Upper Mustang Trek – 13 Days

We’ll have someone waiting for you as you come out of Tribhuvan International Airport, ready to drive you to your hotel. Take it easy for the rest of the day.

Later on, your guide comes over to talk through the trip. Upper Mustang is a restricted area and its permit can only be arranged through an agency, so they’ll take your passport details for the paperwork. They’ll also look over your kit. Up here a good windproof jacket, a buff for the dust and strong sunglasses matter more than heavy snow gear.

Anything missing can be bought or rented in the trekking shops of Thamel.

There are two ways to get to Pokhara. The flight is short, and on a clear morning the Himalaya lines the horizon on the right-hand side of the plane. The tourist bus takes the Prithvi Highway, a winding road along the Trishuli River, and the ride lasts most of the day.

Monsoon landslides sometimes close the highway for days at a time, so after heavy rain the flight is the safer choice.

Pokhara lies beside Phewa Lake, with Machhapuchhre and the Annapurnas to the north. Spend the evening by the lake, and go to bed early if you’re flying to Jomsom tomorrow.

Jomsom flights leave early, because a strong wind starts blowing up the Kali Gandaki from late morning and stops planes from landing or taking off. The small plane doesn’t cross the mountains; it follows the gorge between Dhaulagiri (8,167 m) to the west and Annapurna I (8,091 m) to the east. By road it’s a long, rough day by shared jeep through Beni, including the last stretch to Kagbeni.

From Jomsom, the district headquarters, you walk north along the wide, stony bed of the Kali Gandaki. Black fossils called shaligram turn up in this river, and Hindus treat them as a symbol of Vishnu.

Kagbeni is one of the oldest villages in the area, with a Sakya monastery and an old fort palace, at the point where the trail from Muktinath comes in. Hindu pilgrims come to its riverbank to perform shraddha, rites for their ancestors, in the 16 days before Dashain. It’s the last village before the restricted area.

Leaving Kagbeni, you enter the restricted area and head north up the Kali Gandaki, partly on the riverbed and partly on the jeep road, to the village of Tangbe. An hour further on is Chhusang, where the Narshing river joins the Kali Gandaki, ringed by huge red, orange and grey cliffs.

Look closely at those cliffs and you’ll see rows of caves. Around 10,000 of these Mustang caves were dug by hand into the valley walls. Some were tombs more than 2,000 years ago, families later lived in them, and by the 1400s monks used them for meditation. Nobody knows for sure who first dug them.

After Chhusang the trail drops to the river and climbs steeply up to Chele. The wind usually picks up by midday, but it blows up the valley from the south, so on the way north it’s mostly at your back. Nights get cold once the sun goes behind the cliffs, so keep a warm layer handy.

This is the longest walking day of the trek. From Chele the trail climbs a long, bare ridge, and as you gain height, Nilgiri and Tilicho Peak appear behind you to the south. After a pass you come down to Samar (3,635 m), a small village with more trees and green fields than you’d expect this far north.

Past Samar the path winds in and out of side valleys, through the hamlet of Bhena (3,700 m), and over passes of close to 3,900 m before it drops to Syangboche (3,800 m), a small village with a few lodges.

You’re well above 3,500 m now, so take the climbs slowly and keep drinking, even though the dry air doesn’t make you feel thirsty. By evening most people are tired and ready for an early dinner.

A short climb over a pass of 3,850 m takes you down to the village of Geling (3,570 m). From there the trail climbs steadily to the Nyi La (4,020 m), the highest point of the trek. The wind on the pass can be fierce, so have your jacket and buff ready before you reach the top.

On the far side you cross the smaller Ghami La (3,765 m) and descend to Ghami (3,510 m), one of the largest villages in Upper Mustang after Lo Manthang and Tsarang, with its own old palace and a Sakya monastery.

The hills around Ghami are a deep red streaked with grey and brown. Himalayan griffons, huge vultures, nest in the old caves in the cliffs, and you may see them circling overhead. After the pass, the lower ground feels easier on the lungs, and the afternoon is free to rest.

Soon after leaving Ghami you walk beside its mani wall, about 305 m of stones carved with the prayer Om Mani Padme Hum. It’s said to be the longest in Mustang, maybe even in Nepal. Keep it on your right as you pass, as local people do.

The trail then climbs to the Tsarang La (3,870 m) and comes down to Tsarang (3,570 m), the second largest town in Upper Mustang, high above the canyon of the Charang Chu.

Two old buildings stand out. The red, three-storey monastery, Thupten Shedrub Dhargyeling, is a Sakya gompa built in 1427. It once had hundreds of monks; fewer than 50 live there now. The five-storey palace sits on a sandstone cliff, empty for decades and slowly falling apart. You arrive early enough to look around, and your guide can ask if the monastery’s prayer hall is open.

The trail climbs gradually across open, dusty country for most of the morning. The last climb is to the Lo La, at about 3,950 m, which is often very windy.

From the top you get your first view of Lo Manthang, a walled town of white houses on a wide plain, with bare, rolling hills all around it. Lo Manthang was founded in 1380 by Ame Pal, the first king of Lo, who also built its wall, and you walk in through the big town gate. It stayed the seat of the kings of Lo until Nepal became a republic in 2008 and the last king, Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista, lost his title.

After a week of small villages, Lo Manthang’s lanes, crowded houses and prayer flags feel almost like a city. Find your lodge, have a hot drink and spend the rest of the day settling in. You stay here for two nights.

Today you head north towards the Tibetan border to Chhoser. Most people go by jeep on the road to the border, but you can also walk or hire a horse.

The main sight is the Jhong cave, also called Sija Jong, at 3,785 m. Counting the ground floor, it has six storeys and about 50 small rooms joined by narrow passages and stairs, with little windows looking out over Chhoser’s fields. You can safely climb to the third floor; the higher floors are riskier, so follow your guide. Local people say villagers sheltered here from raiders long ago, but no one has studied the cave properly, so its age is unknown. Entry costs Rs 1,000 for foreigners (2025 price) and also covers the small monastery beside the cave.

Back in Lo Manthang, explore the old town in the afternoon. Jampa Lhakhang, from the early 15th century, is the oldest monastery here, and the big red Thubchen Gompa dates from later that century. The royal palace, damaged in the 2015 earthquake, has since been restored.

A shared jeep takes you back down to Jomsom on the road that now links Lo Manthang with the rest of Nepal. It’s mostly gravel, with some sections still being upgraded, and you cross the Nyi La again and pass the villages you walked through, all in one day.

It’s a long, bumpy and dusty ride, so keep your buff and sunglasses handy, and expect delays after rain or where road crews are working.

In Jomsom you’ll find a hot shower and a proper bed. If you have time, the Mustang Eco Museum, a short walk from the airport, has beads, bones and other finds from the Mustang caves.

If you’re flying, you’ll be at the airstrip early for one of the morning flights. Wind and cloud often delay or cancel them, so it’s wise to leave a spare day before your flight home.

By road, a shared jeep takes you down the Kali Gandaki through Beni. In good conditions it takes most of the day, and in the monsoon landslides can block it.

The rest of the day is yours in Pokhara. A rowing boat on Phewa Lake or an easy walk along the lakeside is a good way to rest your legs.

Fly back to Kathmandu, or take a tourist bus along the Prithvi Highway again. If you go by road, leave early, because road works and traffic can make it a long day.

That night we share a farewell dinner to mark the end of your journey to Lo.

After breakfast, we drive you to the airport, leaving plenty of time before your flight home.

If you can stay longer, Chitwan National Park or a few days around the old towns of the Kathmandu Valley are easy to add.