Experience the Annapurna at a slower pace on this off- beaten trek as it leads you away from the crowded paths.
The Annapurna Region is famous for the Annapurna Circuit or the Annapurna basecamp trek but there are also some shorter treks, which are really worth the effort and boast far less crowds.
One of them considered the best of offbeat is the trek that goes to the community lodge at Khopra Ridge. This off- beaten trek leads you away from the crowded paths. It combines all the beautiful things trekking in Nepal is famous for Beautiful mountain views of the Dhaulagiri range, small traditional villages, rice fields, and huge rhododendron forests. The best of both worlds!
Highlights
We will start early in the morning and drive approx. 7 hours to Pokhara. There you will be transferred to your hotel.
After driving one more hour, we start our trek at Nayapul. After crossing the river we walk mostly uphill today to reach Ghandruk. We will have lunch at a small restaurant. After lunch our way is affected by stairs. We will have some beautiful views over the valley and reach Ghandruk after approx. 6 hours walk.
This morning it’s already worth to get up early for seeing the sun, which will rise behind the mountains. The trek today is mostly uphill again and guides as through the jungle. After a few more stairs we reach the Lodge for Lunch and after a long lunch break we just need one more hour to arrive at Tadapani. Here in the village you can enjoy the afternoon with a nice view or buy some local handicraft from the villagers.
Today we also walk mostly uphill an go a bit offbeat from the high frequented ways. We walk through the jungle and after lunch our way winds around green hills. After approx. 7 hours we will reach Bayali, a small Lodge on the top of a green hill. At the oven in the dining hall you can heat up your feet and get prepared for the next day.
We wake up with a nice view on the mountains. The first part of the day we walk mostly downhill till we cross as river and reach our spot for lunch. There we can get prepared for the uphill walk we have to do this afternoon. We follow small paths till we reach a nice place with a great view from where we have to walk one more kilometer to our lodge in Khopra. From here we can see Dhaulagiri and Co and if we are lucky we see a beautiful sunset.
If we can make it out of bed early we can see how Dhaulagiri and Co are spotlighted by the rising sun. After breakfast for the first hours we will walk the way down we came up yesterday. Lunch we will have at a very peaceful nice place named Al Kharka next to a river so we can cool our feet according to the downhill walk. After lunch we walk mostly up- and downhill and reach the nice village of Swatha after approx 6 hours walk. Here we can enjoy the afternoon in the nice garden of our teahouse.
We start after breakfast with a downhill walk and then our way guides us most of the time uphill trough an apparent endless rhododendron forest. Sometime you can catch a nice view on the mountains again. There is no lodge, where we can have lunch so we will have a picnic at a Greenfield. We don’t see a lot of houses and reach Mohare Danda after approx. 7 hours. In the big dining hall you can meet other trekkers and enjoy the evening at our last high point of this trek
This morning you can see another fantastic sunrise over the mountains so it is really worth it to get up early. Our way today is mostly downhill along massive rocks and through the forest. After approx. 4 hours we reach already our Lodge in Nagi where we have lunch and also stay for the night. So we have a free ternoon and enough time to relax and enjoy the beautiful village of Nagi.
After breakfast we walk up and downhill and see beautiful rice and millet fields and the mountains. The way is easy so we can completely enjoy the amazing view. After a long lunch break we walk up and downhill again and reach after approx. 5 hours the village Baskharka, which is full of marigold flowers. Here we will stay in homestays and enjoy the last evening of our tour.
We get up early and walk after the breakfast one more hour downhill where we reach the big suspension bridge of Beni. We cross this one and then take the bus, which brings us in approx. 4 hours to our hotel in Pokhara. Here we have the full afternoon for relaxing.
Day | Location | Activity | Transport | Hotel | Meals |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Pokhara | Drive to Pokhara | air | hotel (3 star) | - |
2 | Ghandruk | Trek to Ghandruk | trek | lodge | - |
3 | Tadapani | Trek to Tadapani | trek | lodge | - |
4 | Bayali | Trek to Bayali | trek | lodge | - |
5 | Khopra Danda | Trek to Khopra Danda | trek | lodge | - |
6 | Swatha | Trek to Swatha | trek | lodge | - |
7 | Mohare Danda | Trek to Mohare Danda | trek | lodge | - |
8 | Nagi | Trek to Nagi | trek | lodge | - |
9 | Baskharka | Trek to Bakharka | trek | lodge | - |
10 | Pokhara | Drive to Pokhara | car | trek | Self | - |
GEAR LIST | What to bring on this Trek?
Think only safety. Safety from the rain, the cold, the heat and the altitude. So simply put the bare essentials would be