The Annapurna Circuit cannot be completed today. On 3 October 2026, Thorong La and Tilicho Lake are closed, and the Annapurna Conservation Area Project (ACAP) is holding trekkers back after a week of snow, floods and landslides in Manang. There is no reopening date.
One piece of good news came this morning. The Besisahar to Chame road, cut for six days, reopened to vehicles. That gets you back into the lower Marsyangdi valley. It does not get you over the pass.
The board below is route by route, with the date each row was last confirmed and who confirmed it.
Is the Annapurna Circuit open?
No, not as a circuit. The circuit's whole point is the crossing of Thorong La at 5,416 metres from Manang to Muktinath, and that crossing is shut.
Three things are true at once, and most of the confusion comes from mixing them up:
- The pass is closed. ACAP and the Manang district administration have stopped trekkers going above Manang to Thorong La and Tilicho.
- The lower road is open again. Vehicles can reach Chame from Besisahar as of 3 October.
- The road to Manang is being worked on. Local authorities in Manang told our team that ACAP is working to reopen the road above Chame by 4 October.
So a jeep to Chame is possible. A circuit is not.
Thorong La pass and Tilicho Lake: closed
The closure began as a three-day precaution and has outlasted it.
On 24 September, Manang's District Administration Office banned trekking from 25 to 27 September after the Department of Hydrology and Meteorology forecast heavy to extreme rain and high-altitude snow. Assistant Chief District Officer Krishna Prasad Paudel named Tilicho Lake, Thorong La, Ice Lake, Kang La and Bhimthang, and asked trekkers already on the trail to shelter in hotels.
The forecast was right. Snow started falling from about 7am on Friday 25 September, from Humde at about 3,300 metres upward. By 30 September, Dhak Bahadur Bhujel, chief of ACAP's Manang unit, said more than 150 trekkers who had crossed or tried to cross Thorong La had turned back. He said 226 foreign trekkers had registered in upper Manang and 44 had come down.
On 1 October an ACAP official told the BBC: "We have been holding back all these people who want to go to the Annapurna Circuit trek, although we are under pressure from the trekking industry to announce the route open." About 700 trekkers were waiting in Pokhara to start.
Besisahar to Chame road: reopened on 3 October
The Marsyangdi, swollen by rain, ate the road at several places along the valley. On 3 October, Nabin Bista, information officer for the Dumre-Besisahar-Chame Road Project, said the road had reopened for vehicles. Crews had cleared the landslides at Khotro, in Nason Rural Municipality ward 3, and Koto, in Chame Rural Municipality ward 5.
Above Chame, local authorities in Manang told our team on 3 October that ACAP is working to reopen the road on to Manang by 4 October. We will confirm here when it does.
Both matter for anyone stuck in the valley, and for getting supplies up. Neither is a signal to start the trek. During the storms, Chame was evacuated for landslide risk, and trekkers walking out told the BBC they crossed collapsed roads and swept-away bridges on the way down.
Annapurna Base Camp, Mardi Himal and Poon Hill
The closures are not confined to Manang. ACAP's notice of 27 September closed three routes:
- the round Annapurna Circuit
- the Manang route
- the Jomsom to Muktinath route
It listed four more as awaiting confirmation of safe access: Annapurna Base Camp, Mardi Himal, Ghorepani Poon Hill and Ghandruk. ACAP said it would issue updates once routes were confirmed safe.
We have not seen that confirmation for any of the four as of 3 October. They are marked "access changed" on the board, not open, until it comes.
How many trekkers were stranded on the Annapurna Circuit
ACAP's checkpoint at Dharapani registered 590 foreign trekkers between 22 and 28 September, and 146 of them had already turned back by 30 September, according to ACAP tourism education assistant Bhupendra Gurung. ACAP said every trekker in Manang was safe. Helicopters were arranged for anyone ill, injured or running out of visa.
The BBC reported on 1 October that hundreds of trekkers had been flown out of Manang and Mustang. Across Nepal, the late-September landslides and rain killed about 30 people and affected more than 1,900 families.
Annapurna Circuit in October 2026: if you are booked
October is normally the best month on the circuit, and it may still be this year. But nobody can tell you today when the pass will open, and no one should sell you a fixed date for it.
- Don't travel to the trailhead yet. Wait for ACAP to reopen Thorong La. Waiting in Manang puts you in the valley where the landslides were.
- Talk to us before you fly. We can go through new dates or another trek with you. Contact us with your departure date.
- Build in spare days. Once the pass reopens, the first days after fresh snow are slow ones.
We will update this page and the board as ACAP and the district publish changes. For the rest of Nepal after the August flood, see Is Nepal safe to trek after the 2026 flood? The Annapurna Circuit Trek page has the full itinerary for when it reopens.
Sources
- Nepal News (RSS), Besisahar-Chame road resumes after six-day obstruction, 3 October 2026
- BBC World Service, Trekkers helicoptered off mountains as more deadly landslides hit Nepal, 1 October 2026
- The Himalayan Times, Floods, landslides strand hundreds of tourists in Manang, 30 September 2026
- Nepal Press, Tourists stranded in Manang as floods, snowfall disrupt Annapurna Circuit, 30 September 2026
- The Tourism Times, Annapurna trekking routes closed or awaiting safety clearance, 27 September 2026
- The Kathmandu Post, Snow and rain disrupt life across Nepal's highlands, 26 September 2026
- Nepal News, Manang closes high-altitude trekking routes for three days due to weather, 24 September 2026
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