Sirubari Village Tour

• Nepal's First Homestay Village: Stay in the community that started organised village tourism here in 1997.

• A Magar Welcome and Farewell: Arrive to garlands and a village dance, and be seen off the same way.

• Dhaulagiri to Machhapuchhre: A ridge-top sunrise over the whole western Annapurna skyline.

• Community-Managed Forest: Walk the pine and rhododendron woodland the village has protected for decades.

• Two Hours from Pokhara: A genuine village stay within an easy drive of the lakeside.

You stay in a family house, not a lodge. The village runs a rota so that visitors are shared between households rather than concentrated on the two or three with the best rooms, and the income is split between the family hosting you and a community fund that maintains the trails, the school and the water supply.

Rooms are simple and clean — a bed with proper bedding, a shared washing area, and in most houses a squat toilet outside the main building. You eat what the family eats, sitting in their kitchen. It is a good deal more personal than a hotel and a good deal less private, and that trade is the whole experience.

October to April covers the best of it. Autumn brings the clearest mountain views and the harvest, which is when the villages are busiest and most interesting. Winter at these altitudes is mild in the day and cold at night, with superb visibility and almost no other visitors.

March and April bring rhododendron on the ridges above the villages and a slower farming calendar, which means more time with your hosts. The monsoon from June to September makes the trails slippery and hides the mountains, though the terraces are at their greenest and it is the most beautiful time for photography if you accept the rain.

Pack light and practically: comfortable walking shoes, layers for cool evenings, a warm jacket between November and February, a torch for the paths after dark, and a power bank — electricity reaches these villages but cuts out. Modest clothing that covers shoulders and knees is appreciated in the houses and at the temples.

Small gifts are welcome but cash tips to individual families are discouraged because they undercut the rota system; the community fund is the right route and your guide will show you where it is. Bring your own toiletries and any medication you need, as there are no shops beyond a few basics.

Meals are cooked on a wood or gas stove in the family kitchen: dal bhat with seasonal vegetables from the terraces, gundruk, pickles, and buffalo curd or local chicken when there is an occasion. Portions are large and refills are automatic. Vegetarian is easy; tell us in advance about any other requirement so the household can plan.

Water comes from a spring-fed tap. It is generally good but treat it with tablets, a filter or a UV pen as you would anywhere on a trek. Locally brewed raksi and millet beer will be offered in most houses and are part of the hospitality.

• Sirubari Village Tour: The Complete Guide — The first organised homestay village in Nepal, and still the best-run.

• Dashain Food Guide: What Nepal Eats During the Festival — Dashain is the feast of the Nepali year: goat in half a dozen forms, beaten rice, pickles, fried rice-flour bread and home-made spirit.

• Receiving Dashain Tika: A Visitor's Guide to the Ceremony and Its Etiquette — On the tenth day of Dashain, elders press a paste of red rice onto the foreheads of the younger generation and give them a blessing.

• Ghalegaun & Ghanpokhara Village Tour: The Complete Guide — Two Gurung villages on a Lamjung ridge at 2,100 m, facing the whole Annapurna range across the Marsyangdi.

• Himalayan Village Tour: The Complete Guide — Three very different hill communities in six days — the Gurung ridge at Ghalegaun, the restored Newar trading town of Bandipur, and the Magar homestay village of Sirubari.

• Nepal Cultural Tour Itineraries: 5 to 14 Days Without Trekking — Nepal without walking: medieval Newar cities, a jungle safari, a lakeside town, a sunrise ridge and the birthplace of the Buddha.