Nar Phu Valley Trek

Welcome to Nepal. You land at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (1,400 m), where our representative meets you in the arrivals hall and drives you to your hotel in Thamel.

Your guide joins you in the afternoon for the briefing. Because Nar Phu is a restricted area, we check passports and permit paperwork today — the special permit has already been lodged, but the original documents have to travel with the group and be presented at Koto.

The briefing covers the acclimatisation plan, what the gorge trail is like, and the conditions under which we would abandon the Kang La and walk back out the way we came in.

We check your kit; a warm sleeping bag and gaiters are the items most often missing. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A long day on the road, and the least comfortable of the trek — worth knowing in advance rather than discovering.

The Prithvi Highway runs west along the Trishuli gorge to Dumre, then a hill road turns north to Besisahar (760 m), the old start of the Annapurna Circuit, in around six hours.

From Besisahar the surface deteriorates sharply and the vehicle changes to a four-wheel-drive jeep for the climb up the Marsyangdi valley. The road is cut into the gorge wall, crosses landslide scars and river beds, and gains height steadily past Jagat and Tal.

You reach Dharapani (1,860 m) at the confluence with the Dudh Khola in the late afternoon. Around 9 to 10 hours in total. Overnight in a teahouse at Dharapani.

The first walking day, on the main Annapurna Circuit trail and therefore busy — the only busy day of the trek.

The path follows the Marsyangdi upstream through Bagarchhap and Danaque, climbing through pine and fir forest with the river loud below and the road appearing and disappearing alongside.

There is a steep section up to Timang, where the trail breaks out of the trees and Manaslu (8,163 m) stands squarely at the head of the valley behind you — the best view of the mountain on the whole route.

From Timang the trail contours through forest to Chame, the district headquarters, and on a further hour to Koto (2,600 m).

Around 6 hours. Koto is where the restricted area begins, and your guide registers the permits at the checkpost this evening. Overnight in a teahouse at Koto.

The day the trek changes character entirely. You turn north off the Circuit at the checkpost, cross the Marsyangdi, and enter the Nar Phu gorge.

The trail follows the Phu Khola into a narrowing canyon of pine and bamboo, crossing and re-crossing the river on suspension bridges, running under rock overhangs and along sections cantilevered out from the cliff. Waterfalls come down the walls and the sky narrows to a strip.

There is a hot spring near Dharmasala where most groups stop for lunch, and the going is steady rather than steep until the last section, which climbs hard out of the gorge onto open hillside.

The trees stop abruptly and you emerge at Meta (3,560 m), a scatter of stone houses on a shelf with the Annapurnas visible to the south and Tibet-facing country ahead.

Around 7 to 8 hours with nearly 1,000 m of gain. Overnight at Meta.

A deliberately short day for acclimatisation, and a strange and beautiful one.

The trail contours north across dry, open hillside high above the river, in country that now looks and feels Tibetan — juniper scrub, eroded cliffs, chortens on every rise, and almost no vegetation.

You pass Chyakhu and the abandoned settlement at Jhunam, both of them collections of roofless stone houses that were villages within living memory, and the trail runs through several long mani walls.

The Kang Guru and Pisang peaks are ahead on the left for most of the walk.

Around 4 to 5 hours brings you to Kyang (3,820 m), the winter settlement of the Nar people — largely ruined, partly rebuilt as a lodge, and one of the more atmospheric places to spend a night in Nepal. Overnight at Kyang.

A short day to the village the trek is built around.

The trail drops to the Phu Khola and follows it upstream through a canyon of extraordinary eroded rock formations — pillars, fins and hoodoos in ochre and grey, with the river running through the middle of them.

You cross a bridge and climb past a line of chortens to the kani gateway, and Phu (4,080 m) appears above: fortified stone houses stacked up a hillside beneath the ruins of an old dzong on a rock spire, with yak pens, drying racks and prayer flags everywhere.

There are three small villages here, Phu being the largest, and perhaps thirty families in total. The gompa above the village, Tashi Lhakhang, is one of the oldest in the region and was named by Karmapa as one of the most important in Nepal.

Around 4 to 5 hours. Overnight in a lodge at Phu.

A rest day that is not spent resting. The point is to gain height during the day and sleep low, and there is a great deal to walk to.

The usual outing climbs north-west toward Himlung Himal (7,126 m) base camp, gaining several hundred metres on a yak trail with the mountain filling the head of the valley. You do not need to reach base camp for the day to do its job.

Alternatively you can climb to the Tashi Lhakhang gompa above the village, walk out to the old dzong ruins on the spire, or spend the day in the village itself, which is the option people who have come this far often choose.

Phu is a working settlement rather than a display: yaks are milked, wool is spun, barley is winnowed on the roofs and children walk to a school of about a dozen pupils. Overnight at Phu.

You retrace the canyon south, which is no hardship — the eroded rock formations look completely different walking the other way with the light behind them.

The trail descends past Kyang and Chyakhu, then instead of returning to Meta it forks west and drops to the Lapche Khola, crossing on a bridge below the confluence.

A short climb on the far side brings you to Nar Phedi (3,490 m), which is not a village but a single building: a small nunnery with a guesthouse attached.

You eat in the kitchen with the resident nuns, who cook for everyone who passes, and there is usually an evening puja in the little prayer hall that visitors are welcome to sit in on. The rooms are basic and the toilet is outside.

Around 6 to 7 hours. It is the night most people remember from this trek. Overnight at Nar Phedi.

A short but stiff day: 620 m of climbing in three to four hours, and nothing else.

The trail switchbacks up the hillside above the nunnery, passing a spectacular line of five large chortens painted red, white and ochre that mark the approach to the village.

Nar (4,110 m) sits on a shelf with terraced barley and buckwheat fields below it and Pisang Peak (6,091 m) and Kang Guru (6,981 m) across the valley. It is larger and more prosperous than Phu, with whitewashed houses, four gompas and a great many yaks.

You arrive by early afternoon, which leaves time to walk around the village, visit the gompas, and watch the herds come in at dusk.

Your guide talks through the Kang La in the evening and sets the start time. Overnight in a lodge at Nar.

The last day before the pass, and the one that makes the crossing safe. Everyone sleeps at 4,110 m for a second night and spends the day gaining height on foot.

The standard walk climbs west toward the Kang La itself for two or three hours, which has the double benefit of acclimatising the group and letting your guide see the state of the snow on the approach before committing to it in the dark.

Alternatively there is a good ridge north of the village with a view over the whole Nar bowl and across to Pisang Peak.

The afternoon is for rest, food and fluids, and for repacking so that the pre-dawn start is quick. Head torches, gloves, a warm hat and a full flask go at the top of the daypack.

Overnight at Nar. It will be an early night.

The big day, starting around 4 a.m. by headlamp to be over the pass before the wind gets up.

The trail climbs steadily west out of Nar on a good yak path, gaining height in long zigzags across open slopes with the sky lightening behind you. The last section is steeper and the air thin enough that progress becomes very slow.

The Kang La (5,320 m) is a broad saddle hung with prayer flags, and the view from it is the reward for the whole trek: Annapurna II (7,937 m), Annapurna III, Annapurna IV, Gangapurna and Tilicho Peak across the Marsyangdi, with the Manang valley far below.

The descent is long and hard on the legs — 1,660 m down a steep, loose slope, easing onto a good trail through juniper to Ngawal (3,660 m).

Around 9 to 10 hours. Overnight in a teahouse at Ngawal.

A descending day back to the road, and an easy one after the pass.

The trail drops from Ngawal on the Circuit high route through Ghyaru, an old fortified village on a spur with one of the finest views on the Annapurna Circuit — the whole Annapurna wall directly across the valley — then descends steeply to the Marsyangdi at Pisang.

From Pisang the walking is level and easy through pine forest to Chame (2,670 m), around 4 to 5 hours in total.

After lunch a jeep takes you back down the Marsyangdi gorge road to Besisahar (760 m), four to five hours on the same rough surface you came up on, dropping nearly 2,000 m and returning you to warmth, greenery and mosquitoes.

Overnight in a hotel at Besisahar.

A straightforward drive back to the capital on sealed road, which after two days of jeep track feels like luxury.

The road runs down to Dumre and joins the Prithvi Highway, following the Marsyangdi and then the Trishuli east through gorge country, with rafting parties on the river below and roadside stops selling river fish and fresh curd.

Around 6 to 7 hours with a lunch stop.

Transfer to your hotel in Thamel. The afternoon is free for a hot shower, a change of clothes and last souvenir shopping, and most groups meet for a farewell dinner in the evening.

If you would rather fly the last leg, a Pokhara flight can be substituted as an add-on. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A slow morning in Kathmandu. If your flight is late in the day there is time for last shopping in Thamel, a walk around Durbar Square or Boudhanath, or a long breakfast.

Our representative collects you from the hotel and drives you to Tribhuvan International Airport around three hours before departure.

If you are staying on in Nepal we are happy to arrange onward travel, a Chitwan extension, a Pokhara flight or extra hotel nights — just let us know while you are still on the trail so we can book it.

Thank you for trekking with us. Nar and Phu are among the last valleys in Nepal that still feel genuinely closed, and we hope you found them worth the permit.