Anapurna Circuit (+Tilicho Lake)
Trail photos
Author
Trail stats
- Distance
- 160.44 mi
- Elevation gain
- 45,794 ft
- Technical difficulty
- Difficult
- Elevation loss
- 44,820 ft
- Max elevation
- 17,765 ft
- TrailRank
-
70
5
- Min elevation
- 2,484 ft
- Trail type
- One Way
- Time
- 11 days 23 hours 6 minutes
- Coordinates
- 18399
- Uploaded
- June 24, 2017
- Recorded
- April 2016
near Badagaun, Western Region (Nepal)
Viewed 7752 times, downloaded 616 times
Trail photos
Itinerary description
This is one of the most iconic treks in Nepal. And it's fame is well deserved. The trekk crosses a wide variety of environments and sceneries that change dramatically depending on which part of the circuit you are. This was our itinerary which could be used as a guide:
Day 1: Besi Sahar - Ngadi
Day 2: Ngadi - Tal
Day 3: Tal - Chame
Day 4: Chame - Ghyaru
Day 5: Ghyaru - Manang
Day 6: Manang - Tilicho Base Camp
Day 7: Tilicho Base Camp - Tilicho Lake - Sheree Kharka
Day 8: Sheree Kharka - Ledar
Day 9: Ledar - Thorung High Camp
Day 10: Thorung High Camp - Kagbeni
Day 11: Kagbeni - Jomsom - Tatopani (Jomsom to Tatopani by car)
Day 12: Tatopani - Ghorepani
Day 13: Ghorepani - Poon Hill - Nayapul
You have to pay your trek permit at the office in Kathmandu and this could take you 1-2hrs if it's busy.
From Kathmandu we managed to get a private transport that took us to the village of Besi Sahar. We booked it at our hotel in Kathmandu but there are other ways to get there such as the public bus. The trip to Besi Sahar is long and roads are not great. Once we got there we started walking around 5-6 pm. We did not book any of the sleeping places in advance. We did the trekk in April and there were plenty of accomodation spaces everywhere. You can buy food all the way around the circuit, so there is no need to carry any with you. As an advice I would choose the houses with gas showers. We did not have good experiences with the solar ones.
About the equipment: Our backpacks were around 14-15 kg. They were pretty heavy but most of the staff we took was used on the trekk. Mind that weather conditions can rapidly change and due to the altitude the climate could be quite extreme. Some of the staff we took included:
- Good sleeping bag. Comfort 0°C
- Walking boots and a spare pair of trainers/sandals as a back up
- Raincoat and waterproof over-trousers
- Thermal Layer
- Middle layer (fleece, dawn...)
- Snow gloves
- Hat
- Sun protection and good sunglasses
- Head torch
- 1L water bottle.
- All the rest of the stuff you would normally take anywhere.
About the altitude sickness: Everyone reacts differently to the altitude. We were 7 people an none of us suffered any major effect. We did follow couple of advices someone gave us:
- If you are getting altitude sickness symptoms. GO BACK DOWN! You should start feeling better.
- Above 3000m try not to loose your breath. Slow down your path and keep a normal breathing pattern if possible.
- Try to spend couple of nights at around 4000m before going any higher
- Some days in altitude, specially on the short days where we were arriving early to the sleeping place, we used to leave our backpacks in the house and walk 200-300 meter higher and then come back down to sleep.
- Doing the side trek to Tilicho Lake, was a good test/training before heading to Thorung-La pass
- You can buy pills and drugs at any chemists in Kathmandu. We did buy some Diamox and Dexamethasone pills. Thanksfully we did not have to use them.
Day 1: Besi Sahar - Ngadi
Day 2: Ngadi - Tal
Day 3: Tal - Chame
Day 4: Chame - Ghyaru
Day 5: Ghyaru - Manang
Day 6: Manang - Tilicho Base Camp
Day 7: Tilicho Base Camp - Tilicho Lake - Sheree Kharka
Day 8: Sheree Kharka - Ledar
Day 9: Ledar - Thorung High Camp
Day 10: Thorung High Camp - Kagbeni
Day 11: Kagbeni - Jomsom - Tatopani (Jomsom to Tatopani by car)
Day 12: Tatopani - Ghorepani
Day 13: Ghorepani - Poon Hill - Nayapul
You have to pay your trek permit at the office in Kathmandu and this could take you 1-2hrs if it's busy.
From Kathmandu we managed to get a private transport that took us to the village of Besi Sahar. We booked it at our hotel in Kathmandu but there are other ways to get there such as the public bus. The trip to Besi Sahar is long and roads are not great. Once we got there we started walking around 5-6 pm. We did not book any of the sleeping places in advance. We did the trekk in April and there were plenty of accomodation spaces everywhere. You can buy food all the way around the circuit, so there is no need to carry any with you. As an advice I would choose the houses with gas showers. We did not have good experiences with the solar ones.
About the equipment: Our backpacks were around 14-15 kg. They were pretty heavy but most of the staff we took was used on the trekk. Mind that weather conditions can rapidly change and due to the altitude the climate could be quite extreme. Some of the staff we took included:
- Good sleeping bag. Comfort 0°C
- Walking boots and a spare pair of trainers/sandals as a back up
- Raincoat and waterproof over-trousers
- Thermal Layer
- Middle layer (fleece, dawn...)
- Snow gloves
- Hat
- Sun protection and good sunglasses
- Head torch
- 1L water bottle.
- All the rest of the stuff you would normally take anywhere.
About the altitude sickness: Everyone reacts differently to the altitude. We were 7 people an none of us suffered any major effect. We did follow couple of advices someone gave us:
- If you are getting altitude sickness symptoms. GO BACK DOWN! You should start feeling better.
- Above 3000m try not to loose your breath. Slow down your path and keep a normal breathing pattern if possible.
- Try to spend couple of nights at around 4000m before going any higher
- Some days in altitude, specially on the short days where we were arriving early to the sleeping place, we used to leave our backpacks in the house and walk 200-300 meter higher and then come back down to sleep.
- Doing the side trek to Tilicho Lake, was a good test/training before heading to Thorung-La pass
- You can buy pills and drugs at any chemists in Kathmandu. We did buy some Diamox and Dexamethasone pills. Thanksfully we did not have to use them.
Comments (14)
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Hello,
I've planned this trek for next April, how many liter was the backpack that you used?
Thank you.
Andrea
Hello Andrea, the backpacks we used were around 50L. However, this depends on how bulky your stuff is.
Hope you have a great time in such an amazing place.
Thank you, I think I'll buy Deuter 50+10 lt...
Ciao,
One more question...😁
I'll be' there in the 2nd half of April, do you think I need a sleeping bag to sleep in circuit lodges? Do you bring one with you ?
Thank you again.
Andrea
Hi,
Great information for the trip i am planning on this April. Is 20 days enough for doing the whole circle? Thank you.
Sang
Hi Andrea. I would definitely get an sleeping bag with me. In some lodges you can get blankets but they may not be enough in the cold places and they may not be very clean.
Hi Sang,
I would say that 20 days is enough for closing the circle. However this depends on your path. If you feel that you are running out of time you can always get a ride in Jomsom as we did or skip the Tilicho Lake side-trek.
Hope you have a great time.
Hi Serrano
Thank you.
Sang
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Moderate
Just done from 16th to 29th April...WONDERFUL!
Every mountain lover should have this experience in his life
I have followed this trail View more
Information
Easy to follow
Scenery
Very difficult
We've done it my wife and I with no guide and no porter. We wanted to be on our own. Backpacks were 14 and 12 kg. we spent one day rest at 3500m where we just did a gentle round daytrip to acclimatize with the altitude. Bery hard climb the last day to the top, but absolutely worth it!!!! we didn't do the Tilicho lake though.
I am doing the APC commencing 1st November 2018. Thank you for a very helpful report that is useful in my planning.
You are very welcome. Hope you have an amazing experience
Hi! How many days did you spend to do the AC tilicho lake? (Including days of acclimatization in manang) thank you for sharing your tracks! I will do it in a month!!
Wow, Amazing,
ACT is Nepal's best circuit trekking trail regardless of road connection.
Now you can complete this Annapurna Circuit Trek with Tilicho Lake in 10 Days if you don't have any issue of AMS.