My friend and I will be trekking somewhere ( have yet to decide) this coming October. Neither of us are too experienced with trekking and we are on a budget. Given those two details what would anyone recommend we trek as we make our way there? Packing lists? There are so many options and we are a bit confused on whether most trek until the base of the peak or most are able to trek to the peaks? Thanks!
1
petrus
The two easiest to reach and most popular treks are Annapurna Sanctuary trek also called ABC trek, which goes put to 4200m or so and takes about 10 days. Slightly longer trek in the Annapurna area is the Annapurna Circuit, which goes up to 5420 meters and takes 14 to 21 days depending where you decide you have had enough. It is also quite common to combine the two, requiring around 25 days or so. If you are fit and willing to carry your packs and are short on money, you can do these treks for $25/day per person for food & lodgings + $50 for permits and such. For first timers I would at least recommend a porter-guide, who carries your gear and shows the way, at $20/day.
Buy a Nepal trekking guidebook and browse around here for packing lists.
Treks do not go to real mountain peaks, but there are good viewpoints everywhere, and in the Khumbu area there are a few +5000m hills to climb.
3
hailstarplanet
I did 7 days in Annapurna region including Poon Hill as I only had limited amount of time back in 2007. Just knocked the door of the tour agent and found a guide and one another guy jumped onto my "tour" so we were three of us.
You tell them how many days you wanna trek and they can come up with the routes suit for you. Hiring guide will cost about USD360 for 7 days including accommodations and three meals, or back in 2012 I did Everest Base Camp & Gokyo Trek for 16 days (usually takes 20-23days) without hiring a guide. This was a lot cheaper but that s because I found a local guy (not a guide) to trek with and I found him on this forum. In the end we were 6 people in the group, organized online otherwise met during the trek.
Not sure if this is recommendable as you said you are not experienced hiker, could be that it s better hiring your guide but October is a peak season for trekking in Nepal and for popular routes anywhere in Annapurna region you will always find another group of people with or without guide, another way of doing it is to tag alone these groups. :)
Yes many possibilities and Nepal is so easy to organize anything in terms of trekking trip.
Enjoy!
Pro tip
Lonely Planet
trusted partner
trusted partner