The single most common Pokhara question. The answer changes with the season, and getting it wrong by half an hour means either missing the first light or standing in the dark for an hour.
At a glance
- Drive from Lakeside
- 30–45 min
- Arrive
- 30 min before sunrise
The rule
Be at the viewpoint 30 minutes before sunrise. The best colour on the peaks — the pink alpenglow on Annapurna South and Machhapuchhre — happens in the ten minutes before the sun clears the eastern ridge, and the crowd is thinner. Add 30–45 minutes for the taxi from Lakeside, and ten to find a spot.
Leave Lakeside at about
Approximate sunrise times for Pokhara; check a sunrise app for your exact date.
| Month | Sunrise (approx.) | Leave Lakeside |
|---|---|---|
| Oct | 6:00 | 4:45 |
| Nov | 6:20 | 5:05 |
| Dec | 6:45 | 5:30 |
| Jan | 6:55 | 5:40 |
| Feb | 6:40 | 5:25 |
| Mar | 6:15 | 5:00 |
| Apr | 5:45 | 4:30 |
TODO: verify the sunrise column against an almanac for Pokhara before publishing.
And then stay
Most of the crowd leaves within twenty minutes of sunrise. The light on the lake and valley is better at 7:30 than at 6:30, the cafés along the ridge open, and from about 9 the paragliders start launching from the slope below. The best Sarangkot morning is a three-hour one.