10 Days Short Annapurna Circuit Trekking

Early in the morning after a breakfast, we will take a local bus from Buspark to Besishar, which takes about 6-8 hours (190 Km). The roadway passes out of the valley along the riverside of Trishuli river to Besisahar, situated along the Marsyangdi River. During roadtrip, you will have chance to see amazing terraced farms, wonderful villages, gorgeous Manaslu and Ganesh snow peaks.

On the second day,we take a local bus from Besisahar to Chame. The roadway passes through terrace farms and jungles along the Marsyangdi River. We will be passing through the peaceful market popular as “Jagat Bazaar” and stopping to register our permit at Dharapani (1860m). Dharapani is the main Entrance point for Annapurna Circuit Trek. Afterall, we continue our journey until we reach Chame.

Chame has a busy local market and natural hot springs along side of the Marsyangdi river- where, we can relax with hot spring bathing. From Chame, you can witness the Lamjung Himal (6,932m), fantastic views of Annapurna II (7,937m) and up the valley, and if you look backward, you will be poked by the mount Manaslu (8,154m) and Peak 29 (7,833m).

Our actual foot steps on the trail begin from Chame, first, we walk through a steep and narrow valley to catch the views of Paungda Hill Rock face, a curved rock facing raising from the river. Along with Paungda Hill Rock, you will also get clear views of Annapurna II in the south and Pisang Peak in the northeast. Then we descend to the Manang Valley floor to reach Pisang – the destination for this day.

This day we will continue to our trek onward to upper trails of Pisang via Geru. We choose this trail as it offers the outstanding view northern face of Annapurna II, III, IV, Gangapurna, Tilicho, and Pisang Peak. As we ascend, you will feel the air turn cold, dry, and harsh. This trail will take you through several Tibetan-style settlements from where you get a chance to explore Buddhist culture before reaching Manang. In Manang, we will pay a short visit to Barge Monastery – the largest monastery in Manang.

On the 5th day of our trek is challenging as we will be gaining an elevation of more than 500 meters. We first make our way to reach Tanki Manang (upper Manang Village). At Tanki Manang, you can see stone-built houses with flat roofs, and as you move ahead, you will realize that you are nowhere near any other settlements. The place is desolate. As you continue further, you will reach a tiny village – Gunsang, and shortly after, you will arrive at a peaceful meadow known as Yak Kharka. The path to Yak Kharka might have been challenging, but from Yak Kharka, the trail to Ledar is easy. We will spend our night at Ledar.

Today’s trek will be a short just 3 to 4 hours of hiking as it also helps the acclimatization process. We leave Ledar behind and continue our walk, which takes us across Jorsang river(4310m) and to Phedi at (4,525m/14,525ft). Phedi is a Nepali word for the foot of the hill.

The most challenging part of the trip lies on our seventh day, as we will be crossing Thorong La Pass, one of the highest passes in the world, and the highest point of this trek. We wake up very early at 3 am to face this challenge and push ourselves against icy air and rough high-altitude trails, but the views from the pass are totally worth it.

From the Thorong La Pass, on your north, you will see a panoramic view of majestic Himalayan peaks extending to Tibet, and behind, you can see the Annapurna massifs. After enjoying the views from the Thorong La Pass, We descend to Muktinath.

The descent is quite steep and will take between 3-4 hours. Muktinath is sacred for both Hindus and Buddhists – the Buddhists call it Chumig Gyatsa, which in Tibetan means Hundred Waters. Muktinath Temple has 108 water sprouts with icy-cold water flowing from Kali Gandaki. Moreover, you can also see the eternal flame that has been burning there for more than 2,000 years.

We take public transport from Muktinath. The road heads down the valley to Jomsom. We will soon find ourselves at the bottom of Kali Gandaki river valley and to Jomsom, district headquarters of Mustang. Jomsom’s bustling marketplace provides a great change from the scenic farms and rural villages we had previously visited. We will stop and rest for a while in Jomsom and catch a local bus to Tatopani.

Our journey took deepest gorge in the world, and it will take us from the a rid high elevation terrain to the lowlands with lush jungle and farmlands. Throughout your bus journey, you get to enjoy the great views of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri Himalayan ranges until we finally reach Tatopani. At Tatopani, we can take a dip in the nearby hot springs before settling for the night.

We wake up early in the morning, our hotel in Tatopani and take a local transport, and heading toward Pokhara. Your journey will take roughly 6-7 hours, and before reaching Pokhara, you need to pass the beautiful Beni Bazaar town.
Pokhara is a tourist paradise with almost all the amenities you would ever require. We encourage you to explore Pokhara and arrange dinner for yourself. It must have been a long time since you missed your best food.

Finally, on the tenth day, early in the morning, you will return to Kathmandu on a tourist bus. The 200 km route first goes along the Marsyangdi River and then the Trishuli River while letting you enjoy the natural scenery and farmlands. You will be back in Kathmandu around 5 PM. We hope that you had a memorable journey ever.