How hard is the Mardi Himal Trek compared to other Nepal treks?

Mardi Himal sits between Ghorepani Poon Hill and Annapurna Base Camp on difficulty. The Nepal Mountaineering Association classifies it Grade 2 — accessible to fit trekkers without prior altitude experience, but with three sections that bite. The 590-metre switchback climb from Low Camp to Middle Camp on Day 3. The Upper Viewpoint push from 3,700 m to 4,500 m on summit morning. And the 2,750-metre descent to Sidhing on Day 5 that punishes knees and ankles. Most travellers under 50 with regular hiking experience handle it comfortably. Travellers over 50 or anyone with limited altitude experience should add a buffer night at Forest Camp or Low Camp.

What's the difference between the Mardi Himal Trek and Poon Hill?

Poon Hill is a four-to-five day trek topping out at 3,210 m on graded, stone-paved trails. Mardi Himal climbs to 4,500 m at the Upper Viewpoint and runs five to six days on narrower, steeper trail. Both treks share the same Annapurna views — Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Machapuchare, Dhaulagiri — but Mardi puts you within 20 km of Machapuchare from your tent at High Camp and onto a genuine alpine ridge. Poon Hill is the right call for families and travellers without altitude experience. Mardi is the right call for a high-altitude finish in under a week.

Do I need a guide for the Mardi Himal Trek in 2026?

Yes. Nepal's 2023 mandatory-guide rule applies to the Annapurna Conservation Area, which covers the entire Mardi Himal route. Every trekker must walk with a licensed guide hired through a government-registered trekking agency. Checkposts at Kande and Forest Camp scan guide licences against permit numbers. Penalties for trekking without a guide run up to NPR 12,000 (about USD 90) with the trekker turned back to Pokhara the same day. A licensed Annapurna guide costs USD 25 per day in 2026 — roughly USD 125 across the trek.

How much does the Mardi Himal Trek cost in 2026?

USD 600 to USD 800 per person for a guided five-to-six day trek on a two-person package. That includes ACAP at NPR 3,000, licensed guide at USD 25 per day, porter at USD 18–20 per day, Pokhara hotel nights, lodge nights on the trail, most meals, and transfers from Pokhara to Kande and Sidhing back to Pokhara. A solo traveller pays roughly 15 percent more because the guide cost spreads across one person. A group of four drops the per-head price to USD 520–640. Add USD 80–120 for travel insurance with helicopter evacuation cover up to 4,500 m, and budget around USD 50 for tips, hot showers and bottled water.

When is the best time to do the Mardi Himal Trek in 2026?

Late September to late November is the clearest window. Mid-October to early November is peak — post-monsoon air, stable weather, lodge owners with time to talk. We book about 60 percent of our 2026 Mardi departures into this window. Spring (mid-March to mid-May) works for the rhododendron bloom in the Forest Camp stretch, with the trade-off of more haze on viewing mornings. Winter is workable with microspikes for snow above Middle Camp. Skip monsoon (mid-June to mid-September) — leeches in the rhododendron forest and constant cloud at the Upper Viewpoint.

What's the highest point on the Mardi Himal Trek?

The Upper Viewpoint at 4,500 metres, reached on summit morning from High Camp (3,700 m). Travellers leave at 04:30 with headtorches, climb 800 metres in 3 to 3.5 hours, hold the viewpoint for 30 minutes to an hour for the sunrise window, then descend back to High Camp by 11:00. The viewpoint sits 20 kilometres directly north of Machapuchare and opens a panorama of Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Machapuchare and — on clear October mornings — Dhaulagiri eighty kilometres west. The view is the payoff. Nothing else on the ridge is as exposed.

Can I do the Mardi Himal Trek without acclimatisation days?

Yes, but skipping acclimatisation is the most common reason travellers turn around at Middle Camp. The trek climbs from Pokhara at 1,000 m to High Camp at 3,700 m in three trail days, which is faster than the 600-metre-per-day rule altitude doctors recommend above 3,000 m. We add a buffer night at Forest Camp or Low Camp for travellers over 50, anyone with a previous altitude headache, or anyone whose pre-trek week was particularly sedentary. The buffer costs USD 40–60 extra and cuts the rate of aborted summit mornings noticeably in our 2024–2025 booking data.

Mardi Himal Trek 2026: The 5-Day Annapurna Alternative Most Travellers Miss

A short trek that finishes high. 4,500 m on Day 5, Machapuchare twenty kilometres from your tent at High Camp, and a 2026 budget that lands under USD 800 per person for two — from a Kathmandu team that books the route every fortnight.

11 MAY 202610 MIN READNEPAL NEXUS

Sunrise on Annapurna South, Hiunchuli and Machapuchare from a high ridge in the Annapurna Conservation Area — the same range visible from the Mardi Himal Upper Viewpoint at 4,500 m.

Mardi Himal is the Annapurna route that opened to general trekkers in 2012 and only really caught on with Kathmandu agencies after 2018. It runs five trail days through rhododendron forest, climbs onto a quiet ridge above the more crowded Annapurna Sanctuary, and tops out at 4,500 metres in front of Machapuchare — the fish-tail peak the Nepali government has kept closed to climbing because it is sacred.

The pitch is simple. You get the high-altitude finish that draws people to Annapurna Base Camp. You get views Poon Hill cannot match. And you do it in half the days. The trek lands at around USD 600 to USD 800 per person for a guided trip on a two-person package in 2026.

Most travellers landing in Pokhara still book Poon Hill or ABC because that's what the older guidebooks recommended. We book a lot of Mardi Himal because the short-trek calendar in Nepal has shifted, and Mardi is the route that benefited most.

Here's how it works, what it costs in 2026, and where to place it on a Nepal itinerary that already has limited time on the ground.

What Mardi Himal actually is

The trek runs along a low ridge that branches off from the main Annapurna Sanctuary trail at Deurali. Where the ABC route descends into the Modi Khola valley and grinds upward to Machapuchare Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp, Mardi Himal stays high and goes the other way — north, then northwest, climbing through Forest Camp (2,520 m), Low Camp (2,990 m), Middle Camp (3,580 m) and High Camp (3,700 m) before pushing on summit morning to the Upper Viewpoint at 4,500 m.

The numbers matter. Mardi Himal is not a longer trek done short. It's a different trail, opened to general tourism by the Nepal Tourism Board in 2012 after pressure from Pokhara agencies who saw demand for a four-to-five day finish at real altitude.

What you actually see from the Upper Viewpoint:

Machapuchare (6,993 m) — directly south, the closest face of the fish-tail you can see in Nepal outside the sanctuary
Annapurna South (7,219 m) — west, glacier-faced
Hiunchuli (6,441 m) — between them
The Modi Khola gorge running away below your boots
On clear October mornings, Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) on the western horizon, eighty kilometres away

The ridge sits at altitudes that bother some travellers and surprise nobody. Acute Mountain Sickness is real on this trek even though the highest point is below the 5,000 m threshold most people associate with altitude risk. We've walked travellers down from High Camp because they pushed too hard on the climb out of Forest Camp the day before.

Mardi Himal vs Poon Hill vs Annapurna Base Camp

Three short-to-medium Annapurna treks. People mix them up.

Ghorepani Poon Hill is the easiest. Four to five days, 3,210 m maximum at Poon Hill, mostly stone-paved trail, busy lodges, the famous sunrise on Annapurna South and Dhaulagiri from the Poon Hill viewpoint. It's the trek to book if you want one big Himalayan view and three days of walking on graded paths. We book it for travellers in their sixties, families with children over 12, and travellers landing for a single week in Nepal.

Mardi Himal is the next step up. Five trail days, 4,500 m at the Upper Viewpoint, much smaller lodges, real altitude in the last two days. The trail is narrower and steeper, particularly the Low Camp to Middle Camp section where you climb 590 metres in about three hours of switchbacks. It rewards travellers who have walked at altitude before, or who are reasonably fit and patient enough to take a rest day if the legs ask for one.

Annapurna Base Camp is the heavier commitment. Eight to ten days, 4,130 m at Base Camp, walking through the Modi Khola gorge, glacial moraine in the upper sanctuary. ABC is the better trek if you have ten days on the ground and want the full sanctuary experience. Mardi is the better trek if you have six and want altitude.

The biggest miscalculation we see is travellers who book Poon Hill, finish in three days, and then realise the body that finished Poon Hill in three days had four more days of holiday left and nothing to do with them.

The 2026 itinerary that works

Five days on the trail, two days at the bookends. Here's the seven-day plan we run from Pokhara.

Day 0. Drive Kathmandu to Pokhara (6–7 hours by road) or take Buddha Air at USD 110 one-way (25 minutes), or the Pokhara tourist bus at USD 25. Sleep in Pokhara.
Day 1. Drive Pokhara to Kande (90 minutes), trek to Australian Camp (2,065 m). 1.5 hours of walking, deliberately short. Sleep at altitude on Night 1.
Day 2. Australian Camp to Forest Camp (2,520 m). 6 hours through dense rhododendron forest. The loudest stretch of the trek for bird life.
Day 3. Forest Camp to Low Camp (2,990 m). 4 hours. Lodge density drops to four lodges at Low Camp itself, so book a week ahead for October.
Day 4. Low Camp to High Camp (3,700 m). 5 hours. The climb that costs people legs the next day if they pushed too hard out of Middle Camp.
Day 5. Pre-dawn climb to the Upper Viewpoint (4,500 m). 3.5 hours up, 2.5 hours back to High Camp. Then continue down to Sidhing village (1,750 m), 4 more hours. A long day — 9 to 10 hours total on the legs.
Day 6. Drive Sidhing back to Pokhara, 4 hours by jeep. Hot shower, rest day, fly or bus back to Kathmandu the following morning.

The Upper Viewpoint push is the only summit-style day on the trek. Most travellers leave High Camp at 04:30 with headtorches, hit the Upper Viewpoint by 08:00 for the sunrise window, and are back at High Camp by 11:00 for an early lunch before the descent.

The descent on Day 5 is where injuries happen. The Sidhing trail drops 2,750 metres in one afternoon — knees, ankles and downhill technique decide whether you walk into Sidhing comfortable or limping. Trekking poles are not optional on this section. We hand a pole pair from our Pokhara office to every Mardi traveller who doesn't have their own.

What it costs in 2026

A two-person guided Mardi Himal Trek booked through a Kathmandu or Pokhara agency lands between USD 600 and USD 800 per person in 2026. That covers:

Annapurna Conservation Area Permit (ACAP) at NPR 3,000 (USD 23)
Licensed guide at USD 25 per day for 5 trail days
Porter, optional but recommended, at USD 18–20 per day
Lodge nights across 5 nights on the trail
Most meals on the trail (dal bhat, breakfast, hot tea — no alcohol)
Pokhara to Kande and Sidhing to Pokhara transfers
Pokhara hotel for the night before and after the trek (mid-tier, USD 30–50 per night)

Not included, where the extras land:

Kathmandu to Pokhara flight or bus
Travel insurance with helicopter evacuation cover up to 4,500 m (USD 80–120 for a one-week trip)
Hot showers at Low Camp and above (USD 3–5 each)
Bottled water (USD 1–2 per litre on the trail — bring purification tablets and a bottle, save the plastic)
Tips: USD 8–12 per day for the guide, USD 5–8 per day for the porter

The TIMS card is no longer required as of 2026. Anyone selling you a Mardi Himal Trek with TIMS as a line item is reading from a 2022 template.

A solo traveller pays roughly 15 percent more on the package because the guide cost spreads across one person. A group of four trims the per-head price to around USD 520–640.

If you're getting quoted USD 400 for the full guided package, ask where the corners are being cut. The most common ones we see: an unlicensed guide (NPR 12,000 penalty plus an escort back to Pokhara if checked), no porter, or a four-night itinerary that pushes High Camp on Day 3 with no buffer.

Best months for 2026

The Annapurna region runs two clear trekking windows. Mardi Himal fits both, with a couple of quirks the ABC route doesn't have.

Autumn (mid-September to late November): The best window. Post-monsoon air, stable weather, lodges full but not turning people away. Mid-October to early November is peak. About 60 percent of our 2026 Mardi departures fall into this window.
Spring (mid-March to mid-May): Rhododendron season — the Forest Camp stretch turns red and pink between mid-March and late April. Visibility is more variable than autumn because of pre-monsoon haze that builds through April. Late April and early May still work, but some viewing mornings close out completely.
Winter (December to February): Workable on Mardi if you accept snow on the High Camp ridge and cold nights (–10°C is normal at 3,700 m in January). Lodges thin out but stay open at Low Camp and High Camp through the season. Microspikes go from optional to essential by late December.
Monsoon (mid-June to mid-September): Skip it. The rhododendron forest below Low Camp is leech country in monsoon, and the Upper Viewpoint sits under cloud most mornings. Same logic as the rest of the south-facing Annapurna routes.

The single best week we can call now for 2026 is 20 to 27 October. The post-Dashain crowd has thinned, weather has settled, lodge owners have time to chat. Bookings for that week typically close by mid-September.

Who should book this trek

Mardi Himal works for travellers who:

Have 6 to 8 days on the ground in Nepal and want altitude
Have at least one prior multi-day hike — not necessarily in the Himalayas. The New Zealand Great Walks, the Tour du Mont Blanc, the Annapurna foothills, the Camino: all count.
Can climb 600 metres in three hours without stopping every twenty minutes
Want a quieter alternative to the Annapurna Sanctuary route

It doesn't work for:

First-time hikers with no previous multi-day walking experience
Travellers under 12, or anyone with mobility limitations on steep, narrow trail
Anyone who needs the Annapurna Base Camp experience specifically — Mardi is a different trek with a different finish

The honest comparison: if you're reading guidebook reviews of Poon Hill thinking it sounds too easy, and reviews of ABC thinking eight days is too many, Mardi is the trek for you.

Three things people get wrong

Booking direct without a Pokhara contact. Mardi Himal lodges, particularly the four at High Camp, fill ahead in October and early November. Walking up from Low Camp on a peak Sunday in mid-October expecting a bed at High Camp is the most common reason we've taken a same-day phone fix call. Book lodge nights through an agency that has run the trail this season.

Pushing High Camp on Day 4 with no acclimatisation buffer. The trek climbs from 1,000 metres at Pokhara to 3,700 metres at High Camp in three days. That's faster than the standard 600-metre-per-day rule for altitude gain above 3,000 m. Most travellers handle it because the body is fitter at the start of a trip than the end, but a buffer night at Forest Camp or Low Camp is the right call for anyone over 50, anyone with a history of altitude headaches, or anyone whose pre-trek week was particularly sedentary.

Skipping trekking poles for the descent. We've written this twice in this post for a reason. The descent from High Camp to Sidhing is the single most injury-causing stretch of any short Annapurna trek. Borrow a pair from our Pokhara office, or rent from any Pokhara gear shop on Lakeside for NPR 200 per day. Save the knees.

Booking workflow for 2026

The process we run for a Mardi Himal booking is the same as our longer treks, scaled down:

1. Write to us with your dates, group size and rough fitness profile. We reply within 48 hours.
2. We send a written proposal with line items: permits, guide, porter, transfers, lodging, what's included and what isn't.
3. A 20 percent deposit confirms the booking. We then secure the ACAP permit at the Pokhara counter and book High Camp lodges ahead of you.
4. We meet you in Pokhara the day before the trek, run a 30-minute briefing, hand over rented poles or sleeping liners if you need them, and you walk the next morning.

A proposal costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Most travellers send three or four versions back — change a date, add a buffer day, swap the bus for a Buddha Air flight — before they put a card on the table. We'd rather get the plan right than rush a booking that doesn't fit the week you actually have.

If you're reading this in May 2026 and want an October Mardi slot, the second and third weeks of the month are filling now. Send us the dates and we'll tell you what we can hold.

NEPAL NEXUS · KATHMANDU

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Quick answers

What travellers ask about this.

How hard is the Mardi Himal Trek compared to other Nepal treks?: Mardi Himal sits between Ghorepani Poon Hill and Annapurna Base Camp on difficulty. The Nepal Mountaineering Association classifies it Grade 2 — accessible to fit trekkers without prior altitude experience, but with three sections that bite. The 590-metre switchback climb from Low Camp to Middle Camp on Day 3. The Upper Viewpoint push from 3,700 m to 4,500 m on summit morning. And the 2,750-metre descent to Sidhing on Day 5 that punishes knees and ankles. Most travellers under 50 with regular hiking experience handle it comfortably. Travellers over 50 or anyone with limited altitude experience should add a buffer night at Forest Camp or Low Camp.
What's the difference between the Mardi Himal Trek and Poon Hill?: Poon Hill is a four-to-five day trek topping out at 3,210 m on graded, stone-paved trails. Mardi Himal climbs to 4,500 m at the Upper Viewpoint and runs five to six days on narrower, steeper trail. Both treks share the same Annapurna views — Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Machapuchare, Dhaulagiri — but Mardi puts you within 20 km of Machapuchare from your tent at High Camp and onto a genuine alpine ridge. Poon Hill is the right call for families and travellers without altitude experience. Mardi is the right call for a high-altitude finish in under a week.
Do I need a guide for the Mardi Himal Trek in 2026?: Yes. Nepal's 2023 mandatory-guide rule applies to the Annapurna Conservation Area, which covers the entire Mardi Himal route. Every trekker must walk with a licensed guide hired through a government-registered trekking agency. Checkposts at Kande and Forest Camp scan guide licences against permit numbers. Penalties for trekking without a guide run up to NPR 12,000 (about USD 90) with the trekker turned back to Pokhara the same day. A licensed Annapurna guide costs USD 25 per day in 2026 — roughly USD 125 across the trek.
How much does the Mardi Himal Trek cost in 2026?: USD 600 to USD 800 per person for a guided five-to-six day trek on a two-person package. That includes ACAP at NPR 3,000, licensed guide at USD 25 per day, porter at USD 18–20 per day, Pokhara hotel nights, lodge nights on the trail, most meals, and transfers from Pokhara to Kande and Sidhing back to Pokhara. A solo traveller pays roughly 15 percent more because the guide cost spreads across one person. A group of four drops the per-head price to USD 520–640. Add USD 80–120 for travel insurance with helicopter evacuation cover up to 4,500 m, and budget around USD 50 for tips, hot showers and bottled water.
When is the best time to do the Mardi Himal Trek in 2026?: Late September to late November is the clearest window. Mid-October to early November is peak — post-monsoon air, stable weather, lodge owners with time to talk. We book about 60 percent of our 2026 Mardi departures into this window. Spring (mid-March to mid-May) works for the rhododendron bloom in the Forest Camp stretch, with the trade-off of more haze on viewing mornings. Winter is workable with microspikes for snow above Middle Camp. Skip monsoon (mid-June to mid-September) — leeches in the rhododendron forest and constant cloud at the Upper Viewpoint.
What's the highest point on the Mardi Himal Trek?: The Upper Viewpoint at 4,500 metres, reached on summit morning from High Camp (3,700 m). Travellers leave at 04:30 with headtorches, climb 800 metres in 3 to 3.5 hours, hold the viewpoint for 30 minutes to an hour for the sunrise window, then descend back to High Camp by 11:00. The viewpoint sits 20 kilometres directly north of Machapuchare and opens a panorama of Annapurna South, Hiunchuli, Machapuchare and — on clear October mornings — Dhaulagiri eighty kilometres west. The view is the payoff. Nothing else on the ridge is as exposed.
Can I do the Mardi Himal Trek without acclimatisation days?: Yes, but skipping acclimatisation is the most common reason travellers turn around at Middle Camp. The trek climbs from Pokhara at 1,000 m to High Camp at 3,700 m in three trail days, which is faster than the 600-metre-per-day rule altitude doctors recommend above 3,000 m. We add a buffer night at Forest Camp or Low Camp for travellers over 50, anyone with a previous altitude headache, or anyone whose pre-trek week was particularly sedentary. The buffer costs USD 40–60 extra and cuts the rate of aborted summit mornings noticeably in our 2024–2025 booking data.