Annapurna Circuit Permit 2026

Annapurna Circuit Permit 2026: ACAP, TIMS confusion, and the steps that still matter

Annapurna Circuit permit 2026: what ACAP costs, why TIMS still shows up in search, how online payment works, and what to sort before the trailhead.

Hiten Sethiya

Mar 16, 2026 • 6 min read

Every Annapurna Circuit permit guide seems to give you a slightly different answer. One says you need ACAP and TIMS. Another says TIMS is gone. A third says solo trekking rules changed everything. Then the official permit portal shows you a clean ACAP checkout and leaves you wondering which version is real.

Here is the cleanest answer I can defend after checking the official NTNC e-permit portal, Nepal Immigration’s restricted-area permit page, and several recent operator guides: if you are trekking the standard Annapurna Circuit route, the permit you can verify right now is the Annapurna Conservation Area Permit, or ACAP. That official portal currently sells it online or by counter payment. The internet gets messy because older TIMS guidance still ranks, and because restricted-area side trips in the broader Annapurna region follow different rules.

So if your goal is to avoid showing up in Pokhara, Besisahar, or a checkpoint with the wrong paperwork, start from that reality instead of from whatever outdated blog post happens to outrank everything else.

The short answer

Your plan	What to sort first	Why
Standard Annapurna Circuit	ACAP	This is the permit clearly sold on the official NTNC portal for Annapurna Conservation Area entry.
Adding a restricted-area detour such as Nar-Phu or Upper Mustang	ACAP plus the relevant Restricted Area Permit	Restricted zones are handled separately through Nepal Immigration, not just through the ACAP checkout.
Trying to buy at the trailhead or checkpoint	Avoid it if you can	The official portal says checkpoint-issued permits are charged at double fee.
Paying online	Use Visa or MasterCard	The official NTNC portal accepts cards and emails the permit after successful payment.

What the official sources say right now

The most useful current source is the NTNC e-permit portal. For Annapurna Conservation Area entry, it lists:

NRs 3,000 for foreigners
NRs 1,000 for SAARC nationals
online payment or counter payment
Visa and MasterCard for online checkout
a 2.9% payment gateway charge for online payment
double fees for permits issued at checkpoints
single-entry validity

That is already enough to clear up one big planning mistake: do not assume you can casually sort this on the trail for the same price.

The same portal also makes another important distinction. It says some areas inside the Annapurna Conservation Area are restricted areas and require special permits from the Department of Immigration. That matters if you are not doing the plain-vanilla circuit and want to add places like Nar-Phu or Upper Mustang. In other words, the broader Annapurna region has more than one permit reality. The standard circuit and the restricted detours are not the same paperwork problem.

Annapurna Circuit permit 2026 context at Thorong La pass with teahouse — Thorong La pass is the high point most trekkers are planning around, which is exactly why it is worth getting the permit side clean before you leave Pokhara or Kathmandu.

So why does search still keep telling you about TIMS?

Because the SERP is full of mixed-era advice. Some recent commercial guides now say the standard circuit only needs ACAP. Others still publish ACAP-plus-TIMS checklists as if nothing changed. A few pages also mix up the permit question with the separate argument about licensed guides for foreign trekkers.

This is the part where a lot of trekkers lose hours. They assume there must be one simple universal rule and then keep opening tabs until they find a version they like. That is the wrong move.

The better move is this:

Treat the official NTNC portal as the best source for the permit you can verify directly.
Treat older TIMS-heavy blog posts with suspicion unless they show a recent date and explain exactly why TIMS still applies.
Treat restricted-area advice separately from standard Annapurna Circuit advice.

My read after checking the current sources is that ACAP is the permit you can verify cleanly today for the standard circuit, while TIMS is the part of the conversation that is still muddy online. If an agency tells you that you still need extra paperwork, ask them to point to the exact current rule, not to a recycled article from years ago.

How to get the Annapurna Circuit permit without making this harder than it needs to be

Option 1: Pay online before you head for the trail

This is the cleanest move for most international trekkers. The official NTNC portal lets you pay online by card, and it says your permit is emailed to you after successful payment. That means you are not dependent on arriving during office hours, and you are not gambling on a last-minute stop once you are already in transit to the trailhead.

If you are the kind of trekker who books jeep seats, weather buffers, and acclimatization nights with a spreadsheet, this is the version that matches your planning style.

Option 2: Counter payment in person

The official portal also allows counter payment. If you choose that route, the site says you must self-visit the permit counter, pay in cash, and bring your passport or other valid ID to collect the permit. If you are already in Pokhara and want to keep everything offline, this still works.

The only thing I would not do is leave it so late that a queue, holiday, or transport change forces you into checkpoint pricing.

What to have ready

Your passport
Your payment method, card for online or cash for counter payment
Your route plan, especially if you are adding any side trip that could cross into a restricted area
A printer plan or offline copy, because the permit must be carried and shown at check-posts

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When ACAP is not the whole story

If your route stays on the classic Annapurna Circuit, ACAP is the center of gravity. If your route drifts into restricted territory, that changes.

Nepal Immigration’s current restricted-area permit page lists Narpa Rural Municipality on its trekking route and permit fee schedule. That is your clue that a Nar-Phu add-on is not just a simple ACAP matter. The same logic applies to Upper Mustang. Those detours sit in the part of the planning process where you should stop pretending a generic Annapurna blog post will cover everything.

This is also why I would build your permit checklist from the exact villages and side valleys you plan to walk, not just from the headline trek name you type into Google.

The mistakes that create the most avoidable pain

1. Treating all Annapurna-region permits as one thing

They are not. The standard circuit and the restricted detours do not follow the same process.

2. Letting a TIMS article from the wrong era decide your day

If a guide still says “buy both” without showing you a current source or a route-specific exception, do not treat it as gospel.

3. Trying to save time by buying late

The official portal explicitly warns that checkpoint-issued permits cost double. That alone is enough reason to sort this before you head out.

4. Forgetting that the permit is a trail document, not just a screenshot

The official NTNC wording says you must carry it during the entire trip and show it when asked at check-posts. Do not assume patchy mountain internet is going to rescue you.

5. Mixing the permit question with the guide question

These are related, but they are not identical. The official ACAP portal explains permit purchase mechanics. The wider guide-rule conversation is where third-party articles disagree most. If you want zero ambiguity, confirm that part directly with your agency or Nepal tourism offices before you book flights around a self-guided plan.

Annapurna Circuit permit 2026 trail planning with prayer flags and snowy peaks — Most people obsess over the pass, the weather, and the jeep schedule. Fair. But the low-drama win is still getting your paperwork straight before the mountains start deciding your timetable.

My recommendation

If you are trekking the standard Annapurna Circuit in 2026, do not overcomplicate this. Start with ACAP through the official NTNC system. Sort it before you leave the city. Carry it the whole trek. If your route includes a restricted-area add-on, rebuild the permit checklist around that exact detour instead of assuming the circuit permit covers it.

And if you keep finding guides that contradict each other on TIMS, do not keep reading in circles. Use the official permit flow for what it clearly covers, then escalate only the disputed parts you actually need for your exact itinerary.

That is the difference between useful research and forum-diving yourself into paralysis.

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Sources checked

Annapurna Circuit permit 2026 scenery with mountain lake near the Annapurna Circuit — The permit is the unglamorous part of the circuit, but it is also the part that decides whether the rest of your planning stays clean.

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