Annapurna Circuit Trek

Today is the day of your arrival in Kathmandu, Nepal. As soon as you come out of the Kathmandu airport, you will find our representative waiting for you in the waiting area right outside the arrival lounge. You will be warmly greeted and welcomed by the representative and led to the vehicle. Our vehicle will take you to the trip hotel, most of the time in Thamel, that is 20-30 minutes drive, depending upon traffic, from the airport.
After you check into the hotel, you can take relaxing time on your own as there are no activities scheduled for today, except our trip briefing meeting. We will let you know about the briefing timing upon your arrival.

Enjoy your breakfast at the hotel. We come to take your for a wonderful cultural heritage tour of Kathmandu valley. As part of the tour, we are going to visit four of the UNESCO Heritage monuments in Kathmandu valley. The places we visit today are incredible mixture of culture, history, spirituality, art and stories. Overnight in Hote.

Swoyambhunath
Believed to have been created on its own, this Budhhist stupa is the oldest of all the monuments in Kathmandu valley. Standing atop a small hillock, Swoyambunath, known as monkey temple amongst tourists, provides a fascinating view of the valley, surrounding hills and snow-capped mountain at the distance on a clear day.

Patan Durbar Square
One of the three medieval palace squares, Patan Durbar Square holds its medieval art and architectural grandeur. Amazing skill of the artisans is evident in each and every building that stands in the square. The square comprises of medieval palace, temples and museum.

Pashupatinath
This site is the most sacred Hindu temple area in the country. But, as the temple is strictly a Hindu only area, non-Hindu tourists go there to watch the unique Hindu cremation rituals on the bank of River Bagmati. The death rites of Hindu family there are so engrossing and heart-touching which make you feel the moment. It’s not any kind of intrusion in being there and watching somebody being cremated in an open ground. It’s a great cultural experience.

Boudhanath
This giant Buddhist stupa is considered as the biggest one in the world. This small square with giant shrine has a powerful presence of the spiritual vibrations. It’s an important pilgrimage site for the people following Tibetan Buddhism.

It is a long day of drive to our trekking region. We drive to Besi Shahar, 173 km west of Kathmandu, by bus. We drive along the Prithvi Highway that passes through several beautiful towns with views of incredible rural life in Nepal. We can also enjoy the view of snow-capped mountains at distance. The highway, at most of its stretch, goes along side glacial rivers where we can see rafters enjoying the rapids of water. We reach Besi Shahar to change the bus to a local jeep to drive to Syange past Bahundanda on 30 kilometers of dirt road. We check into a lodge and spend time lazing around.

We start the trekking journey on the Annapurna Circuit Trekking trail today. We get ready for the walk after breakfast and set out for an exciting day of trekking on the mountain trail. Our walk goes higher along the Marshyngdi river valley towards Dharapani village. The trail brings views of awesome landscape. We walk past the beautiful villages of Jagat, Chamje and reach Tal village on the bank of Marshyangdi River. After crossing Marshyangdi River over a suspension bridge near Tal village, we ascend to Dharapani to stay overnight.

On the second day of trekking on the beautiful Annapurna Circuit route, we are heading to Chame. Beautiful views of Manaslu and Annapurna II must make our day joyful. Other than the mountains, the landscape and the life style of the region are fascinating too. As we go higher, we feel the change in vegetation. With enough breaks along the way, we eventually reach Chame village to spend quiet time lazing around.

We are gaining elevation on each day of our walk and can feel the change in the landscape, vegetation and life style as we go higher. Our trek for the day takes us to beautiful village of Pisang that is used as the gateway village for Pisang Peak climbing adventure. The stretch today brings the views of mountain peaks right from Chame. We can enjoy the view of Annapurna II and Manaslu from Chame and Annapurna IV and Lamjung Himal as we advance along on the trail.

We are taking the route to Ngwal village instead of going straight to Manang. We take this route for better acclimatization and for some more incredible views. Our trek begins after breakfast and heads towards Gyaru village on the way to the destination for today. While we are at Ngwal village, we will be at the elevation of 3,675 meters above sea level, slightly more than a hundred meters higher than Manang. Being here will be a perfect acclimatizing day with one extra day at Manang to go higher.

Our day trek takes us to Manang village, a beautiful village in the region. Manang is also the headquarters of Manang district that we are trekking in. Once we are in Manang, we can see that the four wheel drive road ends here. Further ahead from Manang, we can trek in the proper mountain trail all day long. We can go laze around in Manang exploring the cultural and natural wonders that this beautiful place has to offer.

We spend an extra day here at Manang to get ourselves used to with the thinning oxygen level in the air. We go for a hiking trip around Manang to explore wonderful beauty of the place. Being already to a higher place than Manang, we will be able to cope quickly with the altitude there. After the hiking exploration finishes, we come back to our lodge and take easy time around.

We relish our delicious breakfast at the lodge in Manang and get ready to leave the beautiful village behind. Our trek for the day takes us to Letdar Phedi. The trail to Letdar brings us wonderful views of the mountainous landscape that looks completely different than the one in the lower elevation that we walked past. After about five hours of traversing the trail section, we reach our lodge in Letdar Phedi.

We leave Letdar after breakfast and trek towards Thorang Phedi. It is just a short trek of about two hours to Thorang Phedi where we take a good rest to proceed towards high camp. The trek to Thorang High Camp will be another good hour of struggling uphill. We will have spectacular view of the mountains from the high camp and around.

It’s a challenging day today but definitely a worth taking it. Our day starts before the break of the dawn higher towards the pass. About three hours of slow paced struggle towards Thorang La, through several false passes along the trail, eventually takes us to the spectacular pass that stands at 5,416 meters above sea level. We spend some moments there taking pictures and enjoying the view around.
Later, we descend all the way to Muktinath where there is a beautiful and sacred temple for Hindus. We will have plenty of time to explore Muktinath area as we reach there early afternoon.

We walk on the wonderful landscape of lower Mustang region along the stretch of Muktinath to Jomsom. Initially, the trail descends to Kagbeni village on the bank of Kali Gandaki River through several beautiful places with spectacular view. From Kagbeni onwards, we trek along the Kali Gandaki River to Jomsom. The trail can get windy during the afternoon as it lies in the valley between two gigantic mountain ranges – Dhaulagiri and Annapurna. Once we reach Jomsom, we can laze around the beautiful town.

It’s a full day of drive today to Tatopani to stay overnight and start another beautiful section of trek for two days in the lower Annapurna region. The bumpy drive along the dirt road in the stretch of 62 kilometers takes us about three hours to cover. When we reach Tatopani, we will have time to visit natural hot spring there and explore the area around.

After an incredible Annapurna Circuit Trekking in the higher elevation, we start two days of trek in the lower Annapurna region to return back to Pokhara. We trek to Ghorepani today where we will be welcomed by magnificent views of the mountains. Almost all the way through, a gentle uphill trail gives us a challenge. It goes through several beautiful places like Chitre, Ghar Khola, Sikha etc. to reach Ghorepani to stay overnight.

We have an early morning start today as we are hiking to Poon Hill for a sunrise and more spectacular view of mountains. We carry flash lights; keep ourselves warm enough for the morning temperature and start hiking up towards Poon Hill through rhododendron forest. When we reach the top of the hill, we are astounded by the panoramic view of the mountains in Annapurna and Dhaulagiri mountain range. We enjoy the enthralling views and wait for another wonder, sunrise over the mountains, to take our breath away.

We hike down to the lodge at Ghorepani to have breakfast and later check out to trek to Nayapul. The trek today is downhill up to Tikhedhunga via Ulleri and then meets gradual dirt road to lead us to Nayapul. When we reach Birethanti, we check out from the Annapurna Conservation Area. We walk further to Nayapul. We get on a vehicle that is there to pick us up and take to Pokhara. After about one and half hour, we will be back at beautiful city civilization of Pokhara.

Early in the morning, after breakfast, we get on the bus to drive back to Kathmandu. About seven hours of overland journey takes us back to Kathmandu. Once we are in Kathmandu, we go to hotel and spend the whole day at leisure on our own. Finding relieving massage, good food, souvenir shopping, and wandering around can keep you busy for the day.

Farewell dinner is scheduled for this evening. We will let you know the departure time for dinner once we reach Kathmandu.

The final day of the trip, we drive you to airport for your scheduled flight homebound or other destination. We will pick you up 3 hours prior to your flight schedule.