Day 01: Arrival in Kathmandu

Your Annapurna Circuit Trek begins the moment you land. Badri or his representative will be waiting for you outside arrivals at Tribhuvan International Airport — look for the sign with your name. From there, a short transfer brings you to your hotel in Kathmandu.

After a long flight, the rest of the day is yours to settle in and take your first steps into one of Asia’s most extraordinary cities. In the evening, your guide will sit down with you for a trek briefing — covering the full circuit route, daily walking hours, road transfers, tea house accommodation, meals, permits, weather, altitude safety, and what to expect on the trail ahead. It is a good opportunity to ask any questions before the journey begins.

• Altitude: Kathmandu – 1,300m / 4,260ft
• Transfer Time: approx. 30–45 minutes

Day 02: Kathmandu Valley Sightseeing or Leisure Day

After breakfast, the day is yours — use it to explore Kathmandu or rest before the circuit begins. If you want to get out into the city, the most rewarding options are close together: Swayambhunath, the ancient hilltop stupa with sweeping views over the valley; Boudhanath, one of the largest Buddhist stupas in the world; Pashupatinath, Nepal’s most sacred Hindu temple on the banks of the Bagmati River; and Kathmandu Durbar Square, a UNESCO World Heritage Site at the heart of the old city.

If you prefer a quieter day, rest, explore Thamel at your own pace, or get an early night before the drive tomorrow.

Either way, your guide will check your trekking gear and make sure everything is in order before you leave. If anything is missing — a warmer layer, rain jacket, trekking poles, or socks — Thamel has everything you need within walking distance of your hotel.

• Altitude: Kathmandu – 1,300m / 4,260ft
• Activity Time: approx. 4–5 hours sightseeing or free day

Day 03: Drive from Kathmandu to Dharapani

After breakfast, you leave Kathmandu and head west on the Prithvi Highway — the road following the Trishuli River through gorges, terraced hillsides, and market towns before turning north toward Besisahar and the Marsyangdi River valley. From Besisahar, the road narrows and the vehicle changes — jeep or local transport from here, depending on road conditions — as the route pushes deeper into the hills toward Dharapani.

This is a long travel day and the road can be rough in the upper sections. But the scenery more than compensates — river valleys, forested ridges, cascading waterfalls, and the first distant glimpses of snow-capped peaks ahead. Pack snacks, settle in, and let Nepal’s extraordinary hill country unfold around you.

Dharapani sits at the junction of the Marsyangdi and Dudh Khola rivers and marks one of the main entry points onto the Annapurna Circuit trail. Arrive, check into your lodge, and rest — tomorrow the walking begins in earnest.

• Altitude: Dharapani – 1,860m / 6,100ft
• Drive Time: approx. 8–10 hours depending on road conditions

Day 04: Trek from Dharapani to Chame

After breakfast, the Annapurna Circuit begins in earnest. The trail follows the Marsyangdi River upstream — a well-established path that winds through pine and rhododendron forest, past thundering waterfalls, and through a series of small settlements that grow quieter and more Tibetan in character as you gain altitude.

You pass through Bagarchhap, Danaque, Timang, and Koto — each a cluster of stone houses and tea houses tucked into the valley, prayer flags marking the trail above. The landscape shifts noticeably on this section, the lush green of the lower hills giving way to cooler, drier alpine terrain as the valley narrows and the peaks close in.

Chame arrives as a welcome sight — the district headquarters of Manang, a proper mountain town with government offices, bakeries, gear shops, and the first dramatic views of Lamjung Himal and Annapurna II rising above the valley. It is a good place to check your gear, pick up any supplies, and settle in for the night.

• Altitude: Chame – 2,700m / 8,860ft
• Trek Time: approx. 5–6 hours

Day 05: Trek from Chame to Upper Pisang

After breakfast, the trail pushes deeper into the Marsyangdi valley — the landscape growing wilder and more dramatic with every hour. The path winds through dense pine forest, crosses narrow gorges, and passes through apple-growing settlements where the trees line the trail in spring blossom. Bhratang and Dhukur Pokhari are quiet stops along the way before the valley opens into the wide, dry expanse that signals your arrival in the upper circuit.

The choice at Pisang is worth making deliberately — Lower Pisang is the easier stop, but Upper Pisang, perched on the hillside above, is the right call. The traditional stone houses, ancient gompa, and unobstructed views of Annapurna II and Pisang Peak make it one of the finest overnight stops on the entire circuit. The air is noticeably thinner now and the Tibetan influence in the architecture and culture is unmistakable.

Take the climb up to Upper Pisang slowly — you are at 3,300m and the altitude will remind you if you rush.

• Altitude: Upper Pisang – approx. 3,300m / 10,827ft
• Trek Time: approx. 5–6 hours

Day 06: Trek from Upper Pisang to Manang via Ghyaru, Ngawal and Braga

After breakfast, you take the high route — and it is the right decision. The upper trail climbs steeply from Pisang onto a high ridge path that rewards every metre of effort with some of the most breathtaking mountain views on the entire Annapurna Circuit.

Ghyaru is the first stop — a traditional Tibetan-influenced village clinging to the hillside at 3,670m, its stone houses and prayer flags framed against a wall of Himalayan giants. Annapurna II, III, and IV, Gangapurna, Tilicho Peak, and Pisang Peak fill the horizon in a single sweeping panorama. It is the kind of view that stops conversation entirely.

The trail continues to Ngawal — equally beautiful, equally quiet, and equally far from the crowds on the lower road route below. From Ngawal, the path descends toward Braga, home to one of the oldest and most impressive gompas on the circuit — a monastery stacked into the cliff face above the village with hundreds of clay statues inside dating back centuries. Take the time to visit if it is open.

From Braga, Manang is a short walk. At 3,500m, Manang is the last major town before the high pass and the place where the circuit takes a breath. Gear shops, bakeries, altitude clinics, and the Himalayan Rescue Association office are all here — make use of them.

• Altitude: Ghyaru – approx. 3,670m / 12,040ft
• Altitude: Ngawal – approx. 3,660m / 12,008ft
• Altitude: Braga – approx. 3,470m / 11,390ft
• Altitude: Manang – approx. 3,500m / 11,480ft
• Trek Time: approx. 7–8 hours

Day 07: Acclimatization Day in Manang

Today you stay in Manang — and this is one of the most important days of the entire trek. You are above 3,500m, Thorong La Pass is two days ahead, and the golden rule of high-altitude trekking applies without exception: climb high, sleep low, and never skip your acclimatization day.

The morning is for a short hike. The most popular options are Gangapurna Lake — a stunning glacial lake just above the village with close-up views of Gangapurna’s ice face — or the short climb to Bhojo Gompa, an ancient monastery perched on the ridge above Manang with wide views over the valley and the peaks beyond. Either way, you gain some altitude and come back down to sleep — exactly what your body needs.

The afternoon is yours. Visit the Himalayan Rescue Association office in the village for their daily altitude sickness talk — it is free, informative, and genuinely useful before you head toward the pass. Browse the gear shops if you need extra layers. Eat well, drink plenty of water, and resist the temptation to push on ahead of schedule. The trekkers who respect this day are the ones who cross Thorong La without difficulty.

• Altitude: Manang – approx. 3,500m / 11,480ft
• Activity Time: approx. 2–4 hours light hiking and village exploration

Day 08: Trek from Manang to Yak Kharka via Ghyanchang

After breakfast, you leave Manang and the trail begins its serious climb toward the pass. The landscape changes immediately — the last of the trees fall away and you enter the high alpine zone, a wide open world of dry grassland, rocky ridgelines, and yak grazing pastures stretching up toward the snowline.

The walking is steady and unhurried today — deliberately so. You are climbing from 3,500m toward 4,050m and every step counts. Ghyanchang is a quiet waypoint on the route, and Yak Kharka — little more than a handful of tea houses in an open highland bowl — is the overnight stop. Basic, peaceful, and exactly what you need the night before the final push to Thorong Phedi.

Eat a good dinner, drink plenty of water, and get to bed early. Tomorrow is a short day but an important one — you want to arrive at Thorong Phedi well rested and ready for an early start on pass day.

• Altitude: Ghyanchang – approx. 4,000m / 13,120ft
• Altitude: Yak Kharka – approx. 4,050m / 13,290ft
• Trek Time: approx. 4–5 hours

Day 09: Trek from Yak Kharka to Thorong Phedi via Letdar

After breakfast, the trail continues its steady climb toward the base of the pass. The terrain is fully alpine now — exposed ridgelines, narrow paths cut into steep hillsides, river crossings, and sections where the trail edges past landslide-prone slopes that demand careful footwork and full attention.

Letdar is a quiet stop along the way at 4,200m before the final descent and re-climb to Thorong Phedi — the last tea house settlement before the pass, sitting in a tight valley at 4,540m with the great wall of the mountain rising directly above.

Thorong Phedi is basic but purposeful. Everyone here has one thing on their mind — the crossing tomorrow. Your guide will assess your condition, check the weather forecast, and confirm the plan for the morning. Eat a proper meal, drink water steadily through the afternoon, lay out your warmest layers for the pre-dawn start, and get to sleep as early as you can.

The alarm will come early.

• Altitude: Letdar – approx. 4,200m / 13,780ft
• Altitude: Thorong Phedi – approx. 4,540m / 14,900ft
• Trek Time: approx. 4–5 hours

Day 10: Cross Thorong La Pass and Trek to Muktinath

The alarm goes off before dawn. This is the day.

You leave Thorong Phedi in the dark — headtorch on, layers stacked, the cold air sharp in your lungs — and begin the long climb to the pass. The trail switchbacks steeply up the face of the mountain, the darkness gradually giving way to a cold grey dawn as you gain altitude. The wind picks up. The snow crunches underfoot. Every step is deliberate and slow — this is not a day to rush.

Thorong La Pass at 5,416m / 17,769ft arrives like a release. Prayer flags thrash in the wind, cairns mark the high point, and the view opens in every direction — the Annapurna range behind you, the vast brown landscape of the Mustang stretching ahead, and somewhere far below, Muktinath waiting at the end of a very long descent. Take your photos, breathe it in, and feel justifiably proud. You have just crossed one of the highest trekking passes in the world.

The descent to Muktinath is long, steep, and hard on the knees — trekking poles earn their keep on this section. The landscape shifts dramatically as you drop into the Mustang rain shadow, the green alpine world replaced by dry ochre cliffs and wide open desert valley. Muktinath at 3,800m is a sacred site where a single temple serves both Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims — one of the most remarkable religious confluences in the Himalayas. Visit the temple if you have energy, then rest. You have earned it.

• Altitude: Thorong La Pass – 5,416m / 17,769ft
• Altitude: Muktinath – approx. 3,800m / 12,470ft
• Trek Time: approx. 8–10 hours

Day 11: Drive from Muktinath to Tatopani

After breakfast — and a final look at Muktinath in the morning light — you board a vehicle and begin the long descent through the Kali Gandaki valley. This is one of the deepest gorges on earth, flanked by Annapurna and Dhaulagiri, and the drive through it is extraordinary.

The route passes through Kagbeni — a medieval walled town at the gateway to Upper Mustang — then Jomsom, the main administrative centre of the Mustang region, before continuing south through Marpha, famous for its apple brandy and whitewashed stone lanes, and the quieter villages of Tukuche, Kalopani, and Ghasa. The landscape transforms dramatically as you descend — the dry, wind-scoured desert of the upper Mustang giving way to green terraced hillsides and the sound of the river rushing beside the road.

Tatopani sits at just 1,190m — a drop of over 2,600m from where you woke up this morning. The name means “hot water” in Nepali, and the natural hot springs here are exactly what two days of high-altitude exertion and a 10-hour pass crossing call for. Soak as long as you like.

• Altitude: Tatopani – approx. 1,190m / 3,900ft
• Drive Time: approx. 5–7 hours depending on road conditions

Day 12: Trek from Tatopani to Ghorepani

After breakfast, you leave the hot springs behind and begin the long climb back into the hills. After yesterday’s descent into the valley floor, today reverses the direction — the trail climbing steadily through terraced fields, stone-paved village paths, and increasingly dense forest as you gain altitude through Ghara, Shikha, and Chitre.

It is a long uphill day and the legs will know it — but the scenery pulls you forward. The dry Mustang landscapes of the past two days are gone, replaced by the lush green hill country of the lower Annapurna region, rhododendron forests closing in around the trail as you approach Ghorepani. In spring the rhododendrons are in full bloom — deep red and pink against the green — and the forests feel almost impossibly beautiful.

Ghorepani sits at 2,880m in a saddle surrounded by forest, a busy and welcoming mountain village with good tea houses and one very important reason everyone is here — the alarm is already set for tomorrow morning’s pre-dawn hike to Poon Hill.

• Altitude: Ghorepani – approx. 2,880m / 9,450ft
• Trek Time: approx. 6–7 hours

Day 13: Early Morning Hike to Poon Hill and Trek to Hille

The alarm goes off before dawn — for the second time this trek, and for entirely different reasons.

The hike from Ghorepani to Poon Hill takes around an hour in the dark, headtorches bobbing up the stone staircase through the forest as trekkers from every tea house make the same pilgrimage. At the top, the viewpoint platform fills with people and cameras, all facing east, all waiting for the same moment.

Then it happens. The sky lightens behind the ridge and Dhaulagiri catches the first colour — deep orange fading to gold — followed by Annapurna South, Annapurna I, Machhapuchhre, Nilgiri, and Hiunchuli, the entire Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges igniting in sequence as the sun clears the horizon. It is one of the great sunrise experiences in the Himalayas and a fitting reward for sixteen days on the circuit.

After sunrise, descend back to Ghorepani for breakfast, then the trail drops steeply south through the rhododendron forest toward Ulleri — a long stone staircase descent that seems to go on forever — and on through Tikhedhunga to Hille. The descent is hard on the knees but the forest is beautiful and the knowledge that the circuit is nearly complete makes every step feel earned.

• Altitude: Poon Hill – 3,210m / 10,531ft
• Altitude: Hille – approx. 1,430m / 4,690ft
• Poon Hill hike: approx. 1.5–2 hours round trip
• Trek to Hille: approx. 5–6 hours

Day 14: Trek from Hille to Nayapul and Drive to Pokhara

After breakfast, the final walking day begins. The trail from Hille to Nayapul is a gentle, unhurried finish — village paths, terraced fields, and riverside sections through the lower Annapurna foothills, the mountains that have dominated your skyline for two weeks now receding behind you as the valley opens toward the plains.

It is a short day on the trail and a reflective one. Sixteen days ago you were in Kathmandu preparing for a circuit that has taken you from subtropical river valleys to the highest trekking pass in Nepal, through ancient Tibetan villages, sacred pilgrimage sites, hot springs, rhododendron forests, and one unforgettable sunrise. All of it distills into these final quiet hours on the trail.

At Nayapul, your vehicle is waiting. The drive to Pokhara takes under two hours — and then the city opens up around you, Phewa Lake glittering in the afternoon light and the Annapurna range reflected on its surface. Hot shower, cold drink, good food, and a well-earned walk along Lakeside. The circuit is complete.

• Altitude: Nayapul – approx. 1,070m / 3,500ft
• Altitude: Pokhara – 820m / 2,690ft
• Trek Time: approx. 3–4 hours
• Drive Time: approx. 1.5–2 hours

Day 15: Drive or Fly* from Pokhara to Kathmandu

After breakfast, you leave Pokhara and make the return journey to Kathmandu — by tourist bus or flight*. If you drive, the road follows the same river valleys and hill towns of the outward journey, the landscape familiar now in a way it wasn’t two weeks ago. If you fly, the Annapurna range is visible one last time from the air — Dhaulagiri, Annapurna, and Machhapuchhre catching the morning light as Pokhara’s lake shrinks below you.

On arrival in Kathmandu, a transfer brings you back to your hotel. In the evening, a farewell dinner with your guide and the team — a chance to raise a glass, share stories from the trail, and mark the end of one of the great trekking adventures in the world.

• Altitude: Kathmandu – 1,300m / 4,260ft
• Travel Time: Drive approx. 6–7 hours or flight approx. 25–30 minutes

Day 16: Final Departure

Your 16-day Annapurna Circuit Trek is complete. After breakfast, our team will transfer you to Tribhuvan International Airport for your onward journey.

Sixteen days. Dharapani to Thorong La, Muktinath to Tatopani, Ghorepani to Poon Hill, and finally Pokhara and home. You have walked one of the greatest trekking circuits on earth — through a dozen climate zones, past ancient gompas and sacred pilgrimage sites, over the highest trekking pass in Nepal, and through some of the most culturally rich mountain communities in the Himalayas. It stays with you.

If you have more time in Nepal, we can arrange an extension — the Annapurna Base Camp Trek, Mardi Himal Trek, or Annapurna Nar Phu Valley Trek are all natural extensions, or we can connect you with a Chitwan jungle safari, rafting trip, Bhutan tour, or Tibet tour.

• Altitude: Kathmandu – 1,300m / 4,260ft
• Transfer Time: approx. 30–45 minutes