Tsum Valley Trek

You arrive at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu (1,400 m), where our representative meets you and drives you to your hotel in Thamel.

Your guide runs the pre-trek briefing. The Tsum Valley trek enters a restricted area and requires a special permit, a licensed guide and a minimum group size. Tsum — from the Tibetan tsombo, meaning vivid — was closed to outsiders entirely until 2008, and it remains one of the least-visited inhabited valleys in Nepal.

It is worth understanding what makes it unusual before you walk in. Tsum is a beyul, a sacred hidden valley in Tibetan Buddhist tradition, and the community holds a long-standing vow against killing animals — there is no hunting and no butchery in the valley, and the wildlife is noticeably unafraid as a result. Your guide will explain the local etiquette. Overnight in Kathmandu.

A long day on the road, heading west on the Prithvi Highway before turning north at Dhading Bensi onto progressively rougher tracks up the Budhi Gandaki valley.

The first half is ordinary highway through terraced middle-hill farmland. The second half is a different proposition: a single-lane road cut into steep hillsides high above the river, crossing side streams on rough bridges, with the surface deteriorating steadily. It is slow going and frequently spectacular, and the full journey takes eight to nine hours.

Maccha Khola (930 m) is a small strip of lodges beside the Budhi Gandaki where the road ends and the walking begins. It is low, warm and humid here — subtropical rather than Himalayan — which makes the transformation over the coming week all the more marked. Overnight in a teahouse.

The first walking day, following the Budhi Gandaki upstream through a hot, narrow gorge. The trail is cut into the valley wall in places and crosses the river repeatedly on suspension bridges.

The route passes Khorlabesi and reaches Tatopani, where natural hot springs emerge right beside the path. Beyond it the trail climbs a staircase cut into the rock over a ridge and drops to Dobhan, then continues through Yaru Khola.

This lower valley is genuinely subtropical — banana, bamboo and dense scrub, with waterfalls dropping directly across the trail and langur monkeys in the trees. The day ends at Jagat (1,340 m), a tidy village of stone houses on paved lanes, which serves as the official entry point to the Manaslu Conservation Area. Your restricted-area permits are checked here. Overnight in Jagat.

The day you leave the main valley and turn into Tsum. The gorge section on the way is among the most dramatic on any trek in Nepal.

From Jagat the trail climbs to Salleri and contours to Sirdibas, then crosses a long suspension bridge to Philim (1,570 m), a substantial Gurung village spread across terraced fields. Above Philim the Budhi Gandaki narrows into a sheer-sided defile where the trail is pinned to the cliff, running along galleries and across bridges with the river a long way below.

At Lokpa (2,240 m) the route splits: the Manaslu Circuit continues west, and the Tsum Valley trail climbs north-east. Lokpa is the first village of Tsum proper, a small settlement on a shelf with a view back down the gorge. The character has already changed — chortens at the village entrance, prayer flags, and Tibetan rather than Nepali faces. Overnight in Lokpa.

A short day by distance but a demanding one, with a steep drop and an equally steep climb — the net gain of 150 m badly understates the effort.

The trail descends sharply from Lokpa to the Syar Khola, the river that drains the Tsum valley, crosses it, and then climbs steeply through pine and rhododendron forest on the far side. There are good views back down into the gorge, and ahead the valley begins to open out.

Chumling (2,386 m) is the first substantial village of Lower Tsum, a compact settlement of stone houses with a small gompa and long mani walls. From the fields above it there is a clear view of Ganesh Himal (7,422 m), which dominates the southern skyline for much of the valley. Life here runs on barley, potatoes and yaks, much as it has for centuries. Overnight in Chumling.

Today the valley opens properly and you enter Upper Tsum, where the landscape and the culture are at their most distinctly Tibetan.

The trail crosses the Syar Khola and climbs through Gho, then continues up a widening valley of barley terraces, stone-walled fields and juniper. Mani walls become longer and more frequent — some stretch for a hundred metres or more, stacked with carved stone tablets — and every rise seems to carry a chorten. Walk to the left of them, as local practice requires.

Chekampar (3,031 m), also known as Chokhangparo, is a twin settlement on a broad shelf with an exceptional panorama: Ganesh Himal and Baudha Himal fill the southern horizon, and the valley runs away north toward Tibet. Because of the valley's vow against killing, blue sheep and Himalayan tahr graze close to the villages here without much concern. Overnight in Chekampar.

A steady climb deeper into Upper Tsum, through the historic and religious heart of the valley.

The trail passes Milarepa's Cave (Piren Phu), one of the most significant sites in Tsum. Two small gompas are built against a rock face where the 11th-century Tibetan yogi Milarepa is said to have meditated; inside are old frescoes, carved stone tablets and long prayer texts, and the caretaker will usually open them for visitors. It is worth the detour.

Continuing north, the trail passes Rachen Gompa (3,240 m), a large nunnery housing dozens of Buddhist nuns, set on the flat valley floor and notable for its extensive wall paintings. The valley here is wide, dry and treeless, hemmed by brown hills, with the Tibetan border ridge ahead. Nile (3,361 m) is the last village on the western bank and the highest permanent settlement in Tsum. Overnight in Nile.

The northernmost point of the trek, and a straightforward day walk that doubles as useful acclimatisation.

The trail climbs gently north up the valley for around two hours to Mu Gompa (3,700 m), the largest and highest monastery in Tsum, founded in 1895. It sits alone on a bare hillside close to the Tibetan border, with no village around it — a walled complex of monks' quarters and an assembly hall holding old religious texts, statues and thangkas. The setting is austere and genuinely remote, and the view north into Tibet is unobstructed.

Nearby, Dhephyudonma Gompa is one of the oldest monasteries in the region, perched on a ridge and reachable as an extension if you have the energy.

We return to Nile (3,361 m) in the afternoon by the same route, having gained and lost around 350 m — good preparation for anyone continuing on to the Manaslu Circuit. Overnight in Nile.

A long descending day back through Upper Tsum, retracing the route but seeing it from the opposite direction — which in this valley genuinely changes the view, since Ganesh Himal is now ahead of you rather than behind.

The trail drops from Nile past Rachen Gompa and the turning for Milarepa's Cave, then descends through Chekampar and the barley terraces of Upper Tsum. If you missed anything on the way up — a gompa, a mani wall, a village — this is the day to catch it, and there is usually more time because the walking is downhill.

The path continues down through Gho and crosses the Syar Khola to Chumling (2,386 m). Nearly 1,000 m of descent, and the return of trees and thicker air is immediately noticeable after several days on the dry upper valley floor. Overnight in Chumling.

The day you leave Tsum and rejoin the main Budhi Gandaki valley.

From Chumling the trail descends steeply through forest to the Syar Khola, crosses it, and climbs the short sharp pull back to Lokpa (2,240 m) — the junction where the Tsum trail meets the Manaslu Circuit. Looking back up the side valley from here is the last view of Tsum you will get.

The route then drops into the great gorge below Lokpa, following the trail pinned to the cliff face with the Budhi Gandaki roaring below. It is as impressive going down as it was coming up, and the descent is quick.

Philim (1,570 m) is a large Gurung village on open terraces, with a school and a distinctly different feel from the Tibetan settlements you have spent the week in. The vegetation is green and temperate again. Overnight in Philim.

The final walking day, descending back into the subtropical lower gorge.

The trail drops from Philim through Sirdibas and Salleri to Jagat (1,340 m), where you check out of the Manaslu Conservation Area. From there it continues down the Budhi Gandaki through Yaru Khola and Dobhan, crossing and recrossing the river on suspension bridges.

The heat and humidity build noticeably as you lose height, and the vegetation thickens back into banana, bamboo and dense green scrub. There is a last chance to stop at the Tatopani hot springs beside the trail, which after ten days of walking is hard to argue with.

The day ends at Maccha Khola (930 m), where the road begins. Tonight is the celebration dinner with your guide and porters. Overnight in a teahouse.

The long drive back to the capital, retracing the rough road down the Budhi Gandaki. The first few hours are slow — single-lane track cut into the hillside, with river crossings and rough surfaces — before the road improves near Arughat and Dhading Bensi.

From there we join the Prithvi Highway and follow the Trishuli river east toward the Kathmandu Valley. The whole journey takes eight to nine hours with a lunch stop en route.

Arriving in Kathmandu (1,400 m) in the evening, you transfer to your hotel. After twelve days in a valley with no roads, no vehicles and very few outsiders, the noise and traffic of the city take some adjusting to. A hot shower and a proper meal help. Overnight in Kathmandu.

Your last day in Nepal. If your flight leaves later in the day there is time for one more part of the Kathmandu Valley. Boudhanath Stupa is the natural choice after Tsum — it is the centre of Kathmandu's Tibetan Buddhist community, and the monasteries around it belong to the same tradition as Mu Gompa and Rachen Gompa.

Our representative will collect you from your hotel and transfer you to Tribhuvan International Airport around three hours before your scheduled departure.

The Tsum Valley trek is one of the few places left in Nepal where a trekking route enters a living culture that has barely been reshaped by tourism — a sacred hidden valley with its own dialect, a centuries-old vow against killing, Milarepa's meditation cave, and monasteries within sight of the Tibetan border. If you would like to combine it with the full circuit around Manaslu, the two routes join at Lokpa. Safe travels.