Annapurna Luxury Lodge Trek

A great introduction to hiking in Nepal with comfortable accommodations throughout. I thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Annapurna foothills and despite me struggling at times with the pace of the treks, it was totally worth it to be up in the hilltops. The tour leader Bimal was very supportive and allowed us to walk at our own pace. I found day 3 and 4 of the trek challenging with steep ascents and descents on uneven steps but was I pleased I put in the effort! Our porter Buddha was amazing carrying over 20 kilos the whole journey and patiently waiting for us to catch up, despite his heavy load. The scenery was breathtaking, we travelled in November so views of the mountains in the morning are clear. Mountain lodges are in spectacular locations often at the top of villages, set apart. They have beautiful gardens with bright yellow marigolds ( national flower of Nepal) and their food was served by kind staff with a smile. Good mixture of Nepali and western style dishes. The lodges are very well equipped. Hot showers, duvets and comfortable beds. Forget camping ! Each lodge also has puffer jackets, hats and scarves and recovery slides in the room for your aching feet. Also, you don’t need to buy a ‘water to go bottle,’ or even carry a water bottle from home as the tour leader hands large coloured bottles of water out on day one of the trek. The porters will refresh water when required. By far the highlight of the trip for me was waking up in the mountain lodge to a hot mug of coffee and sitting outside watching the sun come up over the Annapurna mountain range. The tour is very time constrained, with three days taken up with long bus journeys but this is how the roads in Nepal are and it’s important to understand this when you travel to developing countries. With this in mind I felt the itinerary needs decompressing and I think the tour would benefit from being longer. I would suggest an extra day in Pokhara before or after the trek as you arrive there both days late in the afternoon and there wasn’t time to explore the lake properly and visit the peace Stupa/ other sights. We opted to visit the peace Stupa for sunset which was beautiful and worth the visit. It’s a long way to travel to Nepal just to trek for a few days so I chose to turn the trip in to a two week holiday. We booked some extra days to see Kathmandu, Bhaktapur and Patan at the end of the trip which I would wholly reccomend. Nepal has some fantastic UNESCO sites with lots of arts and crafts which you don’t necessarily get to immerse yourself in on the tour.

This largely enjoyable trip was something of a curate’s egg, part hiking, part safari, part sightseeing. Some lovely places were visited, but at times it felt that more time was needed. Three of the ten active days (not counting the arrival day) were taken up by very long drives (9+ hours) on bumpy, damaged roads (as flagged up by Explore!) in a cramped minibus. That meant that Pokhara, where we stayed twice, was a big disappointment for me – no time to do the multiple activities which it offers. The itinerary would benefit from a full free day there. Whilst “luxury” is a relative word – don’t expect 5-star hotels – the mountain lodges were a cut above tea houses I’ve stayed in previously, being clean and comfy with ensuite bathrooms and hot showers, friendly service and excellent food, and fabulous mountain views. The hikes between them were quite tough, particularly Landruk to Ghandruk (we did the itinerary backwards) which is entirely up and down relentless, very steep, uneven, often broken stone steps, rocks and boulders – not for the faint-hearted. But each day’s hiking was worth it for the observations of local daily life and culture in the villages passed through, as well as the views. The long drive to Chitwan would have been worth it had we even seen any rhinos, let alone tigers, but (nobody’s fault) we saw mainly just deer and a few monkeys. Have realistic expectations. But the sunset canoe ride on the river was wonderful. Finally, a big thanks to tour leader Bimal , who was a lovely chap with a great sense of humour, well organised, and diligent in making sure that everyone was well looked after. And a big shout out to the incredible porters who accompanied us on the hikes, each carrying double kitbags for us all. In summary, a great trip, some testing walking through picturesque countrysides with great mountain views, three uncomfortable minibus rides, and a frustrating lack of time in Pokhara.

Great lodges. Trekking at a reasonable degree of effort with comfortable accommodation at the end of each day. Fantastic views of Annapurna range.

Great holiday. Itinerary excellent and varied. Brilliant tour leader. Only one problem was that the taxi booked though explore to pick us up at airport did not materialise and we had to chase it up ...it came after about 30 minutes.

the mileage for a few days was totally off.....Need to update itinerary. Otherwise, great stays, enjoyed!!!