Manaslu vs Annapurna Circuit: Which Trek to Choose?

By Uncover Nepal Guide · Checked by our Kathmandu travel team · Last checked 12 November 2026

On 11 November, while hail fell on Kathmandu, moderate snow was reported again in the high Himalaya. That is the backdrop to a question our desk hears often at this time of year. Two loops, both crossing a pass above 5,100 m, both ending in the Annapurna area: Manaslu or Annapurna Circuit?

The short answer. Manaslu vs Annapurna Circuit comes down to days, permits and roads. Choose the Manaslu Circuit for a quieter, more remote loop if you can give it about 13 to 18 days and take a restricted-area permit. Choose the Annapurna Circuit if you have about 10 to 14 days and want one permit and more ways out by road.

This comparison sits under our best treks in Nepal guide. Below we set the two treks side by side: the passes, the days, the permits and the 2026 solo rule, real 2025 trekker numbers, the roads, the side trips and what the trails are like this November.

In this guide

• Key facts
• Manaslu vs Annapurna Circuit: how do the two treks compare?
• Which pass is higher, Larkya La or Thorong La?
• How many days do you need for each trek?
• Which permits do you need, and can you trek solo?
• Which trek is quieter, Manaslu or the Annapurna Circuit?
• What is each trek like on the trail?
• How have roads changed both treks?
• Which side trips can you add: Tsum Valley or Tilicho Lake?
• What are conditions like in November 2026?
• So which should you choose?
• Frequently asked questions
• Plan your trip with us

Manaslu vs Annapurna Circuit: how do the two treks compare?

Both are long loops that cross a pass above 5,100 m and finish in the Annapurna Conservation Area. The Manaslu Circuit is the quieter, more remote and more regulated of the two. The Annapurna Circuit has the higher pass, far more people, a single permit and roads along much of its length.

One honest warning on the numbers: the Manaslu figure counts permits, while the Annapurna figure counts everyone entering an area that also holds Poon Hill, Annapurna Base Camp and Mustang. No official annual count for the Circuit alone is published. The gap is still large, and you feel it on the trail.

Which pass is higher, Larkya La or Thorong La?

Thorong La is higher, at 5,416 m, against 5,106 m for Larkya La (5,160 m is also published). Both are serious high passes where fresh snow changes everything: in late September 2026, snow blocked Thorong La for days before the trail was cleared. Treat neither as a routine walk.

On the Circuit you climb from Manang, about 3,500 m, to Thorong Phedi, about 4,450 to 4,550 m, or High Camp, about 4,850 to 4,925 m, then cross and drop to Muktinath, about 3,800 m according to NTB. On our Circuit from Pokhara we sleep two nights at Manang before going higher. Our Thorong La pass guide covers the crossing day. Larkya La, also called Larke Pass, is lower, but it is more remote, with fewer people around if something goes wrong; our Larke Pass guide walks you through it.

On both passes, your guide, who knows the route, decides when and how to cross, based on snow and the forecast.

Both loops sleep well above about 2,450 m, the height at which the US CDC says altitude illness becomes a risk for anyone who has not acclimatised. The rules are the same on each:

• Go up slowly. Above 3,000 m, raise your sleeping height by no more than about 500 m a night, with a rest day every 3 to 4 days (Wilderness Medical Society, 2024).
• Walk slowly, "bistarai, bistarai". Drink water and skip alcohol for the first days up high.
• Know the signs: headache, nausea, tiredness, poor sleep. Never go higher with symptoms; go down if they get worse. Ask your doctor about preventive medicine such as acetazolamide.
• Confusion, breathlessness at rest or unsteady walking mean you descend at once and get medical help. Our guide arranges a rescue if needed.

How many days do you need for each trek?

Give the Manaslu Circuit about 13 to 18 days from Kathmandu, and 14 or more is common. Most Annapurna Circuit itineraries now run about 10 to 14 days because roads reach Manang and Muktinath; walking more of it takes longer. On either route, leave some slack for weather.

The Circuit has shrunk the most. The Kathmandu Post wrote in October 2026 that it now takes roughly 7 to 10 days instead of about 21. We think the low end leaves too little time to acclimatise for most people; our Circuit itineraries run 10 days from Pokhara and 11 from Kathmandu, up to 14 on the longer versions.

• Manaslu start: a long drive from Kathmandu to the road head at Machha Khola, then you walk on via Jagat.
• Circuit start: from Pokhara, a long drive east to Besisahar, then a jeep up the mountain road to Chame, 2,670 m, on day one of our trip.
• The way out: the Manaslu Circuit exits into the Annapurna Conservation Area, which is why it needs ACAP too. The Circuit leaves Muktinath by road through Jomsom.

Our 12-day Manaslu trek is shorter than that typical range; if you are new to altitude, ask us how its days are built.

Which permits do you need, and can you trek solo?

The Annapurna Circuit needs one permit, ACAP. The Manaslu Circuit needs three: the Manaslu restricted-area permit, the MCAP permit and, because the route exits into the Annapurna area, the ACAP permit. The restricted-area permit is issued only through a registered agency, and since 22 March 2026 a solo trekker can get one, with a licensed guide.

Fees from the Nepal Tourism Board copy of the Department of Immigration schedule and NTB's park entry fee page, checked 12 November 2026. Children below 10 enter ACAP and MCAP free. A conservation-area permit bought at a checkpost costs double, so we arrange every permit before you start walking. Our Manaslu trek permit guide explains how the restricted-area permit is issued.

Solo on Manaslu. Since a Department of Immigration decision on 22 March 2026, a single traveller can get the permit, applied for through a registered agency, with a licensed guide (The Himalayan Times, 23 March 2026). For restricted-area permits the agency also bears responsibility for emergency rescue.

Solo on the Circuit. There are two positions on the guide rule. NTB's rule requiring a licensed guide on listed routes has applied since 1 April 2023 (NTB lists 31 March 2023). In the Everest region, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality says a guide is not compulsory in Khumbu. On our trips the question does not arise: a licensed guide walks with you on every trek we run.

We arrange your trekking permits. Your visa and international flights are your own arrangements; see the Nepal Tourism Board tourist visa page.

Which trek is quieter, Manaslu or the Annapurna Circuit?

Manaslu, by a wide margin, although the official counts are not like for like. About 14,700 foreign trekkers took the Manaslu restricted-area permit in 2025 (Department of Immigration). About 300,000 foreign visitors entered the Annapurna Conservation Area that year, but that figure covers every route in the area, not just the Circuit.

• October is busy. October 2025 was Manaslu's busiest month, with 4,336 permits; the whole Annapurna area saw 38,607 foreign visitors that month.
• The Circuit itself. ACAP's Dharapani checkpost recorded 30,135 foreign trekkers from 1 January to 27 October 2026 (The Kathmandu Post). That is one checkpost, and we have no matching 2026 figure for Manaslu.
• Counts differ. Other official 2025 Manaslu totals vary with what each office counts; we use the permit figure.
• Tsum is quieter again: 2,513 foreign trekkers took its permit in 2025.

Every Manaslu permit is issued through a registered agency, with a licensed guide, so trekking there without a guide is not an option. On the Circuit you share lodges, trails and, in places, the road with many more people.

What is each trek like on the trail?

The Manaslu Circuit follows the Budhi Gandaki valley up to stone villages and gompas (monasteries) under Manaslu, 8,163 m, then crosses Larkya La. The Annapurna Circuit climbs through Chame and Pisang to Manang, crosses Thorong La and drops to the temple town of Muktinath, with a road close by for much of the way.

The Manaslu Circuit

The first days are a deep river valley, with the Budhi Gandaki loud below the trail. You register at the Jagat checkpoint, and from there the villages get smaller and the mountains closer. Samagaun is the usual place for an acclimatisation day, with Manaslu straight above the fields and side walks towards Birendra Tal and Manaslu Base Camp. The honest limitation is the appeal: it is remote, there is no road in the upper valley, and until you cross the pass the only way out on foot is back down the valley. The October 2026 flood showed how exposed a trail in one narrow valley can be.

The Annapurna Circuit

You drive past the lower villages, then walk up to Pisang, where Annapurna II rises above Upper Pisang, and on to Manang, a cluster of flat-roofed stone houses at about 3,500 m, where you acclimatise. After Thorong La you come down to Muktinath, a pilgrimage temple town. The limitation is the road: parts of the walk run beside or along a jeep track. If you want a long walk with nothing but trail, the Circuit is no longer that trek.

How have roads changed both treks?

Roads have cut deep into both, the Circuit more than Manaslu. On the Annapurna Circuit they now reach Upper Manang on the east side and Muktinath on the west, and jeeps run to Chame, Manang and Khangsar. On Manaslu you can drive to Machha Khola and walk on via Jagat; the upper valley and the pass are still on foot.

Nepalnews, reporting on roads across the Annapurna Conservation Area in July 2026, wrote of the Ghorepani trail: "Jeeps now ply roads where only trekkers once walked." Krishna Acharya, named in the same report as president of TAAN, the trekking agencies' association, put it plainly.

"Whatever has been ruined is ruined. Now, we must protect the trails that remain intact."

Krishna Acharya, TAAN president at the time, Nepalnews, 21 July 2026

Roads are not all bad news: they give the Circuit more ways out if the weather turns or someone falls ill. They also bring dust and fewer days of unbroken walking. One more change this season: Tara Air and Summit Air suspended regular Pokhara to Jomsom flights for five months, citing maintenance and low demand; Jomsom airport said charter flights continue (Nepalnews, 22 October 2026). For most trekkers, the Circuit's western exit is now by road.

Which side trips can you add: Tsum Valley or Tilicho Lake?

On Manaslu the side trip is Tsum Valley, a separate restricted valley with its own permit; our Manaslu trek runs 16 days with it. On the Annapurna Circuit it is Tilicho Lake, walked from Manang. On our Circuit from Pokhara you sleep two nights at Tilicho Base Camp, 4,150 m, which also helps your acclimatisation.

Tsum suits people who want even fewer trekkers. Its status after the flood is unclear: on 25 October MCAP told The Kathmandu Post the Tsum trail needed another eight to 10 days to reopen, while an operator's summary of a TAAN advisory dated the same day says new wooden bridges have reopened it. We found no later official notice, so check with us before you fix dates. Tilicho is high and weather-sensitive: during the Cyclone Arnab storm, TAAN urged people at high places such as Larke and Tilicho Lake to move to safer locations. After heavy snow, be ready to skip it.

What are conditions like in November 2026?

Both routes reopened after this autumn's damage, but as of 12 November 2026 we found no official notice on either pass since the Cyclone Arnab snow of 29 to 31 October, and more snow was reported in high areas on 11 November. Check the week you go.

Manaslu. A flood on the Budhi Gandaki on 11 October 2026 damaged trails and homes in northern Gorkha and cut Jagat off for several days. Trekkers began returning on 16 October (MCAP), and TAAN's advisory of Wednesday 21 October said the Manaslu and Larke Pass trail had reopened after partial repairs, urging care (OnlineKhabar, 23 October). On 25 October MCAP said trekkers were again walking from Jagat towards Larkya La, and by midday 24 trekkers planning to cross the pass had registered at the Jagat checkpoint (The Kathmandu Post).

Annapurna Circuit. Heavy snow from 24 to 27 September 2026 blocked Thorong La; it was cleared and reopened in early October. ACAP's Jomsom checkpost then recorded 772 foreign tourists entering Mustang over the pass in two weeks.

The storm. The Department of Tourism advised trekkers and climbers to stay away from high Himalayan areas from 28 October to 1 November 2026, and the Department of Immigration stopped issuing restricted-area permits for high areas from 29 to 31 October (The Himalayan Times). On 11 November came this:

"Moderate snowfall is continuing in the high Himalayan regions."

Spotlight Nepal, 11 November 2026

So which should you choose?

Choose by days first, then by permits and roads, and only then by the pass. With about 10 to 14 days, the Annapurna Circuit fits. With two weeks or more and a wish for quiet trails, Manaslu is the better trek. With fewer than 10 days, choose neither and look at a shorter, lower trek.

Frequently asked questions

Plan your trip with us

Still weighing it up? Our best treks in Nepal guide sets both loops beside the other routes we know well. When you are ready, our Manaslu Circuit trek and Annapurna Circuit trek pages show the routes and dates. We arrange your permits, licensed guide and transport in Nepal. Message us on WhatsApp or send an enquiry and we will reply with honest options.