Sarangkot Mountain Lodge

Sarangkot is the hill Pokhara climbs for sunrise, and Sarangkot Mountain Lodge sits on top of it at 1,600 metres, with the Annapurna range filling the window of every room. This is the Barahi group's mountain outpost, sibling to Barahi Jungle Lodge in Chitwan and Hotel Barahi Pokhara, and its pitch is simple: skip the pre-dawn taxi queue up the hill, because you are already there, on your own private balcony.

Stone, wood and a bathtub with a view

Deluxe Rooms run to 25 sq m in natural stone and wood, with king or twin beds, soundproofed walls, a balcony or patio facing the mountains, and the lodge's signature pebble-paved walk-in shower. The Suites stretch to 51 sq m with a separate living room, two full bathrooms, a kitchen with microwave, and the flourish we like best: an open bathtub inside the bedroom, positioned for the peaks. Up on the roof, the Annapurna Pool is an infinity pool with the range as backdrop, an elegant bar beside it, and the Gurans menu on call. Gurans itself, the main dining room named after Nepal's national flower, the rhododendron, serves local and continental food from breakfast to dinner. Tripti Spa handles the massages.

The take-off point is Sarangkot, next to our hotel, says the lodge of Pokhara's famous paragliding launch.

The adrenalin is next door

Paragliders launch beside the lodge and drift down to Phewa Lakeside; the zipline next door, which the lodge bills as the world's tallest and longest, drops 1.8 km at up to 140 km/h. Gentler options include guided day hikes to Australian Camp at 2,055 m, with Machapuchare and Dhaulagiri on show, a 10 km round trip to Kaskikot, mountain bike loops, and bird watching in the community forest beside the lodge, which the lodge credits with over 400 species. Our take: this is the rare hilltop stay where the view is the beginning of the itinerary, not the whole of it.