Upper Mustang: Beyond Kagbeni to the Walled City of Lo Manthang

At the village of Kagbeni, on the Kali Gandaki River, a checkpost marks a boundary. South of it, the valley is open to anyone with a standard conservation permit. North of it begins Upper Mustang, the former Kingdom of Lo, a restricted region that was closed to foreigners until 1992 and remains one of the best-preserved pockets of Tibetan culture anywhere.

A different landscape

Upper Mustang lies in the rain shadow of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges. The monsoon barely reaches it. The land is a high desert of eroded cliffs striped in ochre, rust, grey and cream, cut by deep canyons, with green only where irrigation channels feed barley fields and poplar groves around the villages. The wind blows hard up the valley every afternoon.

Elevations range from about 2,800 metres at Kagbeni to around 3,800 metres at Lo Manthang, with passes a little above 4,000 metres.

The culture

The people of Lo speak a Tibetan dialect and practise Tibetan Buddhism, mainly of the Sakya school. Villages are built of whitewashed mud brick, with firewood stacked along the rooftops and prayer flags at the corners. The region had its own king until Nepal ended the role in 2008; the last to hold the title died in 2016, and his family is still respected locally.

High in the cliffs are thousands of man-made caves, some stacked many storeys up sheer walls. They were used over many centuries as burial chambers, dwellings, refuges and meditation cells. Some contain Buddhist murals of great age.

The classic route

From Kagbeni the old trail runs north through Chele, Syangboche, Ghami and Tsarang to Lo Manthang, taking four to five days on foot. It crosses a series of passes between side valleys, passing a very long mani wall near Ghami and a five-storey fortress-palace and monastery at Tsarang.

Lo Manthang is a compact town enclosed by a mud-brick wall, with a four-storey royal palace and three major monasteries, the oldest dating from the fifteenth century and containing remarkable wall paintings that have been restored in recent decades. Two or three nights here allow visits to the temples and an excursion north to the cave complexes around Chhoser, near the border.

Many groups return by a higher western route through Dhakmar, with its vivid red cliffs, and the ancient monastery of Ghar Gompa.

Road or trail

A dirt road now runs all the way from Jomsom to Lo Manthang and on to the Chinese border. This has changed the experience. Jeep tours can reach the capital in a day or two, and trekkers share stretches of the route with vehicles and dust. Good agencies use alternative footpaths on the eastern and western sides of the valley where possible. A combination also works well: walk in by the trail, and drive out.

The permit, and what changed in 2026

For decades the restricted area permit cost a flat US$500 per person for the first ten days, whether or not you used them all, with a daily charge after that. In March 2026 the government replaced this with a simple per-day fee of US$50, with no ten-day minimum, as reported by Nepali news outlets and trekking agencies. A short visit is therefore much cheaper than before, and solo applicants with a guide are now accepted.

Some websites still quote the old figure, so ask your agency to confirm the rate when you book. You will also need the Annapurna Conservation Area permit. Permits are arranged only through registered agencies, and a licensed guide is mandatory.

When to go

Because of the rain shadow, Upper Mustang is one of the few regions that is at its best during the monsoon months.

• May to October: the main season. May brings the Tiji festival in Lo Manthang. July and August are green in the fields and warm.

• March, April and November: cold nights, clear skies, fewer visitors.

• December to February: bitterly cold. Many residents move south for the winter and lodges close.

Flights between Pokhara and Jomsom are frequently disrupted by weather, especially in summer; the road is the fallback.

Travelling responsibly

Ask before entering monasteries and pay the entry donations. Do not touch or photograph murals where it is forbidden. Never remove anything from caves or ruins. Water and fuel are scarce, so use both sparingly.

Upper Mustang is changing quickly as the road brings trade and visitors. It is still a place where a walled medieval town stands in a desert beneath the Himalaya, and the new fee structure makes seeing it more attainable than it has ever been.