Hiking the Manaslu Circuit in Nepal

OVERVIEW: SOTIKOLA TO DHARAPANI

Total of 177 km including day trips to Manaslu Base Camp and the Tibetean Border

Highest Point: Larkya La Pass 5,106 meters

14 days including traveling to and from Kathmandu

The Manaslu Conservation Zone has always been an area that required trekkers to have a guide and special permit. In fall of 2022 the Nepali Government instituted a policy that all foreign trekkers are required to have a guide while trekking, while previously there were areas like the Annapurna Region and Everest Region where you could trek without a guide. Having done both guided and unguided treks in Nepal, even without the requirement having a guide just adds so much to your trek. They are great advocates for you at guest houses and check points and provide history and cultural knowledge that you would not have access to on your own.

Prior to our arrival in Nepal we worked with Nepal Everest Himalaya Hiking, which is one of the only women owned trekking and tour agencies in Nepal. The owner Sunita got all of our permits for trekking for us before we even arrived in the country, so that we would be sure to be able to start our trek on the day we wanted. We did this trek in early November, which is the dry season in Nepal and therefore peak trekking season. Typically people go to Nepal for trekking in the spring March-April and then fall October - November. The winter there is a lot of snow, which makes trekking more complicated and many places close down. The summer time is monsoon season, which can make many parts of the trial impassible and roads to get there not safe, so this is really not a time you want to be trekking for safety.

Although this is a pretty standard route to take keep in mind it is pretty rigorous. If you do not want to hike as long of days, it would be easy to break up the longer days at the start into shorter days. There are lots of villages you pass through along the way with guest houses. This itinerary also does not include any real rest days. In both Samaguen and Samdo we spent two nights, but did long day hikes and did not take a true day of rest. If you want to not miss out on day hikes, but also want rest just add an additional day to the intinerary, so you can take a full day off. Don’t be afraid to take your time and build an itinerary that works for you and your ability, there is no shame in spending a few extra days to complete the trek, you might as well enjoy it.

DAY 1 - KATHMANDU TO SOTIKOLA

6-9 hours by private jeep

It is more expensive than taking a bus or shared vehicle, but hiring a private jeep to get there in a timely manner is well worth the price tag. We arrived in 6 hours of driving (it can take up to 9 hours depending on road conditions and traffic). Be sure to have your passport and trekking permits handy, we got checked along the drive to make sure we had proper paperwork prior to even arriving at the start of the trek. We stayed at the Green Valley guest house right as you arrived in town. It was simple yet comfortable with a great view of the river from the window in our room. Since this town gets regular jeeps there are a number of little shops, so if you realized you forgot something this is the place to pick it up, stuff gets increasingly more expensive the further you get from regular bus/jeep service. 

DAY 2 - SOTIKOLA TO MACHHAKHOLA

14 km - 5 hours hiking

This is a pretty mellow day of hiking compared to what is to come and a good break in the legs day. It is only about a half day of hiking, mostly along a jeep track. You are low in elevation so it is warm and you see lots of waterfalls and agricultural terraces along the way. There are little places to stop for lunch if you want to stop before Machhakhola or just continue on and have lunch at your guest house when you arrive. We stayed at the Hotel Hilltop, which was a great spot. We got a private room with its own bathroom with a western style toilet, a definate luxury for guest houses on the Manaslu circuit. A young family runs the place and it is great to support young people getting into the industry. They also have a garden they use to provide some of the food and are great cooks. Order something with the greens from their garden, there won’t be much for fresh vegtables as you get higher up the trail. After a bit of relaxing post hike you can walk down towards the river and across a big suspension bridge. There is a small trail that leads down to the river bed if the water level isn’t too high and you can take in some great views of the town.

DAY 3 - MACHHAKHOLA TO JAGAT

20 km - 8 hours hiking

This day was supposed to be around 16 km and 7 hours of hiking, but ended up being about 20 km and almost 8 hours of hiking because of changes to the trail from landslides the month before. It was a long, hard, and hot day. There are several towns inbetween these two, so if you aren’t up for the long day don’t let it stop you from completing the circuit you could split this day in to two. We took a nice long hour lunch break at the Royal Mountain Hotel & Lodge in Dobhan right after a big suspension bridge. They had a nice outdoor area to eat where you could take your shoes off and dry your socks in the sun and relax. When we arrived in Jagat the only place with open rooms was the Rubinala Inn, but the hosts were very nice. We got a simple cabin style room off the coutyard that you had to walk a few steps outside to get to the bathroom. The accomodations where simple, but clean.

DAY 4 - JAGAT TO DENG

19.5 km - 840 meter ascent - 7 hours hiking

You pass by many waterfalls during this hike as you follow the river gorge from up above. If it is clear you will have views of himalayas. You go across a giant suspension bridge partway through the day and there are many cute villages along the way. The check point takes some time if there are many people on the trekking route, most people stop for lunch just past that point, so the guesthouses can be pretty busy for lunch. We continued on to the next small town of Thangurmu where there were not any formal guest houses and restaurants, but a woman made us a traditional dahl baht for lunch and it was very nice to relax in a more local environment without other trekkers. We arrived in Deng just before dinner time and stayed at the Windy Valley guesthouse. The rooms were clean and beds comfortable. They did have hot showers for a small fee, which felt great after a sweaty hot day. They do not have regular power here, so try and charge your things fully the day before. Otherwise you can pay a little to use the generator power to charge devices.

DAY 5 - DENG TO NAMRUNG

16.7 km - 1149 meters of ascent -  6.5 hours hiking

Along this route the trail forks and you can go to Ghap or to Prok. If you are hiking to Namrung it is advisable to stay the lower route and go through Ghap because it is shorter and flatter terrain. We stopped in Ghap for a nice lunch. Some people go to Prok and stop there for the night, adding an additional day to the trek. There you can do a little afternoon hike to Tibetan Gompas, which are supposed to be very beautiful and a worthy add on to the standard trekking route if you have extra time. You could even spend an extra day there and do a side trek to Kal Tal Lake. We did not go through this area, but it looks very beautiful in photos. If you have the time and energy to spend a couple extra days this could be a nice addition. 

After Ghap you descend to the forst and hike close along the river. There is a section in the afternoon where you are in the forest which is nice for the shade and staying out of the heat. There is a great deal of uphill at the end of the day right before Namrung, but you will be greeted with a man selling baked apple goods at the top. It is impossible to resist stopping and picking up some delicious treats. After that big push of stairs and switchbacks it is mostly flat and not too much further into the actual town of Namrung. We stayed at the Namrung Guesthouse,which had nice rooms surrouding a garden and a cozy communal area to hang out.  

DAY 6 - NAMRUNG TO LHO

10 km - 664 meters of ascent -  3.75 hours hiking

Here you are starting to get higher elevations so the days start to get shorter as you are not supposed to sleep too much higher than the previous night to avoid altitude sickness. It is not even a full half day of hiking to get to Lho, so you can sleep in a bit and still have plenty of time to explore Lho when you get there. In Lho we stayed at the Majestic Manaslu Cottages & Garden in a nice separate cottage style room. The guest house has a large common room with lots of windows and a fireplace for when it gets cool at night. Enjoy lunch and tea when you get here and rest for a bit. In the afternoon you definitely do not want to miss hiking up to the beautiful Monastery of Lho and enjoy the first real views of Manaslu you get on this trek. It will also help you start to climatize to the altitude.

DAY 7 - LHO  TO SAMAGAUN

8 km - 490 meters of ascent. - 3 hours hiking

Another shorter day of hiking, so you take it all in and take your time. You will have incredible views of Manaslu most of the day. Samagaon is quite a large town with rich Tibetean culture and a whole series of prayer wheels when you arrive in town. Be sure to get a nice guest house as you will likely be spending two nights here, so that you can give your body time to adjust to the altitude so you don’t get sick and feel better for the rest of the trek. We stayed at the Tashi Delek Hotel, which had nice clean rooms, an option for a hot shower and great food. There was also a great view of Manaslu from the guest house courtyard. From Samagaon there is a couple day hikes you can do on your extra day here to see more of the area and acclimate to higher elevations, inlcuding Birendra Lake, Pung Gyen Gompa, and Manaslu Basecamp.

After we settled in we hiked up to the Samagaon Gompa and walked around the complex a little bit before going back to the guest house for dinner. If you are up for a bit more of a hike and are going to the Pung Gyen Gompa the following day you can hike all the way to Birendra Lake this afternoon. We opted to save that for the following day because it is along the route to Manaslu basecamp, which was the hike we had planned for the next day.

DAY 8 - SAMAGAUN

Day hike to Birendra lake &  Manaslu Base Camp - 14 km - 1,350 m ascent - 9+ hours

Lets be honest this day is a real butt kicker, but it is totally worth it and it is an excellent way to adjust to the higher altitude. If you make it to base camp you will be almost as high as you are when you go over the pass on the trek. First you follow the trail to Birenda Lake and can spend some time walking the lake shore taking photos. As you climb up from the lake you have incredible views of the river, valley and layers and layers of mountains including Manaslu. Even if you do not have the energy to go all the way to basecamp hiking this trail partway for the views would be well worth the effort. As you get closer to basecamp you are hiking in between glaciers and it feels like another world. We saw several small avalanches on the mountain as we hiked. I totally recommend that you have microspikes for this trek. We only needed them for the last one kilometer or so, but it would have been dangerous without them as it was very snowy and slick. At basecamp there are great views of Manaslu and you can see remenants of camp. The year we were there basecamp had been abandonded early because there had been so many dangerous avalanches on the mountain and at base camp, so there were old tattered camp tents and sadly quite a bit of trash spread around since they only had time to take out the essentials and left the rest behind. It felt a little like a ghost town and somewhat eerie.

DAY 9 - SAMAGAUN TO SAMDO

7.75 km - 337 m ascent - 2.5 hours

Today is relatively easy day through the valley, which was very welcome after the long previous day. The landscape is dry and stark. You are looking up at mountains all around and Manaslu starts to disappear behind you. It is relatively flat trail until the last part where you do a steep climb out of the valley to Samdo after crossing the river. We stayed at the Yak Hotel, which is one of the first guest houses when you arrive in town. It was a great place to base ourselves for two nights. They offer blankets and have two fireplaces in the common area to sit around and try and keep warm. It gets very cold at night here and we even had snow one night.

DAY 10 - SAMDO

Day hike to the Tibetan border 18 km - 912 m ascent - 7.5 hours hiking

This data is for my own hike and I turned around a bit before the border because it was getting late in the day and one of our group was struggling with blisters and the altitude. If you make it all the way to the border I would add another 2 km and a little more time. Even if you don’t make it all the way to the border, this is definitely worth the trek. The views are absolutely incredible, there was also a heard of yaks grazing up there. Only a few people do this hike a day, so you will feel very secluded out in the mountains. This was one of my favorite days on the trail even though I didn’t even make it all the way to the border, even just going to the river crossing would be a great day hike.

DAY 11 - SAMDO TO DHARAMSALA/LARKE PHEDI

6 km - 603 m ascent  - 3 hours hiking

No need to rush today unless you don’t have a room reserved through your guide. The facilities in Larke Phedi are very limited with no fires or heat at most places and be prepared to share a room with others. It is good to get out and explore a little to adjust to the elevation some before the climb over the pass the next day, but otherwise there is not much to do here except hang out in the tiny still cold common area. We got lucky and got our own room, but I think we might have been the only ones. Most of the rooms where set up to sleep four people, so if your group was only two people you might have to share with another group. Our room was just four mattresses on the floor. We rented a blanket to go over your sleeping bag for extra warmth, I was worth the extra money. With no heat the room and snow on the ground outside the room was very cold and you want to try and get as good of a sleep as possible for the big day over the pass.

DAY 12 - LARKE PHEDI - LARKE PASS - BIMTHANG

16 km - 687 m ascent and A LOT of descent - 8 hours hiking

It is always recommended you start very early as this is a long day. It also usually gets windier as the day goes, so starting early you will hopefully avoid some of the wind on the pass. It can be snowy like it was for us, so having microspikes is totally worth it. They may not seem necessary on the way up, but they are huge life savers on the way down the other side. 

The climb to the top of the pass is long, but it is a fairly gradual climb especially compared to other treks in Nepal. Take lots of photos and take your time, it totally looks like another world and is a great way to catch your breath as you are sure to feel the elevation at least some. Bring all the warm layers to put on at the pass so you can enjoy the views for a few minutes and not get too cold. Also make sure you pack snacks and a warm drink, there are no services on the way up and not for another 45 minutes or so on the way down. 

You can stop for lunch and drinks or at least just stop and rest your feet for a while at a small spot down from the pass. We opted to just take a break and press on to Bimthang so we could get settled into our room and have lunch there. We stayed at the Cheers Lilita Hotel, which had nice little cottages and an option to take a shower. They also had great food, which was so good after a long hard day. This is a great night to enjoy a beer too, as you are on the way down. Even though the next day will be long, it will feel so much easier since you are going down and headed into more oxygenated air.

DAY 13 - BIMTHANG - DHARAPANI

25 km - 7 hours hiking

Take in the views of the Annapurnas as you are on your way out of Bimthang, you’ll be going down for the most part today and back towards into the forest. We stopped in Gowa for lunch which was a nice mid point. By the end of the day your feet will be very tired, but that’s okay because this was your last day of hiking! Gyasumda Hotel in Dharpani was a wonderful place to stay at the end of the trek. We had our own attached bathroom and a nice hot shower, which was very nice for a change.

Day 14 - DHARAPANI TO KATHMANDU

We woke up early and took a very packed Jeep to Besisahar organized by our guest house and about 9 of us jammed in it. Then we spent a couple hours eating lunch and then found a later mini bus back to the city. Our guide did not want to leave too early because then you can avoid traffic back into Kathmandu. It was a long day we didn’t get back to our hotel until probably around 10 pm, so make sure you have a room already booked and aren’t searching for a place to stay when you arrive late at night. 

Some people will go on to Pokhara instead of to Kathmandu from here, which is a little shorter drive. I recommended starting and finishing your trek from the same city, so you can leave some stuff at your hotel. That way you do not have to bring everything with you, which is especially nice if you are carrying your own things, but even if you have a Porter it is good to keep their loads as light as possible and not bring any unnecessary stuff.