Tsum Valley and Manaslu Circuit Trek – 20 Days

Our team will be waiting at Tribhuvan International Airport to take you to your hotel. Rest for a few hours after the flight.

Your guide comes by later to talk through the 20 days ahead, look over your gear and take your passport details. This trip crosses two restricted areas, Tsum and Manaslu, and both permits are prepared in Kathmandu before you leave.

Use any spare time to pick up last items in Thamel. The shared jeep leaves early tomorrow, and the ride lasts most of the day.

The shared jeep leaves the Kathmandu valley heading west, drops to the Trishuli River and then turns north through Dhading Besi to Arughat, where the Budhi Gandaki valley begins.

Beyond Arughat, the last part of the drive is on a slow dirt road above the river, and the whole journey takes 9–10 hours with breaks. In the rainy season, rocks sometimes fall onto the road near Soti Khola.

Machha Khola is a low, warm village at 930 m, with banana trees and the sound of the river. The days ahead get steadily colder, so make the most of it.

A day of river walking up the Budhi Gandaki. The trail climbs over rocky ridges and drops back to the water, crossing it on suspension bridges, past Khorlabesi and Tatopani, whose small hot spring is a good excuse for a break.

After Dobhan, the trail passes the Yaru area, where loose stones sometimes roll down onto the riverbank, so your guide keeps the group moving.

Jagat (1,340 m) has flagstone lanes and the checkpoint for the restricted area, where your guide registers your permits for the days ahead.

You climb out of the gorge to Philim (1,570 m), a big Gurung village, and walk on through pine forest. Past Ekle Bhatti the trail splits, and while the Manaslu route carries on up the main valley, you turn into the Tsum Valley.

Tsum only opened to trekkers in 2008. Its people call it a beyul, a sacred hidden valley, and many of its traditions are closer to Tibet than to the rest of Nepal.

A steep climb brings you to Lokpa (2,240 m), the first village in Tsum. From here on you’ll hear the Tsumba people’s own Tibetan dialect.

The trail winds through pine and rhododendron forest above the Shiar Khola, the river that drains Tsum, with a few short, steep climbs. Parts of the far side of the valley, around Chumchet, have been hit by landslides in recent monsoons, and your guide checks the state of the trail before you set off.

Chumling (2,386 m) is the main village of Lower Tsum, with an old monastery, stone houses and fields of barley and buckwheat. On a clear day the Ganesh Himal range shows to the south.

It’s a shorter day of 4–5 hours, which leaves the afternoon to explore the village.

Today you climb into Upper Tsum. The trail crosses the Shiar Khola on a suspension bridge and passes Rainjam before a long, steady climb up the side of the valley.

Chhokangparo, also called Chhekampar, is really two villages, Chhokang and Paro, on a wide shelf above the river at about 3,031 m. Behind you, the views of the Ganesh Himal get better the higher you climb.

It’s noticeably colder up here, especially once the sun goes down, so keep a warm layer in your daypack.

A day full of history. You pass Lamagaon and Rachen Gompa, a nunnery you can visit when the nuns aren’t at prayer, and the caves of Piren Phu, where the Tibetan Buddhist saint Milarepa is said to have meditated. Local tradition holds that Guru Rinpoche also came to this valley.

Walk on past Chhule to Nile (3,361 m), one of the last villages before the border. The stone houses here are built close together against the wind, and the hillsides are bare and brown.

Today you walk up the valley to Mu Gompa, the largest monastery in Tsum, at about 3,700 m and a couple of hours above Nile. The trail follows the Shiar Khola up a wide, open valley with few trees, past mani walls and grazing yaks, and the Tibet border lies just beyond the head of the valley.

Tsum is part of Kyimolung, a sacred hidden land. Pilgrims once walked a circuit of about 120 km around it, crossing into Tibet and back; today most keep to the Nepal side.

If the monks are around, they may show you the prayer hall. The walk up to 3,700 m also helps your acclimatization before you come back down to Nile for the night.

A long day back down the valley, 7–8 hours, mostly on the trail you came up. You pass Chhule, the Piren Phu caves and Rachen Gompa again, and the views down the valley towards the Ganesh Himal are in front of you this time.

From Chhokangparo the trail drops steadily past barley fields and stone houses to the river and on to Chumling. Your knees will feel the descent, so use your poles and take short steps.

After several cold nights, the warmer, thicker air of Lower Tsum makes for a good night’s sleep.

You leave Tsum the way you came in, dropping through forest to the point where the Shiar Khola meets the Budhi Gandaki and the Tsum trail rejoins the Manaslu route.

There you turn north and follow the Budhi Gandaki upstream through a deep, rocky gorge, crossing it on high bridges, past the small settlement of Pewa.

Deng (1,860 m) sits where the gorge starts to open out. It’s a quiet stop with a few simple lodges, and the first mani stones of the Nubri valley appear along the path.

The trail crosses the river and climbs past Bihi and Ghap into Nubri, the upper Budhi Gandaki valley, running beside long walls of stones carved with prayers. As in Tsum, keep them on your right.

Above Ghap the path climbs through pine and rhododendron forest, where grey langur monkeys sometimes feed in the trees, and crosses side streams on wooden bridges.

Namrung (2,660 m) is a busy village with a permit checkpoint and comfortable lodges. In the afternoon, look back down the valley for your first wide views of the snow peaks.

Above Namrung, the villages start to look like Tibet: flat-roofed stone houses, barley fields and prayer flags on every roof. You walk through Lihi and Sho to Lho (3,180 m).

Ribung Monastery, a short climb above Lho, looks straight across the valley at Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain in the world. Go up if you have the energy.

From Lho, about an hour of easy walking brings you to Shyala (3,500 m), a small village surrounded by fields and peaks.

Today’s detour climbs through juniper and grassland to Pungyen Monastery, at about 4,000 m, tucked right under Manaslu’s glaciers. It’s a quiet, windswept place, and the ice of the mountain feels very close.

Sama Gaun is the biggest village in Nubri, with stone houses, potato fields and a monastery at the foot of Manaslu. Expeditions climbing the mountain pass through here on their way to base camp, and a Japanese team made the first ascent in 1956.

You spend two nights here, so unpack, rest and drink plenty.

A climb-high, sleep-low day. Just outside the village you pass Birendra Lake, a glacier lake named after Nepal’s late King Birendra, before a steep path climbs the ridge beside the Manaslu Glacier.

The full climb towards Manaslu Base Camp (4,800 m) is about 1,300 m, and you can turn around whenever you’ve had enough. Even halfway, the icefall views are worth the effort. Back in Sama Gaun, eat well and rest.

A gentle half-day along the river through juniper and yak pastures. The valley opens out, the trees disappear, and the land looks more and more like the Tibetan plateau ahead.

A short climb brings you to Samdo (3,860 m), a village of yak herders and the last settlement before the Tibet border on this side of the mountain.

Spend the afternoon resting, with a short walk up the hillside behind the village to help your body adjust before you sleep.

The trail drops to the Budhi Gandaki one more time, then climbs steadily across bare, stony slopes with glaciers hanging from the peaks above. Walk slowly: you’re now above 4,000 m, and even small rises leave you short of breath.

Dharamsala (4,460 m), also known as Larke Phedi, is the last shelter below the pass. Its few lodges are basic, and rooms are often shared in busy months.

Have an early dinner and get to bed, because the alarm goes off before 4. Fill your water bottles tonight and keep them in your sleeping bag so they don’t freeze.

Pass day. You set off in the dark with headlamps, climbing slowly beside the glacier and then over rock and snow. Most people reach the prayer flags on the Larkya La (5,106 m) after 3–5 hours.

On a clear morning there are glaciers and peaks on every side, including Himlung Himal and Annapurna II. Then comes a long, steep descent of about 1,500 m to Bhimtang (3,590 m), loose underfoot at first.

If snow or weather makes the pass unsafe, your guide may wait a day at Dharamsala. Please leave 1–2 spare days before your flight home.

Below Bhimtang the trail drops back into forest of pine and rhododendron, following the Dudh Khola past Karche and Gho to Tilije (2,300 m), where the road starts. After so many days above the tree line, the green feels almost strange.

A shared jeep takes you on through Dharapani and down the Marsyangdi valley, the same valley that Annapurna Circuit trekkers walk up, to Besisahar. The 4-hour ride is rough, but a hot shower and a real bed are waiting at the end.

The tourist bus back to Kathmandu covers about 180 km and takes 6–7 hours, depending on traffic. Spend the afternoon resting or shopping in Thamel.

In the evening we meet for a farewell dinner to celebrate twenty days on the trail.

After breakfast, we take you to Tribhuvan International Airport, about 3 hours before your flight. With extra days, ask us about Chitwan National Park, a Kathmandu heritage tour or a few quiet days in Pokhara.