I was very happy to find lots and lots of informations online when I began planning for my trek to the Annapurna circuit. So now it’s my turn to share my itinerary and infos with you, so you can plan your own Annapurna circuit trekking with ease!

My itinerary

Day	From	To	Distance	Positive elevation	Altitude change	Time	Difficulty
1	Pokhara	Besisahar				5:00	🚎
	Besishara	Bhulbhule	11km	420m	+20m	3:00	👍easy
2	Bhulbhule	Jagat	14km	560m	+560m	6:15	🥵hard
3	Jagat	Dharapani	15km	600m	+600m	5:30	👍easy
4	Dharapani	Chame	16km	810m	+810m	5:15	👍easy
5	Chame	Upper Pisang	14.5km	600m	+600m	5:00	👍easy
6	Upper Pisang	Braka	17.5km	840m	+140m	5:00	🥵hard
7	Braka	Braka Ice Lake	5km	1200m	+0m	6:00	🥵hard
8	Braka	Manang	0	0	+0m	00:00	⌛️Break
9	Manang	Yak Kharka	9km	500m	+500m	3:00	👍easy
10	Yak Kharka	Thorung Pedi	6km	400m	+400m	1:45	👍easy
11	Thorung Pedi	Muktinath	16km	1100m	-650m	7:15	🥵hard
12	Muktinath	Jomsom	19km	-980m	-980m	6:30	😐medium
13	Jomsom	Tukuche	12km	-130m	-130m	5:00	🥵hard
14	Tukuche	Kalopani	10km	-65m	-65m	3:00	👍easy
	Kalopani	Tatopani				1:30	🚎
15	Tatopani	Pokhara				7:00	🚎

Money

If you travel on a budget, don’t take a porter and a guide, avoid alcohol and stick with the cheap menu items, you can do the whole circuit by having around 35’000NPR (307 CHF / 280€) in your pocket. But if you fancy a bit more of comfort, nice meals, beers and other stuff, you should aim more around 45’000NPR (400 CHF / 360€) in total to have a nice stay. These prices are for accommodation and meals only. 

The ACAP trekking permit and TIMS will cost you an additional 4000 NPR (35 CHF / 32€), and you will also have to pay for some gear in Katmandu/Pokhara.

Taking a guide should cost you around 3500 NPR (30 CHF / 28€) per day, and a porter 1200 NPR (10 CHF / 9€) per day. It is a common practice, and highly recommended tipping them directly between 10% to 20% of the total price after the hike, depending on how happy you were with their guiding, to support this activity of theirs that is wonderful and thank them for making these mountains accessible for us.

Gear

I went on the trek with a backpack filled with 11.5kg of gear (without water). This was definitely a mistake, and if I would go again, I’d limit myself to 10 kg maximum. Nonetheless, this didn’t stop me from accessing the top and was an extra challenge 😀 My back isn’t very happy about it, but I am very happy I managed! The higher you go, the heavier your backpack will feel, with oxygen depleting from the air, and all your movement losing dynamic. Travel light, and you will be fine! 

Here you can find my gear list for hiking the Annapurna Circuit:

2 pairs of hiking socks	2 icebreaker t-shirts
1 pair of small shoes	1 thermal top and long-johns
1 pair of hiking shoes	1 short
1 beanie	1 buff
3 underwear	1 wrist watch
1 down jacket	1 pair of fjällräven pants
1 Gore-Tex rain jacket	1 headlamp
1 camera + peak design clip	1 paracord bundle
1 E-reader	1 healing kit
1 emergency blanket	red and white tiger balm
1 pack of medicine (mainly anti-inflammatory and paracetamol)	diary + pen
1 card game	GPS tracker
1 smartphone + charger	1 pair of gloves
1 pair of hiking sticks	1 knife
anti-blisters tape	local map
purifying tabs (Micropur forte)	1L Nalgene bottle
3L Camelbak	1 roll of toilet paper
1 toiletry set	1 Nepalese NorthFake -20 degrees sleeping bag
1 microfiber towel

Buying gear

Pokhara and Katmandu are filled with local gear shops selling cheap rip-offs of different outdoor brands. Despite them being rip-offs, they have quite a good quality and do a perfect job filling your needs. Don’t be afraid to look around comparing prices before making a purchase in order to avoid being scammed.

Renting gear

If you are travelling around and don’t want to add gear to your belonging, an option is to rent your missing gear for the time of your trek. It will be quite inexpensive, and will fulfill your needs. You can find down jackets, sunglasses, shoes, sleeping bags, and many other items to rent around the cities.

Beware, if you want to rent hiking shoes, finding sizes above European 44 can be quite a hassle!