Manaslu Circuit Trek

The two treks follow a similar pattern but offer very different experiences. Both cross a pass a little above 5,000 m, and both take about two weeks. The Annapurna Circuit has a road at each end, good lodges throughout, a doctor at Manang and many trekkers. The Manaslu Circuit has none of these, which is the main reason people choose it. If you have trekked the Annapurna Circuit and would prefer a quieter route, this trek is a good choice.

Not on any single day. The Larkya La is 310 m lower than the Thorong La, and the pass day is comparable. It is harder overall: there are eleven walking days with no rest day until the ninth, four of them in a gorge where the trail climbs and descends repeatedly, and a much more basic night before the pass.

Usually not, and we will tell you so. The route is remote, the accommodation at the higher villages is very basic, there is no clinic on the route, and leaving from the middle of the trek takes days. None of this is dangerous with a good guide, and all of it is easier to manage when you already know how your body responds at 4,000 m. We recommend trekking to Annapurna Base Camp or Everest Base Camp first, and then this route.

You need to be fit enough to walk six hours a day for eleven days in a row. For this trek, that is a better measure than any single hard day. The training plan on this page covers twelve weeks. The part most people skip, three walking days back to back, is the most important part for this trek.

Yes. Since 22 March 2026, the Department of Immigration no longer requires two foreign trekkers on a restricted area permit. Before that date, solo travellers had to find a partner or pay for a second permit in another name, and many websites still give this outdated information. You will still walk with a licensed guide, because a restricted area permit is only issued through an agency.

You need four things. The restricted area permit costs $100 for seven days plus $15 per additional day from September to November, and $75 plus $10 per additional day from December to August. The Manaslu Conservation Area permit costs NPR 3,000. The Annapurna Conservation Area permit also costs NPR 3,000. You also need a licensed guide from a registered agency. All of these are included in the price, and we arrange them for you.

The Larkya La leads into the Annapurna Conservation Area, and you walk out through the checkpoint at Dharapani, where the permit is checked. Travellers are caught out by this every season, and about half of the Manaslu permit guides online do not mention it.

No. The restricted area permit replaces it. Some Manaslu pages list a TIMS card, but buying one would be an unnecessary expense of NPR 2,000.

The difference is almost entirely the restricted area permit. At the autumn rate it costs around $145 per person for this itinerary, while an Annapurna trek needs no such permit. The conservation permit costs are also doubled, because you need two. In total, permits cost roughly $190, compared with $37 on an Annapurna trek. This cost is the reason the trail stays quiet.

You leave Dharamsala at three or four in the morning, when the temperature is about minus fifteen. There are four to five hours of steady climbing across moraine to the pass at 5,106 m, a wide saddle hung with prayer flags, with views of Himlung, Cheo and Kang Guru. This is followed by a long descent of 1,516 m on loose ground to Bimthang. The day takes eight to ten hours in total and is by far the longest day of the trek.

You descend with a guide. This is why we make the decision at Samdo rather than at Dharamsala. From Samdo, Samagaon is three hours below and has the only reliable helicopter landing site on the route. From Dharamsala at four in the morning, the options are much more limited. If the discussion takes place at Samdo a day and a half earlier, nobody has to make that decision at 4,460 m.

No. Unlike the Everest and Annapurna regions, there is no Himalayan Rescue Association post on this trek, only a health post at Samagaon that is not always staffed. Medical cover consists of your guide's wilderness first aid training, the daily oximeter readings and a readiness to descend early. For this reason, we follow the altitude protocol strictly.

In October there is usually little snow. In March and late November, expect some, and your guide will decide at Samdo whether the group needs microspikes. From December to February the pass is normally closed, and we do not offer the crossing then.

It is the most basic accommodation on any of our trips, and we want you to know this in advance. It is a stone shelter at 4,460 m, with dormitory or shared twin rooms, no heating, an unreliable electricity supply, poor food, and a cold night before the most demanding day. It is only one night, and it is necessary in order to cross the pass. Bring a sleeping bag liner you are comfortable with, and make sure you eat.

They are better than Dharamsala, but simpler than the lodges in the Annapurna region. The gorge lodges at Dyang and Ghap are simple. The lodge at Lho has the best view on the trek from its dining room. Samagaon is the most comfortable night, with hot showers and private bathrooms in the better lodges. Samdo is basic but adequate.

Coverage is patchy as far as Namrung, better at Samagaon, and there is none above it. NTC covers more of this valley than Ncell, which is the opposite of the Annapurna region, so buy an NTC SIM card in Kathmandu. Expect to be out of contact for the last five days, and let people at home know.

The last cash machine is in Kathmandu. There is no cash machine anywhere on this trek, and cards are not accepted. Bring three hundred to four hundred and fifty dollars in Nepali rupees, in small notes, to cover tea, charging, the occasional shower and your tips.

It is much quieter than the Annapurna region in October. It is busier than it was five years ago, and part of the lower gorge now has a jeep track. Between Namrung and Bimthang, the most important week of the trek, you will still have long stretches with no other trekkers.

The drive from Kathmandu to Maccha Khola takes eight hours by private jeep. The road is paved as far as Arughat, followed by a rough road cut into the hillside above the Budhi Gandaki. The exact point where the jeep stops depends on the monsoon damage to the track that year, and we will tell you before you arrive, not on the morning of departure.

No, and this is an advantage. Nothing on this trek can be delayed for three days by cloud, as a Lukla flight can, which is why this itinerary has no spare day at the end. In exchange, there is a rough road at each end, and the monsoon occasionally closes it.

Late September to mid-November, or April. October is the most reliable month, and November has the clearest weather and the fewest trekkers. Do not trek during the monsoon: from June to August the access road, rather than the trail itself, makes the trip unsafe.

Three weeks in advance is comfortable. The limiting factor is the Department of Immigration rather than the lodges, because restricted area permits are issued against scanned passports on working days only. Ten days is possible, but an enquiry on a Friday for a Monday start is not.

If you have an extra week, yes. The Tsum Valley is a side valley that was closed to outsiders until 2008. It has its own dialect and a longstanding local ban on killing animals, and it is the best extension we offer. It requires its own restricted area permit and extends the trip to about twenty-four days.