The Annapurna Circuit Today: Roads, Detours and Why It Still Matters

For decades the Annapurna Circuit was described as the best long-distance trek in the world: three weeks on foot around an entire mountain range, beginning in rice paddies and ending in high desert. Then the roads came. Dirt tracks now run up both of the valleys the trek follows, and people often ask whether the circuit is still worth doing. It is, provided you plan it differently from the guidebooks of twenty years ago.

What has changed

On the eastern side, a jeep road follows the Marsyangdi River all the way to Manang, at 3,540 metres. On the western side, a road runs up the Kali Gandaki valley to Muktinath. Only the central section over the Thorong La pass, between Manang and Muktinath, has no road at all.

The result is that the old three-week walk has been compressed. Most trekkers now drive the lower sections and concentrate on the high country.

Where to start walking

Common choices are Dharapani, Chame or Upper Pisang, reached by jeep from the highway town of Besisahar in a long, bumpy day. Starting at Chame, at about 2,670 metres, gives two or three days of walking through pine forest and past the great curved rock face of Paungda Danda before reaching Manang.

Wherever the old trail and the road coincide, look for the alternative footpaths marked with red-and-white or blue-and-white paint. These side trails keep you off the dust and often pass through villages the road has bypassed.

The upper route to Manang

Between Pisang and Manang there are two ways. The lower path follows the valley floor near the road. The upper path climbs steeply to the villages of Ghyaru and Ngawal, perched on a shelf at around 3,600 metres with a staggering view of Annapurna II, III and IV and Gangapurna across the valley. Take the upper route. It is harder, it is the highlight of the eastern side, and the extra height helps acclimatisation.

Manang

Manang is a large stone village with bakeries, a small cinema, gear shops and a clinic run by a volunteer medical association that gives daily talks on altitude in season. Everyone spends two nights here. Use the spare day for a climb, not a rest: options include the viewpoint above Gangapurna Lake, a hermit's cave on the cliffs north of the village, or the stiff ascent to Ice Lake at about 4,600 metres.

Over the Thorong La

From Manang the trail climbs over two days through Yak Kharka and Ledar to Thorong Phedi, at about 4,450 metres, or to High Camp an hour above it. Pass day begins before dawn. The climb to the Thorong La at 5,416 metres takes four to six hours on a broad, steady path, with false summits and thin air the main obstacles. Prayer flags and a small tea shop mark the top.

The descent to Muktinath is long, around 1,600 metres down, and tough on tired legs. Muktinath is a pilgrimage site sacred to Hindus and Buddhists, with hotels and a road.

The pass is closed by snow at times in winter and occasionally in spring or autumn after storms. A blizzard in October 2014 killed many people here. Check forecasts, listen to lodge owners and never cross in bad weather.

After the pass

From Muktinath, many trekkers take a jeep or bus down the Kali Gandaki, or fly from Jomsom to Pokhara. Those with time can keep walking on side trails along the valley, or continue to the hot springs at Tatopani and up to Ghorepani and Poon Hill, closing the circle on foot.

How long it takes now

• Ten to twelve days: jeep to Chame, walk to Muktinath, drive or fly out.

• Fourteen to sixteen days: the same, adding the Tilicho Lake side trip or a walk down the western valley.

• Eighteen days or more: a fuller circuit using the marked footpaths on both sides.

Altitude and difficulty

The circuit goes higher than Everest Base Camp. Its gradual approach is an advantage, but only if you do not rush. Do not drive straight to Manang; arriving by vehicle at 3,500 metres skips the acclimatisation that walking provides. Spend at least four nights above 3,000 metres before the pass.

Why it still matters

No other trek in Nepal shows such a range in so few days: Hindu farming villages, Buddhist stone settlements, pine forest, glaciers, a 5,400-metre pass and the arid landscape beyond it. The roads have shortened the walk and brought change to the valleys, and they have also brought schools, medicine and cheaper goods to the people who live there. Walk the high section thoughtfully and the circuit remains one of the great journeys on foot.