Trekking in Nepal – why Annapurna Region

Do we trek in the Everest region – possibly to Everest Base Camp, or in the Annapurna region – the circuit or Annapurna Base Camp?  Those were the questions that we needed to answer before arranging our travel plans to Nepal.

The decision would end up coming down to the amount of time we had available and our desire for a ‘less busy’ alternative to Everest Base Camp.  It seems that most people that travel to Nepal, recognize ‘Everest’ and as such, it’s a natural destination choice.  With that in mind, the number of trekkers and apparently, the amount of garbage left behind, meant that we wanted the ‘less travelled’ option.

The other benefit of Annapurna Base Camp route is it would allow us to have more time traveling through villages and meeting locals before reaching the higher altitudes, whereas with Everest Base Camp, the route is less populated by locals.

We should also mention that many people fly to Lukla from Kathmandu to begin their trek to Everest Base Camp.  The downside is the Lukla flight is often delayed or cancelled due to weather (fog, cloud coverage, etc).  Our travel plans didn’t have a lot of extra play for unexpected delays, especially if it meant several days of delays (which actually happened to some trekkers while we were in Nepal).

So, Annapurna region won – more remote, less busy, and better control over travel to/from the start point.  In our case, that would be Phedi, about 18km outside Pokhara.