Day 1: Besi Sahar to Bhulbule

Approximate Trek Time: 2 – 3 hrs. hike / 1 – 1 ½ hr. bus

Distance: 7.5k / 4.7 miles

Overnight Elevation: 820m/2,690ft.

Unless you arrive at the start of the circuit a day early, day one begins with a bus ride to the beginning of the trek – Besi Sahar (820m/2,690ft) – likely from either Kathmandu or Pokhara. We began our adventure from Kathmandu, and what was intended to be a 6-hour, 1-bus journey leaving Kathmandu at 6:45am quickly turned into an 9-hour, 3-bus journey, beginning on a bus that didn’t roll out of the station until 7:30am. Like all local buses, it was tortuously slow, stopping nearly every minute for passengers. Pretty typical Nepal transportation.

Important: If you’re heading to Besi Sahar from Kathmandu, make absolutely sure you get a ticket on the 6:45am bus (from the Naya Bus Park, north of Thamel) for a better chance at arriving early enough to trek to Bhulbule (2-3hr hike). Bus station touts will try to steer tourists to their own ticket windows/buses at the station, so don’t hand over the money until you have the ticket you want. Your lodge owner or a travel agency can also help to arrange tickets. It’s possible that there is a tourist bus that makes the trip with very limited stops (probably the 6:45am bus we were supposed to be on). Many buses say “tourist” on them, but few actually are. Again, check with lodge owners or travel agencies to get the best ticket. Regardless, settle in for the ride because Nepal bus rides are very slow (but the scenery is amazing).

If you arrive in Besi Sahar early enough in the day, you can trek to Bhulbule, though due to an increasing number of roads linking many of the towns and villages along the trekking route, the majority of the trek to Bhulbule is along the road. There is supposedly an alternative trail along the east bank of the Marsyangdi Khola (marked with the red and white Annapurna Circuit trail markers), though this has reportedly also been impacted by road and hydro project construction.

Because we didn’t arrive to Besi Sahar until very late in the afternoon, in the rain, and weren’t sure we could make the trek before dark, and it being our first day, we went ahead and took yet another shuttle bus to Bhulbule. Both buses and jeeps are available along the main stretch in Bhulbule (and not hard to find). In hindsight, due to the rutty mountain roads, the bus was not a huge timesaver over walking. If you take a bus into Bhulbule, make sure to keep your TIMS card and ACAP permit handy (i.e., not in your bag strapped to the top of the bus), as the bus will stop at a tourist checkpoint to check and stamp these permits.
On our many-bus ride from Kathmandu, we passed through cities and towns, dwindling in size (along with the road conditions) as we neared Besi Sahar. All cradled amongst the hill and mountainsides, houses were perched high on the slopes, small stone staircases ascending from the roads to meet them. The ride along the deeply rutted dirt road from Besi Sahar to Bhulbule opened up into even more countryside, with crop-terraced hillsides and mountains in all directions, and the mighty Marsyangdi Khola (river) below.

From the bus (or trek), you’ll pass by the large hydro electric plant and through a long tunnel (trek path is outside the tunnel), before eventually arriving in Bhulbule (840m/2,756ft). In Bhulbule, there are lodges on both sides of the river. Hiking along the trekking route, you will cross from the west side of the river to the east.

Here, we opted for a guesthouse on the west side of the Marsyangdi, the Everest Guesthouse, just before the suspension bridge across the river. The rooms here were small, basic, and clean, and the shower (separate shower room) was solar-heated and piping hot (huge trail luxury). The food was fine, and this is the most we’ll probably say about food which is basically the same everywhere, save for a few outliers that had more exceptional food. Otherwise, we’ve mentioned basic menu/food information in the logistics section.

This was our first night on the trail, so everything was exciting! There was a small snake-like creature in the shower room that I never saw, but those after me did (terrifyingly exciting!) and a wrinkled old woman that perched herself along the stoop at the top of a flight of stairs … smoking… spitting… and watching us from arrival until departure (creepily exciting!). Only one other small group stayed at our lodge, a group of three from Israel and their two porters. We’d cross paths with this friendly group several times during the beginning of the circuit, and their main green-shirted porter would always treat us like family.

At the lower, warmer elevations, no blankets or sheets are provided on the beds other than the flat sheet, so we tucked into the travel sheets we brought along.