The Upper Mustang Trek is a 12- to 14-day restricted-area route through the former Kingdom of Lo to Lo Manthang (3,840m), the walled medieval capital of Mustang in Nepal's trans-Himalayan north. Since 22 December 2025, the Upper Mustang Restricted Area Permit costs USD 50 per person per day, replacing the old flat charge of USD 500 for the first 10 days plus USD 50 for each day after. A second rule change followed on 22 March 2026: the Department of Immigration dropped the two-person minimum group size for restricted-area permits nationwide, so a solo trekker can now get the Upper Mustang permit with a licensed guide, without needing a second paying trekker to book alongside them. This guide covers both changes in full, plus the day-by-day route to Lo Manthang, the Tiji festival, the culture of the kingdom of Lo, and the real cost of the trek in 2026.
Upper Mustang was closed to foreign visitors until 1992, and the plateau above Kagbeni still looks and feels closer to the Tibetan plateau than to the green middle hills of the Annapurna region below it. Wind-carved cliffs in ochre and grey rise above whitewashed villages, cave dwellings, and chortens that have stood for centuries. The region sits in the rain shadow of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massifs. That rain shadow keeps Mustang walkable through the monsoon months, when most of Nepal's other trails wash out.
Why Upper Mustang needs a restricted-area permit
Upper Mustang has required a Restricted Area Permit since it opened to trekkers in 1992, more than three decades before the December 2025 fee change. The permit funds conservation and community development inside the restricted zone and caps visitor numbers to protect a landscape and culture that sees a fraction of the traffic on the Everest or Annapurna Base Camp trails. Every trekker crossing the checkpoint at Kagbeni into the restricted zone needs one, alongside a standard Annapurna Conservation Area Permit (ACAP).
The Department of Immigration replaced the old USD 500-for-10-days structure with a flat USD 50 per person per day rate on 22 December 2025. Under the previous rules, you paid USD 500 upfront for the first 10 days in the restricted zone and USD 50 for each additional day, whether your trek took 8 days or 10. Under the current rules, you pay only for the days you actually spend inside the restricted area, so a shorter loop costs less than the old flat fee and a longer one costs proportionally more. Our standard Upper Mustang itineraries spend around 10 to 12 days inside the restricted zone, which puts the permit at roughly USD 500 to 600 per person, close to what the old flat fee used to run, but now tied to your actual trip length instead of a fixed minimum.
ACAP is the second required permit, priced at NPR 3,000 per person (about USD 23), and that figure already includes VAT rather than having it added on top at the checkpoint. Both permits are arranged by your trekking agency before departure and checked at the entry post in Kagbeni and again on exit. For the full rundown of every permit Nepal requires, see our guide to what changed in Mustang's restricted-area permit since December 2025.
A licensed guide is still mandatory for Upper Mustang, arranged through a registered Nepal trekking agency, and that part of the rule hasn't changed. What changed on 22 March 2026 is the group-size requirement: the Department of Immigration dropped the two-trekker minimum for restricted-area permits across Nepal, Upper Mustang included, so solo trekkers can now book the permit on their own as long as they travel with that licensed guide. Older guides to Mustang, including earlier versions of this one, still describe a mandatory group of two; that requirement no longer applies. We still offer small private departures for trekkers who'd rather not be the only client in a group, but that's a booking preference now, not a permit condition.
Upper Mustang itinerary: Jomsom to Lo Manthang in 12 to 14 days
Most Upper Mustang treks begin with a 25-minute flight from Pokhara to Jomsom (2,720m), followed by a walk north along the Kali Gandaki River to Kagbeni (2,810m), the checkpoint village where the restricted zone begins. From Kagbeni, the trail climbs through Chele, Samar, and Ghami before reaching Charang and finally Lo Manthang (3,840m), the walled capital of the old Kingdom of Lo. Our standard itinerary runs 14 days door to door, including a rest day in Lo Manthang and a return route that loops through Lo Gekar and the Luri Gompa cave monastery instead of retracing the outbound trail.
| Day | Route | Altitude |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Fly Pokhara to Jomsom, trek to Kagbeni | 2,810m |
| 2 | Kagbeni to Chele (enter restricted zone) | 3,050m |
| 3 | Chele to Samar | 3,660m |
| 4 | Samar to Ghami | 3,520m |
| 5 | Ghami to Charang | 3,560m |
| 6 | Charang to Lo Manthang | 3,840m |
| 7 | Rest day: Lo Manthang monasteries | 3,840m |
| 8 | Lo Manthang to Nyi La to Lo Gekar | 4,010m (Nyi La) |
| 9 | Lo Gekar to Yara via Ghara | 3,650m |
| 10 | Yara to Luri Gompa to Ghami | 3,520m |
| 11 | Ghami to Chele | 3,050m |
| 12 | Chele to Kagbeni to Jomsom, fly to Pokhara | 2,720m |
Lo Manthang's walled center holds roughly 150 to 200 houses, the old royal palace, and four working monasteries: Jampa Lhakhang and Thubchen Lhakhang, both built in the 15th century, Chodé Gompa, still active with resident monks, and Namgyal Gompa on the cliff above the north wall. The rest day built into the itinerary is timed so you can see morning light enter Thubchen Lhakhang through its high windows, before the afternoon wind picks up over the plateau.
North of Lo Manthang, the trail continues to Nyi La (4,010m), the trek's actual high point, where a clear day gives you a view across the border into the brown expanse of the Tibetan plateau. From Nyi La the route drops to Lo Gekar, home to the Ghar Gompa, one of the oldest monasteries in the Mustang region, then loops south through Yara to the Luri Gompa cave monastery (3,650m), where cave-cut chapels hold murals dating to the 14th century and see only a few hundred visitors a year.
Jomsom flights run early morning, between 06:00 and 09:00, before the Kali Gandaki's afternoon winds make the airstrip unsafe, so build a buffer day into your Pokhara schedule in case of weather delay. Trekkers on a tighter schedule can shorten the loop to 10 or 11 days by retracing the outbound trail instead of swinging through Yara and Luri Gompa, though that shortcut skips the cave monastery.
The Tiji festival at Lo Manthang
Tiji is the three-day Tibetan Buddhist festival held each spring in the main square of Lo Manthang, usually in May. The festival re-enacts the myth of Dorje Jono defeating a demon to save the kingdom, told through masked Cham dances performed by the monks of Chodé monastery. Dates shift year to year with the Tibetan lunar calendar, so trekkers who want to attend should confirm the exact 2026 dates with us well in advance.
Timing a trek around Tiji combines the best spring weather with the region's most important cultural event. May departures sell out first, often six months ahead, so book early if the festival is the reason you're going. If your dates don't align with Tiji, the monasteries, cave complexes, and daily monastic life still give Upper Mustang a depth of living culture that few other Nepal treks match.
Culture of the kingdom of Lo
The people of Upper Mustang are Lobas, ethnically and culturally Tibetan, speaking a Tibetan dialect and practising Tibetan Buddhism with some Bon influences. Villages like Charang, Ghami, and Lo Manthang are built around gompas and defended historically by mud-brick walls, a legacy of Mustang's position on the salt-trade route between Tibet and the lowlands. The trek is as much a cultural experience as a mountain one, which sets it apart from the high-altitude passes of the Annapurna and Everest regions.
Ghami holds one of Nepal's longest mani walls, a stretch of stacked prayer stones running several hundred metres along the trail into the village, and the red cliffs above Drakmar carry a local legend tied to Guru Rinpoche. Hospitality in Mustang follows the rhythm of the gompa: morning and evening prayers are audible across the villages, and butter tea is offered freely to visitors. Walking clockwise around chortens and mani walls, and asking before photographing inside monasteries, is part of trekking responsibly through the kingdom of Lo.
Jigme Dorje Palbar Bista, the 24th and final Raja of Mustang, held a recognised ceremonial role until Nepal became a republic in 2008, and the royal palace where he lived still stands at the centre of Lo Manthang. The annual Yartung horse festival in late summer and the Tiji festival each spring keep the old court culture visible to trekkers who time their visit well. Few places in the Himalaya let you walk through a living medieval town the way Lo Manthang does.
Best time to trek: the monsoon rain-shadow window
Upper Mustang sits in the rain shadow north of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massifs, so it stays largely dry while the rest of Nepal is soaked by the monsoon. June, July, and August together see less than 100mm of rainfall, which makes Upper Mustang one of the few treks in Nepal that stays open during a season when most other trails are washed out. Spring (March to May) is the other prime season and the only window to catch Tiji, with warm days and the festival as the draw.
| Season | Conditions in Upper Mustang |
|---|---|
| Spring (Mar–May) | Warm, dry, clear; Tiji festival in May; busiest |
| Monsoon (Jun–Aug) | Dry rain-shadow trekking while the rest of Nepal is wet |
| Autumn (Sep–Nov) | Clear and stable, cooler nights, very good |
| Winter (Dec–Feb) | Cold and windy; many locals migrate south, services thin out |
Wind is the constant in Mustang, picking up most afternoons at 40 to 60km/h regardless of season, so early starts and a windproof layer matter year-round. For how the same rain shadow shapes neighbouring routes, compare the timing notes in our best time to trek the Annapurna Circuit guide, since the upper Manang stages share the same dry-belt advantage.
How much Upper Mustang costs
Annapurna Trekking runs the 14-day Upper Mustang Trek from USD 1,890 per person, all-inclusive: both permits, a TAAN-certified guide, porter, teahouse accommodation, all trek meals, and the Jomsom flights both ways. The Restricted Area Permit remains the single biggest line item inside that price, but the USD 50 per person per day rate now scales with how many days your itinerary actually spends inside the restricted zone, rather than locking every trekker into the old flat USD 500 charge regardless of trip length.
A hot shower in Lo Manthang runs USD 3 to 7, wifi another USD 3 to 5 a day, and bottled water USD 2 to 4 a litre, all paid directly to the teahouse and separate from the package price. Costs above Kagbeni run higher than on the main Annapurna trails because every kilogram of rice, fuel, and building material has to be carried or trucked in over long, rough roads. Tipping is pooled and paid at the end of the trek: budget USD 8 to 12 a day for the guide and USD 5 to 8 a day per porter.
Plan your Upper Mustang Trek
Upper Mustang in 2026 pairs a permit fee that now scales fairly with trip length with one of the last living Tibetan Buddhist kingdoms still standing outside Tibet itself. Annapurna Trekking arranges both required permits, the Jomsom flights, and your licensed guide, whether you're booking solo under the post-March-2026 rules or travelling as a group. As the dedicated trekking brand of Swotah Travel and Adventure, founded in 2016 in Budhanilkantha, Kathmandu, we run small, guide-led departures with transparent pricing from USD 1,890. See the full Upper Mustang Trek page for the complete 14-day itinerary, or compare a higher-pass alternative on the Annapurna Circuit. Ready to walk into the kingdom of Lo? Contact our team for 2026 dates, including Tiji departures.
Frequently asked questions
How much is the Upper Mustang permit?
The Upper Mustang restricted-area permit is now USD 50 per person per day, changed in late 2025 from a flat USD 500 for ten days. The ACAP permit adds NPR 3,000.
How many days is the Upper Mustang trek?
The Upper Mustang trek runs about 14 days to the walled city of Lo Manthang at 3,840 metres, usually flying between Pokhara and Jomsom. The altitude stays moderate throughout.
What is the best time for Upper Mustang?
Upper Mustang is trekkable from March to November, and it stays dry through the June to August monsoon because it sits in the Annapurna rain shadow. May is popular for the Tiji festival.
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Founder & Lead Guide, Annapurna Trekking
AJ founded Annapurna Trekking in 2016 and has personally guided treks across Nepal ever since. More about our team →
