Manaslu Circuit Trek

Four permits cover the circuit in 2026: the Manaslu Restricted Area Permit at USD 100 per person per week from September to November (USD 75 per week from December to August), the Manaslu Conservation Area Permit at NPR 3,000, the Annapurna Conservation Area Permit at NPR 3,000, and no TIMS card, which the restricted permit replaces on this route. The restricted permit is issued only by the Department of Immigration in Kathmandu, only through a registered trekking operator, and only to a trekker accompanied by a licensed guide. Until 22 March 2026, solo applicants were refused at the counter and had to join a departure with at least one other trekker; that requirement is gone, and a single guide can now be issued for up to seven trekkers on one permit.

Processing takes one working day when passports, visas, and two photos per trekker reach our office by 10 am, and the permit lists your exact entry and exit dates, so itinerary changes inside the restricted zone are not possible after issue. Week counting starts at the Jagat checkpoint and ends at Sama Gaun's exit stamp, meaning a standard 14-day circuit consumes exactly two permit weeks. The full document list, photo specs, and fee tables sit in our Manaslu restricted-area permit requirements guide, which Mingma Tendi Sherpa updates after every rule change from the Department of Immigration.

TAAN-registered operators quoted USD 1,250 to 1,750 for a 14-day group Manaslu Circuit in spring 2026; private departures ran USD 1,600 to 2,200. Permits alone account for USD 246 of that at autumn rates, the highest fixed permit load of any teahouse trek in Nepal outside Upper Mustang, and the table below shows the remaining lines. A quote under USD 1,100 usually means the operator is splitting one guide across two booking groups at the checkpoints, which fails the Department of Immigration's one-guide-per-group rule and can strand you at Jagat.

Transport is the cheapest major line: shared jeeps from Kathmandu to Machha Khola and back from Dharapani total USD 100 to 160, against USD 360 or more for the Lukla flights an Everest trek requires. Guide and porter wages follow TAAN's 2026 recommended rates of USD 35 to 40 and USD 25 per day. Budget an extra NPR 3,000 to 5,000 in cash for hot showers (NPR 300 to 500) and device charging (NPR 200 to 400), since there are no ATMs past Arughat on the entire circuit.

Five checkpoints control the restricted zone in 2026: Jagat (entry stamp), Philim (MCAP check), Namrung (police post), Sama Gaun (exit stamp for the restricted permit), and Dharapani (ACAP check on the way out). Your licensed guide must be physically present with the full permit set at each one, and officers match faces to passport photos at Jagat and Namrung, so the group walks together on checkpoint days rather than spreading out at individual pace. Our guides carry two photocopy sets per trekker because the Philim post keeps one on file.

Liaison rules sit with the operator, not the trekker: we file the day-by-day itinerary with the Department of Immigration at issue, and the checkpoints log your dates against it. Arriving at Sama Gaun after your filed exit week triggers an on-the-spot permit extension at the same weekly rate, paid in USD cash by the guide, which is one of the contingency costs built into our margin line. Side trips to Manaslu Base Camp and the Pungyen Gompa valley are legal without extra paperwork because both start and end at Sama Gaun inside the same permit week.

Late September to November is the main window, with October carrying roughly half the circuit's annual trekkers and the restricted permit at its USD 100 weekly rate. March to May is the second season, quieter and USD 25 per week cheaper, with rhododendron forest in bloom below Namrung and more snow lying on the Larkya La into early April. Our departures split about 60/40 between autumn and spring, and both seasons delivered crossings on the planned day in over 85% of cases.

December to February crossings are possible for experienced groups but the pass closes after any significant snowfall, sometimes for weeks, and Dharamsala's lodges shut from mid-December. The monsoon months of June to mid-September rule the route out for a different reason: the Budhi Gandaki gorge between Machha Khola and Jagat is the most landslide-active trail section we operate anywhere in Nepal. Monsoon clients go to rain-shadow treks during monsoon in Upper Mustang instead, where those same months are the prime season.

Strenuous is our grading: 177 km, 7,100 m of cumulative ascent, walking days of 6 to 7 hours, and a single-day pass crossing that runs 8 to 10 hours over the 5,106 m Larkya La. No section is technical, but the trail is rougher than the Everest and Annapurna classics, with exposed staircase sections in the Budhi Gandaki gorge and a loose-moraine descent from the pass toward Bimthang that takes crampon-free microspikes in early spring. A fitness benchmark: back-to-back 18 km hill days with 1,000 m of ascent carrying 6 kg, comfortably, before you book.

Altitude management on the circuit follows the Himalayan Rescue Association's guideline of gaining no more than 500 m of sleeping altitude per day above 3,000 m, which is why our itinerary holds acclimatization days at both Sama Gaun (3,530 m) and Samdo (3,875 m) before the high camp at Dharamsala. Acute mountain sickness (AMS) symptoms and our descent protocols are covered in the altitude sickness prevention guide, and every guide carries a pulse oximeter with twice-daily checks from Namrung onward.

Dharamsala (4,460 m), the only sleeping point before the pass, holds about 40 lodge beds in two stone buildings plus a tent field, and in October the beds are gone by 2 pm. Our groups secure beds by radioing ahead from Samdo the previous afternoon, and we carry four backup tents with sleeping mats on every October departure, which is a line item most cheaper operators cut. Whoever sleeps badly at Dharamsala pays for it the next day, so the room plan here matters more than anywhere else on the circuit.

Crossing day starts between 3 and 4 am to beat the wind that funnels over the Larkya La from late morning, reaching the 5,106 m prayer-flag cairn in 4 to 5 hours and Bimthang (3,720 m) after a further 3 to 4 hours of moraine descent. Helicopter evacuation from the pass area is only possible in the morning calm window, which is why our insurance requirement specifies coverage to 5,500 m and why we check policies before departure against the criteria in helicopter evacuation insurance coverage. The large majority of our departures cross on the scheduled day; the rare delays have been October snowfall holds of one day each at Samdo.

A 500 m per day sleeping-altitude gain above 3,000 m, with a rest day at every 1,000 m of net climb, is the schedule the acclimatization guide sets for every route we run, and the Manaslu Circuit follows it exactly through the two rest days at Sama Gaun and Samdo. The table below shows how sleeping altitude actually climbs from Namrung to the pass.

The Namrung-to-Sama Gaun day is the one place the 500 m guideline gets stretched, to 900 m, which is why the very next day is a full rest at Sama Gaun rather than a shorter push. Every guide on our Manaslu departures carries a pulse oximeter and logs oxygen saturation at breakfast and dinner from Namrung onward, and a reading that will not recover after a night's rest triggers the same immediate-descent protocol covered in the altitude sickness prevention guide, regardless of how the itinerary is scheduled to run.

The Nepal trekking packing list covers the core kit every teahouse trek needs, a four-season sleeping bag rated to -15 C comfort chief among it, but Manaslu adds items the standard list doesn't. Microspikes matter on the Larkya La's moraine descent toward Bimthang, especially in early spring when snow still lies on the north side, and a heavier-than-usual pair of liner gloves earns its weight on the 3:30 am pass start, when temperatures at Dharamsala sit well below the teahouse-only routes this site runs.

Cash is the item trekkers most often pack too little of: there are no ATMs past Arughat on the entire circuit, and Dharamsala's tea and snacks, the Sama Gaun bakery, and Wi-Fi at Sama Gaun and Samdo are all cash-only in Nepali rupees. Budget NPR 8,000 to 12,000 in small notes for the trek beyond the fixed package cost, since a torn or old NPR 1,000 note is often refused this far from a bank.