“A Journey through Landscapes & Cultures”

Quick facts: classic Circuit crosses Thorong La (≈5,416 m); typical time 12–21 days (varies by route); best seasons spring (Mar–May) and autumn (Sep–Nov); permits: ACAP + TIMS required.

The Annapurna Circuit reads like an anthology of Nepal: terraced farmland and friendly villages, rhododendron-carpeted slopes, Himalayan deserts beyond Thorong La, and sacred stops like Muktinath.

The climb to Thorong La — the pass that crowns the route — is the hair-raising crescendo: pre-dawn headlamp columns, biting wind, and then a sudden, jaw-dropping panorama that stitches Annapurna, Dhaulagiri and the long Mustang rain-shadow into one sweep.

One unforgettable morning I watched a teenager from Manang offer fresh tea at a stone chautara and then point east as clouds cleared to reveal a ridge I’d been reading about — she beamed with the kind of quiet pride that makes trekking through these villages feel like being welcomed into someone’s life story rather than passing tourists’ ground.