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The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is a pilgrimage to Mount Kailash (6,638 m) and Lake Mansarovar (4,588 m) in Tibet's Ngari Prefecture. We run it two ways: a 13-day route from Nepal's far west via Simikot and Hilsa, and a 15-day overland route through Lhasa that takes in Everest's north face on the way. Both complete the same kora around Kailash and cross the same pass.
Mount Kailash is sacred to four religions, Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, Jainism, and Bon, and has never been climbed. Walking around it, the kora, is the pilgrimage itself rather than a summit attempt, and the Dolma La crossing is the hardest day on either itinerary.
This is a different regulatory country from the rest of this site's Nepal content. Tibet requires a Chinese Group Visa issued only to a registered group, plus a Tibet Travel Permit, an Alien's Travel Permit for Ngari, and a Military Area Entry Permit. No independent travel is possible anywhere in the Tibet Autonomous Region.
Routes
Take the 13-day Simikot and Hilsa route if Kailash and Mansarovar are the whole point of the trip and you want the shortest, cheapest way to reach them. Take the 15-day Lhasa route if you want Tibet itself as part of the pilgrimage, or if you have no high-altitude experience and want a gentler ascent.
| Route | Days | Group price | Acclimatization | Also includes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Via Simikot and Hilsa | 13 | USD 1,800-3,500 | Compressed, at Purang and Mansarovar | Nothing beyond the pilgrimage |
| Via Lhasa and Everest north | 15 | USD 3,800-6,000 | About a week of rising road altitude | Lhasa, Gyantse, Shigatse, Rongbuk |
Both routes complete the same circuit around the mountain and cross the same pass, so neither is a lesser pilgrimage. The difference is what the days either side of the kora are for, and roughly double the price.
Because Tibet is administered by China, and none of Nepal's permit system applies. The TIMS card and national park entries covered throughout this site's Nepal guides are irrelevant here: every foreign visitor needs a Chinese Group Visa arranged through a licensed agency rather than an individual tourist visa issued at a consulate or on arrival.
No independent travel is possible anywhere in the Tibet Autonomous Region, and Ngari Prefecture, where Kailash and Mansarovar sit, carries an additional restricted-area classification on top of the standard Tibet Travel Permit. Four separate authorizations are needed in total, and the one that usually sets a booking deadline is the Military Area Entry Permit rather than the visa: agencies handling Kailash trips advise it takes 15 business days or longer. The full mechanics are in the Kailash Mansarovar permits and visa guide.
One point worth stating plainly, because it is quoted wrongly almost everywhere: the Chinese Group Visa fee is nationality-dependent rather than a single flat figure, and Nepali citizens have been exempt from Chinese visa fees since 1 May 2024 per the Chinese Embassy in Kathmandu. Any page giving one visa price for all travelers is giving you somebody else's.
The kora is a circumambulation of Mount Kailash, conventionally given as 52 km and walked over three days, from Darchen at 4,670 m up to Dirapuk, over the Dolma La, down to Zutulpuk, and back to Darchen. Hired yaks, horses, and porters are available at Darchen for pilgrims who cannot walk the full distance, and a meaningful share use them every season.
The published numbers for this route disagree with each other more than most, and it is worth knowing which are soft. The Indian government's own Kailash Mansarovar guidebook gives the circuit as 48 km; Wikipedia gives 53 km; the 52 km figure used across the trade, including on this site, has the least authoritative backing of the three. The Dolma La is worse: India's 2026 yatra itinerary prints 5,590 m while its own 2006 guidebook describes an 18,600-foot pass, about 5,669 m, so one government's two documents differ by nearly 80 m.
None of that changes what the day feels like. It does mean any page quoting these to the metre without saying where the number came from is presenting a contested figure as a settled one.
Mount Kailash is sacred to four living traditions at once, which is unusual enough to be the defining fact about it. Hindus regard it as the abode of Shiva. Tibetan Buddhists associate it with Demchok. Jains hold it as the site where Rishabhanatha, the first Tirthankara, attained liberation. Practitioners of Bon, Tibet's indigenous religion, treat it as the spiritual centre of the world.
The mountain has never been climbed and no permit exists to attempt it, which is why the pilgrimage circles the peak rather than ascending it.
Lake Mansarovar at 4,588 m carries its own significance in Hindu tradition as the lake born from Brahma's mind, and ritual bathing is central for many Hindu pilgrims where weather and water temperature allow. Buddhist and Bon pilgrims more often circle the lake than bathe in it. Nearby Rakshastal at 4,575 m, a salt lake linked to the demon king Ravana, is passed rather than visited, and the two lakes sitting side by side with opposite associations is something pilgrims frequently remark on.
May through September is the operating window on both routes, with sources splitting over whether the season closes in September or runs into October. Winter closes the plateau.
Book three months ahead for a peak-season date. The constraint is permit processing rather than availability: the Military Area Entry Permit runs 15 business days or longer, the Tibet Travel Permit 7 to 9 working days, and passport details are typically needed around 45 days out. You should also expect to spend several working days in Kathmandu while the Group Visa is processed, since the Chinese Embassy there accepts applications on weekday mornings only.
Saga Dawa draws the heaviest pilgrim traffic of the year, and the terminology is worth getting right because operators routinely confuse it: Saga Dawa is the fourth Tibetan lunar month, while Saga Dawa Duchen is the single full-moon day within it. If a specific festival date is the reason for your trip, ask us to confirm it against a calendar authority before you book flights, rather than relying on a date printed next to a departure.
The Kerung crossing, also spelled Gyirong, on the Rasuwagadhi road north of Kathmandu. You will find it advertised widely as the fastest overland approach to Kailash.
The border is operating. What we could not confirm from any primary or news source is whether third-country nationals, meaning non-Indian foreign passport holders, are currently eligible to cross there; only operator sales pages assert it, and that eligibility has changed more than once. Rather than sell a route whose entry point we cannot verify, we have left it out, and we will add it when the position is clear.
The Indian government's own Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via Lipulekh and Nathu La is a separate programme entirely, run by the Ministry of External Affairs on a quota and batch system over roughly 21 days in June to September. It is not a commercial package and nothing on this site is a route into it.
Planning
FAQ
The 13-day Simikot and Hilsa route is the shortest and cheapest at USD 1,800 to 3,500, and suits pilgrims whose focus is Kailash and Mansarovar alone. The 15-day Lhasa route costs USD 3,800 to 6,000 and suits anyone who wants Tibet itself, or who has no high-altitude experience and would benefit from about a week of rising road altitude before the kora. Both walk the same circuit over the same pass.
Published figures range from 5,590 m to 5,669 m, and the disagreement includes two Indian government documents: the 2026 yatra itinerary prints 5,590 m, while the 2006 guidebook describes an 18,600-foot pass, about 5,669 m. Operator sources cluster around 5,630 to 5,650 m. Whichever figure you take, it is higher than Everest Base Camp on the Nepal side, and it is the hardest day of either route.
Yes, a Chinese Group Visa issued only to a registered group through a licensed agency, never as an individual tourist visa. You also need a Tibet Travel Permit, an Alien's Travel Permit for Ngari Prefecture, and a Military Area Entry Permit. The visa fee is nationality-dependent rather than flat, and Nepali citizens have been exempt from Chinese visa fees since 1 May 2024.
Conventionally given as 52 km over three days, though that figure has the weakest sourcing of the three in circulation. The Indian government's Kailash Mansarovar guidebook gives 48 km and Wikipedia gives 53 km. The route runs from Darchen at 4,670 m to Dirapuk, over the Dolma La, down to Zutulpuk, and back to Darchen.
No. Kailash has never been summited and no permit exists to attempt it. The mountain is sacred to Hinduism, Tibetan Buddhism, Jainism, and Bon, and climbing it is not permitted out of religious respect. Walking around it, the kora, is the pilgrimage itself.
May through September on both routes, with sources disagreeing over whether the season closes in September or extends into October. Book about three months ahead for a peak date. The binding constraint is the Military Area Entry Permit, which agencies advise takes 15 business days or longer, rather than the visa itself.
