Discipletrek

Live the Adventure

Annapurna Sanctuary (Dec 2-13, 2026)

Dates: Dec 2-13, 2026

This trip begins and ends in New Delhi, India. Team members will need to arrange their travel to arrive in Delhi on December 3rd. In order to arrive in Delhi on the 3rd, you will need to depart the States on either December 1st or 2nd. We will pick up all team members at the Delhi airport and bring them to our team hotel.

Team members should arrange their return flights to depart from Delhi either late night (no earlier than 9:30PM) on December 12th or early morning December 13th. You should expect to arrive back into the States on the night of the 13th.

We are offering one optional add-on to our Annapurna Sancuary itinerary:

  • EVEREST FLIGHT (+$300)–We are also offering an optional sight seeing flight from Kathmandu to Mount Everest on the morning of December 6th before we fly to Pokhara. The mountain flight has been an absolute highlight for our previous teams; however, it is very important to understand that these mountain flights are weather dependent and are cancelled approximately 15-25% of the time. If the flight is cancelled, we will only be able to secure a partial refund (~$200). The airlines would allow us to reschedule at no cost, but we do not have any other days available in our itinerary for a reschedule, so please understand the risks before choosing to book the mountain flight.

Cost: $3,350 (Not including flight to Delhi)

  • A non-refundable $837.50 (25%) deposit is required at the time of registration to secure your spot on the team. Please read our Trip Cancellation and Refund policy before registering for your adventure.
  • $1,675 (50%) is due before July 1st, 2025
  • $2,512.50 (75%) is due before September 1st, 2025
  • $3,350 (100% is due before November 1st, 2026
  • Payment for the Everest flight ($300) is both due on November 1st.

What is included:

  • Two nights hotel in Delhi, one night hotel in Kathmandu, two nights hotel in Pokhara.
  • Roundtrip international flights from Delhi to Kathmandu and roundtrip domestic flights from Kathmandu to Pokhara, Nepal.
  • Jeep transport to and from the start/finish of our trek. It takes a little over 2 hours to drive from Pokhara to Jhinu where will begin our trek. There is really no way to describe the jeep ride into the Himalayas except to say that it will be memorable. The blacktop roads will give way to rugged trails as we drive around hair pin turns and through waterfalls where the view gets better and better around every few minutes.
  • Four nights lodging in tea houses along the trail. Tea houses offer modest dorm like accommodations. Each room will have two or three simple beds with a pillow and a thick blanket. We require all team members to bring a sleeping bag to supplement the blankets at higher elevations.
  • All food throughout our time in India and Nepal. While trekking, we will eat breakfast, lunch, and dinners each night in the tea houses that mark the trail. There are several food options at the tea houses. We encourage team members to bring a small supply of snacks for the trail, but you will definitely not go hungry on this trip and there is no need to bring huge supplies of food.
  • All trekking permits and TIMS card. We will take care of all arrangements for the permits required to enter the Annapurna Sanctuary.
  • We will be utilizing the services of a guide and a team of porters to carry a majority of our gear. This is a great way for us to invest in the local economy and you will enjoy the trip quite a lot more if you are not carrying heavy each day. We will employ one porter for every two trekkers. Each porter will carry up to 45lbs (22lbs/trekker). Discipletrek will cover the cost of the guide and porters, but not the tips.
  • Your India tourist visa is included in the cost of your trip. The process to acquire an Indian visa is somewhat tedious and must be completed before we travel, so we will take care of that for you.
  • Day trip from Delhi to Agra and back to visit the Taj Mahal.

What is NOT included:

  • You are required to bring your own trekking gear (sleeping bag, day pack, clothes, hiking shoes/boots, etc.). We will provide an extensive and detailed packing/gear list for all of our participants. It is possible to do this particular trek with very little gear and a small trekking pack. We will discuss this at length as the trip approaches.
  • Team members are responsible for bringing some cash to tip our porters and guides. Tips are at the discretion of the team member, but we typically recommend each team member bring around $100 to split between our guide/porters.
  • We will cover the cost of all food and one drink per meal. If you would like more drinks (cokes, tea, other beverages are all a couple of dollars in the tea houses), you will need to pay for that. The tea houses will only take Nepali Rupees and we will give you time to change some cash over before the start of the trek. A budget of $10/day is more than enough to get a couple of extra cokes or snacks along the trail.
  • Each team member must secure a Nepal tourist visa upon arrival in the country. Please bring $30 in cash with you to pay for the visa.
  • Cash summary–Required expenses ($100 for tips, $30 for Nepali visa) + daily snack budget & money for souvenirs. Most team members will probably bring between $200 and $400, but you are only required to spend $130.

Trek Difficulty: Difficult

We rate the trek to Annapurna Base Camp as “Difficult.” Though we will not face the same elevation on this trek as we would on either Everest Base Camp or Kilimanjaro, it is still a very challenging physical endeavor to trek for 5 days in a row with significant elevation gain and loss each day.

It is possible to complete this trek without being in top physical condition, but we recommend you take the season of preparation seriously. In particular, there are quite a lot of rock stairs on this trail, which can be very tough both ascending and descending. We suggest that all members of our team devote themselves to a season of physical training that should include a mix of smaller training hikes, strength work, and significant cardiovascular exercise.

Itinerary:

Dec 1st/2nd

Depart the States for Delhi.

Dec 3rd

Arrive in Delhi and transfer to the team hotel.

Dec 4th

We will leave early in the morning from Delhi for a day trip to Agra to visit the Taj Mahal. This trip will include transportation, entry fees to the Taj Mahal, and lunch in Agra. There will be opportunities to shop at some unique Indian locations while in Agra. We will arrive back in Delhi at the team hotel in the evening and depart for Nepal early the next morning.

Dec 5th

We will take a 1.5 hour flight from Delhi to Kathmandu in the morning. After we arrive in Kathmandu, we will check into our team hotel in Kathmandu and spend a little time sightseeing in the city.

Dec 6th

Those doing the optional Everest Flight will make their way to Kathmandu airport early in the morning for their flight. The rest of the team will join them a bit later to take a 25 minute flight to Pokhara. This will be a very relaxed day. We should arrive in Pokhara in the late morning and enjoy an afternoon by the lakeside.

Dec 7th

We will rise early to begin our journey into the Himalayas by jeep. We should be on trail by late morning making our way across the incredible cable bridge at Jhinu Danda. From Jhinu, we will ascend a seemingly never-ending series of stairs to the hamlet of Chomrong, where we will stop for lunch. If it is clear, Chomrong will provide your first real view of the Himalayas. After lunch, we will make a lengthy descent before regaining significant elevation to the village of Sinuwa where we will spend our first night in the tea house. Though this day is not at serious elevation, many will find it to be among the toughest days on trail, both because it can be quite warm in the lower elevations and also because ascending and descending the stairs into Chomrong is very challenging.

Dec 8th

After a nice breakfast in Sinuwa, we will make a brief, but steep ascent and then another lengthy descent to the village of Bamboo on the banks of the Modi Khola river. This stretch of trail is quite different from the rest of the trek in that it will take place in dense forrest. Once we pass through Bamboo, we will move steadily up through Dovan, and Himalaya, and then to our destination of Deurali. The views begin to change dramatically after the ascent into Himalaya, and by Deurali, you will feel like you are in a different world.

Dec 9th

It is not a long trek from Deurali up to Machapuchare Base Camp and then on to Annapurna Base Camp, but it is steadily uphill the entire way. We only expect to be on trail for about 4 to 5 hours, but this is the only part of the trek that is at significant elevation, capping out at 13,550ft at ABC. The views on this day will be otherworldly. You will take a million pictures…none of them will come close to capturing the majesty of the Himalayas looming over you. We will stay this night at ABC and you can expect it to be a very cold night (~15-20 degrees).

Dec 10th

We will rise early to watch the sunrise over the 10th highest mountain in the world. If we are lucky enough to have clear skies, you will get to watch the sun make it’s way down the 8,000ft face of Annapurna-1, which is just incredible. After a nice breakfast and some hot drinks to warm up, we will begin the descent back into the valley. Our hope will be to get as far as Bamboo. This is not a strenuous day in terms of cardio, since it is almost exclusively downhill, but it is pretty challenging on your joints to descend nearly 5,000ft in a single day.

Dec 11th

Assuming we get all the way back to Bamboo, we will still have a pretty significant trek in front of us for our last day on trail. We will have to go back up over Sinuwa, down into the valley, then back over the stairs into Chomrong and back down to Jhinu Danda. We will be done trekking by midday, but there is no sugarcoating this one–it is a tough day on trail. After crossing the bridge at Jhinu, we will take a jeep back into Pokhara for a warm shower at our hotel and a celebratory dinner. You will be absolutely ready for both.

Dec 12th

We plan to take an early flight from Pokhara to Kathmandu and then make our connections to our international flights. We will travel together back to Delhi to catch our international flights which will depart either very late night on the 12th or early morning on the 13th. Most international departures from Delhi to the States depart between 9:00PM and 6:00AM.

Dec 13th

Team members will arrive back in the States.