Annapurna Circuit

The Annapurna Circuit is the original Himalayan teahouse trek — a roughly 200 km loop that walks all the way around the Annapurna massif, climbing from subtropical foothills at 760 m up to the 5,416 m Thorong La pass and then dropping into the Kali Gandaki, the deepest gorge on Earth. It started drawing foreign trekkers in the late 1970s and remains the template every other big teahouse trek in Nepal copies: hot dal bhat every evening in family-run lodges, no need to carry a tent or food, and one of the longest unbroken ecological gradients a hiker can walk anywhere on the planet.

The trek's two halves are almost different countries. The eastern Marsyangdi side, Besisahar to Manang, climbs slowly through rice terraces, then pine forest, then Tibetan Buddhist villages with whitewashed gompas and chortens — Manang at 3,540 m is the natural acclimatisation stop, where most trekkers spend an extra rest day. Above Manang the air thins fast, the trail clears the treeline, and the crossing of Thorong La (5,416 m) from Thorong Phedi or High Camp is the trek's signature day — a 4 AM start in the dark, six hours up to the prayer-flag-draped pass, then a knee-shattering 1,700 m descent to the temple-village of Muktinath. The Kali Gandaki side west of the pass is drier, hotter, and Tibetan-influenced; many trekkers now end at Jomsom or Tatopani rather than walking the dusty road south.

Trek seasons are September–November (clearest skies, mild days, the most reliable Thorong La crossings) and March–May (warmer, hazier, rhododendrons in bloom from mid-April). Avoid June–August monsoon (leeches, slides, washouts) and December–February (the pass is often snowed shut). Two permits are required: an Annapurna Conservation Area Permit (ACAP) and a TIMS card, both arranged in Kathmandu or Pokhara. Teahouses cost roughly NPR 500–1,000 (~$5–10) per night for a bed plus food on the menu; the standard practice is to eat where you sleep. Guides and porters are optional but worth it for first-time Himalayan trekkers; as of 2023 the Nepal Tourism Board requires a licensed guide for all foreign trekkers, though enforcement on the Annapurna Circuit specifically has been inconsistent.