Why 8 days, and what you give up
This is the Circuit stripped to the part that matters. You skip the low Marsyangdi valley by road, start walking at Chame (2,670 m), and spend every one of your eight days between the pine line and the pass.
Be clear about the trade: the lower valley is genuinely lovely, and you will not see it. What you keep is the high route through Ghyaru and Ngawal, a full acclimatisation day at Manang, and Thorong La at 5,416 m. What you lose is the slow build through the villages below Chame, and any slack in the schedule.
It still has an acclimatisation day. That is the line we will not cross: a Circuit itinerary that reaches the pass without one is not a shorter trek, it is a worse one. More on why in our altitude sickness guide.
8-day itinerary, day by day
| Day 1 | Pokhara → Besisahar (760 m) → Chame (2,670 m) by jeep, 9–11 h |
|---|---|
| Day 2 | Chame → Upper Pisang (3,300 m), 5–6 h |
| Day 3 | Upper Pisang → Ghyaru (3,730 m) → Ngawal → Manang (3,540 m), 6–7 h |
| Day 4 | Manang, acclimatisation day |
| Day 5 | Manang → Yak Kharka (4,050 m), 3–4 h |
| Day 6 | Yak Kharka → Thorong Phedi (4,450 m) / High Camp (4,880 m), 3–4 h |
| Day 7 | Thorong La (5,416 m) → Muktinath (3,760 m), 7–10 h |
| Day 8 | Muktinath → Pokhara by jeep, 6–9 h |
Day 1: Pokhara → Chame (2,670 m), by road
A long day in a vehicle and there is no way to dress it up. Four to five hours to Besisahar on tarmac, then four to six hours up the Marsyangdi on a rough mountain road in a 4WD. Nine to eleven hours door to door, longer if the road has slipped.
You sleep in a lodge at Chame, the district headquarters of Manang, at 2,670 m. Hot shower, decent food, and the first proper look at the mountains.
Day 2: Chame → Upper Pisang (3,300 m)
Five to six hours through blue pine and fir, past the Paungda Danda rock face, a curved wall of granite most of a kilometre high. You take the upper trail to Upper Pisang rather than the village on the valley floor, which is both a better night and a better start to day 3.
Day 3: Upper Pisang → Ghyaru → Ngawal → Manang (3,540 m)
The best walking day of the lower Circuit, and the reason this itinerary does not take the flat road. A steep zig-zag to Ghyaru (3,730 m), then a near-level traverse to Ngawal with Annapurna II, III and IV filling the southern sky, before dropping into Manang.
You touch 3,730 m and sleep at 3,540 m. Six to seven hours, and worth every one of them.
Day 4: Manang, the acclimatisation day
You do not sit still. Depending on how the group is going, your guide will take you up to Praken Gompa (about 3,950 m), out to Gangapurna Lake, or, if everyone is strong, Ice Lake at 4,620 m. Whichever you walk, you sleep back at 3,540 m.
This is the single day that makes an eight-day Circuit defensible. It is not a spare day and we will not trade it away to shorten the trip.
Days 5–6: Manang → Yak Kharka → Thorong Phedi / High Camp
Two short days on purpose. Three to four hours to Yak Kharka (4,050 m), then three to four to Thorong Phedi (4,450 m), with the option of an extra hour or so up to High Camp (4,880 m) if the group is going well and beds are free.
Sleeping at High Camp shortens the pass day considerably. It is also 430 m higher, so your guide makes that call on the day, on how people are actually doing rather than on what the itinerary says.
Day 7: Thorong La (5,416 m) → Muktinath (3,760 m)
The day you came for. A pre-dawn start in the cold and the dark, a long steady climb to the prayer flags at 5,416 m, then a knee-punishing 1,650 m of descent into the Mustang rain shadow and down to Muktinath.
Seven to nine hours from High Camp, eight to ten from Phedi. Full detail, including when we turn back, on the Thorong La guide.
Day 8: Muktinath → Pokhara
Six to nine hours by jeep down the Kali Gandaki through Jomsom, Marpha and Tatopani, rough as far as Beni and then smooth tarmac to Pokhara. A long day, but a spectacular one, and you finish it with a shower and a bed in Lakeside.
Eight days on the ground is not an eight-day holiday
This is the number that catches UK trekkers out. The eight days above are Pokhara to Pokhara. Around them you need:
- Two days flying, roughly, in each direction from a UK airport via a Gulf or Indian hub
- A day to reach Pokhara from Kathmandu, by road or by the short flight
- A day back to Kathmandu before your flight home
Call it 13 to 14 days door to door, which fits a two-week leave block with almost nothing spare. If Thorong La closes for snow there is no slack in that, so we strongly suggest building in a buffer day. Ask us and we will price it.
Costs, deposits and what is included are on the cost page.
Who the 8-day Circuit is best for
- Anyone with a hard two-week leave limit who still wants to cross the pass
- Trekkers who have been to altitude before and know how they respond to it
- Walkers already in hill condition, comfortable with back-to-back long days in Snowdonia or the Lakes
- Returning clients who have walked the lower valley already and would rather spend their days high
If that is not you, take the extra days. The 10-day Circuit with Tilicho Lake adds a 4,919 m lake and a much better altitude profile, and the 11-day lakes route adds three more.
