Manaslu (restricted area) — Gorkha · Kathmandu → Kathmandu
Manaslu Circuit Trek
Twelve days around the eighth-highest mountain, over the Larke Pass at ~5,106m.
12 days5,106mdemanding
Manaslu region — month to follow
Twelve days circling Manaslu, the eighth-highest mountain in the world, and crossing the Larke Pass at ~5,106m. A route we run, operated by our trusted partner, who has been working this country since 1996. It is a restricted-area expedition rather than a trek: remote, far fewer trekkers than Annapurna or Everest, Tibetan-Buddhist villages through the middle of it, and one very long day at the top. It is not a first Himalayan trek and we will not sell it as one.
A route we run through our partner agency. Nobody here has walked it personally, and we would rather say so than imply otherwise. The detail below comes from our partner and from published sources.
- Duration
- 12 days
- Nights away
- 11
- Walking days
- 10
- Highest point
- 5,106m
- Difficulty
- Demanding
- Daily walking
- 4–9 hours
- Starts and ends
- Kathmandu
- Best months
- September, October, November, March, April, May
A restricted-area high-pass expedition. The crux is day 10: a pre-dawn start, the Larke Pass at ~5,106m, and eight to nine hours to Bimthang.
What it costs
We have not costed this route yet, and we will not put a number on this page before we have. Message us and we will quote it properly for your group size and dates.
Day by day
Where you sleep, how far you walk, and what each day is actually like.
Day 1
Kathmandu → Machha Khola
Sleep ~930mno walking
Seven to eight hours by bus. Lodge on arrival.
A long road day to start, and rough for much of it. Nothing is asked of your legs today.
Day 1 — Machha Khola
photograph pending
Photograph pending — place and month to follow
Day 2
Machha Khola → Jagat
Sleep ~1,340m6–7 hours walking
Following the Budhi Gandaki upstream through the gorge. Low, warm and long.
Day 2 — Jagat
photograph pending
Photograph pending — place and month to follow
Day 3
Jagat → Dyang
Sleep ~1,800m5–6 hours walking
Still in the gorge and still low. The altitude comes later; today is distance.
Day 4
Dyang → Namrung
Sleep ~2,650m5–6 hours walking
The valley opens and the villages start turning Tibetan-Buddhist. Altitude symptoms most often begin around here — the guide starts watching pace.
Day 5
Namrung → Lho Village
Sleep ~3,180m5–5 hours walking
Manaslu comes into view. Above 3,000m now, and most people feel it.
Day 5 — Lho Village
photograph pending
Photograph pending — place and month to follow
Day 6
Lho Village → Samagaun
Sleep ~3,260m4–5 hours walking
A short day on purpose. Samagaun is where the acclimatisation happens and the schedule is built around it.
Day 7
Rest and acclimatisation at Samagaun
Sleep ~3,260mno walking
No trekking. Birendra Lake, the village, or simply resting. This day is not padding — it is what makes the pass survivable.
Day 7 — Samagaun
photograph pending
Photograph pending — place and month to follow
A rest day at Samagaun, and Birendra Lake below the glacier.
Nothing is scheduled. That is the point.
Day 8
Samagaun → Samdo
Sleep ~3,500mwalking hours to be confirmed
A short, steady climb to the last real village before the pass.
Day 9
Samdo → Dharamsala (Larke Phedi)
Sleep ~4,430mwalking hours to be confirmed
Dharamsala is a staging post rather than a village. Basic shelter, cold, and a poor night's sleep at ~4,430m before the longest day of the trek.
Day 10
Dharamsala → Larke Pass → Bimthanghardest day
Sleep ~3,620mhigh point ~5,106m8–9 hours walking
The hardest day by a wide margin. You start before dawn, climb to the pass, and descend a long way to Bimthang. Cold and exposed at the top, and there is no shortening it.
Day 10 — Bimthang
photograph pending
Photograph pending — place and month to follow
Day 10 — Bimthang
photograph pending
Photograph pending — place and month to follow
The Larke Pass, ~5,106m.
A pre-dawn start, eight to nine hours, and the crux of the circuit.
Day 11
Bimthang → Dharapani
Sleep to be confirmed6–6 hours walking
Down through forest and out of the high country. Six hours, mostly descending, on legs that crossed a pass yesterday.
Day 11 — Dharapani
photograph pending
Photograph pending — place and month to follow
Day 12
Dharapani → Besisahar → Kathmandu or Pokhara
Sleep to be confirmedno walking
Shared local jeep to Besisahar, then on by road. Where you finish depends on your onward plans — we arrange either.
What the price includes
Included
- All transport by bus and shared local jeep
- Breakfast, lunch and dinner throughout the trek
- Accommodation during the trek
- All permits — restricted-area, MCAP, ACAP and the municipality fee
- Licensed guide throughout
- Guide insurance
- Two porters per guide, carrying a maximum of 25kg
Not included
- Your travel insurance, which must carry helicopter evacuation cover — mandatory, your responsibility to arrange, and verified by us before departure
- All drinks — tea, coffee, mineral water, cola, beer and spirits
- Apple pie, custard, chocolate bars and fruit
- A second item at any meal — one per meal is included, extras are yours
- The Pokhara to Kathmandu bus, if you finish in Pokhara
- Donations to monasteries and to people on the trail, entirely at your discretion
- Hot showers and wifi
- International flights, personal expenses and tips
Who walks with you
Guide portrait
photograph pending
Guide — to be named
- Licence
- being collected
- This route
- being collected
- Guiding
- being collected
Every guide is named here with their licence number and how many times they have run this route. Those details are being collected and will appear before anything is sold. A licence is a legal minimum, not a quality claim.
What we would tell a friend
- Day 10 over the Larke Pass is eight to nine hours from a pre-dawn start, cold and exposed at the top. There is no shortening it and no way around it.
- Altitude symptoms most commonly begin around Namrung, on day 4. The rest day at Samagaun exists for that reason and is not optional.
- Dharamsala at ~4,430m is a staging post, not a village. Basic shelter and a poor night's sleep, immediately before the hardest day.
- Lodges in the lower gorge are basic and improve higher up — the opposite of what most people expect.
- This is a restricted area. It is remote, you are far from a road for days, and rescue is correspondingly harder.
This is not for you if
- You have not spent nights above ~4,000m.
- You are uneasy with a ~5,106m pass and an eight-to-nine-hour crossing day.
- You need hot showers and wifi throughout.
- You are not comfortable being remote and far from a road for several days.
We would rather you walked away here than three days up the trail.
A teahouse room on the route
photograph pending
Photograph pending — place and month to follow
Dal bhat, most nights
photograph pending
Photograph pending — place and month to follow
Safety, and who decides
Turnaround is the guide's call, not yours and not ours. That is the whole point of writing it down before anyone is tired, cold and four days from a road.
We take no commission on evacuation flights.
- At altitude
- Symptoms most often begin around Namrung. The guide monitors daily from there and the rest day at Samagaun is built in for acclimatisation, not for sightseeing. Turnaround is the guide's decision and descent is the treatment.
- Evacuation
- A helicopter is chartered at your cost and takes you to hospital. Neither we nor our partner take any commission on that flight. Your policy must carry helicopter evacuation cover and we verify it before departure.
- Weather
- The guide reroutes or waits. On the pass there is no alternative line, so a closure means turning back down the valley.
Travel insurance carrying helicopter evacuation cover is mandatory on every journey we run, and we check the policy before you fly.
When it does not go to plan
Weather closes trails, altitude turns people around, and people get ill. Here is what we do in each case, and who carries the cost.
Snow closes the Larke Pass.
- How often
- A real risk at the edges of both seasons.
- What we do
- The guide calls it at Dharamsala. There is no way around the pass, so the group turns and retraces the valley.
- Who pays
- Not yet agreed with our partner. We will not publish a policy we have not confirmed.
Altitude symptoms above Namrung.
- How often
- Common enough that the schedule is built around it. This is where it usually starts.
- What we do
- The guide monitors daily and sets the pace. Descent begins immediately if symptoms progress — descent is the treatment.
- Who pays
- Your insurance covers evacuation. A helicopter is chartered at your cost and takes you to hospital. Neither we nor our partner take any commission on that flight.
This is the journey we run most. Want to add nights, a better hotel, Chitwan, or plan something different in Nepal? Message us — we plan the whole trip, not just the trek.
Walk Manaslu Circuit Trek with us
Tell us roughly when and how many of you. Six questions, no account, and a person answers — within 24 hours.