21-Day Upper Mustang Trek to Lo Manthang

21 Days in Upper Mustang

Days 1 to 3  |  Kathmandu

Arrive in Kathmandu and transfer to the hotel for the expedition briefing. The first three days are in the Kathmandu Valley, visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Sites that make it one of the densest collections of cultural monuments in the world: Swayambhunath on its hilltop above the city, Pashupatinath on the Bagmati River, and the medieval Durbar Squares of Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur. These days matter for the trek, because the temples, iconography, and religious traditions of the valley help you make sense of Lo Manthang when you get there. We arrange the restricted area permits for Upper Mustang during this time.

Days 4 to 8  |  Jomsom to Tsarang

Fly from Kathmandu to Pokhara and continue by small plane to Jomsom at 2,720 meters, the administrative center of the Mustang district. The trek starts right away, heading into the Kali Gandaki corridor, where the wind is already up even in the morning. The trail north to Kagbeni passes juniper scrub and red cliffs before the checkpoint into the restricted area. Above Kagbeni the landscape empties. Chele, Syangboche, and Ghami are mud-brick villages built into the hillsides, their walls the same color as the cliffs behind them. Lo Gekar, one of the oldest monasteries in Nepal, stands on a ridge above the trail. Continue to Tsarang, a large village below the last ridge before Lo Manthang.

Days 9 to 11  |  Lo Manthang

Cross the Nyi La pass at 3,950 meters for your first view of Lo Manthang from above: the walled city on the plain below, with the buildings of the old capital rising inside the wall. Spend two full days in the city: the four-story royal palace at the northern end, the fifteenth-century gompas with their original murals and thankas, the narrow lanes between the mud-brick houses, and the daily life of a community that has kept its traditions here for six centuries.

Days 12 to 16  |  The Eastern Valleys

Trek east from Lo Manthang into a valley system few visitors explore. The cliff monastery of Luri Gompa is built into a cave in a sheer rock face, and its frescoes are among the finest surviving examples of fourteenth-century Tibetan Buddhist art. The village of Tangya, farther into the eastern valleys, is small, largely self-sufficient, and sees almost no passing trekkers. The return south to Muktinath crosses high ground above 4,000 meters, topping out at the Paa Pass (4,180 meters), with views across the upper Mustang plain to the ridges on the Tibetan border. Muktinath at 3,800 meters is the most important pilgrimage site in the region: a temple complex sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists, with an eternal flame that burns above water from a natural gas seep.

Days 17 to 21  |  Pokhara and Kathmandu

Descend the Kali Gandaki to Jomsom for a last evening with the expedition crew and a proper celebration of a trek that very few people complete. Fly to Pokhara for two nights on the shore of Phewa Lake, with the Annapurna range reflected in the water to the north. Return to Kathmandu for a final day of sightseeing in the valley before your international departure.

Day by Day

Days 1 to 3  Kathmandu  Kathmandu Valley

Arrive at Tribhuvan International Airport, where the SherpaHolidays team welcomes you and takes you to the hotel. The expedition briefing that first evening covers the full 21-day itinerary: the rules for the Upper Mustang restricted area, the customs to follow in Lo Manthang, the altitude profile of the trek, and the arrangements for the internal flights. It also covers the background: the history of the Kingdom of Lo, the Tibetan Buddhist traditions of the region, and the religious sites you will visit. By breakfast the next morning, you will know clearly what the next three weeks involve.

Kathmandu deserves these three days in its own right. The valley has seven UNESCO-listed monument zones and a living religious culture that runs straight through to what you will see in Mustang. Swayambhunath sits on a hilltop at the western edge of the city, its whitewashed stupa and painted eyes looking out over the valley from a site that has been a center of Buddhist practice for over two thousand years. Pashupatinath on the Bagmati River is the most sacred Hindu temple in Nepal, where the dead are cremated on the ghats and the living come to pray in the courtyards, all day long. The Durbar Squares of Kathmandu, Patan, and Bhaktapur are medieval royal courts in various states of preservation, still in daily use. Their stone carvings, timber lattice windows, and pagoda temples come from a Newari tradition of religious art that has produced fine work for over a thousand years. The restricted area permits for Upper Mustang are processed during these three days, so there is no delay when you reach Jomsom.

Stay: Luxury Hotel in Kathmandu

Days 4 to 8  Jomsom to Tsarang  The Desert Plateau

The flights from Kathmandu to Pokhara and on to Jomsom make one of the more dramatic entries to any trekking region in Nepal. From Pokhara the plane climbs north over the Annapurna foothills and turns west through the gap in the main range, with the walls of Dhaulagiri and the Annapurna massif on both sides, before it drops into the wide Kali Gandaki valley and lands at Jomsom. The airstrip is at 2,720 meters, and by mid-morning the wind is already blowing in the upper valley. This wind shapes life in the Mustang corridor: a thermal flow that funnels north through the gap between the two massifs, strong enough in the afternoons to make walking slow and uncomfortable. In this valley we trek in the mornings.

The trail north from Jomsom to Kagbeni follows the river, and the landscape changes with every kilometer. The lower valley is still green in the monsoon season, with juniper and scrub on the lower slopes and the river gray with glacial silt. By Kagbeni (2,810 meters), the last village before the restricted zone checkpoint, the plants have thinned and the cliffs have started to show the red and orange of the upper desert. The checkpoint at Kagbeni is where your restricted area permit is checked, and north of it the country changes. The villages above Kagbeni are mud-brick, the color of the hillsides behind them, with flat roofs and enclosed courtyards built for cold winters and almost no rain. Lo Gekar monastery stands on a ridge above the valley above Ghami. It is one of the oldest religious sites in Nepal, and its founding is credited to Padmasambhava, the eighth-century master who brought Buddhism to Tibet. Continue south of Tsarang to camp at one of the best spots on the route, with the red cliffs of the eastern wall above and the trail to Lo Manthang visible on the ridge ahead.

Stay: Traditional Mountain Lodges

Days 9 to 11  Lo Manthang  The Walled City

The Nyi La pass at 3,950 meters is a short, steep climb from Tsarang (3,560 meters), and the view from the top is the best of the approach. Lo Manthang (3,780 meters) sits on the plain below, a rectangle of white wall around a city that has been lived in continuously since the fourteenth century. The plain around it is brown and flat, with the mountains of Tibet on the northern horizon, and the city in the middle looks like what it is: a walled capital built to be seen from far away, in an otherwise empty landscape.

The city inside the wall is smaller than it looks from above, with narrow lanes and buildings close together, planned for defense as much as convenience. The royal palace at the northern end, four stories of mud-brick and timber, has been the seat of the Lo royal family since the kingdom was founded. The gompas are the reason art historians and religious scholars have been coming here since the restricted zone opened. Champa Lhakhang and Thugchen Gompa hold original fifteenth-century murals and thankas of a quality and completeness that survived because the isolation that made Lo Manthang hard to reach also protected it from the destruction and looting that hit most similar sites on the Tibetan plateau in the twentieth century. A local guide takes the group through the gompas on both days in the city and explains what you are seeing.

The Kingdom of Lo lost its formal legal status within Nepal in 2008, when Nepal became a republic and the government ended the recognition of hereditary monarchies. Its last king, Jigme Palbar Bista, died in 2016.

Stay: Local Lodge and Professional Tented Camp

Days 12 to 16  Luri Gompa to Muktinath  The Hidden Valleys

The eastern valleys beyond Lo Manthang are the least visited part of a region that already sees few visitors. The trail leaves the city through the eastern gate and crosses open plateau toward a valley system that drops into a series of narrow gorges cut through the red sandstone of upper Mustang. Luri Gompa appears in the cliff face above the valley floor as a cluster of painted facades built across the mouth of a cave. Inside the cave are a temple and a chorten that archaeologists have dated to the fourteenth century. The dry, high air has kept the murals in good condition: the pigments are still bright, and the figures and compositions are still clear. Very few people see these paintings each year, and the small community that looks after the monastery clearly takes great care of what is inside.

The village of Tangya lies farther into the eastern valleys, a small community off the main trekking routes. The people here are Loba, the traditional inhabitants of Lo, and the village follows the same seasonal pattern it has for centuries: farming in the summer, trading in the autumn, and the long cold of winter. The return south from Tangya crosses high ground above 4,000 meters, topping out at the Paa Pass (4,180 meters), with clear views across the upper Mustang plain to the ridges of the Tibetan border, then drops to rejoin the Kali Gandaki corridor for the final approach to Muktinath.

Muktinath at 3,800 meters is a different kind of religious site from the gompas of Lo Manthang. It is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists, which is unusual in a region where the two traditions usually keep separate institutions and pilgrimage routes. The site is sacred because of a natural gas seep that produces a flame burning above water, fire and water in the same place, which both traditions have seen as a divine sign for over two thousand years. Hindu pilgrims bathe under the 108 water spouts around the temple, believing the water purifies them. The gompa above the spring serves Buddhist pilgrims. Both are in use every day of the pilgrimage season.

Stay: Professional Tented Camp and Lodge

Days 17 to 21  Jomsom to Kathmandu  The Return

The walk down the Kali Gandaki from Muktinath to Jomsom is one long day, and the wind makes the trail harder going south than it was going north. The plants come back as you lose altitude: first scrub juniper, then the larger trees of the middle valley, then the green lower slopes near Jomsom. The last evening in Jomsom is the traditional expedition dinner, with the full crew together to mark the end of the mountain section. For many guests, getting to know the people who carried the loads, cooked the meals, and kept the camp for three weeks is one of the best parts of the trip.

The flight from Jomsom to Pokhara retraces the Day 4 flight in reverse, with Dhaulagiri and Annapurna on either side as the plane turns south through the gap. After two weeks above 3,500 meters, Pokhara, at 800 meters, feels warm, busy, and very green. Two nights on the shore of Phewa Lake, with the Annapurna range reflected in the water to the north, give you a proper rest after the high-altitude section instead of a rushed transit. The last flight takes you back to Kathmandu, where the trip began, with a final day to explore the UNESCO temples and medieval courtyards at your own pace before your international departure.

Stay: Luxury Hotel in Pokhara then Luxury Hotel in Kathmandu

The Sherpa Standard

Every SherpaHolidays trip is fully supported, from arrival to departure. Here is what that means on this one.

Accommodation and Meals

• City Hotels: Premier hotels in Kathmandu and Pokhara, with breakfast.
• Mountain Stays: A mix of traditional mountain lodges in the villages of Upper Mustang and high-quality tented camps in the more remote parts of the eastern valleys.
• Full Board on Trek: All meals throughout the trekking and touring days, cooked daily by the expedition kitchen team.

Leadership and Support

• Expedition Guide: A dedicated English-speaking Sherpa guide who knows the Upper Mustang restricted zone and its religious sites, with you for the whole trip.
• Sherpa Support Team: A full professional crew, including porters, handling all logistics, equipment, and camp management.
• Permits and Briefing: A full pre-departure briefing, all handling of the Upper Mustang restricted area permits, and insurance for all local staff as standard.

Transport and Permits

• Private Transfers: All airport pickups and sightseeing transfers in Kathmandu and Pokhara by private vehicle.
• Internal Flights: All domestic flights included: Kathmandu to Pokhara, Pokhara to Jomsom, Jomsom to Pokhara, and Pokhara to Kathmandu.
• Restricted Area Permits: Full handling of the special Upper Mustang restricted area permits, Annapurna Conservation Area entry fees, and entry fees for Kathmandu Valley heritage sites.

What Is Not Included

• International airfare to and from Kathmandu and Nepal entry visa fees
• Lunch and dinner in Kathmandu and Pokhara
• Comprehensive travel insurance, which is a condition of every booking. Your policy must cover emergency medical treatment, emergency evacuation, trip cancellation and interruption, and repatriation. We can recommend providers.
• Personal items including technical gear, beverages, laundry, and personal shopping
• Tips for guides and porters
• Single supplement (for those taking a private room)

Five Highlights

Lo Manthang, the Walled City

The walled city of Lo Manthang was founded in the fourteenth century as the capital of the Kingdom of Lo, and people have lived there continuously ever since. While the Tibetan plateau to the north lost most of its old monasteries and royal institutions in the twentieth century, Lo Manthang's isolation protected what it had: the royal palace, the gompas, the murals, the traditions, and the social structure of a Himalayan kingdom. In the lanes of the old city you walk through a medieval town that is still lived in, with nothing rebuilt or staged for visitors.

The Kali Gandaki Corridor

The Kali Gandaki River cuts between Dhaulagiri at 8,167 meters and Annapurna at 8,091 meters, and measured from the river to the summits on either side, its gorge is the deepest in the world. Walking north through it, the landscape changes from green Himalayan valley to red desert plateau within a day, and the wind picks up as it funnels between the two massifs until the afternoons are hard going. The red cliffs of the upper valley, the abandoned cave dwellings cut into the rock above the trail, and the mud-brick villages tucked into the hillsides are very different from the standard Nepal trekking routes.

Luri Gompa and the Cliff Monasteries

The cave monasteries of the eastern Mustang valleys come from a tradition of retreat that puts the practitioner as far from the world below as possible. Luri Gompa is built across the mouth of a cave in a cliff, and its fourteenth-century murals have survived in a condition that the dry air and high altitude make possible in few other places. Paintings from this period and style have mostly been destroyed elsewhere. Here you see them where they were made, in a working monastery on a trail that very few people walk each year.

Muktinath, Sacred to Hindus and Buddhists

The pilgrimage site of Muktinath at 3,800 meters is sacred to both Hindus and Buddhists, and each tradition gives it deep religious meaning of its own. For over two thousand years, both faiths have seen the natural gas seep at the center of the site, which feeds a flame burning on water, as a sign of divine power. Hindu pilgrims bathe under the 108 water spouts around the temple, and Buddhist pilgrims walk around the gompa above the spring. On a busy pilgrimage day you see both communities there at once, each with its own practices, in the same place.

The Landscape of the Rain Shadow

Upper Mustang sits in the rain shadow of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges, which block the monsoon rain that falls on the rest of Nepal in summer. The result is a desert plateau at 3,000 to 4,000 meters with annual rainfall measured in tens of millimeters: colored sandstone canyons, wind-carved rock, and a clear, bright sky that the monsoon clouds rule out south of the ranges. Himalayan blue sheep and snow leopards live on the high ridges above the valley. The amber and red cliffs of the canyon country between Kagbeni and Lo Manthang have been shaped by the wind over millions of years, and it is still at work on them.