Annapurna Base Camp

The Annapurna Base Camp trek is a spectacular out and back high altitude hiking route stretching through multiple environments in the Annapurna Sanctuary National Park. The trail starts off meandering through beautiful forest and terraces of rice paddies climbing all the way to Annapurna Base Camp at an altitude of 4100m. The scenery quickly changes as you gain altitude from tropical forest to hiking in knee-deep snow among spectacular snow peaks.

Trekking in Nepal is an incredible experience. ABC trek is one of the most spectacular routes in the region. Many trekkers choose this route as a shorter and cheaper alternative to the Everest Base Camp trek. The base camp has an unreal setting being surrounded by some of the highest peaks in the world; Annapurna I (8091 m), Annapurna South (7219 m), the fishtail Machapuchhre (6993 m), and Hiunchuli (6441 m). The hiking trail to Annapurna Base Camp is accessible from several trailheads and depending on your route the duration is between 6 and 12 days.

In this post, we describe different options to trek to Annapurna base camp as well as how to combine ABC with other hiking routes such as Annapurna Circuit, Poon Hill, and Mardi Himal trek. The trail is easy to reach by public transport from the beautiful lakeside town of Pokhara. It is a tea house trek, meaning there are plenty of cheap guesthouses to stay and eat along the way. We discuss cost, itinerary, guides, porters, and altitude sickness, and give packing and planning tips.

Annapurna Base Camp trek overview

Distance – 80 km/50 mi
Days required – 8/10 days
Total ascent – 4975 m/16 322 ft
Total descent – 5040 m/16 535 ft
Highest point – Annapurna Base Camp – 4147 m
Difficulty – Moderate
Permits – TIMS card – NPR 2000/US$17 and Annapurna Sanctuary Permit – NPR 3000/US$25 pp.
Cost per day – ——– per person including permits and transportation.
Guide –With a guide/a porter, or in a group.
Accommodation – guest houses

Trekking to Annapurna Base Camp is offered by several agencies in Pokhara as an all-inclusive package with a guide and porters. It is also popular to do this trek by hiring your own staff, guides and porters are easy to find in Pokhara and this way is cheaper than a package trek. Trekking completely independently is the cheapest way to get to Annapurna Base Camp and if you can carry your own backpack the route is well-marked and easy to follow.

My plan is to hike several routes in the Annapurna sanctuary national park. The direct route will go through the Australian camp, Landruk, and Deurali to Annapurna Base Camp. My additional plan is to trek in combination with the Poonhill trek, trekking for this route starts at Nayapul from where trekking continues to Ghorepani (2750 m). Trekkers usually overnight here hiking to Poon Hill (3210 m) for sunrise after which the route continues via Thadapani towards Annapurna Base Camp.

Annapurna Base Camp trek
The Annapurna Base Camp trek is a spectacular out and back high altitude hiking route stretching through multiple environments in the Annapurna Sanctuary National Park. The trail starts off meandering through beautiful forest and terraces of rice paddies climbing all the way to Annapurna Base Camp at an altitude of 4100m. The scenery quickly changes as you gain altitude from tropical forest to hiking in knee-deep snow among spectacular snow peaks.

In this writing, I describe different options to trek to Annapurna base camp as well as how to combine ABC with other hiking routes such as Annapurna Circuit, Poon Hill, and Mardi Himal trek. The trail is easy to reach by public transport from the beautiful lakeside town Pokhara. It is a tea house trek, meaning there are plenty of cheap guesthouses to stay and eat along the way. We discuss cost, itinerary, guides, porters, and altitude sickness, and give packing and planning tips.

Annapurna Base Camp trek overview
Distance – 80 km/50 mi
Days required – days
Total ascent – 4975 m/16 322 ft
Total descent – 5040 m/16 535 ft
Highest point – Annapurna Base Camp – 4147 m
Difficulty – Moderate
Permits – TIMS card – NPR 2000/US$17 and Annapurna Sanctuary Permit – NPR 3000/US$25 pp.
Cost per day – US$27 per person including permits and transportation.
Guide – not compulsory, can be done independently, with a guide/a porter, or in a group.
Accommodation – guest houses

YouTube thumbnail for ABC trek video
Watch our Annapurna Base Camp video
How to do the Annapurna Base Camp Trek?
Trekking to Annapurna Base Camp is offered by several agencies in Pokhara as an all-inclusive package with a guide and porters. It is also popular to do this trek by hiring your own staff, guides and porters are easy to find in Pokhara and this way is cheaper than a package trek. Trekking completely independently is the cheapest way to get to Annapurna Base Camp and if you can carry your own backpack the route is well-marked and easy to follow.

We hiked several routes in the Annapurna sanctuary national park. The direct route goes through the Australian camp, Landruk, and Deurali to Annapurna Base Camp. The trek is often done in combination with the Poonhill trek, trekking for this route starts at Nayapul from where trekking continues to Ghorepani (2750 m). Trekkers usually overnight here hiking to Poon Hill (3210 m) for sunrise after which the route continues via Thadapani towards Annapurna Base Camp.

The beautiful trail stretches through rice paddies and tropical forests to snow-capped peaks.
Annapurna Base Camp Trek Cost
The cost of your trek to Annapurna Base Camp will be determined by the type of trek you are planning, your trekking route, your time on the trail, and by the season you choose to trek. Overall the cost of the Annapurna Base Camp trek is lower cheaper than the cost of the Everest Base Camp trek because of low transportation costs; the trailhead of ABC is just a short bus ride from Pokhara.

I went to a few different agencies in Lakeside in Pokhara to get prices and information regarding tours and hiring staff.

All-inclusive Trek Packages
You can book a tour when you arrive through a local agency or beforehand through an agency online. Most international and local companies use the same local guides and porters. Hand your money to a company you trust, because in the end they are responsible for your safety and you want to go with a company using the best staff.

Trekking with a local agency

7-day Annapurna Base Camp trek with a local agency is often all-inclusive; guide, porter all accommodation, and food. The price in Pokhara is around $500 You have to pay extra for wi-fi, hot showers and snacks.

Trekking with an international agency

7D6N Annapurna Base Camp Trek with reputable international agency Klook – Start and end in Pokhara, you can choose between an all-inclusive option or a more flexible option only including breakfast. The tour includes a guide, a porter all accommodation. Wi-fi and hot showers are extra.

10 Day Trek to Annapurna Base Camp and Poonhill with G-adventures – 15 day Kathmandu to Kathmandu tour including 10 day trek. English-speaking guide and full support team of porters and assistants for the Annapurna Sanctuary trek. All transport between destinations and to/from included activities. Meals are not included in the trip price, there is a choice of eating options, to give you the maximum flexibility in deciding where, what and with whom to eat. It also gives you more budgeting flexibility, though generally food is cheap. The tour price is about $850, budget $300 to $400 for food.

Trek with Porter and Guide
Organizing your own trek with guides and porters sound very expensive, but is actually a very affordable way of trekking. We found the route easy to follow, it is reasonably well marked and the once or twice that we were not sure about the route we could ask someone the correct way. If you are not an experienced trekker or are walking alone a guide is a good idea. If you do not want to carry your own pack, hire a porter. Many solo trekkers hire a guide as company, it is not good to trek alone and is good to support the local economy.

Guide 7 days x $25 = $150
Porter 7 days x $20 = $140
Trek independent = $195
TOTAL $485

You can be a group sharing one guide and more than one person can share a porter if you cary some of your own gear, bringing this total price down significantly.

The cost of doing the ABC Trek Independent
We wrote down every cent we spent and this was our exact budget for a comfortable 6 day trek.

Food 22 500
Accommodation 1500
Transport 5000
Shower 1300
Permits 10 000
TOTAL NPR 40 300 for two people
Our trek cost us a total of NPR 20 150 ($165), thus NPR 3358 ($27) per person per day

Trekking permits for Annapurna Base Camp
Two permits are required to do this trek, a TIMS (Trekkers Information Management System) and a Entry Permit for the Annapurna Conservation Area. Both permits can be purchased at the tourism office in Pokhara, if needed visas for staying in Nepal can also be extended here. The permits are checked along the way.

A TIMS is required for all treks in the Annapurna Sanctuary National Park and costs NPR 3000. The permit is only valid for a single entry into the park, something to remember if you are planning to do multiple hikes in this national park. The local national park permit costs NPR 2000.

What to pack for the trek?
Make sure not to bring too much stuff especially if you’re planning to do the trek without a porter. You won’t need much every night you stay and eat at a guesthouse, no need to carry camping or cooking gear. The most useful thing we had was our LifeStraw bottles. First, they save you quite a lot on buying drinking water. Second, it’s great for the environment! Overall we had the same stuff for hiking to Annapurna Base Camp as we packed for Everest Base Camp.

Getting to the ABC Trek
Getting to Pokhara

The trek to Annapurna Base Camp can be started from several villages close to the lakeside city Pokhara. Pokhara can be reached from Kathmandu by road or by air. There are several daily flights, the 30-minute flight is definitely the easiest way. Transport by road is very slow and tourist buses and local buses are available. Tourist buses leave from Kantipath, near Thamel, all buses leave at 7am, be there at 6:15am. Tourist bus prices started at about NPR 1000 ($10) and these buses take about 6 hours to reach Pokhara.

Local buses leave from the New Bus Station (it is not much of a bus station and is not very new). It was a bit cheaper, seat including luggage costing about NPR 500 ($5). Local buses are minibusses, they load them very full. The advantage is they depart throughout the day, so you do not have to be there early. They leave whenever they are full, so no specific time. The trip can take anything from 6 to 10 hours, depending on traffic and how often your driver stops for breaks and to pick up passengers. Getting from the bus station in Pokhara to the tourist area, Lakeside costs about 400 NPR by taxi.

Lakeside is a beautiful place to stay for a couple of days before or after the trek. There are many amazing things to do in Pokhara. If you have some time you can explore the surroundings doing one of the shorter treks outside the National Park e.g. the Panchase Trek.

Local bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara.
Local bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara.
Getting to the trailhead

Kande – The trail head at Kande can be reached from Pokhara by public bus or taxi. The bus trip takes 1h 30 min to 2 hours and costs about NPR 300 ($3), getting to the bus station from lakeside cost NPR 400 ($4). We negotiated a taxi driver to take from Lakeside to Kande for NPR 2000, it took about an hour.

Ghandruk – Ghandruk can be reached by jeep from Baglung bus park in Pokhara for about NPR 6000 per jeep, the trip takes about 3 hours. Getting back to Pokhara from Ghandruk we negotiated with a driver for NPR 3000 (we were only two people).

Different routes of ABC trek
Annapurna Base Camp trek can be started and finished at different places. If you’re going to walk ABC trek as a separate trek without combining it with other routes the best places to start and finish are Kande and Ghandruk. You can do it either way starting at Kande (as we did) and finishing in Ghandruk or other way around. The total distance and the ascent will be the same.

If you want to extend the trek you can combine it with one of the other routes many trekkers combine ABC with the Poon Hill trek. In this case you start in Nayapul. To do these two trek together you’ll need 8-10 days.

Poon Hill + ABC trek itinerary

Day 1. Bus Pokhara – Nayapul. Trek Nayapul – Ulleri, 12km. From Nayapul follow our Poon Hill trek itinerary.
Day 2. Ulleri – Ghorepani, 8km
Day 3. Ghorepani – Poon Hill – Ghorepani – Tadapani, 13km
Day 4. Tadapani – Sinuwa, 13km
Day 5. Sinuwa – Deurali, 14km
Day 6. Deurali – ABC, 9km
Day 7. ABC – Bamboo/Sinuwa, 15km/19km
Day 8. Bamboo/Sinuwa – Ghandruk, 14km/10km
Another popular option is to combine ABC trek with Mardi Himal. You can start at Kande and walk to Landruk (the first day is the same as on ABC trek) or take a jeep to Siding and start walking from there. From both places you go up to Mardi Himal Base Camp and down to Landruk. From Landruk you continue on the ABC trek. You’ll need 10-11 days to complete it.

Mardi Himal + ABC trek itinerary

Day 1. Bus Pokhara – Kande. Trek Kande – Landruk, 16km
Day 2. Landruk – Forest Camp, 5km. From Landruk follow our Mardi Himal trek itinerary.
Day 3. Forest Camp – High Camp, 8,5km
Day 4. High Camp – Base Camp – High Camp, 9km
Day 5. High Camp – Landruk, 12km
Day 6. Landruk – Sinuwa, 12km
Day 7. Sinuwa – Deurali, 14km
Day 8. Deurali – ABC, 9km
Day 9. ABC – Bamboo/Sinuwa, 15km/19km
Day 10. Bamboo/Sinuwa – Ghandruk, 14km/10km
If you want to do the big circuit you can combine the Annapurna Circuit trek with the Annapurna Base Camp trek. It’ll be a very long trek you need two weeks to complete the circuit and 6 days to finish the ABC trek, 3 weeks in total and one or two extra days in case you’ll need some rest or the weather is too bad, etc. We have a very detailed Annapurna Circuit trek itinerary that is easy to combine with this ABC trek itinerary.

A long suspension bridge on the way to Jhinudanda
The longest suspension bridge we’ve ever seen in Nepal
Accommodation on the Annapurna Base Camp Trek
This is a classic tea house trek, accommodation in the tea houses (hotels) are cheap if you buy your meals here, but where else are you going to eat anyway? The tea houses make money out of food, not accommodation. The cost for a double room in a tea house on this trek was NPR 400 or NPR 200 per bed. This did not always include a hot shower and internet.

Extra Charges at most guesthouses; Hot Shower – NPR 200, Charging NPR 200 per device in the dining room. Wi-fi – NPR 300

View of Deurali from the trail
Approaching Deurali, from there up the scenery changes completely.
Food on the ABC trek
The food on the Annapurna Base Camp Trek is similar to other treks in Nepal. The main local dish is dal bhat, rice and lentils with some curry, this is not the cheapest meal on the menu, but is sort of bottomless, when your plate is empty they come with more dal and rice if you are hungry and on a budget, this is the best way to go. The menu is very similar everywhere, we ate porridge, boiled eggs or an omelet for breakfast every morning and dal, pasta or fried rice for lunch or dinner. Food does get a bit more expensive as altitude increases, this is understandable since porters have to carry everything up the mountain.

Some unique meals to try on this trek is Gurung Bread which is a deep-fried bread, Rosti a very filling potato cake that is fried in the pan like a patty, order this with two eggs on top if you are very hungry.

Gurung bread with an omelette on top
Gurung bread with an omelette on top
Breakfast ( oats porridge)

at lower altitudes, Landruk (1730m) – 350 NPR
at higher altitudes, Duerali (3200m) – 400 NPR
high altitude, Annapurna Base Camp (4147m) – 470 NPR
Lunch/dinner (fried rice)

at lower altitudes, Landruk (1730m) – 390 NPR
at higher altitudes, Duerali (3200m) – 400 NPR
high altitude, Annapurna Base Camp (4147m) – 530 NPR
Dal Bhat

at lower altitudes, Landruk (1730m) – 590 NPR
at higher altitudes, Duerali (3200m) – 620 NPR
high altitude, Annapurna Base Camp (4147m) – 670 NPR
Drinking water
It is another significant expense if you don’t have any filter or purification. We didn’t buy water on the route we each carried a LifeStraw bottle, we used it all the time and it worked great we could refill it on the way from any water tap or stream which means we didn’t have to carry extra water or buy plastic bottles

Trekking Insurance
Hiking at a high altitude in a remote location, there are obviously very real risks. Emergency evacuation and treatment can be very expensive. World Nomads travel insurance has been designed by travelers for travelers, with coverage for more than 150 activities as well as emergency medical, lost luggage, trip cancellation and more

Places to stay in Pokhara
Lakeside is the main touristy area of Pokhara it’s full of hotels, guest houses, restaurants, bars etc. here you can find accommodation on any budget from cheap homestays to fancy spa hotels. We stayed a couple of times at OYO 11460 Hotel Romantica and stored our luggage there every time we went hiking. The hotel was nice; clean with good facilities, the staff was great, the girls that work there are very nice and helpful. Another place we stayed in was Hotel Lake Shore; the rooms are smaller but a little bit fancier, great shower (the best shower we had in Nepal), a very good breakfast menu.