Ghalegaun & Ghanpokhara Village Tour: The Complete Guide

Ghalegaun sits at 2,100 m on a ridge in Lamjung, facing the whole Annapurna range across the Marsyangdi valley, and it is the village that made community homestay tourism a national programme in Nepal. Set up in the 1990s, award-winning since, it still runs the way it was designed: a rota of some forty households, a community fund, and no hotels.

The tour pairs Ghalegaun with neighbouring Ghanpokhara, an hour along the same ridge, so you see two Gurung villages rather than one. Between them there are terraces, rhododendron forest, a Gurung museum, and a view that runs from Manaslu through Lamjung Himal and Annapurna II to Machhapuchhre.

Evenings are spent with the family you are staying with and, most nights, a Gurung dance in the village square.

The Tour at a Glance

We run it as a 4-day homestay tour from either city. The Himalayan Village tour adds Bandipur and Sirubari to the same idea.

The Itinerary

Up to Ghalegaun (2,100 m)

A drive via Besisahar in the Marsyangdi valley and then up the hill road to the ridge. Arrival is a formal Gurung welcome, and then you are allocated to a household on the rota.

Sunrise, village life and the walk to Ghanpokhara

The sunrise from the ridge is the thing people come for — the whole Annapurna wall going gold across the valley. The day then covers the village itself, the Gurung museum, and an easy hour's walk along the ridge to Ghanpokhara (2,180 m) for the second night.

Lamjung is Gurung heartland and, like Sirubari, deeply connected to Gurkha military service. The conversations are a large part of the trip.

Ridge walk and down to Besisahar

A final ridge and terrace walk, then the descent to Besisahar (760 m) for a hotel night — or Bandipur, if you prefer the heritage town — before the drive to Kathmandu or Pokhara on the last day.

Homestay Practicalities

• A simple bedroom in the family house, proper bed and blankets, usually shared with one other traveller from your group.
• Squat toilets and bucket washing. No showers.
• Cold at night in winter — at 2,100 m, December and January evenings are genuinely cold and heating is the kitchen fire.
• Mains electricity with routine cuts, NTC and Ncell coverage, and rare or slow Wi-Fi.
• Your guide translates throughout, which is what makes the evenings work.

House rules are the same everywhere in hill Nepal: stay out of the kitchen hearth area unless invited, do not step over food or legs, right hand for eating and passing, and ask before photographing.

What It Costs

As at Sirubari, the homestay fee is split between the host family and a village fund that pays for trail repair, the school and the water system.

What Is Included

• Private transportation throughout — a vehicle and driver reserved for your party alone, from Kathmandu or Pokhara via Besisahar and back.
• Two nights in community homestays at Ghalegaun and Ghanpokhara.
• One night at a hotel in Besisahar or Bandipur with breakfast.
• All meals in the villages, cooked by your host family.
• Village entry contribution and the Gurung museum fee.
• A professional English-speaking licensed tour guide.
• Gurung cultural dance evening in the village square.
• Guided walks on the ridge and terrace trails.
• All government taxes and service charges.

What Is Not Included

• Travel insurance covering medical treatment and emergency evacuation.
• Meals not specified in the itinerary — the hotel night is breakfast only.
• Locally brewed raksi and other alcoholic drinks.
• Luxury vehicle upgrade — private transport is included as standard.
• Drinks, snacks, laundry, phone calls and souvenirs.
• Tips for the guide and driver.
• Any additional cost caused by roadblocks, weather or other circumstances beyond our control.

When to Go