Annapurna Circuit Trek

The road has changed the trek but not spoiled it. A jeep track now runs from Besisahar to Manang and from Muktinath to Beni, which has removed about a week of walking along the road. The best-known section of the circuit, from Manang over the Thorong La to Muktinath, has no road and cannot have one. You lose the long approach, and the trek takes fourteen days instead of twenty-one, with most of the time spent on the finest section. We drive the jeep tracks and use the marked NATT trails to stay off the road wherever a path exists.

They are very different treks in the same conservation area. Annapurna Base Camp is a return trek up a gorge that ends in a glacial basin, reaches 4,130 m and is graded moderate. The Circuit crosses a 5,416 m pass, from a green Hindu valley into a Tibetan desert landscape. Base Camp has the finest single view, while the Circuit offers the more varied journey. If you are concerned about altitude, choose Annapurna Base Camp.

You need to be fit enough for one day of eight to nine hours' walking at high altitude, because that is the main demand of this trek. The other six walking days are four to six hours on good trails, and most reasonably active people manage them comfortably. Train for day 10 and you will be well prepared for the rest.

There is no upper age limit, and we have taken trekkers in their seventies over the Thorong La. The minimum age is twelve, with a parent. Your walking experience matters more than your age.

You wake at 2:30 am, eat breakfast at 3:00 am, and set off in the dark by head torch, in temperatures of about minus 15°C. The climb takes four to five hours at a steady pace; it is never steep, but the air is thin. The top of the pass is a saddle with prayer flags and a tea shop, and because of the wind you do not stay long. The descent to Muktinath then takes three to four hours and drops 1,650 m. In Muktinath there is hot water, a temple, and a well-earned drink.

You descend to Manang and leave by jeep, with a guide, while the group continues. This is why we make the decision at Yak Kharka rather than at Thorong Phedi: from Yak Kharka the descent is easy, but from Thorong Phedi the only options are two days back down the valley or a 5,416 m pass. We prefer to turn a trekker around a day early rather than leave that decision until three in the morning.

Thorong Phedi, unless you have adapted to the altitude particularly well. High Camp is 300 m higher, which saves an hour on the morning of the crossing, but you sleep much less well at 4,850 m. For most people the hour is not worth it, and our guides will advise you at Yak Kharka.

In October and April there is usually little snow. In March and late November, expect some, and your guide will tell you in Manang whether you need to buy microspikes there. From December to February the pass is often closed, and we do not offer the crossing in January.

Anticlockwise, from Manang to Muktinath, as almost all trekkers do. The eastern side climbs gradually over five days, while the western side descends 1,650 m in an afternoon. Walking in the other direction would mean climbing those 1,650 m in one day to reach a 5,416 m pass on the second or third day of the trek, which carries a high risk of serious altitude sickness.

There are two reasons. The middle section climbs quickly, from Chame to Thorong Phedi in five days, and the layout of the route leaves few options: from Thorong Phedi, the only ways out are two days back down the valley or over the pass. Both risks are manageable, and we address them in the same way, with a rest day in Manang and an early decision about whether to continue. We include the free Himalayan Rescue Association altitude talk in Manang in the itinerary, and every trekker attends.

Discuss it with your own doctor before you travel. On this trek in particular it is a reasonable preventive measure, because of the speed of the middle section. It does not replace the rest day, and it does not make it safe to continue if you have symptoms.

Yes, with cover up to 6,000 m, because the pass is at 5,416 m. It is a condition of booking and we ask to see your insurance certificate. A rescue from Thorong Phedi to Pokhara costs $3,000 to $5,000, and the helicopter will not fly without a payment guarantee.

Manang is a large village with hot showers, a bakery, an internet cafe and two cinemas showing trekking films, and it is one of the more comfortable overnight stops on any trek in Nepal. Yak Kharka and Thorong Phedi are basic and cold, and Thorong Phedi is the coldest night of the trip. Muktinath and Jomsom have hot water and good rooms.

The flight operates reliably in the early morning, but every day the Kali Gandaki wind rises around nine or ten o'clock and flights stop by mid-morning. The flight therefore leaves at first light or not at all. If it is cancelled, we drive you to Pokhara, which takes eight or nine hours, and you arrive the same day. This is why the itinerary does not need a spare day at the end.

In October it is busy, and this is most noticeable at Thorong Phedi, where there is a fixed number of beds and no alternative. Late November and early April have almost equally good weather with far fewer trekkers, and both are good months to choose.

At Thorong Phedi, night temperatures range from minus 10°C to minus 18°C depending on the month, and bedrooms are not heated anywhere on the route. We provide a sleeping bag rated to minus 15°C. On the pass before dawn, expect around minus 15°C, with wind chill in addition, which is why mittens are on the packing list.

You need two permits: the Annapurna Conservation Area permit, at NPR 3,000, and a TIMS card, at NPR 2,000. Both are included and we arrange them for you. If you add Tilicho Lake, no further permit is needed. If you continue from Jomsom into Upper Mustang, which is a restricted area, the permit costs $50 per person per day.

Yes. A licensed guide has been legally required for foreign trekkers in Nepal's conservation areas since April 2023, and the checkpoint at Dharapani enforces it.

Bring 250 to 400 US dollars' worth of Nepali rupees, in small notes. The last cash machine is in Manang, and it does run out of money in October, so do not rely on it.

Because you finish 150 km from where you started. The private jeep in and the Jomsom flight out are both one-way, and the guide and porters have to travel home from the far end. This transport accounts for about $400 of the difference and is not related to the trekking itself.

October and November offer the most reliable weather, and April is best in spring. We particularly recommend late November: the pass is still open, the air is at its clearest, and there are far fewer trekkers than in October. Avoid January, when the pass is usually closed.

Outside October, two weeks' notice is enough. For an October departure we need six weeks' notice, because Thorong Phedi has a fixed number of beds and there is nowhere else to sleep.

Yes, and it is the extension we recommend most often on this trek. It adds three days, visits a lake at 4,919 m, and provides very good acclimatisation for the pass. It is a serious undertaking, however, with two nights above 4,000 m and an exposed traverse, so it should not be added lightly.