Mount Everest from Base Camp One. Photo credit: Rupert Taylor-Price.

There are so many wonderful places to go trekking, deciding the destination for your next holiday can be something of a challenge. Even if you narrow it down to one country, there are a host of possibilities.

Take Nepal as an example – it’s home to two of the world’s best treks: Everest Base Camp and the Annapurna Circuit. So, how can you decide between them and which one is most suitable for your trekking travel plans?

Here is some travel information on Everest Base Camp and the Annapurna Circuit that may help make up your mind:

Everest Base Camp trek

Length: The Everest Base Camp trek will normally take 12 days and you will typically walk for between six and nine hours each day for the duration of the trail. Expect steep ascents and descents as you make your way up to the Base Camp, and then back down again.

Altitude: The highest point on your Everest Base Camp trek is the peak of Kalar Pattar, which stands at 5,545 m above sea level. You’ll usually tackle this after you’ve visited the camp and can look forward to unrivalled views of the world’s tallest mountain – Everest itself. Two acclimatisation days will be included in your itinerary before you get to this point – one at Namche Bazaar and the other at Dingboche – to help you get used to the thinner air.

What you see: This is where the Everest Base Camp trek really stands out – after all, there aren’t any other trails you can follow that will bring you this close to the highest peak on the planet (unless you plan to climb it yourself). If you’re lucky, you may even see a team preparing to scale Everest when you visit the Base Camp. Namche Bazaar is another highlight, as it is home to the Sherpa Culture Museum, where you can learn more about the fascinating people who live in the region. The Tengboche Monastery – which is the largest in the Khumbu area – is also worth a visit and you can even attend a Buddhist ceremony if you don’t mind an early start.

Nepal: Annapurna Circuit, a little higher than High Camp. Photo credit: krakluski.

Annapurna Circuit

Length: With 17 days trekking on the Annapurna Circuit and between six and eight hours of walking each day, this route takes a little longer than the trail to the Everest Base Camp. Allowing for a couple of rest days at either end of your hike, you’ll need to set aside three weeks for this trip, as opposed to the two and a half weeks for the Base Camp route.

Altitude: The highest point on the Annapurna Circuit is the Thorung La Pass at 5,416 m above sea level. On the day you cross the pass, you will ascend almost 1,000 m from Thorung Phedi, before descending more than 1,600 m to reach Muktinath at the end of the day. It’s definitely a challenging trek, but one that is more than worth it when you see the amazing views of the Annapurna mountains and Kali Gandaki Valley from the summit of the pass.

What you see: In addition to the wonderful vistas from Thorung La Pass, you’ll have amazing views of Annapurna I, Annapurna II and Machapuchare for the duration of your tour. The beauty of this circuit is you see them from various locations, allowing you to appreciate them at sunrise, sunset and during the middle of the day. There are numerous temples on this route, although among the most interesting are the two at Muktinath. One of these is dedicated to Hinduism and the other to Buddhism, allowing you to get a good appreciation of both faiths and their importance to the Nepali people. The hot springs at Tatopani are another highlight, especially for weary walkers, as the naturally-warm waters here do an amazing job of soothing aching muscles.

View of Himalayas including Kanchenjunga along the India-Nepal border. Photo credit: fabulousfabs via Flickr.

David Elliott wrote this guest post on trekking in the foothills of the Himalayas.  He is a freelance writer who loves to travel, immersing himself in foreign cultures and lapping up the history of great cities.

For experienced and enthusiastic trekkers, the foothills of the Himalayas offer a breathtakingly beautiful landscape in which to practice their hobby. With lots of cheap flights to India on offer now there’s never been a better time to pack the kit and head on out there.

Darjeeling is by all accounts the spot where trekking first started to take off in India, and it’s easy to see why. It has some of the most spectacular scenery in the world, which was what must have attracted the Jesuit father Fr Macdonald here almost a century ago to set the trend, and Himalayan trekkers have never looked back.

The Singalila Trek is one of the most popular ones in these parts. There are two trekking seasons for this trail, the first one opening around March and closing in June, the second starting in September and closing in December. The expedition consists of a round trek from Darjeeling, lasting about six days and passing through Tonglu, Sandakphu, Phalut, Ramam and Rimbick before coming back to Darjeeling.

Darjeeling. Photo credit: Mopop via Flickr.

For those with a passion for high peaks and majestic scenery, trekking around the fabulous Mount Kanchenjunga, the third highest mountain in the world, is an absolute must if they’re in the Darjeeling area and up for a challenge. The 28-day circuit trek around the base of this monstrous shard takes you amongst some of the planet’s most untouched regions of valleys, crevasses and glacier-gouged landscape features, for a truly exhilarating experience.

Kanchenjunga itself is the most easterly of the Himalayan peaks, located on the border with Sikkim in Eastern Nepal, and has four entirely separate summits. It hasn’t been as thoroughly explored as Annapurna and Everest, either, which only adds to the excitement of trekking through this Ice Age landscape.

Treks around the base of Kanchenjunga take walkers not only past cascading waterfalls and breathtaking peaks that disappear into the upper clouds, but also through highland forest trails and vast fields of colorful rhododendrons. There are also plenty of villages scattered around the area, with hostelries where trekkers can take a break overnight and experience a warm, local welcome.

The starting point for a trek around Kanchenjunga is usually Suketar. Walkers then head for Mitlung and Ghunsa before climbing up to a base camp at Pangpema and then retracing the route back to Ghunsa and turning onto an established trail for the spectacular Yalung Glacier and Oktang. The Suketar airport at Taplejung has a history of frequent closures and is now practically non-operational, so treks here usually wind up at Thorpu and are followed by a drive to Birtamod and from there a flight to Kathmandu.

Trekkers around these areas have to pack clothes suitable for both high mountain ranges and lower tropical climes. The trails rise and dip over heights ranging from 1000m to 4000m, so as well as heavy sweaters and wind cheaters they’ll need light T-shirts, and a good raincoat because of the unpredictable weather. Sports shoes and sturdy boots are usually durable enough for a standard trek.

Mountain huts containing food and equipment for trekkers are situated about every 15km, and there’s little chance of getting lost or running out of chocolate.