What the road changed on the Annapurna Circuit, and what it didn't
Thorong La is still 5,416 m and still the best pass day in Nepal. The trek that gets you there has changed, though, and it's not the one your guidebook from 2009 describes.
By the Lakeshore team · 10 min read · Updated 5 October 2026
For twenty years the Annapurna Circuit was the trek in Nepal. It took three weeks and went right round a mountain range, from subtropical valley to high desert. Then the road came up the Marsyangdi from Besisahar and down the Kali Gandaki from Muktinath, and a lot of people wrote the trek off.
They were mostly wrong. The walking in the lower Marsyangdi has lost a lot to the road, but the part that mattered most survived: Manang, the approach to Thorong La, the pass itself, and the drop into Tibetan-plateau country on the far side.
Today's Circuit is shorter and sharper. We run it in twelve days and start where the walking is still good, and we think it's a better trip than the dusty three-week slog the road left behind.
Where to start walking
We drive to Chame or Dharapani and start walking from there. That skips two to three days on and beside a jeep road, and you lose almost nothing but dust. Some purists disagree. We've walked it both ways, and we're happy to stand by the advice.
From Chame the trail comes back to life. The Marsyangdi valley narrows, the Paungda Danda rock face rises out of nowhere as a single 1,500 m slab, and the pine gives way to juniper and scrub as you climb toward Upper Pisang.
Take the upper route from Pisang to Manang, through Ghyaru and Ngawal. The climb is harder and costs you a couple of hours, but it puts you on a high shelf straight across from Annapurna II and III, walking past Tibetan-style villages with prayer walls. The regret we hear most often comes from people who took the flat lower path to save time.
Manang and the acclimatisation day
Manang, at 3,519 m, decides how the pass goes for you. You spend two nights there, and on the second day you don't stay in bed. You climb several hundred metres to Ice Lake or Praken Gompa and come back down to sleep, which is what acclimatisation means in practice.
Climbing high and sleeping low does more than anything else to get you to the pass feeling strong. The people who struggle on Thorong La are almost always the ones who spent the Manang day lying in. Manang also has bakeries, a stone-hut cinema that shows mountaineering films, and a daily talk on altitude sickness from the Himalayan Rescue Association. Go to the talk. It's free, the doctor giving it has seen every way this goes wrong, and it beats any advice you'll read online, ours included.
The pass day
From High Camp it's four to five hours up to 5,416 m. You start in the dark and the cold, on a path that's never technical and never stops climbing. You'll take about three times as many breaths per step as you did in Manang, and that's normal.
The top of the pass is prayer flags, a small tea shop and a sign. The view is huge, but what most people remember is how it felt, and a lot of them get quietly emotional up there.
Then comes the descent, and that's where the day gets hard. It's around 1,600 m down to Muktinath on loose scree, on legs that have already done six hours of work, and it takes as long as the climb and hurts more. The wind on the pass builds through the morning, so we leave High Camp before first light, not for the sunrise.
Down the other side
Muktinath is a major pilgrimage site for Hindus and Buddhists alike. There are 108 water spouts, an eternal flame fed by natural gas, and a steady stream of pilgrims who came up by jeep and have no interest in your trek. It's a useful reminder that these mountains were somebody's home and somebody's temple long before they were anybody's route.
Below Muktinath the Kali Gandaki opens into wide, wind-scoured country like the Tibetan plateau, with ochre cliffs, apple orchards at Marpha, and the deepest gorge on earth measured from the peaks on either side. The wind here is famous and you can plan around it: calm in the morning, ferocious from late morning on. Everyone walks this stretch early and takes the afternoon bus or flight once they're done. The locals do the same, so don't think of it as cheating.
Tilicho, if you have the days
Tilicho Lake, at 4,919 m, is a three-day detour from Manang and the side trip we rate above any other in the Annapurna region. It's a turquoise lake under a wall of ice, in country with no vegetation at all.
The way in crosses a well-known landslide section that people photograph and worry about. When it's dry and stable it's a straightforward if airy traverse. After heavy rain or fresh snow it's dangerous, and we'll turn a group around instead of pushing on.
Add Tilicho to the Circuit and you have a fifteen to sixteen day trip. If you have three extra days anywhere in Nepal, this is where we'd spend them.
Walk it with us
Private departures on your dates, guided by the people who wrote this page.
Questions we get asked
How hard is Thorong La, really?
It's a long, hard day, but not a technical one. There are no ropes and no exposure, just altitude and a lot of hours on your feet. How hard it feels comes down to how well you acclimatised in the week before.
What if someone in our group can't cross?
Your guide takes you back down to Manang and we arrange a jeep or a flight round. It happens a few times a season and it isn't a failure. Taking someone who is getting worse over a 5,416 m pass is how people die on this route.
Is the road really that bad now?
Below Chame and below Muktinath, yes. It's a dusty jeep track and walking it is no fun. Between Chame and Muktinath, which is the best of the trek, you're on trail almost the whole way.
Do I need a down jacket?
Yes. High Camp before dawn in November is bitterly cold, often well below freezing, with wind on top. If you don't own one, rent it from us in Lakeside for a few dollars a day instead of buying.
When are the best months?
Late September to mid November, and March to mid May. Snow can close the pass in winter, and the trek isn't worth doing in the monsoon. October is peak season, so send your dates early.
Still deciding?
Tell us your dates and how much walking you've done, and we'll tell you whether Annapurna Circuit & Thorong La is right for you. If it isn't, we'll say so.
Nothing to pay online. We confirm your dates first.
Or call the office +977 61-457830