Annapurna Base Camp Trek (ABC Trek)

Your route for ABC Trek runs up and back along the Modi Khola valley, using road access from Pokhara at both ends. This map below shows your path as the trail climbs through rhododendron forest and Gurung villages before opening into the high sanctuary itself. Use it to track the waypoints and the specific topography your legs will cover across the 7-day trek.

Your Mountain Routes package starts from USD 750 per person, Pokhara to Pokhara.  

ABC Trek Cost breakdown based on group size

Here's why the price drops as your group grows: several of the biggest costs on this trek stay fixed no matter how many people share them.

A road transfer to Jhinu Danda costs the same whether it carries one trekker or ten. One guide leads a group of two just as easily as a group of eight. When more trekkers split those fixed costs, everyone's share gets smaller.

Costs that scale directly with each person, like your food, your teahouse bed, and your share of the porter team, stay roughly the same regardless of group size. That's why the price curve flattens out at larger group sizes rather than keeps dropping.

Your price covers the licensed guide, one porter for each pair of trekkers, both permits, and road transfers at both ends. Teahouse nights, all trail meals, and a hotel night in Pokhara with breakfast sit inside it too. A price this complete is worth checking against cheaper offers. Some operators sell the guide-only trek and price the porter as an extra of roughly USD 190, which closes most of the gap.

Getting to Pokhara sits outside your package. The tourist bus from Kathmandu takes 7 to 9 hours, and the short flight costs about USD 95. Your daily trail extras run modest. Safe drinking water costs 2 to 3 US dollars in the lower villages, and charging or Wi-Fi runs 1.5 to 2 dollars at teahouses, more the higher you climb.

Tipping Your Guide and Porters

Tipping sits outside your package price and stays a personal choice, but it's a normal part of trekking in Nepal, and most trekkers plan for it. Mountain Routes' guidance is about 15-20 USD per day to the guide and 10-15 USD for porter in total, handed over on the last evening of your trek. The custom is one envelope for the guide and one shared among the porters and if you are in a group then you can discuss with a group so you can split the Tipping amount with a group. Carry it in cash, since no card machine exists on the trail.

Altitude risk on this route concentrates on one day. You'll sleep at 3,200 m on day three and 4,130 m on day four. That 930 m jump with no rest day between is a faster gain than most longer treks allow.

Your guide paces day four slowly on purpose and holds a symptom check at Machhapuchhre Base Camp. If you show head pain, dizziness, nausea, or unusual breathlessness, you'll turn around rather than push on. Descend if you feel any of these signs at base camp; the sanctuary sits high, and going down is the fix that always works.

Winter and early spring add a second hazard the map doesn't show you. The narrow gorge between Deurali and Machhapuchhre Base Camp carries avalanche risk after heavy snowfall. Your guide times that stretch for the safest window, follows lodge advisories, and holds the group at Deurali when the slopes above are loaded. If you're booking December to March, expect this flexibility built into the plan.

While we generally suggest comprehensive insurance for high-altitude treks, coverage up to 5,000 meters is sufficient for helicopter rescue on this route. 

A pre-trip visit to a travel doctor is wise if you have heart, lung, or blood-pressure conditions, or if you're new to altitude generally. Any guidance on altitude medication belongs with that doctor, not on a trek page.

Teahouses anchor the trail: family-run lodges with twin rooms, blankets, and shared washrooms. Comfort thins with altitude. Lower villages offer western flush toilets and paid hot showers.

The highest lodges offer squat toilets, a dining stove for warmth, and, on peak-season nights, a mattress in the dining hall if rooms fill up. Menus lean on dal bhat, noodles, soup, pasta, and eggs, with vegetarian plates your safest choice up high.

Due to the religious beliefs of the local people within the Annapurna Conservation Area, meat items are restricted on much of the trail. While fish and lamb are generally permitted, pork and chicken are strictly not allowed. This cultural practice is respected across the sanctuary, making vegetarian meals the standard choice for most trekkers as they climb higher.

Drinking water follows a simple rule for you. Bottled water disappears from the upper trail, so a refillable bottle with purification, or boiled refills bought at teahouses, covers the whole route.

Wi-Fi and charging cost 1.5 to 2 US dollars at most stops, with prices rising toward base camp. A power bank spares you the queue for sockets.

Food safety on the ABC trek trail

A few simple habits keep your stomach on your side for the whole trip. Stick to hot, freshly cooked food, and go easy on raw salads and unpeeled fruit, since wash water on the trail isn't always purified.

Skip ice in drinks for the same reason. Dairy gets riskier the higher you climb, since reliable refrigeration gets harder to find above the road, so save it for the lower villages.

A basic health kit earns its place in your daypack. Oral rehydration salts handle the most common trail complaint, an upset stomach, faster than anything else in your kit.

General pain relief and your own regular prescription medication round out the kit, packed in original containers with enough for the whole trip plus a few extra days. Anything altitude-specific belongs with a travel doctor before you go, not on a packing list.

The Annapurna Conservation Area Permit is required and checked on this route. Foreign trekkers pay NPR 3,000, about 25 US dollars, and Mountain Routes arranges it as part of your package.

A TIMS card has long been listed alongside it at NPR 2,000. As per Revised TIMS Provision effective from March 31, 2023, specific Protected Areas of Nepal need trekker to be accompanied by licensed trekking guide and carry a trekking agency issued TIMS Card. but enforcement is under review for 2026. More on official website.

Can you do the ABC trek alone?

Nepal now requires a licensed guide for most trekking regions, including this one. Past the legal requirement, your guide gives you real judgment on the two points that matter here: the day-four altitude jump and the winter gorge conditions. Every Mountain Routes departure includes one.

What documents do you need to send, and when?

Two things process both permits before you land: a scan of your passport bio-page and passport-sized photos. Email or WhatsApp these at least   15 days ahead of your trip, so your permits sit ready to collect in Pokhara rather than something you wait on after you arrive.

Local Communities and Customs on the Annapurna Base Camp Trek

Chhomrong and Ghandruk, two of the largest villages on this route, are Gurung communities, and your trek passes through the heart of Gurung country rather than skirting it. Many Gurung families have roots in Gurkha regiments that have served in British, Indian, and Nepali armies for two centuries. That history is visible in the retirement homes and army pensions that built much of Ghandruk's stone architecture. Houses here are traditionally built with slate roofs and stone walls suited to the wet, terraced hillside.

Buddhism and Hinduism sit side by side in most Gurung villages, often practiced by the same family. Small monasteries and shrines appear along the trail without the ceremony of a dedicated pilgrimage site. A Gurung tradition worth knowing is the rodhi, a communal gathering house where young people once sang and courted through the evening. A lighter, social version of the custom is still alive in some villages today.

A few courtesies will carry you further than any guidebook phrase. Walk clockwise around chortens, mani walls, and prayer wheels, keeping them on your right hand. Ask before photographing a person, not just a building or a view. Dress modestly through the villages, and keep your voice low near a monastery or shrine. A hand placed together with a quiet "Namaste" is understood everywhere on this route.

Ghandruk itself holds a small Gurung Museum worth a short detour if you have an extra hour to spare. It has traditional dress, tools, and army memorabilia that explain the community's history better than a passing walk through the village can.

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