Annapurna Base Camp Trek in October

The trail is dry, firm and fast from end to end. No snow, no ice, no mud, no leeches. Poon Hill at dawn gives its clearest panorama of the year, with Dhaulagiri, Annapurna South and Machhapuchhre all sharp rather than softened by spring haze.

What you will notice instead is people. The Chhomrong staircase in October has a genuine queue at the standard departure hour, and the trail between Bamboo and Deurali carries a steady line of trekkers for most of the morning. It does not spoil the trek, but nobody should arrive expecting solitude.

The approach to base camp is at its most straightforward. Bare moraine, a well-worn path, and enough daylight to reach the Sanctuary with hours to spare. October is the month first-time trekkers should choose if the mountain view is the point of the trip.

Peak season, and the Sanctuary bottleneck is at its tightest. Machhapuchhre Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp fill every night through October, and on the busiest weeks people end up sharing floor space in dining rooms. There is nowhere else to sleep up there, which is what makes this different from a busy village lower down.

Below Chhomrong the picture is comfortable. Lodges are numerous, everything is open, the food is at its best and the villages have real energy. The Gurung lodges around Chhomrong and Ghandruk run at full staff in October and it shows in the cooking.

Dry roads and a busy Pokhara. The drive is at its most reliable of the year, and everything on the ground needs booking further ahead than any other month: hotels, vehicles and above all the two high lodges. Dashain and Tihar fall in October or early November depending on the year, and around those weeks transport gets busier and some staff travel home.