We are newcomers to Nepal and wanted to see how our knees and OH’s breathing would cope before we tackled something harder. I am 59 and OH is 48. Panchase is also very quiet and does not require any permits and fees. This way if it all did go sour we didn’t waste too much money.
We tried a number of agents who all wanted to charge us an all in price of $40/person/day which we felt was expensive. Eventually we found one that gave us exactly what we were looking for – a guide/porter who would carry up to 15kg. His cost, including his food and bed was 900NPR/day.
Day 1 – Taxi to Kande cost 1200NPR although you can catch a bus. Easy walking to Banskharka which is Rajit’s home (our guide) . Had a great lunch cooked by his mother and wife, plus snacks, milk and honey all home produced - delicious. We paid her 250NPR/person. Rajit then took us on a tour of the village and to meet some neighbours. It was another 1-2 hour pleasant stroll to Bhadaure for our night in The Holliness Guest House. Double room with private bath (cold shower) was 500NPR but there was a hot shower in the shared bathroom. Daal Bhaat 300NPR/person and breakfast of a large bowl of porridge with fruit was 200NPR/person.
Day 2 - Next was a relatively easy walk to Panchase via the lake and temple. The final 500m was on steep steps and this part took just over one hour. OH just kept stopping and catching her breath so no problem. Views from the top are stunning across to the Annapurna range. You can stay here but accomodation is basic and bathroom facilities are some distance from the rooms. It’s 500m back down another set of steep steps on the other side to the Happy Heart Guest House. Room was 300NPR with shared bathroom - not great when compared to The Holliness. Daal Bhaat was 300NPR/person and breakfast, omelette with 2 chapati, 300NPR/person – poor value.
Day 3 - Finally, it’s a 1200m steep step decent to Ghatichhina to catch the bus to Lakeside. 55NPR/person. This part was very tough, especially after the 500m decent the previous day, and really did hurt OH’s knees. We had knee supports and sticks which we think are essential.
Teas/coffees are about 40NPR each and a beer from 360 to 400NPR.
Our overall cost doing it independently was roughly half the cost of the package offered by most agents. Overall, we did enjoy it but will try and avoid such a torrid decent in the future.
Next stop Annapurna Base Camp so if anyone has any suggestions we would love to hear from you.




