The short version
The Thorong La is 5,416m, higher than Everest Base Camp. ABC is 4,130m. Annapurna is two insurance decisions, not one.
If you are walking the Annapurna Circuit, your policy must cover 5,416m — the Thorong La, which is 52 metres higher than Everest Base Camp. If you are only walking to Annapurna Base Camp, 4,130m is enough, and that genuinely is a cheaper policy. Annapurna is not one insurance decision; it is two, and buying the wrong one of them is the most common under-insurance we see in Nepal.
The reason is a misconception with a shape to it. Annapurna reads as the friendly one — lodges, apple pie, a road most of the way to Manang — so people insure it like a walking holiday. Then they cross the highest trekking pass on their itinerary at dawn in February wind.
- The Circuit’s high point is higher than Everest Base Camp. Insure it like a high-altitude trek, because it is one.
- ABC tops out at 4,130m. A policy capped at 5,000m covers it comfortably — and we would not talk you into more.
- The Circuit has a long road section, and road accidents are a bigger statistical risk than altitude on the first three days. Check what your policy says about jeeps, buses and hired motorbikes.
- Sleeping altitude is what insurers care about, and on the Circuit it climbs to about 4,900m at Thorong High Camp the night before the pass.
Annapurna Circuit or Annapurna Base Camp, and why the answer changes your policy
The Circuit needs 5,416m of cover. ABC needs 4,130m. Everything else about the two policies is the same, and the price difference between those two altitude bands is real.
Look at how insurers band this. The British Mountaineering Council is the clearest published example, because it names its numbers instead of implying them: its Trek policy covers “hill walking, trekking and backpacking up to 5,000m”, and its Alpine & Ski policy is the one written for “trekking above 5,000m”. ABC sits inside the first tier with 870 metres to spare. The Circuit does not sit inside it at all.
| Point on the trek | Trek | Altitude | Policy capped at 4,000m | Policy capped at 5,000m | Policy to 6,500m |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chhomrong | ABC | 2,170m | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Machhapuchhre Base Camp | ABC | 3,700m | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Annapurna Base Camp | ABC | 4,130m | Not covered | Covered | Covered |
| Manang | Circuit | 3,540m | Covered | Covered | Covered |
| Thorong Phedi | Circuit | 4,450m | Not covered | Covered | Covered |
| Thorong High Camp | Circuit | ~4,900m | Not covered | Covered | Covered |
| Thorong La | Circuit | 5,416m | Not covered | Not covered | Covered |
| Muktinath | Circuit | 3,760m | Covered | Covered | Covered |
Read the ABC rows again, because this is the part that saves you money: a 4,000m cap is 130 metres short of Annapurna Base Camp. One hundred and thirty metres, on the one day of the trek you flew across the world for. That is the whole failure.
People under-insure Annapurna because it feels lower than Everest. It is not. The Thorong La at 5,416m is higher than Everest Base Camp at 5,364m, and the pass is a single long push with no lodge on top and nowhere to shelter in bad weather. If a policy would not do for EBC, it will not do for the Circuit either.
What the road section does to your risk, and to your policy
The first days of the Circuit are the statistically dangerous ones, and they have nothing to do with altitude. They are a jeep on a mountain road.
The Besisahar road now runs deep into the valley and most Circuit itineraries use it for part of the approach. The UK Foreign Office is blunt: “Bus accidents are common in Nepal and there are a number of accidents resulting in fatalities every year,” and “road conditions are poor, especially during the monsoon season or in mountain areas.” Flooding and landslides, it adds, “can lead to impassable roads, delays to journeys, or cut off towns and villages for days at a time.”
Three consequences for the policy in your bag:
- A road accident on the approach is an ordinary medical and evacuation claim, and your altitude band has nothing to do with it. It is where a high medical limit earns its keep, because you may end up in a Pokhara or Kathmandu hospital rather than on a helicopter.
- Hired motorbikes and scooters are a separate question. Many policies restrict or exclude riding, and the FCDO states you need “a 1968 international driving permit (IDP) and your UK driving licence to drive in Nepal”. Plenty of people hire a scooter in Pokhara around the trek without ever thinking of it as an insured activity.
- Landslide road closures are a curtailment and delay question, not a rescue one — extra nights, a rerouted jeep, possibly a missed flight home. Those benefits live in different sections of the wording from the one you bought the policy for.
What an Annapurna evacuation actually costs and how it starts
A helicopter off the Annapurna side runs roughly $3,000–5,000, and it usually starts with a doctor rather than a phone call. The full breakdown is in our helicopter rescue costs guide.
The Annapurna side has an advantage the Khumbu does not: the Himalayan Rescue Association runs a volunteer-staffed aid post at Manang, 3,550m, open through the spring and autumn seasons, sitting exactly where people arrive feeling wrong before the pass. A consultation there plus a rest day or a descent resolves a lot of what would otherwise become a claim.
Whatever happens, the claim needs the same things: a clinical reason recorded, a named diagnosis, the treating clinician’s paperwork, your policy number. Insurers scrutinise Nepal helicopter claims closely, and for good reason — the FCDO warns of “isolated reports of some trekking guides taking inexperienced trekkers to high altitudes too quickly, and then calling in expensive helicopter medivacs from which the guides take a cut”. A documented evacuation is untroubled by that. An undocumented one is not.
Where cheap cover is genuinely fine on Annapurna
If you are doing ABC, Poon Hill, Mardi Himal or Ghandruk and nothing else, a standard policy with a 5,000m band and a named rescue clause is enough. You do not need a mountaineering product, you do not need an alpine club membership, and you should not let anyone upsell you one.
You can also skip: baggage cover beyond the basics, gadget cover, and cancel-for-any-reason. What you should not skip on either trek is emergency medical of at least US$100,000, helicopter evacuation and repatriation named as benefits rather than assumed, and every pre-existing condition declared in writing before you travel. Undeclared conditions are the commonest reason a large Nepal claim is cut down.
And you do not have to buy through us. We do not sell insurance, we do not take a commission on it, and we have no favourite provider. What we will do is tell you the exact maximum altitude of the itinerary you have booked, in writing, so you can match a policy to it — ask any operator for that and treat a vague answer as a warning.
What we would actually buy for the Circuit
A policy naming trekking to at least 5,416m; emergency medical of US$100,000+; helicopter evacuation and repatriation as named benefits; road-accident cover you have actually read; and pre-existing conditions declared and confirmed by email. For ABC only, the same list with 4,130m in place of 5,416m.
The wider framework sits in our Nepal trekking insurance guide. Permits are a separate, small cost and unrelated to insurance: Annapurna needs ACAP and TIMS, about US$38 together — and unlike the Khumbu, the TIMS card here is still required.
We run the full Annapurna Circuit over 14 days, with the acclimatisation nights at Manang kept in and the pass day walked from High Camp — $1,600 solo, from $1,150 per person in a group of eight. The Thorong La is only reliably crossable outside deep winter, so the season you pick decides the itinerary. Tell us your dates and we will tell you honestly whether they work.
See the itinerary & price →Annapurna insurance questions we actually get
Is the Annapurna Circuit higher than Everest Base Camp?
Yes, at its high point. The Thorong La is 5,416m and Everest Base Camp is 5,364m. EBC trekkers who also walk up Kala Patthar reach 5,545m, which is higher again — but a Circuit policy still has to cover more altitude than a Base Camp policy does.
What altitude cover do I need for Annapurna Base Camp?
4,130m. A policy banded to 5,000m covers it with room to spare. A policy banded to 4,000m does not cover the final day, which is the day you came for.
Do I need special insurance for the Thorong La?
You need an altitude band of 5,416m or more. You do not need technical mountaineering cover — the pass is a walk on a trail, with no ropes, crampons or ice axe in normal conditions. It is a high walk, not a climb.
Does travel insurance cover a jeep or bus accident in Nepal?
Ordinarily yes, as a standard medical and evacuation claim, provided you were a passenger in a licensed vehicle. Riding a hired motorbike or scooter is the exception most people miss: many policies restrict it, and doing it without the correct licence and an international driving permit can void the claim.
Is insurance required to get an ACAP permit?
No. The Annapurna Conservation Area is not a restricted area, so ACAP and TIMS are issued without proof of a policy. Restricted areas such as Upper Mustang, Manaslu, Tsum and Nar Phu have required proof of insurance since March 2026. Reputable operators require it everywhere regardless.
What happens if I turn back before the pass — does that affect my claim?
No, and it should never be a consideration. Turning around is the correct decision far more often than people make it. Your policy responds to what happened to you, not to whether you completed the route, and no benefit is forfeited by descending early.
Keep reading
Limits, exclusions and how a claim actually gets assembled and paid.
The 5,416m pass day in detail — timings, conditions and when to turn back.
Two different treks that share a name, and which one suits you.
How an evacuation gets called, flown and billed on the Annapurna side.
Ready to plan it? Contact us and we will send the day-by-day maximum altitudes in writing, so you can buy a policy that matches the route rather than the brochure.
Written by
Bishnu AdhikariPokhara-based, NMA-certified trekking guides. We’ve led 5,000+ treks across the Annapurna and Everest regions since 1998 — every word here comes from the trail. More from this author →
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