Poon Hill Yoga Trek

This trek suits travellers who want the shortest possible introduction to yoga trekking, without the 8 to 10 day commitment of the Annapurna Yoga Trek or any altitude above 3,210 m. Poon Hill's sunrise viewpoint is the trip's single fixed highlight, reached on day 4 and paired with the morning practice session on the same day, the sunrise-to-practice flow that makes this the shortest yoga trek this company runs. Prior yoga experience is not required, and the walking is graded easy throughout.

Travellers who might find the yoga trek in the Annapurna foothills too long can complete this shorter version in 6 to 7 days instead. Those wanting the sunrise walk without any yoga at all should book the standard Poon Hill Trek, which covers the same route in 4 to 5 days at a faster pace.

A group departure runs USD 650 to 950 per person in 2026, below the Annapurna Yoga Trek's USD 900 to 1,350 because the trip runs two to three fewer days on a shorter version of the same trail network. The table below shows the breakdown, and the teacher-guide line is the main premium over the standard Poon Hill Trek's USD 350 to 600 group price, since a certified teacher costs more than a trekking guide alone. Permits add a fixed NPR 5,000 (about USD 38) either way.

Six days is the practical minimum for this trek, covering the drive in, the Ulleri climb, the sunrise, and a slower descent than the standard route allows. A private departure for a couple or a solo traveller sits at USD 850 to 1,200 because the teacher's cost spreads across fewer people. This is the lowest-cost way to add structured yoga practice to an Annapurna foothill trek.

Day 4 opens with a 5 am climb to the 3,210 m Poon Hill viewpoint for the Dhaulagiri and Annapurna sunrise, then the group returns to the Ghorepani lodge by around 7:30 am for a full morning practice session while the legs are already warm from the climb. This same-day pairing is the trek's defining rare attribute, since the Annapurna Yoga Trek and the standard Poon Hill Trek both treat the sunrise and any practice as separate events on separate days. Breakfast follows the practice session rather than preceding the climb, which keeps the pre-dawn walk light.

An afternoon rest and a shorter pranayama session round out day 4 at Ghorepani, the trek's only true rest day. The compressed timing works because Ghorepani sits at 2,860 m, close enough to Poon Hill's 3,210 m summit that the round trip takes under two hours including the group's slower pace.

The Ulleri staircase, roughly 3,200 stone steps climbing 500 m from Tikhedhunga to Ulleri, is the trek's one demanding section and this itinerary splits it into a shorter climbing day followed by a gentler continuation to Ghorepani, rather than the single long push the standard Poon Hill Trek uses. Most groups take two to three hours over the steps with rests, and an evening restorative session at Ulleri eases tired legs before the second half of the climb the next morning. Trekking poles help the knees on the way down later in the trek.

Beyond Ulleri the trail eases into rolling village walking through Gurung and Magar settlements, which is why the trek stays graded easy overall despite the staircase. Splitting the climb across two shorter days, instead of the standard trek's combined Ulleri-to-Ghorepani push, is what protects the evening practice session from arriving on exhausted legs.

Poon Hill at 3,210 m gives a 360-degree dawn panorama over Dhaulagiri (8,167 m), Annapurna I (8,091 m), and the fishtail summit of Machhapuchhre, reached by a 5 am climb from Ghorepani that this itinerary times to leave extra room for the practice session afterward. The viewpoint fills with trekkers in October, so an early start still matters even at a slower overall pace. On a cloudy morning the light show can still be worth the climb, and the group's flexible day-4 schedule allows a short rest before deciding on a second attempt.

Ghandruk, Ajay's home village, is the trek's quieter reward later in the route, and the slower six-to-seven-day pace gives it more time than the standard trek's single overnight allows. The yoga trek in the Annapurna foothills shares this village but reaches it from the opposite direction over a longer itinerary.

Ajay Shrestha leads every departure of this trek personally, the only yoga trek on this site with a single instructor covering both the practice and the trekking role rather than a paired specialist team. That's possible here specifically because the route stays easy-graded and never leaves teahouse infrastructure; the Everest Foothills Yoga Trek pairs him with a Khumbu-based guide precisely because that route's altitude and remoteness need a second specialist. Ajay holds a 500-hour Yoga Alliance certification earned in Rishikesh in 2019 and TAAN guide registration G-1098, and has led 21 departures of this specific route.

He grew up in Ghandruk at 1,940 m, a village this itinerary passes through on day 6, and his family still runs a lodge on the route. That local grounding is why the itinerary can slow down at Ghandruk rather than treating it as a pass-through stop; full certifications are on the team page.

Packing follows the standard Nepal trekking packing list, scaled down for this trek's easy grading and 3,210 m ceiling: a three-season sleeping bag is usually enough rather than the -15 C four-season bag needed on the Everest or Annapurna yoga treks, though a colder bag adds safety margin for a December departure. A lightweight personal yoga mat under 1 kg is worth carrying, since teahouse floor space varies from lodge to lodge along this route.

Warm layers still matter for the 5 am Poon Hill climb, even though daytime temperatures on this route rarely feel severe; pre-dawn temperatures at 3,210 m regularly sit near freezing even in the warmer shoulder months. A headlamp is essential for the sunrise departure from Ghorepani, and trekking poles help protect the knees on the descent from Ulleri later in the trip.

Three yoga treks run on this site, and Poon Hill is the shortest and gentlest of the three: 6 to 7 days against the Annapurna Yoga Trek's 8 to 10 and the Everest Foothills Yoga Trek's 8 to 9, and a 3,210 m ceiling against 3,860 m for Everest. Poon Hill is also the only one led solely by Ajay rather than a paired guide team, and the only one priced under USD 1,000 in a group.

Choosing between the Annapurna and Poon Hill versions comes down to time and depth rather than difficulty, since both share the same altitude ceiling and instructor; the yoga trek in the Annapurna foothills simply covers more of the same region over a longer, less rushed itinerary.

Groups run up to 12 guests, larger than the Everest Foothills Yoga Trek's cap of 10, since teahouse room and practice-space availability is less constrained on this lower, more established trail. Fixed group departures run through the October-to-December and March-to-May windows, roughly monthly in peak season and less frequently in the shoulder months either side, with exact dates confirmed on the trip's booking calendar rather than a fixed year-round schedule.

Private departures are available on request outside the standard calendar for travelers whose dates don't line up with a scheduled group, priced at the private rate shown above. Ajay personally leads every departure regardless of group size, so booking a private date doesn't mean a different or less experienced instructor, only a different price structure reflecting that his time isn't split across other paying travelers that week.

3,210 m at the Poon Hill viewpoint sits below the altitude range where acute mountain sickness becomes a meaningful planning concern for most trekkers, and the itinerary's slow six-to-seven-day pace over a route the standard trek covers in four to five days adds further margin. Even so, the same 500 m sleeping-altitude guideline used across every trek this company runs, covered in the altitude sickness prevention guide, shapes the schedule: the ascent from Tikhedhunga to Ghorepani is split across two days specifically so no single night's altitude gain exceeds that threshold.

Ajay Shrestha is not a medically certified guide, and while his Wilderness First Aid certification covers routine trail incidents, anyone with a pre-existing cardiac or respiratory condition should consult a doctor before any trek above 3,000 m regardless of how gentle the itinerary reads on paper. In practice, symptomatic altitude illness on this specific route is rare given how low its ceiling sits relative to Nepal's higher classic treks.

October to December and March to May are this trek's two reliable windows, matching the standard Poon Hill Trek's own season data, since both routes depend on the same clear-sky conditions for the sunrise viewpoint to be worth the 5 am climb. Autumn gives the most consistent mountain visibility of the year, while spring adds rhododendron blooms through the forest sections between Ulleri and Ghorepani.

Monsoon, June through September, is avoided entirely rather than run at reduced capacity, since Poon Hill's dawn panorama is the trek's central reward and cloud cover through the wet season makes that view unreliable most mornings; the trail itself stays walkable, but the itinerary's structure depends on a sunrise that's actually visible. Winter, December through February, is workable at this altitude and colder mornings often bring the clearest air of the year, covered in more depth in the trekking Nepal in winter guide.