Poon Hill Guide & Porter Rules: What You Need to Hire

The Guide Rule in the Annapurna Conservation Area

Since 1 April 2023, foreign trekkers in Nepal's national parks and conservation areas must trek with a licensed guide employed by a government-registered agency. For Poon Hill:

• A licensed guide is mandatory for foreign nationals on the Ghorepani Poon Hill loop. Nepali citizens may still walk it independently.
• The guide must be employed by a registered trekking agency. Hiring a freelancer directly in Pokhara Lakeside is not compliant, however good they are.
• You need an ACAP permit (NPR 3,000) and a TIMS card (NPR 2,000), about NPR 5,000 for foreign nationals. SAARC nationals pay less. Both are issued in Pokhara or Kathmandu and normally handled by your agency.
• Enforcement is at Birethanti, the ACAP checkpoint just above Nayapul, and it is consistent — this is one of the most actively checked trailheads in Nepal precisely because of the volume of trekkers.
• No restricted-area permit and no minimum group size apply on this route.

The rule hit this trek harder than most, because Poon Hill was the classic do-it-yourself first trek in Nepal — short, well-signed, lodges every hour. That era has ended for foreign trekkers. Fee detail is in the permits guide; confirm current requirements with your agency, as they have changed more than once recently.

2026 Guide and Porter Rates

Typical 2026 rates, covering the crew's own food, lodging, insurance and transport to and from the trailhead.

Over a four-day trek, a guide costs roughly NPR 11,200–16,000 and a guide-porter combo NPR 12,800–18,000. Split between two trekkers that is a modest addition to a trip; for a solo trekker it is a noticeable proportion of the total, which is the main complaint about the rule on this particular route.

Tips are separate and customary: NPR 700–1,200 per day for a guide and NPR 500–800 per day for a porter, pooled and handed over at the end. On a four-day trek that is around NPR 2,800–4,800 for a guide. The full breakdown is in the cost and budget guide.

These are the lowest crew rates of any trek covered on this site, along with Mardi Himal: the trek is short, the altitude is low, and there is no flight or restricted-area paperwork.

The Guide-Porter Combo Is the Obvious Choice

On Poon Hill, hiring one person to guide and carry is straightforwardly the right structure for most trekkers:

• The trek is three to five days. No cumulative fatigue problem.
• The highest sleeping altitude is Ghorepani at 2,860 m, and the high point is a 3,210 m day walk. Altitude sickness is unlikely, so the guide's monitoring load is light. It is not impossible, though — see the altitude guide before dismissing it entirely.
• Navigation is a non-issue. The loop is signposted, stone-paved in long stretches, and busy with other trekkers.
• It cuts crew cost by roughly a third to a half versus separate hires.

Combos suit solo trekkers and pairs with light bags. The moment there are three or more of you, or bags are heavy, add a dedicated porter — expecting one person to carry for a family of four is neither reasonable nor within the 25 kg limit.

Hiring with Children or Older Parents

Poon Hill is the trek Nepali and Indian families walk with children, and the one older travellers choose for a first Himalayan experience. The hiring calculus is different, and worth setting out.

Hire a porter, not just a combo

With children, your daypack fills with things you did not plan for: extra layers, snacks, water, a jacket someone has taken off, and eventually a tired child's bag. A dedicated porter frees the adults to manage the children rather than the luggage. This is the single best money you will spend on a family trek.

Ask for a guide who has walked with children

It is a real skill, and agencies know which of their guides have it. A guide used to fast young trekkers will unconsciously set a pace that makes a seven-year-old miserable on the Ulleri steps. Ask directly.

Consider one porter per two children

Not for luggage but for pace management. On the descent from Tadapani, having an extra pair of adult hands on a stone staircase is worth more than it sounds.

Discuss the sunrise plan in advance

A 4.30 am start in the dark at -2 °C is a big ask for a young child. Some families send one adult up with the older children while another stays at the lodge. A good guide will help structure this rather than treating the whole group as one unit.

Be explicit about turning back

Agree with your guide before you start that stopping at Ghorepani without doing the viewpoint, or taking the jeep further than planned, is an acceptable outcome. Guides who understand this from day one make far better decisions on day three.

Book in Pokhara

As with Mardi Himal, Pokhara is the right place to arrange this trek:

• The trailhead is 1.5 to 2 hours away by road, so there is nothing to gain from a Kathmandu crew.
• Pokhara agencies run 5 to 15% cheaper than Kathmandu equivalents on Annapurna treks, and Lakeside has dozens of established operators.
• ACAP and TIMS are both issued in Pokhara, usually processed in a morning.
• Local guides know the current road situation, which on this trek genuinely matters — how far jeeps are getting at Nayapul and Kimche changes the walking distance substantially and shifts season to season.

A full guided four-day package including guide-porter, permits, lodges, food and transport typically runs USD 280–500 per person in 2026 depending on group size and lodge standard. Booking a la carte — crew and permits only, settling your own lodge bills — usually comes out cheaper and is easy on a trail this well served.

Before paying, check: the guide is named; whether the itinerary includes a spare night at Ghorepani in case the first sunrise is clouded out (worth insisting on); exactly where the jeep drops off and collects you; crew insurance confirmation; and, if you have children, that the guide has family experience.

Ethical Hiring on the Busiest Trail in Nepal

Volume creates its own problems on this route. The International Porter Protection Group and KEEP standards apply, and a few points deserve particular attention here:

• Maximum 25 kg, with 20 kg the fair figure. The Ulleri staircase and the Tadapani descent are hard on knees under load, and porters on this trail carry more turnover than almost anywhere in Nepal.
• Proper footwear. Because the trek looks easy, porters are routinely sent up in worn trainers. Thousands of stone steps in the wet is exactly where that causes injury. Ask the agency what the crew has.
• Warm gear for the Ghorepani night and the viewpoint. If your porter is coming up to Poon Hill at dawn, they need the same jacket, hat and gloves you do. It is easy to forget that when you have rented yours at the lodge.
• Insurance is a legal requirement for both guides and porters. Ask for written confirmation.
• Do not treat cheapness as the goal. This is the most competitive trekking market in Nepal, and the pressure lands on crew wages. An agency quoting far below the rates above is saving the money somewhere, and it is not from their own margin.
• Tip properly on a short trek. Four days of tips is not much, and it is a larger share of a crew member's income than the same sum on a three-week Everest trip.