A lake, a city and a wall of ice. Pokhara is where the Himalaya comes closest to everyday life, and where almost every great trail in the Annapurnas begins.
Pokhara lies in a broad, subtropical valley at about 820 metres, which is why bananas and bougainvillea grow in gardens that look straight up at Machapuchare, the 6,993-metre “Fishtail” peak only 28 kilometres away. Nowhere else in Nepal does the vertical drama arrive so suddenly.
Most visitors base themselves in Lakeside, the long strip of cafés, bakeries, gear shops and guesthouses along the eastern shore of Phewa Lake. It is relaxed rather than rowdy, and the rhythm of the place is set by the mountains: clear skies and sharp peaks at dawn, cloud building by late morning, a golden flush at sunset.
Come for two days and you will see the famous views. Come for a week and you can add a trek. Many people do both and then quietly extend their stay.
Everything below can be reached in a day from Lakeside by foot, boat, taxi or a short bus ride.
Rent a painted wooden boat and row out to the Tal Barahi temple on its island. Go at first light for mirror reflections, or at sunset when the hills glow copper.
Phewa Lake in detail →
The ridge at 1,600 metres above the lake is Pokhara's classic sunrise spot. The whole Annapurna range, from Dhaulagiri to Manaslu, lights up pink and gold.
Sarangkot in detail →
A gleaming white Buddhist stupa on the ridge across the lake. Walk up from the shore in about an hour, then look back over the water to the peaks.
Peace Pagoda walk in detail →
Pokhara is one of the world's great paragliding sites. Tandem flights launch from Sarangkot and ride the thermals with eagles, landing on the lakeshore.
Paragliding in detail →
The Pardi river vanishes into a sinkhole here, roaring in the monsoon. Across the road, a cave descends to a shrine where you can watch the same water from below.
Davis Falls in detail →
Forty minutes east of town, Begnas is the quiet alternative: fish farms, paddy terraces, a handful of lodges and very few other visitors.
Begnas Lake in detail →The best single hour of context for everything above you: the geology of the Himalaya, the cultures of the mountain peoples, and the history of the great climbs, told with relics from the first ascents. The model peaks in the garden make sense of what you see from Sarangkot.
Mountain Museum in detail →Pokhara's oldest quarter, where Newari traders built the brick-and-timber houses along the old Tibet trade route. The white-domed Bindhyabasini temple on its hill is the city's main shrine, busy with wedding parties and saffron on Saturdays. Walk the bazaar before 10am for the market.
The Old Bazaar in detail →Two limestone caves ten minutes apart. Mahendra is lit and easy, with stalactites and a small shrine; Chamero Gufa, the Bat Cave, is dark and unlit, home to thousands of horseshoe bats, and the exit is a squeeze through a narrow chimney that most visitors talk about for days. Bring a torch.
The caves in detail →The milky Seti has cut a slot through the city that is only a few metres wide and up to 45 metres deep; peer down from the bridges near Mahendra Pul. Above the lake, the 51-foot Shiva at Pumdikot, finished in 2021, now rivals the Peace Pagoda as a viewpoint and is a two-hour walk from the pagoda along the ridge.
Seti gorge & Pumdikot in detail →
Phewa is Nepal's second-largest lake and the heart of Pokhara. Its northern shore is lively; the western and southern shores are forest and farmland, best explored by boat or on the lakeshore path that leads to the Peace Pagoda trail.
Begnas and its smaller sister Rupa sit in their own valley to the east. The ridge between them, Sundari Danda, makes an easy half-day walk with views of both lakes and, on a clear day, the whole Annapurna wall.
Try a local fish curry at one of the lakeside restaurants at Begnas. Much of the fish is farmed in the lake itself.
The valley lakes in detail →Light changes everything here. The same peak is blue at noon, white at three, and on fire at six.
Pokhara is the gateway to the Annapurna Conservation Area, Nepal's largest protected area. Below are the walks we recommend, from a few hours to ten days, ordered by effort. Distances and times are for a typical walker with a daypack.
No permit, no guide needed. Walk straight from Lakeside or take a short taxi to the trailhead. See the six day hikes.
Teahouse trails with hot meals and beds every night. Poon Hill and Mardi Himal are the classics. See the treks.
Annapurna Base Camp and the Khopra Ridge take you above 4,000 metres into the heart of the range. Read the practical notes first.
Row or take the ferry across Phewa Lake to the far shore, then climb a shaded stone path through forest for about an hour to the white stupa on the ridge. Return along the ridge to Davis Falls and catch a taxi back, or retrace your steps for another lake crossing.
Best in the morning before the haze builds. Bring water; there are only a couple of tea shops on the way.
Full route guide →
Most people drive up to Sarangkot for sunrise. Walkers can climb from the north end of the lake instead: a steady 800-metre ascent on stone steps through villages and terraced fields, reaching the viewing tower in two to three hours. Continue west along the ridge to Naudanda for a quieter, longer day with the whole range in view.
Start before dawn and you'll catch the sunrise from the ridge. Buses run back to Pokhara from Naudanda.
Full route guide →
A taxi to Kande (about 45 minutes) puts you at the foot of a 90-minute climb to Australian Camp, a grassy clearing with lodges and a front-row view of Annapurna South, Hiunchuli and Machapuchare. Carry on along a gentle ridge to the Gurung village of Dhampus, then descend to the road at Phedi.
Stay a night at Australian Camp for a spectacular sunrise without any altitude worries. This is also the start of the Mardi Himal trek.
Full route guide →
From the Begnas bus stop, follow the lakeshore and climb the ridge separating Begnas from Rupa Lake. The path runs through paddy fields and small farms with both lakes below you and the mountains ahead. Drop down to the Rupa side and loop back.
Combine with lunch at a lakeside fish restaurant. Almost no tourists, even in high season.
Full route guide →
West of Phewa Lake, Panchase hill (2,500 m) rises through one of the last big rhododendron and oak forests near Pokhara. It can be done as a long day from Bhumdi, but it is better as a two- or three-day loop with nights in community lodges, finishing by boat across the lake.
Rhododendrons bloom in March and April. The summit view stretches from Dhaulagiri to Manaslu.
Full route guide →A flat, low-effort walk for rest days: follow the lake south from Lakeside through Damside, cross the dam, and continue to Davis Falls and the Gupteshwor cave. Return by local bus or taxi.
Best in or just after the monsoon, when the falls are at full roar.
Full route guide →All of these are teahouse treks: you sleep in simple lodges and eat dal bhat by the stove. All require the ACAP permit, and most start within two hours' drive of Pokhara.
The most popular short trek in Nepal, and for good reason. From Nayapul or Ulleri you climb through rhododendron forest to the ridge village of Ghorepani, then rise before dawn for the 45-minute walk up Poon Hill (3,210 m). The sunrise reveals Dhaulagiri, Annapurna I, Annapurna South and Machapuchare in one sweep.
Extend via Tadapani and Ghandruk for a satisfying five-day circuit. The 3,000-plus stone steps between Tikhedhunga and Ulleri are the only truly hard part.
Full trek guide →
A newer trail that follows a forested ridge straight toward the Fishtail. From Australian Camp or Kande you climb through moss-hung rhododendron to Low Camp, then break out above the trees at High Camp (3,580 m). The final morning walk to the Mardi Himal viewpoint puts you face to face with Machapuchare's west wall.
Quieter than Poon Hill and more dramatic. Lodges are basic above Low Camp; book ahead in October and November.
Full trek guide →
The great classic. You walk up the Modi Khola gorge past Ghandruk and Chhomrong, through bamboo and rhododendron, to Machapuchare Base Camp and finally Annapurna Base Camp at 4,130 metres. There the valley opens into a ring of peaks: Annapurna I (8,091 m), Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Gangapurna and the Fishtail.
Dawn at base camp, with alpenglow on the whole amphitheatre, is one of the finest sights in the Himalaya. Build in a spare day for altitude.
Full trek guide →
A community-run alternative to the main trails, branching off the Poon Hill route at Ghorepani or Tadapani. The ridge lodge at Khopra Danda (3,660 m) looks straight across the Kali Gandaki at Dhaulagiri's south face. A long day trip climbs to the sacred Khayer Lake at 4,660 metres beneath Annapurna South.
Far fewer walkers than the Sanctuary, and lodge profits support local schools. Carry warm layers; the ridge is exposed.
Full trek guide →
Almost every trek on this page passes through or near Ghandruk, one of the largest Gurung villages in Nepal. Slate-roofed stone houses step down the hillside beneath Annapurna South and Hiunchuli, and the village museum and tea shops make it a natural rest day.
If you only have two nights, Ghandruk alone is worth it: drive to Kimche, walk 90 minutes up, and watch the sunset turn the mountains rose and then violet.
Pokhara eats like a trekking town: enormous Thakali thalis, momos by the dozen, and a Lakeside strip that learned to bake bread and pull espresso for people coming down from the hills.
The Thakali people of the Kali Gandaki run the best kitchens in Nepal. Their thali is dal, rice, a seasonal vegetable, a mustard-green saag, pickles, a fried papad and a curry of chicken, mutton or local fish, with refills of everything but the meat. Lunch and dinner; the sets run NPR 450–900.
Steamed, fried, or jhol, swimming in a tomato-sesame broth that is the Nepali answer to a winter evening. Buff is the classic filling; chicken and vegetable are everywhere. A plate of ten is NPR 150–350 and a legitimate meal.
Lakeside's bakeries grew up feeding people before the dawn bus to Nayapul. Apple pie, cinnamon rolls, proper sourdough and Himalayan coffee from the Gulmi and Syangja hills. Sel roti, the sweet rice-flour ring, is the Nepali breakfast worth asking for.
Rows of brass thalis, sukuti dried meat, and the city's most reliable dal bhat. Go hungry; the refills keep coming.
Smaller, quieter and a touch more careful than its neighbours: the mustard greens are properly bitter, the mutton curry slow.
A momo specialist with a dozen variations, from classic steamed buff to kothey (pan-fried) and the spicy jhol momo. Cheap, fast, always busy with locals.
Cushions on the floor, lanterns, and Middle Eastern plates for sharing: mezze platters, falafel, shakshuka and the best hummus between Kathmandu and Tel Aviv.
A Pokhara institution in a garden by the water: steaks, pastas, Nepali sets and a wood-fired oven. Book a lakeside table for sunset.
Thin-crust pizzas from a wood oven, fresh pasta and espresso, with jazz on the stereo and the lake across the road. The dependable night off from dal bhat.
Galettes and sweet crêpes made to order, good coffee and a courtyard. The place for the morning after a trek.
A quiet garden restaurant doing Nepali and Himalayan dishes with care: thukpa, sekuwa grills, Thakali sets and a surprising dessert list.
Fish curry and fried lake fish, caught or farmed in the water you are looking at. Simple, cheap and the best reason to linger at Begnas.
Lakeside's bars close around midnight by local rule, which suits a town where everyone is up at five for sunrise. What there is runs on live bands, rooftop happy hours and a couple of dance floors.
The loudest room on the strip: cover bands most nights, a dance floor that fills by ten, and a garden out the back when it gets too much. Nepali rock, trekkers and locals in equal measure.
Guitars on the walls, blues and classic rock from the house band, cheap beer and a crowd that has been coming for decades. The least changed place in Pokhara.
A small upstairs bar with live jazz and acoustic sets, cocktails and a quieter crowd. The right place when you want to talk.
The two proper clubs, side by side, with DJs on weekends and the last people standing on the strip. Rooftop sundowners first: most Lakeside hotels with a top floor run a happy hour as the light goes off the peaks.
Treks inside the Annapurna Conservation Area need the ACAP entry permit, bought at the Nepal Tourism Board office in Pokhara or at checkpoints. A TIMS trekker registration card is also required on most routes. Day hikes close to town need nothing.
Nepal now requires most foreign trekkers in the conservation area to walk with a licensed guide. Day hikes around Pokhara are exempt. Rules change, so check with the Nepal Tourism Board before you go.
Anything over 3,000 metres deserves respect. Ascend slowly, sleep no more than 500 m higher each night above 3,000 m, drink plenty, and descend if you develop a headache that doesn't ease.
Pokhara is a 25-minute flight or a 6–8 hour drive from Kathmandu. Trailheads at Nayapul, Kande, Phedi and Kimche are 1–2 hours by taxi or local bus.
Broken-in boots, a warm layer and a shell even in autumn, a headtorch for sunrise walks, water purification, cash in small notes, and a sleeping bag for the high lodges in winter.
Several photographs on this page are our own. The remaining photographs are by independent photographers published on Pexels under the free Pexels licence; click any title to open the original photo and photographer.