The road on the Annapurna Circuit and the trails around it

For most of its history, the Annapurna Circuit was a walk between villages that could only be reached on foot or by mule. When the trek opened to foreigners in the late 1970s, it took around three weeks from the Marsyangdi valley over Thorong La and down the Kali Gandaki, and every kilo of rice, kerosene and beer in the lodges came up on someone's back or on a mule train. The trail was the only road.

That changed in the 2000s and 2010s. On the west side, a road was pushed up the Kali Gandaki from Beni through Tatopani to Jomsom, opening to traffic in stages, and then on to Muktinath. On the east side, a jeep track was cut from Besisahar up the Marsyangdi gorge, reaching Chame and later Manang. Today you can sit in a jeep from Besisahar to Manang, cross Thorong La on foot, and take another jeep from Muktinath to Jomsom and Pokhara. The pass itself, at 5,416 m, is still crossed only on foot or on horseback.

For people living in these valleys, the road is mostly a blessing. A sack of rice that once cost a week's porterage now arrives by truck. A pregnant woman or an injured farmer can reach the hospital in Besisahar, Beni or Pokhara in hours, not days. Apples from Marpha and potatoes from Manang can be sold in Pokhara before they spoil. Families who once sent children away to school can visit them more often. When trekkers complain about the road, villagers sometimes smile and ask how many days the trekker would carry a gas cylinder up from Besisahar.

For trekkers, the road brought dust, engine noise and jeeps on the narrow sections of the old trail. Some lodges on the lower Kali Gandaki, which once lived on trekkers walking down from Jomsom, lost much of that trade when people began taking jeeps instead. For a few years the Circuit was written off in travel articles as ruined. That was too quick: the mountains, villages and the pass are still there, and so are most of the footpaths, if you know where to find them.

The road also changed who comes. Indian and Nepali pilgrims now reach Muktinath by jeep in large numbers, especially in spring and autumn, and the lodges of Ranipauwa below the temple have grown to serve them. On a busy morning the temple courtyard holds more pilgrims than trekkers, and that is a good thing to see: Muktinath was a pilgrimage place for centuries before anyone came to walk around the Annapurnas.

In response, the Annapurna Conservation Area Project and trekking groups marked a set of alternative footpaths known as the NATT, the New Annapurna Trekking Trails. They link old village paths, herders' tracks and new sections on the opposite bank of the river or higher on the slopes, so trekkers can walk most of the Circuit away from vehicles. The routes are painted with trail markers on rocks and walls, usually red and white, with blue and white on some side trails.

The NATT routes are often harder than walking the road: steeper, longer and sometimes with extra climbs. They are also more beautiful, with better views, more villages, and the quiet that the Circuit was famous for. A good guide knows which sections are worth the extra effort and which are washed out or overgrown that season.

Not every NATT section is open every year. Monsoon rains bring down bridges and landslides, and some side paths fall out of use when lodges along them close. Ask in the villages. Lodge owners know which paths their own guests used last week, and they are usually honest about which ones to avoid.

The table below shows the main places where road and trail part company, as we know them. Conditions change after every monsoon, so treat it as a starting point and check current status before you travel.

On the Marsyangdi side, the most important choice is above Pisang. The road and the lower trail follow the valley floor through Humde to Manang. The upper route climbs steeply from the river to Ghyaru, about 3,670 m, then contours through Ngawal and Braga to Manang. It is one of the finest walks in Nepal, with Annapurna II, III and IV and Gangapurna in a line across the valley, old stone villages with prayer walls, and a useful extra night high up that helps acclimatisation.

Lower down, the high trail via Timang and Thanchowk between Dharapani and Koto avoids a long stretch of road and gives early views of Manaslu and Annapurna II. Many trekkers now start walking at Chamje or Dharapani after a jeep ride, accepting that the lowest gorge section is mostly road.

Between Bhratang and Pisang, where the valley bends below the great curved rock slab of Paungda Danda, the trail and road run close together, but there are footpaths on the far bank for parts of the way. Your guide will choose depending on dust, traffic and how the legs feel; on this stretch, a short ride is no great loss.

After Thorong La, many trekkers take a jeep from Muktinath and fly or drive out from Jomsom. That is a pity, because the Kali Gandaki side has some of the best villages in the region. From Muktinath an alternative path leads over a ridge to Lubra, a village known for its Bon monastery, then down the Panda Khola to the Kali Gandaki near Jomsom. Kagbeni, with its mud-brick lanes and old monastery, can be reached on footpaths rather than the road.

South of Jomsom, the east bank trail leads to Marpha, a Thakali village of whitewashed houses, apple orchards and a famous brandy, and on to Tukuche, once a great salt-trading town. Further down, trails through Larjung, Kokhethanti and Titi lake keep you off the road with views of Dhaulagiri and Nilgiri. Walking all the way to Tatopani and up to Ghorepani turns the Circuit into a three-week classic again.

We no longer pretend the road is not there. We use it where walking it would add nothing, and leave it wherever a real trail exists.

Most importantly, we treat the road as a tool, not a verdict. A trekker who walks from Chame to Muktinath on trails, stays two nights in Manang and walks down to Kagbeni has had a great Annapurna trek, whatever drove past on the far bank. If anything, the road has made the Circuit easier to fit into two weeks, and the parts that matter most have not changed at all.

• Jeep from Besisahar to Chamje or Dharapani to skip the dustiest section.
• Walk the high trail via Timang where conditions allow.
• Always take the upper route via Ghyaru and Ngawal to Manang.
• Two nights in Manang and short days to Thorong Phedi.
• After the pass, walk to Kagbeni and Jomsom on paths, or via Lubra.
• Fly from Jomsom, or keep walking south on the NATT if you have time.