Upper Mustang Trek

Upper Mustang is not a green trek. Once you fly into Jomsom at 2,720 meters and walk past the Kagbeni checkpost into the restricted zone, the Himalaya you have read about gives way to something closer to western Tibet. Ochre cliffs, red eroded canyons, wind-carved rock, bleached buckwheat fields in a high-altitude desert that sits in the rain shadow of the Annapurna-Dhaulagiri wall.

The trek climbs the Kali Gandaki valley through Chele, Syangboche, Ghiling, and Ghami to Tsarang and finally to Lo Manthang, the walled medieval capital of the former Kingdom of Lo. Lo Manthang is the point of the trek. Three principal monasteries stand inside the walls — Thubchen Gompa (late 15th century, frescoed interior), Jampa Lhakhang (early 14th century, housing a tall Maitreya Buddha), and Chode Gompa (13th century). A short ride north, the Jhong sky caves at Chhoser honeycomb a cliff face with over 10,000 man-made cave dwellings, some dating back more than 2,000 years.

Above Lo Manthang, the trek circles back via alternative routes through Dhakmar and Ghar Gompa before returning to Jomsom. Altitudes stay generally lower than Khumbu or Annapurna — the highest point is around 4,230 meters — but the wind is constant. After about 11 in the morning, the Kali Gandaki funnels up-valley at 40 to 50 kilometers an hour, loud enough to make conversation impossible and strong enough to slow walking to a crawl. Most groups start early and aim to be at the day's lodge by mid-afternoon.

Upper Mustang is a restricted area. The permit, as of 2026, is fifty US dollars per person per day with no minimum stay, plus ACAP and TIMS. A licensed guide is mandatory. Independent trekking is not permitted.

What's it actually like

A cultural trek more than a physical one. You are walking into a Tibetan-Buddhist culture that has been largely sealed off from tourism for most of the last century, through landscapes that look nothing like the green Himalaya you pictured. This is also the one trek on our list that works during monsoon — Upper Mustang sits in the rain shadow and is largely unaffected while the rest of the country is flooded.