The village
Stone-and-mud houses on the Sarangkot ridge, renovated into five rooms with a restaurant and a bar.
In Nepali, a bhanjyang is a mountain pass: the saddle where a trail crosses a ridge. The hills are full of them, which is why the word turns up in place names across Nepal, and why other places share our name. Ours is the one on the Sarangkot ridge above Pokhara.
Houses of stone and mud, with timber and slate, are how village homes in these hills have long been built, from what the hillside gives. Ours keep their stone walls, their carved black wooden doors and windows, their timber beams and their slate roofs.
Inside, the rooms are renovated for a comfortable stay: private bathrooms with hand-hammered brass basins, tea and coffee in the room, and free Wi-Fi.
Sarangkot is a hill village on the ridge north-west of Phewa Lake, part of Pokhara since 2015 as its ward 18. The Nepal Tourism Board describes it as a former fort of the old Kaski kingdom. Today it is best known for its sunrise over the Annapurnas and for the paragliders that launch from the hill.
What there is to do, and the best months to come, are in our things to do in Sarangkot and best time to visit guides.
Sunrise and sunset
The lodge looks across the valley to the Annapurna range, Machhapuchhre (Fishtail), Nilgiri and Annapurna South. At night, the lights of Pokhara spread out below.
The Sarangkot viewpoint is a few minutes' walk up the path, and the paragliding take-off and the cable car are close by. Times for every month are in our Sarangkot sunrise guide.
28.24855° N, 83.94582° E
Five rooms, breakfast for two, and the mountains outside the door.