Annapurna Base Camp Trek

Met at Tribhuvan International Airport and transferred to your hotel in Kathmandu. Evening welcome dinner with a briefing on the route, a gear check and time for questions. Annapurna Base Camp is a moderate trek but it climbs into a high glacial basin, so we go through the acclimatisation plan tonight.

Altitude: 1,400 m.

A drive west along the Prithvi Highway following the Trishuli river, through terraced hills and roadside villages. Pokhara sits on Phewa Lake with Machhapuchhre, the fishtail peak, rising 6,500 m directly behind it, and it is one of the great mountain-town views anywhere.

The afternoon is free by the lake. A short flight is available instead of the drive if you prefer to save the day.

Drive: 6 to 7 hours, or a 25-minute flight.

An hour and a half by road to Nayapul, where the trek begins. The trail follows the Modi Khola upstream through Birethanti, a pleasant riverside village where permits are checked, then climbs gently through farmland and past water buffalo to Tikhedhunga.

A short first day at low altitude, warm and green, with the sound of the river alongside most of the way.

Distance: 10 km. Walking: 4 to 5 hours. Altitude gain: 500 m.

The day of the stairs. The trail crosses the river and climbs the notorious stone staircase to Ulleri, roughly 3,300 steps in a little over an hour, which is a genuine test in the morning heat. Take it slowly; there is no prize for the top.

Above Ulleri the gradient eases and the trail enters oak and rhododendron forest, climbing steadily through Banthanti and Nangethanti to Ghorepani on the ridge at 2,840 m. In March and April this forest is solid red and pink with rhododendron flowers.

Distance: 12 km. Walking: 6 to 7 hours. Altitude gain: 1,270 m.

A 4.30 am start for the 45-minute climb to Poon Hill, the most photographed viewpoint in Nepal. At sunrise the light moves across Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South, Annapurna I, Machhapuchhre, Hiunchuli and Nilgiri in sequence. It is cold at the top and worth every minute.

Back down for breakfast, then a traverse through moss-hung, old-growth rhododendron forest over Deurali and down to Tadapani. Langur monkeys are common here and the danphe, Nepal's national bird, is often seen at dawn.

Distance: 12 km. Walking: 6 to 7 hours. Altitude: up 370 m, then down 580 m.

A long descent through forest to Kimrong Khola, then a steady climb up the other side to Chhomrong, the last permanent village before the Sanctuary and the gateway to the inner basin. Chhomrong is built in tiers down a steep hillside, with Annapurna South and Machhapuchhre directly overhead.

This is the last place with proper shops, bakeries and reliable hot showers. Anything you need for the next four days, buy it here.

Distance: 13 km. Walking: 5 to 6 hours. Altitude loss: 460 m net, with a long climb in the middle.

The trek proper begins today. A steep stone staircase drops from Chhomrong to the Chhomrong Khola, then climbs to Sinuwa on the far side. From there the trail enters the Modi Khola gorge, and the walls close in on both sides.

Through Kuldighar and down into dense bamboo forest to the lodges at Bamboo. The forest here is thick and humid, with leeches after rain, and the change from open hillside to enclosed gorge is abrupt.

Distance: 9 km. Walking: 5 to 6 hours. Altitude gain: 140 m net, with several hundred metres of climbing and descending.

A steady climb up the gorge through rhododendron and bamboo to Dovan, then Himalaya Hotel, and up past the Hinku Cave, a large rock overhang once used as a shelter by shepherds and early trekkers.

Above the cave the vegetation thins and the trail enters the avalanche-prone section between Hinku and Deurali. In spring your guide will time this stretch for the early morning when snow is stable. Deurali at 3,230 m sits at the true entrance to the Sanctuary.

Distance: 9 km. Walking: 5 to 6 hours. Altitude gain: 920 m.

The day the trek is built around. The gorge opens out at Machhapuchhre Base Camp (3,700 m), where the walls suddenly fall away and you step into the Annapurna Sanctuary: a glacial amphitheatre ringed by peaks with only the narrow gorge you walked up as an entrance.

From MBC it is a further two hours of gentle climbing to Annapurna Base Camp at 4,130 m. Standing there, you are surrounded by Annapurna I, Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Gangapurna, Tharpu Chuli and Machhapuchhre in a continuous circle. Sunset and sunrise here are the reason people come.

Take it slowly; this is a 900 m gain to sleeping altitude and altitude symptoms do occur at ABC.

Distance: 9 km. Walking: 5 to 6 hours. Altitude gain: 900 m.

Sunrise at Base Camp first: the light hits Annapurna I, the tenth highest mountain in the world and the first 8,000 m peak ever climbed, and works its way around the circle of walls.

Then a long descent, retracing the route down the gorge past Deurali, Himalaya Hotel and Dovan to Bamboo. It is nearly 1,800 m of downhill and the knees feel it. Trekking poles are worth using today even if you have not touched them all trip.

Distance: 16 km. Walking: 6 to 7 hours. Altitude loss: 1,820 m.

Down through Sinuwa and the long staircase back up to Chhomrong, then a descent to Jhinu Danda, where natural hot springs sit beside the Modi Khola twenty minutes below the village. After nine days of walking, an hour in the pools is the best thing on the itinerary.

From Jhinu the trail continues to the road head, where a jeep takes you to Pokhara for the evening.

Distance: 13 km. Walking: 6 to 7 hours. Drive: 2 hours.

The drive back along the Prithvi Highway, or a 25-minute flight if you prefer. The afternoon is free in Kathmandu for last-minute shopping in Thamel, and in the evening we have a farewell dinner with the team before your departure.

Drive: 6 to 7 hours, or a 25-minute flight.