What the Annapurna Treks Actually Cost

Trek pricing in Nepal is deliberately vague, and the vagueness usually hides something. This is the Annapurna-specific breakdown: what each line actually is, what it costs, and which parts you can change.

For the general question of why two quotes for an identical itinerary can differ threefold, we have written that separately. This page is the numbers.

Permits: the smallest line, and the one everyone asks about first

Both Annapurna routes need the same two documents.

Permit	Foreign nationals	SAARC nationals
ACAP — Annapurna Conservation Area Permit	NPR 3,000	NPR 1,000
TIMS card	NPR 2,000 (individual)	NPR 1,000
Total	≈ NPR 5,000 / US$35–40	≈ NPR 2,000

Two things worth knowing about these.

First, ACAP is a flat fee regardless of how long you stay. It costs the same for a four-day walk to Poon Hill as for a twenty-one-day Circuit. On a per-day basis the longer trek is dramatically better value, which is not how most people assume permits work.

Second, permits are fixed by government and identical for every operator. If one quote is cheaper than another, the difference is never here. Children under ten are free on ACAP.

Fees change. These were current when this was written — confirm with the Nepal Tourism Board and the National Trust for Nature Conservation, which administers the conservation area, before you budget to the rupee. The general rules for every region are in our permits guide.

The guide requirement, and what it does to a budget

Since April 2023 Nepal has required trekkers in its conservation areas and national parks to walk with a licensed guide, booked through a registered agency, rather than independently. One guide may accompany up to seven trekkers.

Enforcement varies in practice — some Annapurna checkposts verify ACAP and little else — but the rule is the rule, and insurance claims have a way of discovering exactly which rules you were not following. Budget for a guide.

Role	Typical daily rate	What it includes
Licensed guide	US$25–35	Their wage. Their food, lodging, insurance and kit are additional and usually folded into a package price
Porter	US$20–25	Carries up to a capped load — ask what the cap is
Porter-guide	US$22–30	Carries less, guides less. The budget compromise

A guide's own expenses are genuinely yours — they eat and sleep on the same expensive hill you do. A quote that lists a guide at a daily rate with no mention of their costs has left something out.

Daily spending on the trail

If you are paying as you go rather than on a package, the daily figure climbs with you, for reasons we have set out in food and lodges on the ABC trek — everything above the roadhead arrives on somebody's back.

Where you are	Bed	Three meals	Realistic daily total
Below 2,200 m	US$3–6	US$15–20	US$20–28
2,200–3,200 m	US$4–8	US$20–28	US$28–38
Above 3,200 m	US$6–12	US$28–40	US$38–55

Add charging, hot showers and boiled water — US$5–10 a day at altitude, all of it cash. There is no bank machine above Pokhara.

ABC against the Circuit

The Circuit costs more, and almost none of the difference is the permit.

	Annapurna Base Camp	Annapurna Circuit
Days	7	12–18
Permits	≈ US$38	≈ US$38 — identical
Guide, at daily rate	7 days	Up to 18 days
Nights above 3,200 m	2	4–6
Transport	Short drive each end	Long drives, or a Jomsom flight
Our guided price	From US$620	Higher — more days, more altitude

Cost on these routes is essentially days multiplied by altitude, plus however you reach the trailhead. The Circuit is dearer because it is longer and sleeps higher, not because it is a more premium product.

What you can change, and what you cannot

• Fixed: permits, and the fact that you need a guide.
• Swings hardest: transport. A private jeep against a shared bus, or a flight against two days of road, moves a budget more than anything else on this page.
• Worth adding, not cutting: a porter. It is the cheapest upgrade available and it changes how the week feels more than any other spend.
• Not worth cutting: days. A compressed itinerary saves a guide's daily rate and buys you a worse trek.

What a cheap quote is usually missing

On Annapurna specifically, in rough order of frequency: meals excluded above a certain point; the guide's own food and lodging billed to you on the hill; a porter quietly removed; airport and Pokhara transfers excluded; and the itinerary shortened by a day with the saving kept rather than passed on.

None of these is illegal and all of them are legal to leave out of a headline price. Ask what is excluded rather than what is included — the answer is shorter and far more informative.

A realistic total

For seven days to Annapurna Base Camp, guided, with permits, transport, lodging and all meals, expect US$600–900 depending on group size and how you travel to the trailhead. Our seven-day trek sits at the lower end of that because the drive from Pokhara is short and the itinerary is honest about its length.

Carry US$100–150 in rupees on top for the extras, tips and anything you decide you want in Chhomrong.

Related reading

Before you commit, the two things worth knowing are how hard the walking actually is and what the weather does at 4,130 m. If you are weighing the Circuit instead, start with how long it really is.