The total length of the route varies between 160–230  km (100-145  mi), depending on where motor transportation is used and where the trek is ended.

Most trekkers hike the route anticlockwise, as this way the daily altitude gain is slower, and crossing the high Thorong La pass is easier and safer.

The trek begins at Besisahar or Bhulbhule in the Marshyangdi river valley and concludes in the Kali Gandaki Gorge.

The trail passes along paddy fields and into subtropical forests, past several waterfalls and gigantic cliffs, and through various villages.

Annapurna Circuit has been voted the best long-distance trek in the world, as it combined, in its old full form, a wide variety of climate zones from the tropics at 600 m asl to the Arctic at 5416 m asl at the Thorong La pass and cultural variety from Hindu villages at the low foothills to the Tibetan culture of Manang Valley and lower Mustang.

[2] The trail is moderate to fairly challenging and makes numerous river crossings over steel and wooden suspension bridges.

It is also possible to continue from Ghorepani to Tadapani, Ghandruk, Landruk, and then to Phedi, which follows the old Annapurna Circuit from the time when the road was not yet extended to Beni.

In recent years, up to 75%[3] of the original Annapurna Circuit route has been impacted by the construction of new roads linking the region's villages.

Road construction started in the early 1980s both from Dhumre to the north and from Pokhara to the west and then up the Kali Gandaki valley.

[7][8] It is reported[9] that time has been recently surpassed by Greek athlete and philanthropist Lefteris Paraskevas, who, in May 2017 completed the classic route of the Circuit, from Besisahar to Nayapul, in 68 hours and 22 minutes.

[10][11] It was caused by the tail end of a dying cyclone that had ravaged the eastern coast of India; there were about 350 hikers caught in the blizzard.