Nepal Has the World's Steepest Zip Line, and It Starts at a Sunrise Viewpoint Above Pokhara

Sarangkot has been a fixture on Pokhara itineraries for decades for one reason: sunrise over the Annapurna range, with Machhapuchhre's fishtail summit catching the first light while the valley below is still dark. Since 2012, the same ridge has offered a second reason to climb it — you can ride off it, at speeds up to 140 km/h, on what an independent adjudicator has certified as the steepest and longest zip line anywhere on the planet.

ZipFlyer Nepal, operated by HighGround Adventures, runs a single steel cable for 1,850 metres from a launch platform at Sarangkot (1,550m) down to a landing station at Hemja (950m), on the western edge of Pokhara. The vertical drop is 600 metres, released at a 56-degree angle — steep enough that riders describe the first few seconds as closer to falling than flying. Official World Record (OWR), an international body that adjudicates adventure-activity records, awarded the line both the tallest/longest and the steepest zip line titles; the achievement has since been picked up by outlets including National Geographic and Red Bull.

What makes the number remarkable is the geography doing the work. Pokhara sits at roughly 820 metres, in a valley the Annapurna massif rises straight out of to over 8,000 metres within about 30 kilometres — one of the steepest elevation gradients on the planet. That same abruptness, which gives Sarangkot its famous unobstructed mountain panorama, is what let engineers string a cable that drops 600 metres in under two kilometres of horizontal run. Most of the world's tallest zip lines are built over canyons or dam walls with a gentler, controlled profile; Sarangkot-to-Hemja instead follows the mountainside's real pitch, which is why it reads as steeper than lines that are technically longer.

What this means for trekkers

Pair it with our Sarangkot sunrise hike for the full ridge experience, or book the ride itself as a stand-alone thrill day on our ZipFlyer Pokhara package. It also makes a good decompression day either side of a longer trek — Pokhara is the standard rest stop before or after routes like Annapurna Base Camp. Nepal's H1 2026 arrivals figures (see our coverage of who is actually visiting) show a growing share of travellers adding an adventure day in Pokhara around a trek — this is very much part of why.

Source: Republica / Nagarik Network, citing HighGround Adventures and Official World Record (OWR).

Cover photo: Bimal Chhetry via Pexels (Pexels License).