Manaslu Circuit Trek

After breakfast, set off on a long drive of seven to eight hours from Kathmandu. The first half is on tarmac through terraced hillsides; about halfway, the road turns into a rough, bumpy track, and the Budhi Gandaki river appears below, grey with glacial water from mountains you cannot yet see.

It is a tiring day in a seat, and the reward comes when you step out at Machha Khola, at 930 metres, a small village whose name means fish river. The air smells of wood smoke, and the evening is quiet after the city. Settle into your teahouse, stretch your legs along the village lane and turn in early before the first day of walking.

Summary: A 7 to 8 hour drive, the second half on rough road, along the Budhi Gandaki to Machha Khola (930 m). Overnight in a teahouse.

After breakfast, start the first real walking day, six to seven hours along the Budhi Gandaki. The trail crosses the river on swaying suspension bridges hung with faded prayer flags, and in places waterfalls drop straight onto the path, so expect wet boots and uneven stone steps along the way.

The trail climbs and drops along the side of the gorge, a good first test for legs used to flat pavements and escalators. By late afternoon, the stone-walled houses of Jagat, at 1,340 metres, come into view, and the day's tiredness feels earned. Settle into your teahouse for dinner and an early night.

Summary: Walk 6 to 7 hours along the Budhi Gandaki, over suspension bridges and past waterfalls, to Jagat (1,340 m). Overnight in a teahouse.

After breakfast, stop at the police post, where your permits are checked properly and your passport details logged, the moment the restricted area becomes real. Then continue through Salleri, Sirdibas and Philim, villages where Gurung and Nubri building styles show in the carved wooden window frames.

Beyond Philim, the valley narrows and the trail climbs on towards Deng, at 1,860 metres. Phone signal, good enough until now for a photo home each evening, starts to drop in and out, so send your messages early. There is some relief in not needing to check anything. Settle into your teahouse in Deng for dinner and the night.

Summary: A permit check at the police post, then a walk through Salleri, Sirdibas and Philim to Deng (1,860 m). Phone signal becomes patchy. Overnight in a teahouse.

After breakfast, climb through rhododendron forest via Rana and Bihi Phedi. It is a big day of height gain, close to 800 metres, more than any staircase at home could prepare you for, and the reward waiting at the end of it is warm bread.

Namrung, at 2,630 metres, has a bakery that surprises everyone after days of dal bhat, and most people eat more than they planned to. The village marks a clear change, with stacked stone houses built for cold instead of the tin roofs lower down. You may notice your breath a little short on short walks, a first sign of altitude. Overnight in a teahouse.

Summary: A steady climb through rhododendron forest via Rana and Bihi Phedi to Namrung (2,630 m), home to a bakery. Overnight in a teahouse.

After breakfast, walk five to six hours via Lihi and Sho. The day is shorter than recent ones but harder on the lungs. Above Lho, Manaslu itself comes into view, at 8,163 metres the eighth highest mountain in the world, close enough to take in the full size of its rock and ice.

Visit Ribung Gompa, the monastery on the hill above the village, whose prayer wheels are worn smooth by generations of hands. Your guide explains that this is Nubri, a region closer in culture to Tibet than to Kathmandu. Settle into your teahouse in Lho, at 3,180 metres, for dinner, with dal bhat once again on the menu.

Summary: Walk 5 to 6 hours via Lihi and Sho to Lho (3,180 m), with first close views of Manaslu (8,163 m) and a visit to Ribung Gompa. Overnight in a teahouse.

After breakfast, take a shorter, steadier climb via Shyala into Samagaon, at 3,520 metres, where the trek pauses to let your body catch up with the altitude. From the village, Manaslu's summit face stands in clear view, the closest most trekkers come to it.

You spend two nights here, and the slower pace is deliberate. Take the afternoon to rest, walk the village lanes and drink plenty of water. From now on, your guide checks your oxygen level with a pulse oximeter each evening, turning altitude from an idea into a number you can watch. Overnight in a teahouse.

Summary: A shorter, steady climb via Shyala to Samagaon (3,520 m), with clear views of Manaslu's summit face. First of two nights in a teahouse.

After an early breakfast, set off on a demanding seven to eight hour round trip to Manaslu Base Camp, at 4,800 metres. It follows the classic rule of climb high, sleep low, and the effort pays off on the days that follow. The thin air makes even short uphill stretches hard, so walk slowly and steadily.

Base camp itself is bare, a scatter of expedition debris and prayer flags below the mountain's icefall, with Manaslu's upper slopes filling the view. Walk back down to Samagaon, at 3,520 metres, for the evening, where the same teahouse room feels well earned after the long day.

Summary: A 7 to 8 hour round trip to Manaslu Base Camp (4,800 m) to help you adjust to the altitude, then back down for a second night in Samagaon (3,520 m).

After breakfast, walk four to five hours through open yak pastures, with the treeline now well below you and the land reduced to rock, grass and sky. It is a shorter day, which gives your body more time to adjust to the altitude before the pass.

Samdo, at 3,875 metres, is the last permanent settlement before Larkya La, a trading village close enough to the Tibetan border that some residents still cross for supplies. There is no traffic or hum of air conditioning here, only the wind and the odd bell from a yak herd. Overnight in a teahouse.

Summary: Walk 4 to 5 hours through yak pastures above the treeline to Samdo (3,875 m), the last village before Larkya La. Overnight in a teahouse.

After breakfast, walk four to five hours to Dharamshala, also called Larkya Phedi. The distance is short, but every step is at an altitude where the air holds roughly half the oxygen of sea level, so the pace stays slow and steady.

Dharamshala, at 4,460 metres, is not a village but a handful of basic lodges built to stage trekkers before the pass. The menu is short and the rooms are cold enough that your down jacket stays on indoors. After an early dinner, everyone goes to bed early, a little nervous, ready for the pre-dawn start.

Summary: Walk 4 to 5 hours to Dharamshala (Larkya Phedi, 4,460 m), the basic lodges at the foot of the pass. Early dinner and early night in a basic lodge.

Start walking before sunrise by headlamp, as the wind on Larkya La is calmer in the early hours. This is the longest and hardest day of the trek, eight to nine hours in all, climbing to 5,160 metres, about thirty times the height of Bukit Timah Hill. Prayer flags strung between cairns mark the top, snapping hard in the wind.

Take your photos and start down, as the descent to Bimthang on the far side is long, steep and hard on the knees. Manaslu comes back into view from a completely new angle, and every step down brings thicker air. Reach Bimthang later in the day and settle into your teahouse for a well-earned dinner and sleep.

Summary: Walk 8 to 9 hours: a pre-dawn climb over Larkya La (5,160 m), then a long, steep descent to Bimthang. Overnight in a teahouse.

After breakfast, walk five to six hours downhill through Karche, Tilche and Thonje, where the forest thickens again and the air turns warm enough to unzip your jacket for the first time in days. This stretch is in the Annapurna Conservation Area, a different permit zone from the restricted Manaslu section.

Arrive in Dharapani, at 1,860 metres, where you join the Annapurna Circuit trail. There are proper guesthouse menus again and other trekking groups on the path, a change after days of seeing almost no one. Your legs are sore, and the pass is now behind you. Overnight in a teahouse.

Summary: Walk 5 to 6 hours downhill via Karche, Tilche and Thonje into the Annapurna Conservation Area, to Dharapani (1,860 m). Overnight in a teahouse.

After breakfast, set off on the eight to nine hour drive back to Kathmandu via Besisahar. The first stretch is a rough road down the Marsyangdi valley, and it improves steadily until the tarmac returns, a small comfort you would not have noticed two weeks ago.

Check into your hotel in Kathmandu, at 1,400 metres, and enjoy a hot shower with real water pressure after the bucket and solar-heated versions on the trail. In the evening, head out for a meal of anything other than dal bhat and rice, the first after two weeks in the mountains.

Summary: An 8 to 9 hour drive from Dharapani via Besisahar back to your hotel in Kathmandu (1,400 m). A hot shower and a free evening.

After breakfast, take a final look at Kathmandu's traffic outside the car window, which looks almost familiar now, on the transfer to Tribhuvan International Airport for your flight home.

Your phone is full of photos and your legs still ache on stairs. Somewhere over the Bay of Bengal, back in the steady hum of the cabin, Larkya La at 5,160 metres will already feel a long way off, the day your body found out what it could do above 5,000 metres with half the usual oxygen.

Summary: Breakfast, then a transfer to Tribhuvan International Airport for your flight home to Changi Airport.