Mardi Himal is a trekking peak standing at 5,587 metres (18,330 ft) in the Annapurna region of Nepal.
Practical guides to trekking in Nepal — permits, costs, seasons, altitude and packing — written by the guides who walk these trails.
Every trek in the Annapurna region needs the ACAP and trekking registration, and a few need a restricted-area permit on top. What each costs, where they are issued, which checkpoints record you, and what the conservation fee actually pays for.
Roads now reach Manang and Muktinath, and the old Annapurna Circuit is not what it was. What has actually changed, which sections still walk beautifully, how the NATT trails work, and whether you should go elsewhere.
A lake at 820 m with an 8,000 m massif 30 km behind it. What to do in Pokhara before or after a trek — Sarangkot, paragliding, Phewa Lake, the World Peace Pagoda — plus practical notes on where to stay, eat and arrange things.
A trek behind the Himalaya into arid Mustang, through Marpha's apple orchards and the medieval village of Kagbeni to the pilgrimage temple at Muktinath — with no high pass, almost no altitude risk, and rain-shadow weather.
For three or four weeks each spring, Nepal's mid-altitude forests turn red and pink. Which trails have the best rhododendron, how the bloom moves uphill through the season, and how to time a trek to catch it.
Pokhara is the best trekking base in Nepal: the Annapurna trailheads are under two hours away, and there is no mountain flight to catch. Every short trek from the city, compared by days, altitude and what it gives you.
The three treks most visitors to Pokhara choose between, compared on days, altitude, difficulty, crowds, cost and what you actually see — with a clear recommendation for each kind of traveller.
A restricted valley north of Manang holding two of the most isolated Tibetan-Buddhist villages in Nepal, reached through a slot canyon and left over the 5,320 m Kang La. Permits, route, difficulty, and why it stays empty.
A ten-day ridge trek through village-owned lodges in the Myagdi hills, with Dhaulagiri and Annapurna in view and the profits going to schools. Gentle, genuinely quiet, and the best example of community tourism in Nepal.
A community-owned lodge on a 3,660 m ridge with Dhaulagiri and Annapurna South directly opposite, an optional walk to the sacred Khayer Lake at 4,600 m, and almost nobody on the trail. The best alternative to Poon Hill.
Tilicho Lake sits at 4,919 m in a bowl of bare rock behind the Annapurna massif — turquoise, enormous, and reached across one of the most exposed trail sections in Nepal. Route, the landslide traverse, difficulty, and how it fits with the circuit.
Three to seven days, a maximum of 2,885 m, and a dawn panorama over Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South and Machhapuchhre. The easiest real trek in Nepal, with honest notes on crowds and how to avoid them.