of this trek is four days door to door and we can have you at the road head the morning after you ask.

Go slowly up the Ulleri staircase and put your warm clothes on before you leave the lodge in the dark, not halfway up the hill. Those two things account for almost every unhappy hour anybody has on this trek.