Annapurna Circuit route overview: the short answer
The Annapurna Circuit is a 160–230 km trek around the Annapurna massif in central Nepal. It starts in the Marsyangdi valley at Besisahar (760 m), climbs north-west through Jagat, Chame and Pisang to Manang (3,540 m), crosses Thorong La pass at 5,416 m, then drops into the Kali Gandaki valley at Muktinath and follows it south through Jomsom to Tatopani and out to Pokhara. Walked anticlockwise, as it always should be.
Our standard guided version takes 8 days Pokhara to Pokhara, of which six are spent walking. The reason it is not one straight number is honest and worth saying early: a road now runs up both sides of the circuit, so how far you actually walk depends entirely on how much of that road you choose to drive. See map vs reality below. It is the single most misunderstood thing about this trek.
| Total distance | 160–230 km (100–145 miles) if fully walked |
|---|---|
| Distance on our 8-day trip | ~105 km on foot, jeep to Chame and out from Muktinath |
| Direction | Anticlockwise (Besisahar → Manang → Thorong La → Muktinath) |
| Start of walking | Jagat (1,300 m) or Dharapani (1,860 m) |
| Highest point | Thorong La, 5,416 m (17,769 ft) |
| Lowest point | Tatopani, 1,190 m |
| Total ascent | Roughly 6,000 m cumulative over the trek |
| Districts crossed | Lamjung · Manang · Mustang · Myagdi · Kaski |
- Thorong La 5,416 m, the crux
- 6 walking days on the 8-day trip
- Two river valleys: Marsyangdi in, Kali Gandaki out
The full Annapurna Circuit route map
The circuit is not a loop in the way people picture it. It is a horseshoe: you walk up one river valley, cross a single high pass at the top, and walk down a different river valley on the far side. Those two valleys, the Marsyangdi and the Kali Gandaki, are separated by the Annapurna range itself, which is why the pass is unavoidable and why the trek only works in one direction.
Villages on the Annapurna Circuit, with elevations
These are the overnight stops and landmarks you will actually see, north-bound up the Marsyangdi and then south-bound down the Kali Gandaki.
| Besisahar | 760 m, road head, district town, the traditional trailhead |
| Jagat | 1,300 m, stone-paved village on a shelf above the gorge; where most groups now start walking |
| Dharapani | 1,860 m, the Manaslu Circuit joins here from the east |
| Chame | 2,670 m, Manang district headquarters, apple orchards, hot spring, last cashpoint |
| Upper Pisang | 3,300 m, the high option; worth the climb for the Annapurna II view |
| Ngawal | 3,660 m, on the high route between Pisang and Manang; excellent for acclimatisation |
| Manang | 3,540 m, the acclimatisation town; bakeries, a cinema, and the HRA aid post |
| Yak Kharka | 4,050 m, above the treeline, a handful of lodges, yaks as advertised |
| Thorong Phedi | 4,450 m, "the foot of Thorong"; two lodges at the base of the climb |
| Thorong High Camp | 4,800 m, an hour of brutal switchbacks above Phedi; cold, thin, basic |
| Thorong La | 5,416 m, the pass, the prayer flags, the sign, the whole point |
| Muktinath | 3,760 m, Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage site; the descent ends here |
| Kagbeni | 2,810 m, medieval mud-brick village at the gate of Upper Mustang |
| Jomsom | 2,720 m, airstrip, wind tunnel, common exit point |
| Marpha | 2,670 m, whitewashed Thakali village famous for apple brandy |
| Tatopani | 1,190 m, hot springs; the lowest point of the whole circuit |
| Ghorepani | 2,860 m, the last climb, and the gateway to Poon Hill |
| Poon Hill | 3,210 m, sunrise viewpoint over Dhaulagiri and Annapurna South |
| Nayapul | 1,070 m, road head, 1.5 hours by vehicle from Pokhara |
Full day-by-day timings, teahouses and meal stops are on the 8-day Annapurna Circuit itinerary.
Annapurna Circuit altitude profile
The circuit's altitude profile is a long, patient climb followed by one enormous drop. From Jagat you gain height steadily for eight days, sleeping higher almost every night, and then in a single morning you go from 4,800 m to 5,416 m and down to 3,760 m. That day, a 616 m climb followed by a 1,656 m descent, is the largest altitude swing on any mainstream Nepal trek.
Sleeping altitude, night by night
What matters for acclimatisation is not the height you touch during the day but the height you sleep at. This is the sleeping-altitude ladder on the classic route.
| Overnight stop | Elevation (m) | Elevation (ft) | Gain on previous night | Zone |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jagat | 1,300 | 4,265 | n/a | Low |
| Dharapani | 1,860 | 6,100 | +560 m | Low |
| Chame | 2,670 | 8,760 | +810 m | Moderate |
| Upper Pisang | 3,300 | 10,830 | +630 m | Moderate |
| Manang | 3,540 | 11,610 | +240 m | High |
| Manang (rest day) | 3,540 | 11,610 | 0 m | High |
| Yak Kharka | 4,050 | 13,290 | +510 m | High |
| Thorong High Camp | 4,800 | 15,750 | +750 m | Very high |
| Thorong La (crossed, not slept) | 5,416 | 17,769 | +616 m in one morning | Very high |
| Muktinath | 3,760 | 12,335 | −1,040 m | High |
Two things stand out on that table, and both are why we build the trip the way we do. The Manang rest day is not padding. It is the only night on the route where you gain nothing, and it is the reason most trekkers cross the pass comfortably. And the Yak Kharka to High Camp night is the aggressive one, a 750 m gain at an altitude where 500 m is the usual ceiling. Read why that matters in our Annapurna Circuit altitude sickness guide.
Annapurna Circuit distance: how far is it in kilometres?
The honest answer: 160–230 km (100–145 miles) if you walk every step, and roughly 105 km if you take our standard 8-day guided trip that drives to Chame and out from Muktinath. Anyone giving you a single confident number for "the Annapurna Circuit" is quoting a route that mostly stopped existing when the road went in.
| Besisahar → Jomsom, fully walked | ~160 km / 100 mi |
| Besisahar → Nayapul, fully walked (the "classic") | ~230 km / 145 mi |
| Our 8-day trip (jeep to Chame, jeep out from Muktinath) | ~105 km / 65 mi on foot |
| Our 10-day circuit with Tilicho Lake | ~135 km / 84 mi on foot |
| Our 11-day lakes route | ~150 km / 93 mi on foot |
Stage-by-stage distances
These are the individual sections. Add up whichever ones you are actually walking and you have your own number.
| Stage | Distance | Walking time | Sleep at | Usually |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Besisahar → Ngadi | 11 km | 4 h | 890 m | Driven |
| Ngadi → Jagat | 20 km | 6–7 h | 1,300 m | Driven |
| Jagat → Dharapani | 17 km | 6–7 h | 1,860 m | Walked |
| Dharapani → Chame | 16 km | 6 h | 2,670 m | Walked |
| Chame → Upper Pisang | 15 km | 5–6 h | 3,300 m | Walked |
| Upper Pisang → Manang (high route via Ngawal) | 17 km | 6–7 h | 3,540 m | Walked |
| Manang acclimatisation walk | 6–10 km | 3–5 h | 3,540 m | Walked |
| Manang → Yak Kharka | 10 km | 4 h | 4,050 m | Walked |
| Yak Kharka → Thorong Phedi → High Camp | 8.5 km | 4–5 h | 4,800 m | Walked |
| High Camp → Thorong La → Muktinath | 15 km | 7–9 h | 3,760 m | Walked |
| Muktinath → Kagbeni → Jomsom | 21 km | 6 h | 2,720 m | Driven or walked |
| Jomsom → Tatopani (Kali Gandaki road) | ~60 km | n/a | 1,190 m | Driven |
| Tatopani → Ghorepani | 17 km | 7 h | 2,860 m | Not on our itineraries |
| Ghorepani → Poon Hill → Nayapul | 20 km | 7 h | 1,070 m | Not on our itineraries |
Averaged across the walking days on our 8-day trip that is about 13 km a day, a normal British hill day in distance terms, but at two to four times the altitude, which is what makes it hard. See difficulty and fitness for what that feels like in practice.
Map of Annapurna Circuit start and end points
Where the circuit starts
Besisahar (760 m) is the historical trailhead and still the administrative one: it is where the road from Kathmandu meets the Marsyangdi. But the jeep road now continues past it as far as Chame, so almost nobody walks out of Besisahar any more. In practice there are three realistic starting points:
- Besisahar (760 m), purist option. Adds two days of hot, dusty valley walking on and beside a road. We rarely recommend it.
- Jagat (1,300 m), our default. Jeep from Besisahar in the morning, start walking the same afternoon in a proper gorge landscape.
- Chame (2,670 m), and the start we now use on all three itineraries. Saves two days but starts you higher, so acclimatisation has to be handled carefully, which is why the Manang stage is never traded away.
Where the circuit ends
Once you are down at Muktinath the trek is effectively over: you have crossed the pass, and everything beyond is the Kali Gandaki road. Three sensible endings:
- Jomsom (2,720 m): fly to Pokhara in 20 minutes, weather permitting. Fast, and the flight down the world's deepest gorge is genuinely spectacular. Cancellations are common in wind or cloud, so we always hold a jeep as backup.
- Jomsom → Pokhara by road: 8–10 hours by jeep and bus. Long, but reliable.
- Muktinath → Pokhara by road: 6–9 hours by jeep down the Kali Gandaki through Jomsom, Marpha and Tatopani. This is how all three of our itineraries finish.
Annapurna Circuit side-trip map: Tilicho, Ice Lake and Nar-Phu
Three detours branch off the main circuit. All of them go higher than the trail they leave, which makes them excellent acclimatisation and also means they need respect.
Tilicho Lake (4,919 m)
Leaves the main trail at Manang and heads west along a notoriously loose landslide traverse to Tilicho Base Camp (4,150 m), then climbs to the lake at 4,919 m, one of the highest large lakes in the world. It adds three to four days and is not a casual afternoon out: the traverse is exposed, and the lake day is a 900 m round-trip climb at altitude. It is covered properly on the 10-day circuit with Tilicho Lake.
Ice Lake / Kicho Tal (4,600 m)
The classic Manang rest-day walk: straight up from Braga, 1,000 m of ascent, back down to sleep at 3,540 m. Textbook climb-high-sleep-low, no extra days needed, and the single most useful thing you can do for your pass day. Most of our groups do this or the shorter Gangapurna Lake and viewpoint walk depending on how everyone is feeling.
Nar-Phu valley (up to 4,110 m at Phu)
A restricted valley branching north from Koto, near Chame. Two medieval Tibetan-Buddhist villages, almost no other trekkers, and a separate permit requirement. See Annapurna Circuit permits. Adds four to five days and is best joined to the circuit rather than done alone.
GPS track and GPX download
The circuit is well waymarked and, since guides became mandatory in 2023, you will not be navigating alone. But a GPX track on your phone is still worth having, for knowing how far the next teahouse is, for checking your altitude against the acclimatisation plan, and for the one afternoon when cloud comes down between Yak Kharka and Phedi.
- Our GPX: we send booked trekkers a GPX of the exact route we walk, including the Manang acclimatisation options and the Tilicho variant. Ask on the enquiry form and we will email it.
- Offline maps: download the Nepal region in Organic Maps, Maps.me or Gaia GPS before you leave Kathmandu. The trail and most teahouses are on OpenStreetMap and the coverage is good.
- Paper backup: the Himalayan MapHouse "Around Annapurna" 1:125,000 sheet is the standard, sold in Kathmandu and Pokhara for a few pounds. Buy one even if you never open it.
- Battery: GPS drains a phone fast in the cold. Carry a 20,000 mAh power bank; charging above Manang is paid and slow. See the packing list.
Map vs reality: how the road changed the circuit
Every guidebook photograph of the Annapurna Circuit was taken before the road. You should know what has actually happened before you book, because a lot of operators still sell the 1990s version.
A jeep road now runs up the Marsyangdi as far as Manang and up the Kali Gandaki from Beni to Jomsom and beyond to Muktinath. Both were built for the people who live there (for supplies, for medical access, for children getting to school), and objecting to them from a trekking perspective is not a good look. But they do change the trek. The lowest sections of the old route are now dusty vehicle track, and walking them means eating other people's exhaust for two days.
Three things have happened in response, and they are why the modern circuit is still excellent:
- The NATT trails. A network of "New Annapurna Trekking Trails" was cut on the opposite bank from the road through most of the lower valley: red-and-white waymarks, proper footpaths, no traffic. Where they exist, we use them.
- Jeeps for the worst bits. Driving from Besisahar to Jagat, and from Muktinath to Jomsom, removes the two least pleasant sections and buys days you can spend higher up where the trek is actually good.
- The high routes. Upper Pisang to Ngawal to Manang, and the Tilicho and Nar-Phu branches, all climb well clear of any road. The best walking on the circuit is now the high walking.
Our position, plainly: the circuit above Chame is as good as it ever was, and the section from Manang to Muktinath is one of the finest walks in Nepal. Below Chame it is a road with a footpath alongside it. We drive that part, and we would rather tell you than let you find out on day two. If you want the version with the most walking, the 11-day lakes route adds the days back at altitude rather than in the valley.
Plan your circuit with this map
Working out your own version of the circuit comes down to four decisions, in this order:
- How many days do you have? Twelve days gets you over the pass. Fourteen is the comfortable standard. Sixteen buys the acclimatisation margin. Twenty-one adds Tilicho.
- When are you going? The pass is a different proposition in November than in January. See best time to trek the Annapurna Circuit.
- How much walking do you want? More days does not mean more kilometres; on this trek it usually means more time at altitude, which is the point.
- What is your budget? Our guided circuit is from £1,095 per person, permits and guide included: the full breakdown is on the cost page.
