Manaslu Circuit Trek with Manaslu Base Camp – 15 Days

After you clear immigration and collect your bags at Tribhuvan International Airport, someone from our office is waiting outside to bring you to your hotel. If you’ve had a long flight, sleep for a few hours.

Later your guide meets you at the hotel to go over the route, including the two extra nights at Samdo, and to check your boots, layers and gloves. Bring your passport and photos to this meeting: the Manaslu restricted area permit is arranged in Kathmandu and has to be ready before you leave.

Thamel’s gear shops can sell or rent you anything that’s missing. Get to bed early, because the shared jeep leaves soon after breakfast tomorrow.

Today is a long drive. A shared jeep heads west out of the Kathmandu valley and follows the Trishuli River before turning north through Dhading Besi to Arughat, a busy bazaar town at the mouth of the Budhi Gandaki valley.

Past Arughat the road turns to dirt and narrows as it climbs along the valley side. It’s slow, shaky going, and you may have to wait while diggers work on the road. After heavy rain, stones can fall around Soti Khola, and your driver will stop and wait rather than push on.

Machha Khola (930 m) is a warm riverside village with mild evenings. From here the trail climbs, slowly but surely, all the way to the pass.

The first walking day keeps close to the Budhi Gandaki, which roars through a deep, narrow gorge. The path climbs over rocky shoulders and drops back to the water again and again, and suspension bridges carry you from bank to bank.

After Khorlabesi you reach Tatopani, whose name means “hot water”. A small hot spring beside the trail is a good place to wash off the dust. Beyond Dobhan, the trail crosses an open stretch near Yaruphant where loose stones sometimes come down, so your guide keeps everyone moving.

Down here it’s warm and often humid, so start the day with plenty of water. Jagat, at 1,340 m, is a village of stone-paved lanes at the start of the restricted area, and this is where your guide has your permits checked.

From Jagat you climb above the river to Philim (1,570 m), a large village of Gurung families surrounded by terraced fields. Beyond it the path runs through pine forest to Ekle Bhatti, then past the turning for the Tsum Valley, which heads off to the east.

The main valley now becomes a true gorge, with cliffs rising on both sides and the river far below. The trail crosses it several times on long, high bridges, and waterfalls spill down the rock walls.

Deng (1,860 m) is a small village at the point where the warm lowlands end. Lodges are simple and the evening is cooler than in Jagat. Look out for carved mani stones beside the path, a sign of the Buddhist villages ahead.

Today you cross into Nubri, the upper part of the Budhi Gandaki valley. Because it lies so close to Tibet, Nepal kept this area closed to trekkers until 1991, and it still feels a long way from anywhere.

The trail passes the villages of Bihi and Ghap, where long walls of stones carved with prayers run beside the path; local custom is to walk past them on your right. After Ghap the climb begins in earnest, through forest of pine and rhododendron where grey langur monkeys sometimes leap between the branches.

Namrung (2,660 m) has a permit check and some of the most comfortable lodges on the circuit. If the afternoon stays clear, it’s also where the big snow peaks first come into view. The air is cool now, so pull on a fleece as soon as you stop.

Above Namrung the valley opens and the villages start to look Tibetan, with flat-roofed stone houses, prayer flags on the roofs and chortens at the entrance to each settlement. The trail passes Lihi and Sho on its way to Lho (3,180 m).

Take the short climb up to Ribung Gompa above Lho, home to a changing group of monks, young and old. From the monastery, Manaslu rises straight ahead across the valley, its glaciers filling the skyline.

From Lho the path climbs gently to Shyala (3,500 m), a small stone village with one of the widest mountain views so far. At this height you’ll notice the thinner air on every short climb, and the evening turns cold quickly once the sun drops behind the ridge.

Between Shyala and Sama Gaun, a side trail climbs through open grazing land to Pungyen Gompa, which stands on a wide alpine plateau at about 4,000 m, right below Manaslu’s south face. Nubri and Tsum settlers built the first monastery here around 400 years ago to honour Pungyen, the protector god of the mountain.

In May 1953 an avalanche off Manaslu destroyed the old stone building and killed 18 people. Local tradition blames the foreign expeditions of that time for angering the mountain god. The monastery was rebuilt and later repaired by the Nubri community after the 2015 earthquake. Inside are statues of the Buddha, Guru Rinpoche and Pungyen, lit by butter lamps.

There are no teahouses up here, so carry water and snacks. Take off your hat and shoes before going in, and ask before photographing the lamas. Afterwards you walk down to Sama Gaun (3,530 m), the largest village in Nubri, for the first of two nights.

Today you climb high and come back to sleep low, the best way to prepare for the pass. A short walk from the village brings you to Birendra Tal, a lake of icy, teal-coloured water lying under Manaslu’s huge glacier.

Beyond the lake the trail gets steep, zigzagging up a ridge next to the Manaslu Glacier towards base camp at 4,800 m, where expeditions pitch their tents in the climbing season. It’s around 1,300 m of ascent, and the thin air slows everyone down, so set an easy pace and turn round whenever you’ve had enough. Even from partway up, you look down on the cracked glacier ice and across to the icefall.

Keep an eye out for blue sheep on the slopes and marmots near their burrows. The descent is loose and hard on the knees, so take it carefully, then spend the afternoon resting and drinking plenty in Sama Gaun.

After two nights in Sama Gaun, today’s walk is short and gentle. The trail follows the Budhi Gandaki upstream past long mani walls, juniper bushes and open yak pasture, and the valley grows wider, browner and emptier as you go.

Trees give way to scrub, and the land starts to look like the Tibetan plateau. After crossing the river, a short, steep climb brings you up to Samdo (3,860 m), a cluster of stone houses close to the Tibet border, where you stay two nights.

The lodges here are basic and the village is quiet, home mostly to yak herders. Rest in the afternoon, then go for a short walk above the village to help your body adjust. When the wind picks up, the warmest place is the lodge kitchen beside the stove.

Today is your second acclimatization day, spent hiking up the valley above Samdo towards the Tibet border. This is the way to the Rui La, the border point with Tibet, and Nepal is slowly building a road towards it, so you may see signs of the work. You won’t cross into Tibet, but you’ll walk well above the village into wide, open country below the high ridges of the frontier.

Your guide sets the pace and decides how far to go, depending on the weather and how everyone feels, and you can turn back at any time. The land up here is bare and brown, the sky is huge, and the wind can be fierce, so carry your warm jacket, gloves and plenty of water.

Back in Samdo, rest your legs and get your gear ready for the next stage. These extra hours up high give your body more time to adjust before Dharamsala and the pass.

The day starts with a drop to the Budhi Gandaki, which you cross for the last time, followed by a long, steady climb across bare, stony hillsides beneath glaciers and snow peaks.

Take it slowly. Above 4,000 m, even a gentle slope leaves you breathing hard, and there’s no prize for arriving first. Dharamsala, also called Larkya Phedi, sits at 4,460 m at the foot of the pass: a few basic lodges, a lot of wind and some of the coldest nights of the trek.

Rooms are often shared in October and November. Eat a big dinner, pack your daypack for the morning and fill your water bottles tonight. Keep them, your phone and spare batteries inside your sleeping bag, or they may freeze.

You’re up well before dawn and walking by about 4 am, headlamp on, so you cross while the snow is still firm, before the sun softens it. The trail climbs gradually beside a glacier at first, then more steeply over rock and moraine, and there’s often snow on the upper part. The last slope to the prayer flags feels endless.

From the Larkya La (5,106 m), the highest point of the trek, you look out over glaciers and a wide ring of snow peaks. Take a quick photo and eat something, then start down before the cold gets to you.

The descent is long and steep, about 1,500 m in all, with loose, slippery ground at first. Your legs will be tired by now, so lean on your poles and keep your steps short. Bhimtang (3,590 m) lies in a wide, windy valley with Manaslu in full view. If deep snow or a storm makes the crossing unsafe, your guide will keep everyone at Dharamsala and wait a day, so it’s worth having a day or two spare at the end of the trip.

Your last day on foot starts with a look back at Manaslu from Bhimtang, then a long descent into forest. The trail follows the Dudh Khola down through pine and rhododendron, past the small settlements of Karche and Gho, to Tilije (2,300 m).

After a week at 3,500 m or more, the trees, birdsong and warm, thick air feel strange in a good way. You’re now in the Annapurna Conservation Area, on the Marsyangdi side of the mountains.

A shared jeep usually picks you up at Tilije; if the upper road is blocked, you walk on down to Dharapani and catch it there. Then it’s a bumpy ride down the Marsyangdi valley to Besisahar, a busy town at the end of the road, where you spend the night in a hotel.

A tourist bus runs down the Marsyangdi valley to Dumre on the Prithvi Highway, then follows the Trishuli River back towards Kathmandu. Depending on traffic, you’re back by mid-afternoon, with time to rest or browse the shops in Thamel.

Later we get together over a farewell dinner to mark your full circle around the world’s eighth-highest mountain.

We’ll get you to Tribhuvan International Airport with plenty of time to spare, normally three hours before an international departure.

If you’d like to stay longer, we can arrange a few days in Pokhara, a jungle safari in Chitwan or a tour of Kathmandu’s old royal squares.