This is the route as we run it, with the reasoning. Unlike Everest, the Annapurna Sanctuary needs no dedicated acclimatisation day — the profile is gradual and the maximum is 4,130 m. What it needs is respect for the amount of ascent and descent packed into each day.
Walking hours are moving time; add about an hour for tea stops and lunch.
The 9-Day Itinerary
| Day | Stage | Sleep at | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arrive in Kathmandu | 1,400 m | — |
| 2 | Drive or fly to Pokhara | 820 m | 6–7 by road |
| 3 | Drive to Nayapul, trek to Ghandruk or Jhinu Danda | 1,940 m | 4–5 |
| 4 | Trek to Chhomrong | 2,170 m | 5–6 |
| 5 | Chhomrong to Dovan or Bamboo | 2,500 m | 5–6 |
| 6 | Dovan to Deurali, then Machhapuchhre Base Camp | 3,700 m | 6–7 |
| 7 | Machhapuchhre Base Camp to Annapurna Base Camp, sunrise next morning | 4,130 m | 2–3 |
| 8 | Descend to Bamboo or Jhinu Danda, hot springs | 1,780 m | 7–8 |
| 9 | Trek out and drive to Pokhara, then onward | 820 m | 3–4 |
Days 1–4: The Middle Hills
Days 1–2 — Kathmandu and Pokhara
Arrival, briefing, and the transfer to Pokhara — six to seven hours by road along the Trishuli and Marsyangdi valleys, or 25 minutes by air as a paid upgrade. Pokhara at 820 m on Phewa Lake is the staging town for every Annapurna trek, and the Annapurna skyline from the lakeside on a clear morning is the first hint of what is coming.
Day 3 — Drive to the trailhead and walk in
A road transfer to Nayapul or Kande, then the first walking day through rice and millet terraces and Gurung villages. Depending on the version of the itinerary you are on, the night is at Ghandruk — a large traditional village with a Gurung museum and Annapurna South directly above — or lower at Jhinu Danda by the river.
Day 4 — To Chhomrong (2,170 m)
The day the trek changes character. A long climb on stone staircases to Chhomrong, the last real village before the gorge, with Annapurna South and Hiunchuli filling the skyline and Machhapuchhre ahead. Chhomrong's lodges are among the best on the route, and most people are glad of them.
Days 5–7: The Gorge and the Sanctuary
Day 5 — Chhomrong to Dovan or Bamboo
Down several hundred stone steps to the Chhomrong Khola, then up to Sinuwa and into the gorge proper. The forest closes overhead — bamboo, rhododendron, moss, and the constant noise of the Modi Khola below. You see almost no mountains all day, and the walk is better than that sounds.
Day 6 — To Deurali and Machhapuchhre Base Camp (3,700 m)
Through Himalaya and Hinku Cave to Deurali at 3,230 m, where the trees give out, then up the narrowing avalanche corridor to Machhapuchhre Base Camp. This is where the Sanctuary opens, and it happens abruptly — one moment a gorge, the next a ring of peaks. Your guide will have checked snow conditions in the corridor before setting off, and may cross it early or hold a day.
Day 7 — To Annapurna Base Camp (4,130 m)
A short, gentle two to three hours on moraine to Base Camp, arriving by late morning with the afternoon free to walk out onto the glacier's edge and sit with the view. The ring is complete here: Annapurna I at 8,091 m at the head of the valley, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Gangapurna, Tent Peak, Fluted Peak, and Machhapuchhre behind. Sunrise the next morning is the highlight of the trek.
Days 8–9: Down, and the Hot Springs
Day 8 — Base Camp to Bamboo or Jhinu Danda
A long descent of seven to eight hours, and a genuinely enjoyable one — you lose over 2,000 m, the forest returns, the air thickens, and the stone steps that broke you on the way up pass quickly. If the schedule allows, the night is at Jhinu Danda with a walk down to the hot springs on the Modi Khola. Natural stone pools, twenty minutes below the village, and the best hour of the trek.
Day 9 — Out to Pokhara
Three to four hours of walking to the road head, then the drive to Pokhara. Most people arrive at lunchtime, check into a lakeside hotel, and spend the afternoon doing nothing at all, which is exactly right.
The 5-Day Pokhara Version
Our 5-day ABC trek from Pokhara reaches the same Base Camp by starting and ending in Pokhara and using jeep transfers to shorten the walk in. It removes the Kathmandu transfer days and compresses the lower hill section rather than cutting anything above Chhomrong.
| Day | Stage | Sleep at |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Pokhara to the trailhead by jeep, trek to Chhomrong area | 2,170 m |
| 2 | Chhomrong to Dovan or Deurali | 2,500–3,230 m |
| 3 | To Machhapuchhre Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp | 4,130 m |
| 4 | Base Camp sunrise, long descent to Jhinu Danda | 1,780 m |
| 5 | Hot springs, trek out and drive to Pokhara | 820 m |
It is a harder five days than the nine-day version is nine — the daily stages are longer and there is no slack — but it is the best short high-mountain trek available from Pokhara, and it is the cheapest way to stand at 4,130 m in the Himalaya.
Extensions Worth Adding
- Poon Hill — add three days for the dawn viewpoint at 3,210 m over Dhaulagiri and Annapurna, and the Ghorepani rhododendron forest. See the 12-day combination or the 8-day Pokhara version.
- Mardi Himal — add the high ridge under Machhapuchhre for a 14-day double base camp trek, or 10 days from Pokhara.
- Ghandruk and Landruk — a slower lower route through the Gurung villages, worth it if you want culture as well as mountains.
- Khopra Danda — a quieter ridge to the west, reached from the same trailhead. See the Khopra Danda trek.
What we would not do is shorten the trek below the five-day version. Below that you are paying for a jeep ride and two days of gorge without reaching the Sanctuary, which is the entire point.
