Hotel Mountain Village — Hotel in Pokhara

WATCH OUT: DONT BOOK A GUIDE OR PORTER HERE. Sam (agency) persuaded us to hire a guide (including 10 kilo porter) for the Annapurna Circuit, above 4,000m you could use a porter to do the Thorung La Pass and he could help you with altitude sickness. Within 3 days our guide turned out to be completely unable to carry our bag or guide us. The guide walked 2 kilometers behind us and to help him I carried all the stuff myself from day 2.||The problem is that the guide has not hike the Circuit for the last 3 years and his condition has deteriorated a lot due to Covid. He couldn't even keep up with my girlfriend (who was doing her first hike). Instead of taking a rest, he started drinking heavily on the third evening and didn't communicate with us the next day. He never asked how we were doing and always indicated that he was doing well, in the end we had to find out through the guide of another group that he was not feeling well and asked if we could join the other group if he was gettint too sick. When he took a jeep to the tea house on the last day and it turned out that he was unreachable (Sam had to get in touch with him through us) we were very happy to continue with another guide.||Back in Pokhara, Sam turned out to be completely unable to see the situation from our side and came up with an unreasonable compensation. He quickly indicated that our guide was a test if he could still do the Annapurna Circuit, the guide had financial problems and a longer hike could help him earn more money. He didn't care that we thought it was ridiculous that he took this risk when we only had one chance to walk the circuit and spent hundreds of euros to do the hike (hike gear, plane tickets, visa, etc.). He only reproached us for communicating badly and late about the situation, while we were just hiking during the day and did not always have good internet connection in the mountains. It was also our fault that we continued with another guide (outside his organization), despite the fact that his guide had asked this himself. Finally, he could not get in touch with our guide and the guide would have to inform Sam about the situation.||It's a shame how this affected our hike and that we ended up paying for a guide/porter who did little to nothing on the simplest part of the Circuit. Again: don't book a...

WATCH OUT: DONT BOOK A GUIDE OR PORTER HERE. Sam (agency) persuaded us to hire a guide (including 10 kilo porter) for the Annapurna Circuit, above 4,000m you could use a porter to do the Thorung La Pass and he could help you with altitude sickness. Within 3 days our guide turned out to be completely unable to carry our bag or guide us. The guide walked 2 kilometers behind us and to help him I carried all the stuff myself from day 2.

The problem is that the guide has not hike the Circuit for the last 3 years and his condition has deteriorated a lot due to Covid. He couldn't even keep up with my girlfriend (who was doing her first hike). Instead of taking a rest, he started drinking heavily on the third evening and didn't communicate with us the next day. He never asked how we were doing and always indicated that he was doing well, in the end we had to find out through the guide of another group that he was not feeling well and asked if we could join the other group if he was gettint too sick. When he took a jeep to the tea house on the last day and it turned out that he was unreachable (Sam had to get in touch with him through us) we were very happy to continue with another guide.

Back in Pokhara, Sam turned out to be completely unable to see the situation from our side and came up with an unreasonable compensation. He quickly indicated that our guide was a test if he could still do the Annapurna Circuit, the guide had financial problems and a longer hike could help him earn more money. He didn't care that we thought it was ridiculous that he took this risk when we only had one chance to walk the circuit and spent hundreds of euros to do the hike (hike gear, plane tickets, visa, etc.). He only reproached us for communicating badly and late about the situation, while we were just hiking during the day and did not always have good internet connection in the mountains. It was also our fault that we continued with another guide (outside his organization), despite the fact that his guide had asked this himself. Finally, he could not get in touch with our guide and the guide would have to inform Sam about the situation.

It's a shame how this affected our hike and that we ended up paying for a guide/porter who did little to nothing on the simplest part of the Circuit. Again: don't book a...

We were recommended Hotel Mountain Village by the staff at our hostel in Kathmandu, and we couldn't have been happier with the result. ||This is a family run hotel in a perfect location in Pokhara, just a block away from the Main Street in Lakeside. The rooms were clean and the service was friendly and enthusiastic at all times, no matter who was on duty. As a group of backpackers from Australia, our main priorities were proximity to the town/lake, and semi-comfortable beds, so we were stoked to get both here for such a low price.||Sam, the owner/manager, even organised all of the necessary documentation and transportation for our trek in the Annapurna, making things very easy for us. He and his brother also helped arrange paragliding, post-trek massages, and offered meals in-house at a very reasonable rate (mains for approx 150NR).||We loved lakeside so I'm sure we will be back in the future, and we'd be more than happy to stay...