The Ghorepani/Poon Hill Trek from Pokhara is a great beginner hike in Nepal. I wouldn’t call it easy, but you don’t need any special skills or trekking experience to have a great time hiking the Poon Hill Trek. Situated in the Annapurna Conservation Area, this trek promises great views of the Annapurna range if you don’t have time for a long trek or just want a first taste. The Ghorepani/Poon Hill Trek is also great as an acclimatization for longer treks, such as the Annapurna Base Camp or Mardi Himal treks. Or you can combine them all into one neat package. We did Annapurna Base Camp trek via Poon Hill and wouldn’t change a thing. If you’re looking for a short trek inNepal, read this Poon Hill Trek blog post and learn how to DIY it.
Poon Hill Trek: Route and Distances
It took us three days to hike from Nayapul to Ghandruk. Our Poon Hill Ghorepani Trek itinerary was the following:
- Day 1: Nayapul–Ulleri via Hile: 11.8 km; ascent 1,300m; descent 340 m
- Day 2: Ulleri–Ghorepani: 8 km; ascent 810 m; descent 90 m
- Day 3: Ghorepani–Tadapani (Ghandruk): 9.3 km (+8 km); ascent 530 m; descent 820 m (+800 m)
Since we combined Poon Hill with the ABC trek, we didn’t do the section between Tadapani and Ghandruk. But if the descents of the other treks are any indication, you can definitely make it from Ghorepani back to Pokhara in one day.
Preparing for the Poon Hill Trek
There are a few things to consider before you set off on your hike. You’ll need your ACAP permit, pack some essential items and decide if you want to use a guide and porter. I’ve written a helpful guide for trekking in Nepal’s Annapurna region that tells you all the essentials.
How long is the Poon Hill Trek?
Pokhara is full of trekking offices where you can book the Poon Hill Trek as a guided tour. The average duration is three to four days. If you’re reasonably fit and take longer hiking days, you can definitely do the trek from Nayapul to Ghandruk in three days.
How hard is the Poon Hill Trek?
This is of course a very difficult question to answer because everyone is different. I have a lot of experience hiking, but stairs will still give me breathless moments. And let me tell you, most sections of the Poon Hill Hike are nothing but stairs. The stairs are super well maintained and not dangerous or difficult, but they will raise your heartbeat. We saw plenty of people of all ages on the trail, even families with kids.
How much does it cost to Hike Poon Hill?
Just as difficulty, cost is a very fluent concept. We spent 4000 to 5000 rupees per day at the teahouse for two people, which includes the room, dinner, breakfast, a hot shower, and WiFi/electricity. Plus 500 rupees for tea and coffee during the day. In addition, you have to budget for the transportation, so this adds another 1000 to 1500 rupees per person for the jeep or much less for the public bus.
The guesthouses make their own prices for rooms, hot showers, and WiFi. But the menu is streamlined by the Annapurna association to prevent guesthouse from outbidding each other. This also means that you get the same foods everywhere in the conversation area, which is kind of comforting. You can spend the whole day looking forward to a very specific meal.
How to get to Poon Hill Trek from Pokhara?
Getting to Poon Hill Trek is very straightforward. Local busses leave every hour on the hour from the main bus station Baglung and costs 300 rupees each. The first one leaves at 6 a.m. It takes around two hours to reach Nayapul, including a short break for food and restrooms. The taxi from Lakeside to the bus station costs 500 to 600 rupees. Be prepared to spend the entire ride convincing the driver that you want to experience the local bus instead of getting a ride with him all the way to Nayapul.
The other option is to take a shared jeep to Poon Hill. However, you pay for the full jeep, not per person, and therefore have to wait until more people arrive for sharing. It normally costs between 6000 and 8000 rupees for the jeep and it has space for five to eight people.
You can even take a jeep to Hile (before the one-hour uphill to Ulleri), and even all the way to Ulleri. But this means that you skip most or all of the first hiking day, and where’s the fun in that?
Nomad notes from Poon Hill Trek
Part of the reason why we chose Poon Hill was because it’s short and sweet – perfect for a little break from work. But full disclosure, as a freelancer you’re never far from the office and we brought one laptop just in case because sharing is caring. Poon Hill trek has WiFi in all the guesthouses, but not much reception during the day. There were even power outlets, but a good battery would have sustained some work even without a charge.
Day 1: Nayapul to Ulleri
The bus dropped us off at the side of the road and we continued walking through the village. It was a beautiful day, the sun was shining and the sky was almost clear of pollution. The first landmark is the sign for the Annapurna Conservation Area, though the tourist checkpoint at Birethanti isn’t until after you cross a metal bridge. This is where you have to show your permit. They’ll keep the bottom half and stamp the part you keep. This is also the best place to load up on last-minute snacks and drinks before you set out.
From Birethanti, you follow the main road for a bit longer before you turn to the left onto a dirt road. The road is more sand than gravel, and combined with passing busses and jeeps, it can be very sandy and dusty. There are a lot of water sources along the way, so at least you won’t get thirsty. This street is pretty steep, but it’s nothing compared to what’s coming. The path soon turns into more pleasant walking through villages, where you could have lunch or a scenic drink. There are buffaloes (or cows?) walking around and the scenery is super green. There are also plenty of signs to indicate the way and getting lost would be fairly difficult.
The villages are all super cute, full of flowers, but there’s no shortage of stairs. We had our lunch just after crossing a small suspension bridge and sneaked all the way down to the river to have our sandwiches. I was feeling a bit unwell for the rest of the day, which was bad timing, because the main climb was about to begin.
Needless to say that it was difficult but stunning. There were so many false “summits”, and we could just look down as we continued to climb higher and higher up from the valley. There were no fewer than 3,500 stairs and our legs were burning. I can normally get enough breathing time on flat section during natural uphills. But there’s nothing natural about these steps. It just goes up, up, and up forever and ever and ever. Until it doesn’t and you reach Ulleri – congratulations, you made it.
Once you enter Ulleri, be prepared to be approached by all the teahouse owners. In the end we chose a pink (yay!) one near the end (or rather, top) of the village and had a great time. Well, minus my unwellness. I had Dhal Bat for dinner and was not disappointed. What more do you need after a day of hiking than a giant plate of rice, curry, lentil soup, cracker, pickles, plus free refills if you can handle it. Masala tea will be my go-to hiking drink and I can’t wait to eat more tomorrow (spoiler: I only ate a banana the whole day).
Day 2: Ulleri to Ghorepani
The room was dark and the night was quiet, but I still didn’t sleep exceptionally well. I had Tibetan bread with honey for breakfast. It’s doughy, fried deliciousness, so what’s not to like? I thought the coffee would give me some energy, but it didn’t help much. Something was definitely feeling off. We set off pretty early anyway, but I still wasn’t feel better, the opposite actually.
The stairs were a real struggle today and my legs were horrifically swollen from insect bites (I’ll spare you the pictures). I would have really enjoyed this forest walk today because it was a perfect mix of stairs and natural ground, up and down, and river views. But I had to stop so often to sit down, take some medication, and try to drink water. Suffice to say that I returned my Tibetan bread to the forest and only ate a banana for the rest of the day.
But enough of my ailments and back to the actual hike, of which I honestly don’t remember much. We had a rest at a river and passed a lot of small restaurants where I had ginger tea. It was mid-March, so the rhododendrons were in bloom, adding some red touches to the lush green. A lot of the guided groups were having lunch at teahouses on the way, but I wasn’t hungry so we skipped that.
The best part of the day for me was arriving at Poon Hill. There was a tourist checkpoint for stamping the permit before the yellow gate, you can’t miss it. Even within the town itself, we had to stop for three more rests because it was all stairs. Finally, we got the best room in the Super View Hotel and wow, was it worth it. I saw the mountains while I was recuperating in bed with blue lips after taking a cold shower. Trekking Poon Hill is no easy feat, and it really wasn’t my best day, but the views made up for it and I ate all my dinner.
Day 3: Ghorepani to Tadapani (or Ghandruk)
I finally felt energized and alive today. I gazed at the mountains as I woke up and felt the need to walk. Today would be the day where most people do the Poon Hill sunrise hike. However, these kinds of dark hikes, tired and without breakfast are just not for me. I prefer regular daylight hiking with a full stomach. On the first uphill section, I even managed to overtake some ponies that got distracted by grass next to the stairs on the way up to Deurali Pass. At the top, we had a beautiful view of the mountains, colored up with some prayer flags. A porter was kind enough to point out a herd of yak all the way down in the valley, which we definitely wouldn’t have spotted without his help.
After the pass, as the name would suggest, we started descending. We walked along an open section and then through a beautiful forest on a smooth trail. Every now and then we saw the mountains through the bamboo. I was so happy. I’m normally so clumsy at going down too and would choose going up over down on any terrain in a heartbeat. For this trek though, I must say that the descents were super pleasant and I really enjoyed hearing something other than my breathing for a change. We followed the river almost all the way to Tadapani, but be prepared for one last uphill before the teahouses.
Again, we chose a teahouse with a view. This one was called Superview, no space. At just over 2,600 m, it was getting a bit fresh in the evenings. But fear not, this teahouse had a stove that made the dining room super cozy. If you have any plans to hike higher on other treks, it may be worth it to check if the teahouse of your choice has one.
It felt like there were a lot of people today, especially some trail runners that were actually part of a slower hiking group. They kept running past us only to then wait for their group behind the next bend.
If you finish in Ghandruk, it’s another 8 km to descend to Ghandruk. This is where to catch the jeeps back to Pokhara.
We chose instead to sleep in Tadapani as we had some work to do. The next day, we connected to the ABC trail via Poon Hill, the Annapurna Circuit Trek.
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