Mohare Danda Trek

You arrive at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (1,400 m) and are met by our representative for the transfer to your hotel in Thamel.

Your guide runs the pre-trek briefing. The Mohare Danda trek is unusual among Nepal's routes: the lodges along it are owned and run by the villages themselves, built under a community eco-tourism scheme in which the income funds local schools, health posts and micro-hydro power rather than outside operators. Walking it is a direct contribution to those villages.

The route reaches 3,300 m, so altitude is not a serious concern, and the walking days are moderate. What it offers instead is quiet: the trail sees a fraction of the traffic of the neighbouring Poon Hill route, and you will often have whole days to yourselves. Kit is checked; nights at Mohare are cold. Overnight in Kathmandu.

After breakfast we take the Prithvi Highway west out of the Kathmandu Valley, following the Trishuli River through its long gorge for most of the 200 km to Pokhara (822 m).

The drive fills most of the day and is consistently good to watch — terraced fields cut into steep valley walls, roadside towns, suspension footbridges, and rafting groups putting in on the green water below. We stop for lunch at a riverside restaurant.

Pokhara arrives in the late afternoon, on the shore of Phewa Lake with the Annapurna massif standing directly behind it. Machhapuchhre, the fishtail peak, is unmistakable on the skyline. Tomorrow's drive to the trailhead is a long one, so we have an early dinner. Overnight in Pokhara.

A morning drive west from Pokhara along the Baglung highway, following the Modi and then the Kali Gandaki rivers to Galeshwar (1,170 m), near Beni in the Myagdi district. It takes around three hours on mostly sealed road.

The trekking starts here, and the contrast with the Annapurna trails is immediate — you are walking through working farmland rather than a tourist corridor. The path crosses the Kali Gandaki and climbs gradually through terraced fields of millet and maize, past scattered Magar farmhouses with their thatched roofs and buffalo sheds.

The ascent to Bans Kharka (1,450 m) is gentle, through bamboo groves and orange orchards, with wide views back over the Kali Gandaki valley. The community lodge here is simple, clean and run by the village. Overnight in Bans Kharka.

A steady climbing day of around 800 m, through farmland and forest into the heart of Magar country.

The trail climbs through terraced hillsides and small settlements, gaining height steadily on a good path. As you rise, the farmland gives way to oak and rhododendron forest, and the views open up west toward Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) and south over a sea of foothills.

Nangi Village (2,250 m) is the centrepiece of this trek and genuinely remarkable. It is a Magar village that became internationally known through the work of Mahabir Pun, who won the Magsaysay Award for bringing wireless internet to these remote hills — the village runs its own school, a paper-making workshop, greenhouses, trout ponds and a micro-hydro scheme, and the community lodge funds all of it. It is well worth spending the afternoon looking around and talking to people. Overnight in Nangi.

The big climbing day and the highest point of the trek — just over 1,000 m of ascent to the ridge.

The trail climbs steeply out of Nangi through terraced fields and then into dense rhododendron forest, which carries you for most of the morning. In spring the flowering here is superb and, unlike on the Poon Hill trail, you will very likely be the only people walking through it. Higher up the forest thins into scrub and open ridge.

Mohare Danda (3,300 m) is a bare grassy ridge with a small cluster of community lodges and a viewing tower — and the panorama is the equal of Poon Hill's without any of the crowds. The sweep takes in Dhaulagiri (8,167 m), Annapurna South, Nilgiri, Tukuche, Hiunchuli and Machhapuchhre, with the Kali Gandaki gorge below. Sunset and sunrise from here are both exceptional. Overnight in Mohare Danda.

Be up before dawn — sunrise from the Mohare ridge, with Dhaulagiri and the Annapurnas lighting up across an empty skyline, is the best moment of the trek.

After breakfast the trail follows the ridge east, dropping and climbing through rhododendron forest and open pasture. It is a long undulating traverse with mountain views for much of the way, passing the small settlement of Chistibung on the way through.

The path then traverses below the Poon Hill ridge and drops into Ghorepani (2,874 m), a busy village of blue-roofed lodges set in a saddle. After days of empty community lodges, the bustle is a jolt.

The afternoon is free to rest and wash off the ridge, because tomorrow starts in the dark — the climb to Poon Hill (3,210 m) is made before sunrise. Overnight in Ghorepani.

The alarm goes at about 4:30 am for the head-torch climb to Poon Hill (3,210 m) — roughly 45 minutes of stone steps above the village. It is the most popular sunrise in Nepal and you will share it with a crowd, which is part of the atmosphere. Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I and Machhapuchhre light up in turn across the Kali Gandaki.

Back down for breakfast, then a long day on the classic Annapurna trail, joining the main Poon Hill circuit for the walk out.

The trail climbs east from Ghorepani to Deurali at around 3,000 m, then contours and descends through some of the finest old rhododendron forest in Nepal — twisted trunks, deep moss, and glimpses of the Annapurnas between the branches. It drops through Banthanti to Tadapani (2,630 m), a forested spur with a fine head-on view of Annapurna South and Machhapuchhre, where we stop for lunch.

From Tadapani the path descends steeply through thick forest, losing around 600 m on stone steps and tree roots — good country for spotting the Himalayan monal, Nepal's national bird.

Ghandruk (2,012 m) is the largest and most attractive Gurung village in the region: slate roofs stacked up the hillside, stone-paved lanes and a small museum of traditional Gurung life. Overnight in Ghandruk.

The last walking morning, and an easy one — a steady descent of around 940 m through terraced farmland on a well-made stone path.

The trail drops from Ghandruk through Kimche and Syauli Bazaar, following the Modi Khola downstream. The landscape shifts back from mountain to middle-hill country: rice terraces, banana and orange trees, buffalo in the fields, and villages where the trail runs through the middle of everything. It is a pleasant, unhurried few hours.

The walking ends at Nayapul (1,070 m), where the road begins. A vehicle takes us back along the Baglung highway to Pokhara (822 m), about an hour and a half away, arriving in the early afternoon. That leaves the rest of the day free by the lake. Overnight in Pokhara.

An unhurried morning in Pokhara. If you are awake early, sunrise on the Annapurnas from the lakeside is worth stepping out for — you stood on a ridge looking at that skyline four days ago. A boat across Phewa Lake or the walk to the World Peace Pagoda both fit before breakfast.

We then drive east on the Prithvi Highway to Kathmandu (1,400 m), following the Trishuli river back through its gorge. It is a full day on the road with a lunch stop, arriving in the capital in the late afternoon.

After transferring to your hotel the evening is free — a hot shower, a good meal, and shopping in Thamel if you want it. Nangi's own hand-made paper products, if you bought any, travel well. Overnight in Kathmandu.

Your last day in Nepal. If your flight leaves later there is time for one more part of the Kathmandu Valley — Boudhanath Stupa, Pashupatinath Temple and Swayambhunath are all a short drive from Thamel.

Our representative will collect you from your hotel and transfer you to Tribhuvan International Airport around three hours before your scheduled departure.

The Mohare Danda trek gives you a Poon Hill-class panorama from an empty ridge, and every night of it is spent in lodges the villages own and run themselves. If you would like more of the same character, the Khopra Danda route extends from the same trail system and climbs higher, to a ridge at 4,020 m with Dhaulagiri directly opposite. Safe travels.