Shey Phoksundo Lake 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 later for the trip briefing, which for Dolpo covers rather more than the walking: the two flights each way, the restricted area permit and the passport photographs it needs, and the realistic possibility that the Juphal flight moves by a day in either direction. We go through your kit list, altitude, and the daily routine, and anything you are missing can be bought or hired within a few minutes' walk.

The rest of the day is yours to recover from the flight. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A day in the capital while our office lodges your restricted area permit, which for Dolpo has to be issued in person with your passport and photographs.

With the paperwork in hand you have the day to see the valley. Boudhanath Stupa is the obvious choice before a Dolpo trek — it is the centre of Tibetan Buddhist life in Nepal, and the culture around the stupa is closely related to the one you will meet in Ringmo. Pashupatinath, Swayambhunath and the old durbar squares of Patan and Kathmandu are all within an easy drive with your guide.

In the late afternoon we repack for the flight. Domestic baggage allowances are strict and the Juphal aircraft is small, so anything you do not need on the trail is left at the hotel. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A short flight west across the country to the plains. The aircraft follows the line of the Himalaya for the first part of the hour, with Manaslu, Annapurna and Dhaulagiri passing the right-hand windows before the mountains fall away and the flat green of the Terai takes over.

Nepalgunj (150 m) is a working border city near India — hot, busy, and about as far from the mountains in character as Nepal gets. It is not a tourist town, but the transition is part of the trip: this is where the country's plains and hills meet, and the bazaar in the evening is worth an hour.

The afternoon is deliberately empty. Flights to Juphal leave early, so we have an early dinner and an early night, and your guide confirms the morning departure with the airline. Overnight in Nepalgunj.

The flight everyone watches the weather for. A small aircraft leaves Nepalgunj at first light and climbs from the plains into the hills, landing after about 45 minutes on the short sloping strip at Juphal (2,475 m), cut into a hillside with the valley dropping away below the runway.

The porters are organised on the airstrip and the walking starts immediately, descending through terraced fields of barley and buckwheat to the Thuli Bheri river and following it upstream. After the heat of Nepalgunj the air is suddenly thin, dry and clean.

Dunai (2,140 m) is the district headquarters of Dolpa: a single street of shops and offices, a hospital, a police check post where permits are recorded, and a suspension bridge across the river. It is the last place on the trek with a shop worth the name. Around 2–3 hours of walking. Overnight at Dunai.

The first full day, following the Suli Gad north into the national park.

The trail climbs away from Dunai past the hospital and contours high above the river through pine and walnut, with villages of flat-roofed houses on the terraces opposite. At the confluence the route turns north into the Suli Gad gorge and the character changes: steep walls, dense forest, and the river loud below the path.

You register at the Shey Phoksundo National Park entrance post at Sulighat, then continue through Shyanta into the gorge proper. The forest here is genuinely wild — bear and langur are both present, and the birdlife is exceptional.

Chhepka (2,665 m) is a handful of lodges in a clearing where the valley widens briefly. Around 5–6 hours. Overnight at Chhepka.

A steady day up the gorge with the forest thinning and the first proper altitude gain.

The trail crosses and recrosses the Suli Gad on wooden bridges, climbing through blue pine and juniper past Rechi, where a few families farm a shelf above the river. The gorge is narrow enough in places that the sun only reaches the trail for a few hours in the middle of the day.

As you gain height the vegetation changes from Himalayan forest to something drier and more Tibetan — juniper, wormwood and thorn scrub — and the houses change with it, from pitched roofs to the flat mud roofs used where it barely rains.

Sanduwa (3,100 m) sits at the junction where the Pungmo valley comes in from the west, the route to the Kagmara La and Lower Dolpo. Around 4–5 hours. Overnight at Sanduwa.

A short day with one memorable climb, ending at the lake the whole trek is built around.

The trail follows the river to the foot of Phoksundo waterfall, at around 167 m the highest in Nepal, and then climbs the steep stone staircase cut into the cliff beside it. This is the section people remember: exposed in places, spectacular throughout, with the falls thundering below and the valley opening behind you. Take it slowly — you gain 500 m and finish above 3,600 m.

At the top the path levels through birch and juniper, and then Phoksundo Lake (3,640 m) appears all at once: a sheet of impossible turquoise held between cliffs, with the Kanjiroba peaks behind it. There are no fish in it and, on a still morning, no ripple either.

Ringmo is a compact village of flat-roofed stone houses with juniper stacked on the walls and a Bon gompa on the shore. Around 4–5 hours. Overnight at Ringmo.

A full day at the lake, and the reason to come this far rather than turn round at the waterfall.

The morning walk follows the old salt trail along the lake's western cliff — a path built out from the rock face on wooden stakes and stone, climbing to around 4,040 m before dropping to the meadow at the far end. It is the route the caravans took to Tibet, and it gives the classic view down the length of the water. Three to four hours there and back, and useful acclimatisation.

In the afternoon you can visit Thashung Gompa on the shore, a Bon monastery around 900 years old, built to protect the animals of the valley. Bon predates Buddhism in Tibet and its pilgrims circle a monastery anticlockwise — the opposite direction to Buddhist practice, and the easiest way to see the difference for yourself.

The light on the lake changes completely through the day, from milky green in the morning to deep blue by mid-afternoon. Overnight at Ringmo.

A long descent back down the gorge, retracing two days of the approach in one.

The staircase beside the waterfall is easier going down than up but demands more attention; poles help and the group spreads out. Below it the trail runs fast through Sanduwa and Rechi, losing height steadily as the air thickens and the forest closes back in.

Walking the gorge in the other direction shows you a different valley. The light falls differently, the mountains behind you rather than ahead, and having been to the lake the landscape reads as a route somewhere rather than a way in.

Chhepka (2,665 m) is a comfortable place to spend the night after a long day. Around 6–7 hours. Overnight at Chhepka.

A short, easy day out of the national park, deliberately relaxed to leave a margin before the flight.

The trail follows the Suli Gad down through the last of the forest, past the park entrance post where the group is checked out, and into farmland again — barley and buckwheat terraces, apricot trees, and water mills turning on the side streams.

Shyanta (2,490 m) is a small settlement on a shelf above the river with a handful of lodges. It is only two to three hours from Chhepka, which is the point: it puts the group within easy reach of Juphal tomorrow morning without a long day beforehand.

The afternoon is free for laundry, a bucket of hot water, and the last of the trail conversations. Overnight at Shyanta.

The last walking day, following the Thuli Bheri west and climbing to the airstrip.

The trail drops to the river, passes below Dunai, and then climbs the terraced hillside to Juphal (2,475 m) — about 400 m of ascent at the end of the day, which is more than it sounds after a week on the trail.

Juphal is a strip of village along the runway, with a few lodges, a couple of shops and a view down the Thuli Bheri valley. Aircraft come in low over the ridge and stop within a few hundred metres, which is worth watching from the lodge terrace.

This is where the porters leave the group and tips are given. Around 4–5 hours. Overnight at Juphal.

An early start for the morning flight out, which is the only kind Juphal has.

The aircraft drops off the hillside and out over the foothills to Nepalgunj (150 m) in about 45 minutes, and after a wait on the ground you connect to the hour-long flight back to Kathmandu (1,400 m). Both legs are weather-dependent; if the morning is clear you are in the capital by early afternoon.

Transfer to your hotel, and the rest of the day is yours. A hot shower and a meal that is not dal bhat tend to be the first two priorities, and Thamel is well set up for both.

If the Juphal flight does not operate today, this is exactly what the spare day at the end of the itinerary exists for. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A day held in reserve for the flights, and a free day in Kathmandu if they ran on time.

Dolpo itineraries that do not carry a spare day are the ones that end with a missed international connection, so this day is part of the plan rather than padding. If the group came out of Juphal yesterday as scheduled, it is yours to spend as you like.

Good options with your guide: Boudhanath in the late afternoon when the local community walks the circuit, the pottery square and old town at Bhaktapur, or a half day at Patan Durbar Square and its museum, which is the best in the country. Thamel handles the shopping — pashmina, singing bowls, Himalayan tea and gear.

Overnight in Kathmandu.

Your last day in Nepal. If your flight leaves later there is time for one more corner of the valley — Swayambhunath in the morning light is a good final stop, with the whole city laid out below the stupa.

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

Dolpo is the part of Nepal that changes least, and Phoksundo is the reason most people go. If you want to go further into it, the Upper Dolpo circuit over the Kang La to Shey Gompa and the Lower Dolpo route to Dho Tarap both start from the lake you have just walked to. Safe travels.