Annapurna Circuit vs Manaslu Circuit - The better trek in 2020 [Nepal 4K]

Which of these two great tea house circuit treks is the right trek for you?
We compare both in depth and look closely on things like planning, permits, difficulty, safety, remoteness, accommodation, landscape and many more aspects to try to give you a good idea about which circuit is good for which type of trekker.

Deutsche Version: https://youtu.be/Gyv27oIk8B0

Since decades the Annapurna Circuit is famous as one of the best hikes on the planet. And whenever there was a question about the best tea house trek one could possibly do in the Himalaya, most people would either name the Everest Base Camp - mainly just because of getting close to Mt. Everest - or the Annapurna Circuit, due to the huge variety of climate zones, vegetation, different valleys and villages and the breathtaking mountain views. And because it's a circuit. You don't have to walk back the same way, like on the EBC trek.

However in the last few years some significant changes happened along the Annapurna Circuit. The area, which was never accessible by anything but walking was connected to the road network and was therefore no longer reserved for the hiking kind of travelers. Some roads bypassed the trails, some replaced the trails. Less active travelers since arrive in jeeps and buses and cause a new orientation of the way to make business with tourists in both the Manang and the Kali Gandaki valley.

At the same time the Annapurna Circuit got arguably less attractive to trekkers, just east of it, a trek which was reserved for camping groups became possible to do by using only tea houses and lodges, without the need to carry tents or other equipment. It starts in subtropical jungle, crosses many different valleys, villages and landscapes, enters high mountain terrain and leads you across a pass of more than 5000 m of altitude. Just like the Annapurna Circuit does. It's still basically reserved for active hikers, it still offers some authentic mountain village life as not yet everybody is working in tourism, it's remote, it's challenging, it's beautiful, it's somewhat like the Annapurna Circuit must have been decades ago.

Is the Manaslu Circuit the new Annapurna Circuit, like some trekkers claim? Is it similarly easy to plan and do? Is it similarly cheap? Is it as beautiful? Will it be as iconic? Is it as convenient? How do those new tea houses look like compared to the almost luxurious lodges on the Annapurna Circuit? And what if all these answers would favor the Manaslu Circuit... Would that mean the Annapurna Circuit is no longer a good trek?

We compare the Manaslu Circuit vs. the Annapurna Circuit in depth, taking into account the usual duration of the treks, transportation to the trek and back, the permits needed, the situation concerning guides and costs, the maximum altitude you reach on the trek, difficulty of the trails, safety while hiking, remoteness and sense of adventure, accommodation standards in the area, cultural sights, authenticity of the villages along the way (as opposed to pure tourists/hotel settlements) and the diverse landscaped you will experience.
In the end we will try to summarize and rather than just declaring one of the two treks better for whatever reason, we will try to suggest which certain "types" of trekkers might enjoy either of the two treks more or less than the other and for what reasons.

Our goal is to give you a good idea about all aspects of both the Manaslu Circuit and the Annapurna Circuit and enable you t make your own guess about which one is the better tea house circuit trek for you.

In case you still can't decide which one you want to do in the future: The Manaslu circuit actually meets the Annapurna Circuit in the town of Dharapani, which means you can actually combine the two! You would need about 20 days to hike the full Manaslu Circuit and the main part of the Annapurna Circuit. If you would like to do the full Annapurna Circuit, starting in Dharapani, you would need 4 weeks in total for both Manaslu Circuit and Annapurna Circuit - Mannapurnaslu if you will.

We did our Mannapurnaslu Trek in the end of 2019, which is also where most of the footage was taken. The pictures in this video are either from our AC trek in 2014 or from our friend Andrees de Ruiter, popular Nepal trekking expert and book author.
Andrees' Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/110810205627502/
Our complete Mannapurnaslu Trek Reports: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLjgQhPTiS8kV-XszTlNTk7c6wBIcbSzUm
All Music by Kai Engel unser CC license.

What do you think abut the Annapurna Circuit and the Manaslu Circuit? What seems to be the better trek for you? Did you already do one of them? Or maybe even both? If so, which one did you like better and why? Please share your thoughts with us in the comment section below!

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Видео Annapurna Circuit vs Manaslu Circuit - The better trek in 2020 [Nepal 4K] канала The Men Who Stare At Mountains