NEPAL · GORKHA · 28.55°N 84.56°E · SHOULDER · OCT–NOV & APR
Manaslu Circuit
What the Annapurna Circuit was thirty years ago: a permit-restricted loop around the world's eighth-highest mountain, from subtropical gorge to the snow of the Larkya La, 5,106m, through villages that still measure time in harvests.
THE ROUTE, CHARTED
The elevation profile
GPS-logged. Camps and key points marked; the shape of the route is the honest version of the brochure.
THE SHAPE OF THE TRIP · 15 DAYS
The itinerary
The gorge week begins
From the road at Machha Khola into the Budhi Gandaki's subtropical trench: rice terraces, sal forest, hot springs at Tatopani, and bridges that grow longer as the walls grow taller. Nights in Jagat, Deng and Namrung as the architecture turns Tibetan.
Nubri and the mountain
The valley opens and Manaslu takes over the sky: mani walls a hundred metres long, Lho's monastery dawn, and Samagaon at 3,530m for an acclimatisation day to the Birendra glacier lake or Pungyen gompa beneath the east face.
To the foot of the pass
Short, high stages by Samdo — a village that trades over the Tibetan border a day's yak-walk north — and Dharamsala's stone shelters at 4,460m, where everyone goes to bed at eight because the alarm says three.
The Larkya La and down
The crossing: moraine benches by headtorch, the prayer-flagged notch at 5,106m as the light arrives, and the huge western descent under Himlung and Cheo Himal to Bimthang's larches. Two more days of rhododendron and river bring the road at Dharapani — and the bus seats feel like thrones.
WHY THIS ROUTE
The expedition
The Manaslu Circuit is the connoisseur's answer to the question 'where has the road not reached?' A restricted-area permit keeps numbers low; geography does the rest. The trail climbs the Budhi Gandaki's gorge for a week — suspension bridges strung with prayer flags, honey-hunting cliffs, mule trains with painted headbands — through Nubri's Tibetan-Buddhist villages where Manaslu, 8,163m, fills the head of every alley. The crossing of the Larkya La, 5,106m, is a genuine high-altitude day: pre-dawn start, possible snow, magnificent desolation, and a knee-testing 1,700m descent to larch forest and applause-worthy apple pancakes at Bimthang. Honest note: teahouses here are simpler than Khumbu's — think plywood, not insulation — and the pass day is eight to ten hours; the grade is earned on that single morning and the fortnight's remoteness around it.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Larkya La, 5,106m — the great quiet pass
- Restricted-area permits: a fraction of Annapurna's traffic
- Nubri valley's Tibetan villages and Pungyen gompa
- Manaslu's double summit at sunrise from Lho
- Acclimatisation day at Samagaon's glacier lake
- The Budhi Gandaki gorge's fourteen bridges
STRAIGHT ANSWER
Is this for you?
You should be able to say yes — honestly — to all of these:
- You have real multi-day experience and can handle big consecutive days — this is honest grade 4 ground.
- You accept that altitude sets the schedule — this route reaches 5,106m and the guide's altitude call is final.
- You are happy in a tent, in weather, with no shower and an early kettle.
- You would rather be told the truth about a hard day than sold an easy one.
Grade 4 means grade 4. If you're not sure, ring us — we'd rather lose a booking than carry a struggle.
THE LEDGER
What £2,780 covers
INCLUDED
- Wildtrace guide (Elin Vaughan) at a max ratio of 1:8
- All hut, refuge or lodge nights as described, with evening meals
- Tents, group camp kit and all meals on trek
- Daily oximeter checks and an acclimatisation schedule that is not negotiable
- Group safety kit: inReach satellite comms and expedition first aid
- Pre-trip video call, training plan and the real kit list
NOT INCLUDED
- International travel to the start point
- Personal travel insurance covering trekking to 5,106m — required, checked before departure
- Visas and permits payable on entry, where applicable
- Tips for local crew (we publish a guideline per trip)
- Sleeping bag — bring your own or hire ours (£30/trip)
- Lunches and drinks on travel days
PACK THIS, NOT EVERYTHING
Kit, previewed
The items that matter most on this route. The full list — with honest notes on what not to buy — lives in the kit room and is sent on booking.
Broken-in boots matched to the terrain. Broken-in is the load-bearing phrase.
Waterproof jacket and trousers you actually trust.
A day pack that fits — 30–35L covers almost every trip.
Headtorch plus spare batteries. Early starts are a feature.
SPF50, lip block and category 3–4 glasses. High-altitude sun does not negotiate.
Sheet sleeping-bag liner and earplugs. Dormitory diplomacy in two items.
Sleeping bag and mat rated for the trip's coldest night (hire available, £30).
2L capacity plus purification where the trip notes say so.
WHO'S TAKING YOU
Your guide
Elin Vaughan
IML · HIMALAYA LOGISTICSRuns our Asian operations — permits, mule teams, oxygen, all of it — across nine Himalayan seasons. Speaks enough Ladakhi to argue about yak butter prices, and win.
HOW WE RUN IT
Max 8 walkers. inReach satellite comms carried and checked daily. Escape routes planned before we sell a single place. And the weather rule that built this company: we turn back. That's the deal. Full detail on our safety page.
NO PAYMENT AT THIS STAGE
Ask about this trip
Send this and a guide rings you back — Tuesday or Thursday evening, usually. Fifteen minutes, honest questions both ways, no hard sell.
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