Pokhara Off The Beaten Path

A short day hike away from Pokhara are the nearest hotsprings. Unless you are a very fast hiker or do it as a jogging trip you need to stay overnight. I reckon it's about 3 1/2-4 hours walk one way from the Pokhara-Baglung highway at Majha Bhatti just above Hyangja, and via Gharchok-Dhiprang. But if road conditions are ok, you can probably also take a 4x4 jeep up to Burjung kholagaon via K.I. Singh Bridge, Lamachaur and Tallakot, and have the vehicle wait for you while you do the 3-hour hike from here up to the hot springs and back via Chaura..

The hotsprings are tiny ones located on the banks of Sethi Khola up the valley from Pokhara, and the few hot spring sources here are ravaged by monsoon floods each year. The locals rearrange the rocks and dig out a basin after each monsoon, so there is a sandy basin where you can wallow. Nearby is an official ACAP-organised camp ground, but no guest house.
The exact location is on the eastern banks of the Sethi river very near the camp ground, just above the bridge across the Sethi, north of Dhiprang village/below Mirsa village. You see the sulphur-stained rocks just on the edge of Sethi there.
These days this is well within Maoist-controlled territory, so you may wish to take care while being there and walk out to a somewhat more populated place, such as Burjung Khola, for overnight stays.
I wouldn't consider the hotsprings a target for a single day hike, unless you do it for sports; they are not that impressive, but as a stop on a few days' hike easy the place is wonderful. Or on a return from a more serious Mardi Himal trek.

There's a small (really small) island in the middle of the lake where a family sell soft drinks to boaters. It's not obvious that there's anyone there, but on a hot day you need a drink by the time you've rowed that far so it's worth knowing about!

A short bus ride from Pokhara is a small village called Begnes Bazaar from here you climb up the ridge between the lakes of Begnes and Rupa for fantastic views.

A friend of mine was here a few years before me and had taken photo's in the village on the ridge. I was returning them and I did get a fantastic reception of the villages when they saw themselves and their children in the photo's. It was a wonderful day out!

Picture to follow!

This is the view you will be rewarded with if you trek up to Poon Hill!! Which is located on the Annapurna Trek. I've forgotten the names of the mountains but they are beautiful. It takes about an hour of a steep hike to get to Poon Hill from Ghodapani.