Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, Overland from Kathmandu

It is the most popular way to Kailash and the least expensive: no flights within China, and the trip starts and ends in Kathmandu, so you need only one international ticket. The group visa is arranged in Kathmandu while you visit the holy sites of the valley, and the whole route is by road with your own crew and cooks from the first day.

We run four routes. This one goes by road from Kathmandu and back in fourteen days. The Kailash Luxury Tour flies from Kathmandu to Lhasa, visits its monasteries and drives to Kailash and back to Kathmandu in sixteen days. The Ultra Luxury Yatra starts in Beijing, flies to Lhasa, drives to Kailash and leaves through Kathmandu in fifteen days. The Express Premium starts and ends in Beijing and flies to Purang near the mountain, covering everything in twelve days.

Three days in Kathmandu for the group visa and the holy sites, a rest day at Nyalam before the plateau, two days by road to the lake, a full day at Mansarovar for the bath and puja, three days for the kora and three days back. If everyone in the group already holds a Chinese visa, the yatra can be done in thirteen days.

Zhangmu, reached from Tatopani on the Araniko Highway. The crossing at Rasuwagadhi and Kerung, which we used before, was damaged by the flood of August 2026, so all 2027 departures enter and leave Tibet through Zhangmu and Nyalam.

The full circuit around Kailash is about 52 km, but because you now drive to Tarboche at the start and from the Zuthulpuk valley at the end, you walk about 38 km over three days. The first day, to Dirapuk, is about 10 km and six to seven hours, and not steep. The second, over the Dolma La at 5,630 m to Zuthulpuk, is the longest and hardest: eight to ten hours. The third is about four hours down the valley. Local Tibetan pilgrims walk it in one day; we take three.

Yes. A horse with a helper is booked at Darchen or Tarboche at extra cost; allow about $600 to $800 for the three days. A horse is most useful on the climbs, and everyone walks the steepest part of the descent from the pass. Porters can also be hired. A walking stick, which we provide, helps a great deal.

You can walk on the first day to the north face of Kailash at Dirapuk, take part in the puja there, and return to Darchen on foot or by jeep with a crew member to wait for the group. The decision about the second day is made at Dirapuk in the evening, because turning back once you are on the pass is much harder.

A Chinese group visa and a Tibet Travel Permit, with the military and Kailash area permits that go with it, all arranged by us. Send us a copy of your passport, valid for at least six months, when you book. We apply for the permit in advance, and the group visa is issued in Kathmandu in three working days while you visit the holy sites. The visa fee is not included in the price.

Yes. If you hold a Chinese tourist (L) visa from home, send us a copy in advance and we apply for the Tibet Travel Permit based on it. If everyone in the group holds one, the yatra can be completed in thirteen days, because no time is needed for the group visa in Kathmandu.

Yes, and it is issued on arrival at Kathmandu airport. Ask for a multiple-entry visa, because you leave Nepal for Tibet and come back into Nepal at the end of the yatra.

We run Kailash yatras for Indian passport holders too, but separately. The Chinese visa for Indian citizens is issued in Delhi and our Delhi office arranges it, and those yatras follow their own fixed itinerary, so Indian and non-Indian passport holders cannot travel in the same group. Please contact us for the current dates.

The highest point is the Dolma La at 5,630 m, crossed on the tenth day, and the highest night is at Dirapuk at 4,900 m. The biggest single step is the drive from Kathmandu at 1,400 m to Nyalam at 3,700 m on the fourth day, which is why the fifth day is spent resting there before the plateau.

No. There is no helicopter evacuation in the Ngari region of Tibet. Anyone who needs to descend does so by road, and the nearest well-equipped hospital is a long way away. This is why we carry oxygen cylinders, a portable pressure chamber (PAC bag), oximeters and a blood pressure monitor, and why an emergency vehicle travels with the group.

Many pilgrims take it and it helps, but you should discuss it with your own doctor. It does not replace the measures that work: gaining height slowly, drinking more than you feel you need, eating even when you have no appetite, and telling your guide immediately if you feel unwell, not at dinner.

From May to September, when the weather is most stable and the Dolma La is open. June and July are popular for clear skies and the Tibetan festivals, and August and early September give good visibility on the kora. Tibet usually closes to foreign visitors in March.

Several of our dates are timed so that the group is at Lake Mansarovar on or near the full moon, which many yatris consider the most auspicious time for the holy bath and puja. They are marked in the dates table and tend to fill first.

Saga Dawa is the full moon of the fourth Tibetan month, when the flagpole at Tarboche is lowered and raised again and thousands of pilgrims walk the kora together. It is a remarkable occasion, but it is crowded and beds are scarce. Decide in advance whether you want to be there or avoid it.

A five-star hotel in Kathmandu, simple hotels in Nyalam and Saga, and guesthouses at Lake Mansarovar. The two nights on the kora, at Dirapuk and Zuthulpuk, are in basic guesthouses with shared rooms. All have the essentials, but the nights on the plateau are simple, and there is no better alternative on the kora.

Hot, freshly cooked vegetarian food throughout, prepared by our own cooks: North and South Indian dishes and some Western ones, such as porridge, muesli, roti, dal, paratha, rice, rajma, vegetable curry, pasta, puri, khichdi, soup and curd, with tea and coffee. Tell us about special dietary needs when you book.

You can bathe in the lake as pilgrims do, briefly, because the water is only a few degrees above freezing. Most of our yatris prefer the bathing tent we set up on the shore, with warm water drawn from the lake. The puja and havan follow on the shore.

No. The mountain itself is worshipped, as Mount Sumeru and as Shiva's lingam. Pilgrims bathe and hold puja and havan on the shore of Mansarovar, pray and light lamps at the north face and on the Dolma La, and at Shiva Tsal leave old clothes, hair or nails as a sign of rebirth.

The Tibetan side is mostly good tarmac with long distances, so the long days are tiring but not rough. The Araniko Highway between Kathmandu and the border is narrower and slower, especially after rain. Bring medication for motion sickness if you need it.

We provide a sleeping bag and a warm jacket for the trip, a duffel bag, a cap, a poncho and a walking stick. Bring wind protection above all: the plateau is dry and open and the wind is constant, so a windproof shell, a buff and good lip protection matter more than an extra fleece. You also need much more sun cream than the temperatures suggest.

In the hotels, yes, with a Chinese plug adaptor. On the kora, no. Dirapuk and Zuthulpuk have no reliable power, so bring a battery pack and keep it warm inside your jacket, because the cold drains batteries quickly.

Your Nepali SIM card stops working at the border. Chinese SIM cards work in the towns but not on the kora, and many common Western apps are blocked in China unless you arrange access before you arrive. Most travellers spend their days on the plateau largely offline.

Border crossings between Nepal and Tibet can close because of landslides, festivals or politics, sometimes without notice. If Zhangmu closes before departure, we offer you the route via Lhasa where seats are available, or a full refund. If it closes while we are in Tibet, we leave by the best open route and tell you what it costs as soon as we know.

We refund your payment. Permits are occasionally refused without explanation, and journalists and people with certain stamps in their passports are refused more often. We do not keep deposits when a refusal is not your responsibility.

At least four to five months ahead. The Tibet visa and military permit take time to obtain, and every Kailash group applies during the same short season. Prices for 2027 are held for bookings made by December 2026; after January 2027 they may rise by about ten per cent.