Overview
An hour by road from Pokhara, four hours of walking, and you are on a ridge at 2,100 metres with Machhapuchhre and Annapurna South directly in front of you. One night, and you are back in Pokhara by lunch the next day.
This is the shortest trek on Trek Heaven, and it is not a compromise — it is a genuine mountain night with a genuine view, and it happens to take two days.
The two places
Australian Camp is a meadow at 2,100 m where the forest ends and the view begins. The lodges there exist for that view and for nothing else, and the sunrise is superb.
Dhampus, five hundred metres lower, is a working Gurung village — farms, schools, buffalo — with a view that is very nearly as good. If you would rather stay somewhere that is a place before it is a viewpoint, stay here.
Who it is for
Families with children. People with three days in Pokhara. Anyone who wants to know whether they like teahouse trekking before booking a fortnight of it. And anyone who has just finished the Annapurna Circuit and wants one more mountain morning before flying home.
Extending it
This is the first leg of Mardi Himal — carry on from Australian Camp through Pothana to Forest Camp and you are on that ridge. Turning west through Ghandruk toward Poon Hill instead makes a four-to-five-day loop.
Best season
October to April, with December and January giving the clearest mornings of the year. Cloud builds by mid-morning in every season, so the sunrise is what you came for. The monsoon is green and the mountains are not there.
Day by day
The 2 days itinerary
Distances, walking times, altitudes and accommodation for every stage — stored as structured data, not written into the prose.
- Day 1
Kande to Australian Camp and Dhampus
Kande (1,770 m) → Australian Camp (2,100 m) → Dhampus (1,650 m)
- Distance
- 9 km
- Walking
- 4 hours
- Altitude
- 1,770 m → 1,650 m
- Elevation
- +400 m / −520 m
- Sleep
- Lodge, Dhampus or Australian Camp
- Meals
- Lunch, dinner
An hour by road from Pokhara, then a steady climb through forest to the meadow at Australian Camp — the view opens all at once. Stay there or walk on to Dhampus, which is a working Gurung village rather than a viewpoint.
- Australian Camp meadow
- Machhapuchhre and Annapurna South
- Gurung farms
- Day 2
Dhampus to Phedi, return to Pokhara
Dhampus (1,650 m) → Phedi (1,130 m) → Pokhara (822 m)
- Distance
- 7 km
- Walking
- 2.5 hours walking, 45 minutes by road
- Altitude
- 1,650 m → 822 m
- Elevation
- −520 m
- Meals
- Breakfast
Be outside at dawn. Then a stone-stepped descent through terraced fields to the road at Phedi.
- Sunrise over Annapurna South
- Stone-paved descent through terraces
Route map
Where the trail goes
Route line, start and end points, and every overnight stop. Locations are shared entities — the same record powers the destination and itinerary pages.
Frequently asked questions
Is two days really a trek?
Australian Camp or Dhampus?
Does it suit children?
Can you extend it?
When is the mountain visible?
About the author
Maya Thapa
Senior trekking writer
Maya has walked more than 4,000 kilometres of Nepal's trail network, from the teahouse highways of the Khumbu to the restricted valleys along the Tibetan border. She writes the route guides and day-by-day itineraries, and returns to most trails every second season to re-check lodge availability, water points and trail reroutes after monsoon damage.
Writes about: Nepal trekking · High-altitude routes · Teahouse logistics
