Poon Hill Trek Cost 2026/2027: What You Actually Pay, Tier by Tier

Last updated 4 October 2026. The trek prices and inclusions below were read from our live booking system on that day. Rupee figures for trail costs come from our own Poon Hill guide and have not been re-surveyed lodge by lodge for 2027, so treat them as a guide, not a price list.

The Poon Hill trek costs US$499 (Budget), US$749 (Standard) or US$1,111 (Luxury) per person for one traveller on our 6-day package. The price falls per person as the group grows, down to US$349, US$599 and US$999 for 13 to 20 trekkers. Permits, a guide, the Pokhara hotel nights and the transport are inside those numbers. Your international flight, a Kathmandu hotel, your visa, insurance, tips and anything you buy on the trail are not.

That is the short answer. The long one matters more, because Poon Hill is a short trek, so small gaps between quotes stand out, and two quotes 100 dollars apart can be quite different trips. This page sets out what each tier really buys, what you still pay for yourself, and where the Budget tier stops being the cheaper choice. If you want the route and the sunrise first, start with our Poon Hill and Ghorepani guide.

How much does the Poon Hill trek cost per person?

These are the live prices for the 6-day Ghorepani Poon Hill trek, per person, in US dollars. The figure in the first column applies to one to four trekkers.

Tier	1 to 4 trekkers	Porter	Meals on the trail	Rooms	Kathmandu to Pokhara and Nayapul
Budget	US$499	None, you carry your own bag	Not included, you pay at the teahouse	Shared	Local transport
Standard	US$749	One porter for every two trekkers	All meals	Twin room in a standard teahouse, attached bathroom where possible	Shared tourist vehicle
Luxury	US$1,111	One dedicated porter for each trekker	All meals, plus fruit and nuts and unlimited soft drinks	Private deluxe room with bathroom where available	Private vehicle

The package page, Ghorepani Poon Hill Trek (6 days), carries the live prices and the full inclusion list for each tier. If anything on this blog differs from that page, the page and our written confirmation win.

What does the price drop to for a group?

Pricing is the same whether your group is family and friends travelling privately or a fixed departure. Only the size of the group changes the price per person. These are the rows in our booking system for this package.

Group size	Budget	Standard	Luxury
1 to 4	US$499	US$749	US$1,111
5 to 8	US$449	US$699	US$1,061
9 to 12	US$399	US$649	US$1,011
13 to 20	US$349	US$599	US$999

A couple on Standard pays US$749 each, so US$1,498 between them. A group of six on Standard pays US$699 each, US$4,194 in total (my arithmetic, 6 times 699). We run every trek privately for your group only, even for one person, so the price does not depend on strangers joining. The group may be as small as one and as large as twenty.

What is included, and what is not?

Every tier includes the same core, taken from the inclusion lists on the package page:

• Airport pick-up and drop-off in Kathmandu.
• Road transport from Kathmandu to Pokhara, on to Nayapul at the start, and from Ghandruk back to Pokhara and Kathmandu.
• Two nights in a tourist hotel in Pokhara with breakfast. No other meals are covered on the two long drives or in Pokhara.
• An English-speaking, trained, licensed guide. On Budget there is one guide per group, with an assistant guide for eight or more trekkers. On Standard one guide covers up to six trekkers and a group of seven or more gets an assistant guide.
• Your Annapurna Conservation Area permit and TIMS card, and all government taxes and official expenses.
• A first aid kit with an oximeter. A rescue is arranged by us in an emergency, and paid for by your travel insurance.
• A sleeping bag and down jacket to use on the trek if you do not bring your own (tell us at your briefing), free storage for your spare luggage at our Kathmandu store, a Nepali SIM card, a company T-shirt and cap, a farewell meal and a certificate of achievement.

On Standard and Luxury you also get a duffel bag for your porter to carry, and the meals and porter described in the table above. Budget buys the trek itself, the guide, the lodge room, the permits and the road, and leaves the food to you.

What no tier includes: the international flight, Kathmandu hotels before and after the trek, your visa, travel insurance, tips for the guide and porters, alcohol, and extra costs from delays outside our control such as landslides, weather, strikes or a change in government rules. On Budget and Standard, drinks outside mealtimes are also yours. Standard gives you a cup of tea or coffee with each meal and two litres of warm water a day.

What do the permits cost, and are they in the price?

Yes, both are in every tier. The Annapurna Conservation Area permit is NPR 3,000 for a foreign visitor, and the TIMS card is NPR 2,000, so NPR 5,000 in all. Our guide has your permit checked at Birethanti, the riverside village just after Nayapul, on day 2. The figures come from the Nepal Tourism Board park entry fee and TIMS pages. SAARC nationals pay less (NPR 1,000 for the conservation area and NPR 1,000 for TIMS), but you will not pay either amount yourself, because we buy them for you and the price of the package covers them. Our permits guide covers the rest of the country, and the Nayapul and checkpoint details are in our Nayapul guide.

What will you spend on the trail on top?

Less than on any higher trek, but not nothing. These are the figures from our Poon Hill guide. Lodges set their own prices and prices rise a little with each hour of climbing, because everything is carried up on foot, so read them as a range.

Item	Typical price (NPR)
One meal at a lodge	500 to 800
A full day of food	2,000 to 3,000
Tea or coffee, per cup	80 to 150
Tea at the Poon Hill viewpoint	100 to 150
Hot shower	300 to 500
Wi-Fi	200 to 500
Charging one device, per charge	200 to 300
Walking poles, rented in Pokhara, per day	100 to 200

Our guide suggests carrying NPR 3,000 to 5,000 a day for food, drinks, showers, Wi-Fi and charging, and says there are no cash machines between Nayapul and Ghorepani, so take rupees from Pokhara. It also calls NPR 25,000 to 30,000 for the four trail days a safe amount. That is a generous cushion, not what most people spend.

For a working figure I use about NPR 150 to the US dollar. That is a round number, not today's bank rate, so check it on the day.

• On Budget, food is the big extra. Four trail days of meals at NPR 2,000 to 3,000 a day comes to roughly NPR 8,000 to 12,000, a little less because breakfast on day 2 is at your Pokhara hotel. At NPR 150 to the dollar that is about US$53 to US$80, before showers, charging and snacks.
• On Standard and Luxury, meals are paid for. Our package page suggests about US$20 a day for personal extras such as snacks, showers and drinks, which over the four trail days is about US$80 (my multiplication). On Luxury the lodge covers hot showers, charging and bed heaters, and internet where available, so you will spend less than that.

What do you pay if you travel alone, or want an extra porter?

The "from" price on the page is for one traveller, so it is the price you pay on your own. The tier rules for porters change when you are solo, and they are worth knowing before you book:

• Budget: no porter, as always. You carry your own bag.
• Standard: porters are shared, one for every two trekkers, so a solo trekker has no porter. Your guide carries up to 10 kg of your gear instead. Keep your bag light.
• Luxury: you still get your own dedicated porter.

I have no separate single-room supplement figure published for this trek, so if you want a single room in Pokhara or the teahouses, ask me and I will give you the exact answer for your dates before you pay anything.

You can add a porter of your own on Budget or Standard. A private porter is US$25 per day, plus 13% VAT and a 3.5% bank charge on top, so I never quote the US$25 on its own. My arithmetic: 25 plus 13% VAT is 28.25, and 3.5% on that is about US$29.24 a day. The porter works the four trail days, so that is about US$117 for the trek. Confirm the exact figure with us when you book. A porter carries up to 20 kg in total.

If you are one person on Standard and your pack is heavy, that US$117 is the honest upgrade to compare with the move to Luxury, which costs US$362 more at the one-to-four rate (1,111 minus 749) and brings the better room, the private transport and the extra food.

What else costs money before and after the trek?

• Visa: US$30 for 15 days, US$50 for 30 days or US$125 for 90 days, paid at Kathmandu airport in US dollars cash, or arranged at a Nepali embassy before you travel. These are the fees on our package page.
• Kathmandu hotel: not in any trek tier, so we quote it separately. Our family homestay is US$15 per person per night, and part of what you pay supports our learning centre.
• Kathmandu to Pokhara by air: the package road transport covers the drive, which takes 7 to 8 hours on our itinerary. If you would rather fly, the flight is a separate ticket. Our Kathmandu to Pokhara guide gives about US$70 to US$130 one way. Tell us before you book, because we arrange it for an extra fee.
• Travel insurance: required on every trek, and it should cover emergency helicopter rescue. Buy it at home before you travel, not in Nepal. Our insurance guide explains what to look for.
• Tips: our Poon Hill guide suggests NPR 500 to 1,000 a day for a guide and NPR 400 to 700 a day for a porter, given as a group at the end. Our tipping guide explains how it works. It is a guideline, never an obligation.
• Gear: you can borrow a sleeping bag and a down jacket from us for the trek, so you only buy or bring boots, a rain jacket and layers.

A simple fixed total for one Standard trekker on a 30-day visa is US$749 plus US$50, which is US$799, before flights, insurance and a Kathmandu hotel. The personal extras and tips come on top and depend on you.

How do you pay, and when?

A 10% deposit confirms your dates, and you pay the rest in Kathmandu. Paying the balance by card carries a 3.5% charge, and paying in cash in Kathmandu does not. For one Standard trekker that works out like this, my arithmetic: deposit US$74.90, balance US$674.10, and a 3.5% card charge on the balance of about US$23.59. Cash is US dollars, and we cannot take Nepali rupees from foreign clients. Check whether a card charge also applies to the deposit when you book.

The deposit is not refundable if you cancel, and we do not refund when the client cancels. What we do instead is reschedule you for free to any date within one year, with at least 72 hours' notice. If we cannot run your trek, we refund what you paid less taxes, bank or card charges and any money already spent, for example on permits or tickets. Read that before you book, rather than after.

Is the Budget tier really the cheapest way to do it?

On paper it is US$250 cheaper than Standard at the one-to-four rate. In practice the gap is smaller than it looks, and it can reverse.

Budget pays for none of your meals. The food alone is roughly US$53 to US$80 at the figures above, with drinks, showers and charging on top. You carry your own bag over about 8 to 11 km a day, with the Ulleri staircase on day 2 and the early climb to Poon Hill on day 4. And rooms are shared. If you want a porter, the extra cost is about US$117, as worked out above.

Budget is the right choice when you are fit, travelling light, comfortable sharing and happy to order your own meals, and when you want to control what you spend. Standard is better value when you want to walk with a day pack, eat without counting rupees and have a private room. Luxury is for people who want a dedicated porter, the better lodges and the private road transport, and who do not want to think about money on the trail.

I would rather you picked the tier you will enjoy than the one that looks cheapest on a screen. Poon Hill is graded Easy on our package page, with a highest point of 3,210 metres at the viewpoint. Mardi Himal is a day longer, and our Poon Hill versus Mardi Himal comparison and the Mardi Himal guide help you choose. Our distance and difficulty guide has the day-by-day walking times, and for a longer Annapurna trip, read our Annapurna Base Camp cost breakdown.

Does the price change with the season?

The package page shows one price per tier and group size, not a seasonal one. The best months are March to May and September to November, and the trek can be done in other months too. If a date ever carried a different price, I would tell you before you paid. Our month-by-month guides cover the weather: spring and the rhododendrons, autumn and December and January.

The questions people ask me

Is the Poon Hill price per person or per group? Per person. A couple pays twice the per-person price, and the price per person falls as the group grows, as in the table above.

Are meals included? On Standard and Luxury, yes, for the trail days. On Budget, no. In Pokhara only breakfast is included in every tier.

Do I pay for the permits myself? No. The Annapurna Conservation Area permit and TIMS card are in every tier.

How many days of walking is it? Four trail days, from Nayapul to Ulleri, Ghorepani, Tadapani and Ghandruk. Days 1 and 6 are road days between Kathmandu and Pokhara.

Do I need to book a Kathmandu hotel with you? No. We quote one if you want it, or you can choose your own.

Can I do it solo? Yes, from one person. The price is the first-band price, and the porter rules above apply.

Is there a hidden cost? Everything that is not in the price is listed above, so you can read it now rather than find it out on the trail.

If you want the numbers run for your dates and group, message me on WhatsApp at +977 9810351300 or email [email protected]. I will give you the real figure, including the parts that are not in our favour.

About The Everest Holiday

We are a family company in Kathmandu, three generations of family guides, registered in 2016 and a member of the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal, number 1586. When you book with us you deal with the family, not a call centre, and the guide who meets you at the airport works for the same people who answered your first message.

Every booking helps fund our Nagarjun Learning Center. We fully run the centre at Saldum, where 70 children learn with a teacher I pay for personally, and we have helped build and still support other community learning centres. It is where a real part of what you pay ends up.

Written by Shreejan Simkhada, CEO of The Everest Holiday and third-generation family guide. TAAN Member #1586.