Trip Facts
Country:
Manaslu Region, Nepal
Duration:
15 Days
Max Altitude:
3,700 m / 12,139 ft (Mu Gompa)
Activities:
Trekking
Region:
Manaslu Conservation Area, Gorkha district
Grade:
Moderate
Group Size:
1–12 people
Accomodation:
3-star hotel in Kathmandu (2 nights), teahouses and village homestays on trek (12 nights)
Trips Overview
Tsum was closed. Not quietly overlooked, actually closed, to every foreigner, until 2008.
That single fact explains most of what you will notice on this trek. The valley sits in the far north of Gorkha district, up a side branch of the Budhi Gandaki, hard against the Tibetan border. Tibetans call it Beyul Kyimolung, one of the hidden valleys that Padmasambhava is said to have sealed as a refuge for hard times. People here speak Tsumba, not Nepali, at home. The architecture, the dress, the calendar and the religion are Tibetan, and they were never sanded down by four decades of trekker traffic, because there was none.
The other thing you should know before you book: the valley took a community vow against killing. Hunting and butchering animals are prohibited across Tsum, a commitment renewed in public ceremony and taken seriously by the villages. You will not see meat being slaughtered here. Wildlife behaves differently as a result, and blue sheep and Himalayan tahr graze within sight of the trail in a way they do not elsewhere in Nepal.
This is a cultural trek, and we would rather you knew that up front. The highest you sleep is 3,700 m at Mu Gompa. There is no pass. There is no glacier crossing and no dawn viewpoint push. Compare that with the Manaslu Circuit next door, which puts you over the Larke La at 5,106 m, and the difference is not marginal, it is a different category of trip. What makes Tsum hard is distance and remoteness: eleven days of walking, some long, on a trail that stays rough in the lower gorge, a long way from a road head.
What you get for that is a valley where the monasteries are working religious institutions rather than exhibits. Rachen Gompa houses a nunnery community. Mu Gompa sits at the head of the valley about two hours’ walk from the Tibetan frontier, with the rock and grass turning brown and Tibetan around it. Piren Phu, the cave associated with the yogi Milarepa, is set into a cliff above Burgi village and still holds old murals and prayer texts.
What you do not get is a mountain panorama. Ganesh Himal, Sringi Himal and Boudha Himal show themselves in sections, but Tsum is a valley trek, walled in for much of its length. If you have come to Nepal for the view from Kala Patthar or the Annapurna amphitheatre, you will feel short-changed here. If you have come for a place that still runs on its own terms, you will not.
The trek runs as a restricted area from Jagat upward. That means a Tsum Valley Restricted Area Permit issued only through a registered agency, a licensed guide with you the whole way, and a Manaslu Conservation Area Permit alongside it. We are registered to issue these and we run this valley every season.
Trips Highlights
- Walk into Beyul Kyimolung, a Tibetan Buddhist hidden valley that was closed to foreigners until 2008
- See a valley that has taken a community vow against killing, where hunting and butchering are prohibited
- Reach Mu Gompa at 3,700 m, about two hours' walk from the Tibetan border
- Visit Rachen Gompa, a working nunnery on the Tsum valley floor, not a museum
- Climb to Piren Phu, the cliff cave linked to the yogi Milarepa, with old murals and prayer texts still inside
- Cross into Upper Tsum at Chhokangparo, 3,031 m, with Ganesh Himal filling the far side of the valley
- A full exploration day at Mu Gompa, with an optional hike to Dhephyudonma Gompa at around 4,060 m
- No pass, nothing slept above 3,700 m, so the difficulty is distance and remoteness rather than altitude
- Restricted Area Permit and Manaslu Conservation Area Permit both issued by us and included
- Villages where Tsumba is the first language and the calendar still follows the Tibetan year
Up the Budhi Gandaki gorge, right at Lokpa into the Shiar Khola, all the way to the Tibetan border at Mu Gompa, then back out the way you came. There is no loop. Anyone selling you one has added the Manaslu Circuit to it.
Machha Khola to Jagat (Day 3). Hot, low and noisy. You are at 869 m in a river gorge, the trail crosses landslide scars and shares sections with a rough jeep road, and the Budhi Gandaki drowns out conversation. The Tatopani hot spring is on this stretch. Two days of this is the price of admission and most people find it the least enjoyable part of the trek.
Jagat to Lokpa (Day 4). Jagat is the permit checkpost. Restricted area starts here and your guide handles the paperwork. The trail climbs 900 m through Philim and up into pine, and the gorge finally opens.
Lokpa to Chumling (Day 5). The turn. Lokpa is where the Tsum trail splits right from the Manaslu Circuit trail, and within an hour the traffic is gone. This section drops to a bridge and climbs back, which is more work than the map suggests.
Chumling to Chhokangparo (Day 6). Lower Tsum into Upper Tsum. Chhokangparo sits on a shelf at 3,031 m with Ganesh Himal opposite, and it is the first place the valley feels genuinely Tibetan.
Chhokangparo to Nile, and on to Mu Gompa (Days 7 and 8). Past Rachen Gompa on the valley floor, then up the west bank. The tree line thins, the grass goes short and brown, and the last hour to Mu Gompa at 3,700 m is open Tibetan plateau country.
The return (Days 10 to 14). Back down via Piren Phu and Burgi, then the same trail out to Machha Khola. Coming down is fast, but the last two days are long, and the final day pairs a short walk with a full day in a vehicle.
Trips Itinerary
We meet you at Tribhuvan International Airport and drive you to your hotel in Thamel. Nothing is scheduled after that.
Your guide runs the briefing in the evening. We check kit against the list, confirm your insurance covers remote evacuation, hand over the duffel bag and map, and go through Tsum etiquette, which matters more here than on most routes. Bring your passport to the briefing. If your Restricted Area Permit paperwork is still outstanding, this is when we finish it.
Duration:
Transfer 30 to 45 min
Accomodation:
3-star hotel, Kathmandu
A long day in a vehicle and there is no way around it. Out of Kathmandu on the Prithvi Highway, north at Dhading Besi, then onto dirt for the last three hours along the Budhi Gandaki.
The final stretch is rough. The road is unpaved, cut into the gorge side, and single lane in places. We use 4WD for that reason. After heavy rain a landslide can close it and add half a day, which is why we ask you to keep a spare day at the end of the trip.
Machha Khola is a small strip of lodges by the river at 869 m. It is warm, humid and loud with water. Sleep well, because you start walking tomorrow.
Duration:
8 to 9 hours by road, about 160 km
Accomodation:
Teahouse, Machha Khola
The first walking day, and honestly the least interesting of the trek. You follow the Budhi Gandaki upstream through Khorlabesi and Tatopani, crossing suspension bridges and traversing landslide scars on a trail that keeps dropping to the river and climbing back out.
It is hot down here. Only 1,340 m by the end, so you sweat rather than shiver, and in spring the gorge holds the heat. There is a natural hot spring at Tatopani if you want to stop.
Jagat is a stone-paved village and the last place before the restricted area begins. The checkpost is here. Your guide presents the permits in the morning.
Duration:
6 to 7 hours, about 22 km
Accomodation:
Teahouse, Jagat
Permits checked at Jagat, then up. This is the day the trek changes character.
The trail climbs through Salleri and Sirdibas to Philim, a substantial village at 1,570 m with a school and terraced fields, then continues north through pine forest. Roughly 900 m of net ascent, spread out, but with plenty of down and up inside it.
Lokpa is the junction. The Manaslu Circuit trail carries straight on north up the Budhi Gandaki. Tsum goes right, into the Shiar Khola. Lokpa itself is small, four or five lodges, and it is the first night you sleep properly in Tsum.
Duration:
6 to 7 hours, about 18 km
Accomodation:
Teahouse, Lokpa
Short on the map and harder than it reads. The trail drops steeply to the Shiar Khola, crosses it, then climbs back through Gumlung. Net gain is under 150 m, but you will do several hundred metres of ascent and descent to get it.
The gorge here is narrow and dramatic, with waterfalls coming off the north wall. Traffic is essentially gone. From Lokpa on you may not see another trekking group all day.
Chumling is Lower Tsum’s main village: stone houses, a small gompa above the settlement, and Ganesh Himal visible up the valley on a clear afternoon. Your guide starts oxygen saturation and pulse checks here and records them nightly for the rest of the trek.
Duration:
4 to 5 hours, about 11 km
Accomodation:
Teahouse, Chumling
Lower Tsum into Upper Tsum, and 645 m of gain. The trail crosses a suspension bridge over the Shiar Khola and climbs steadily through Rainjam and Serpu Khola, with the forest thinning as you go.
Around Domje the valley widens and you start seeing what people come here for: long mani walls, chortens at every village entrance, barley terraces, and houses built flat-roofed and Tibetan rather than Nepali. Keep mani walls and chortens on your right as you pass. Your guide will remind you once and after that it becomes habit.
Chhokangparo is actually two settlements, Chhokang and Paro, sitting on a shelf at 3,031 m. Ganesh Himal fills the southern skyline from the village. This is the first night above 3,000 m and the first where anyone in the group might notice a headache. Say so if you do.
Duration:
5 to 6 hours, about 14 km
Accomodation:
Teahouse or homestay, Chhokangparo
A gentle day by numbers, 330 m of gain, with the best cultural stop on the trek in the middle of it.
The trail runs along the valley floor through Lamagaon to Rachen Gompa, a nunnery founded in 1905 and home to a community of Buddhist nuns of the Ngak-pa tradition. It is a working religious institution, not a viewpoint. The main hall holds long wall paintings of the life of the Buddha and a library of scriptures. Visitors are welcome, quietly, and a donation at the door is normal. If you time it right you will hear the afternoon prayers, which is worth building your day around, and your guide will try to.
Beyond Rachen you cross to Phurbe and Chhule, then reach Nile at 3,361 m, the last permanent settlement on the west bank. The landscape has gone dry and open by now. Trees stop, grass goes short and brown, and it looks like Tibet because geographically it more or less is.
Duration:
5 to 6 hours, about 12 km
Accomodation:
Teahouse, Nile
The head of the valley. Only 339 m of gain and short, so most groups arrive by early afternoon.
You follow the west bank up open country with no shelter and little water. Mu Gompa sits at 3,700 m, founded in 1895, the largest monastery in Tsum and the highest permanent building in the valley. The Tibetan border is roughly two hours’ walk further north, and in older times this was a trade route, not a dead end.
Accommodation is the monastery guesthouse or a simple lodge alongside it. Rooms are stone, unheated, and basic. There is no hot shower here and charging is solar and rationed. The dining room stove is where everyone sits after dark.
Go outside after dinner if the sky is clear. There is no electric light within a day’s walk in any direction.
Duration:
4 to 5 hours, about 9 km
Accomodation:
Monastery guesthouse, Mu Gompa
A full day at the top of the valley. Not a rest day in the sense of doing nothing, though you can treat it that way.
The usual option is the walk up to Dhephyudonma Gompa at around 4,060 m, one of the oldest monastery sites in Tsum and a steep two hours above Mu. It is the highest point of the whole trek and the only place you go meaningfully above 3,700 m. The ridge behind it gives the widest view you will get in Tsum, north into Tibet and south down the valley you walked up.
The alternative is to spend the day at Mu Gompa itself, sit in on morning prayers if the monks allow it, and walk out towards the border grazing pastures where blue sheep are usually visible. This is the vow made concrete: the animals here have not been hunted in living memory and they do not run from people the way they do elsewhere.
Your guide takes saturation readings morning and evening. If anyone in the group is not doing well at 3,700 m, this is the day it shows, and dropping to Chhule is straightforward.
Duration:
4 to 5 hours walking, optional
Accomodation:
Monastery guesthouse, Mu Gompa
Down the east bank rather than retracing the west, which gives you different villages and the cave.
Piren Phu, above Burgi village at about 3,245 m, is a cave shrine set into the base of a cliff. It is associated with Milarepa, the eleventh-century Tibetan yogi and poet who is said to have meditated here. Two shrines are built into the rock. Inside there are old murals, carved stone tablets and prayer flags, and the whole thing is looked after by the village rather than by any tourist board. There is a key holder. Your guide will arrange access, and it is normal to leave a donation.
Milarepa matters in Tibetan Buddhism partly because of what he gave up. He is remembered as a man who committed killings through sorcery early in life, then spent the rest of it in ascetic practice atoning for it. In a valley that has sworn off killing animals, that is not a coincidence.
From Burgi the trail drops back to Chhokangparo for the night.
Duration:
6 to 7 hours, about 18 km
Accomodation:
Teahouse or homestay, Chhokangparo
Back the way you came into Upper Tsum, losing 645 m. Descent days go quickly and this one has more downhill than up.
You will notice things you missed on the way in. That is normal and it is the argument for an out-and-back route in a valley like this. The mani walls are longer than you thought, the carving on them is individual, and villages you walked through at nine in the morning look different at three in the afternoon when people are back from the fields.
Knees take the hit today, not lungs. Poles help.
Duration:
5 to 6 hours, about 14 km
Accomodation:
Teahouse, Chumling
A long descent out of the Shiar Khola and back to the main Budhi Gandaki trail at Lokpa, then down through forest to Philim.
816 m down in a day, but with several climbs inside it where the trail crosses side streams. The air gets thicker and warmer with every hour, which most people enjoy for about half the day and then find sticky.
Philim is a large Gurung village on terraced hillside with a school and a proper feel of settled life. You are out of the restricted-culture upper valley now and back somewhere ordinary. The change is abrupt and worth noticing.
Duration:
6 to 7 hours, about 20 km
Accomodation:
Teahouse, Philim
Down through Sirdibas and Jagat, out of the restricted area at the Jagat checkpost, then along the gorge past Dobhan and the hot spring at Tatopani.
Hot, low and dusty. This is the same rough gorge section you walked on Day 3 and it does not improve on the way back. Where a jeep road has been cut, you get vehicle dust as well. Most people put their head down and get it done.
The spring at Tatopani is genuinely worth ten minutes if you have any interest in a hot soak after eleven days without one.
Duration:
6 to 7 hours, about 21 km
Accomodation:
Teahouse, Khorlabesi
The long one. A short walk down to Machha Khola to meet the vehicle, then the full drive back to Kathmandu. Door to door it runs about twelve hours and there is no gentle way to describe it.
We do it in a day because the alternative is a sixteenth day spent in a roadside town, and most people would rather have the shower in Kathmandu. If the road is bad or the group has had enough, we can break the drive at Dhading Besi and come in the next morning instead. Say so at breakfast, not at four in the afternoon.
Farewell dinner in Kathmandu with your guide and, where they have come back with us, your porters.
Duration:
2 to 3 hours walking, then 8 to 9 hours by road
Accomodation:
3-star hotel, Kathmandu
We drive you to the airport about three hours before your flight.
If you have a spare day, and we hope you kept one, Boudhanath is the obvious place to spend it after this particular trek. The Tibetan Buddhism you have been walking through for two weeks has its Kathmandu centre there, and a lot of what you saw at Rachen and Mu will make more sense standing at the stupa.
Duration:
Transfer 30 to 45 min
Accomodation:
Not included
Trips Include
Everything below is inside the trek price. Permits included means all of them, issued and paid for by us before you land, not reimbursed later.
- Tsum Valley Restricted Area Permit, issued through our registered agency licence and paid for before you arrive
- Manaslu Conservation Area Permit (MCAP)
- All permit processing in Kathmandu, including the office day and passport paperwork
- Airport transfers on arrival and departure in Kathmandu, in a private vehicle
- 2 nights in a 3-star hotel in Kathmandu, twin sharing, with breakfast
- 12 nights in teahouses and village homestays on trek, twin sharing where rooms allow
- All meals on trek: 12 breakfasts, 12 lunches and 12 dinners, ordered from the lodge menu
- Farewell dinner in Kathmandu at a Nepali restaurant on the last night
- Private vehicle from Kathmandu to Machha Khola and back, 4WD on the unpaved sections
- A licensed, English-speaking trekking guide for the whole trek, mandatory in a restricted area and paid by us
- A second licensed guide on any departure of seven or more, so the group can split by pace
- One porter between two trekkers, carrying up to 12 kg each
- Wages, insurance, food, lodging, equipment and medical cover for every guide and porter
- Daily oxygen saturation and pulse checks from Day 5, recorded and reviewed by your guide
- First aid kit carried by the guide, including a pulse oximeter
- Water purification tablets or a filter, so you are not buying plastic bottles up the valley
- A 75 litre duffel bag on loan for the trek, plus a route map
- All government taxes, agency service charges and administrative costs
Guide and porter wages, insurance, food, lodging and equipment are ours to pay and already sit inside the price. You are never asked to top up staff costs on the trail.
Trips Exclude
These sit outside the package. Budget roughly USD 250 to 400 beyond the trek price for fifteen days. Tsum runs slightly cheaper than Khumbu for tea and snacks, but hot water and charging cost more the further up the valley you go, because both are generated locally on small solar systems.
- International flights to and from Kathmandu
- Nepal entry visa, obtainable on arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport
- Lunch and dinner in Kathmandu, apart from the farewell dinner
- Travel insurance, which must cover helicopter evacuation and medical treatment to at least 4,000 m
- All drinks: bottled water, soft drinks, beer, and the teahouse pot of tea
- Hot showers on trek, typically a bucket or a solar shower, charged per use
- Charging phones, cameras and power banks, charged per device at most upper lodges
- Wi-Fi where it exists, which is Lower Tsum only and unreliable
- Personal trekking gear and clothing, including sleeping bag and down jacket
- Extra nights in Kathmandu if you arrive early, leave late, or the access road closes
- Any cost caused by an early exit from the trek: extra transport, lodging or helicopter
- Donations at monasteries, which are customary and entirely up to you
- Tips for your guide and porters
- Anything not listed under what is included
Travel insurance covering helicopter evacuation and medical treatment to at least 4,000 m is required. Tsum is not high, so altitude illness is uncommon, but it is remote. From Mu Gompa a walking evacuation to the nearest road takes three to four days, and a helicopter needs weather and daylight. Read the evacuation clause, not the marketing page.
Packaging Lists
The three that actually matter here
Boots you have already walked in. Eleven trekking days, several over 20 km, on rough stone and landslide debris in the lower gorge. This trail chews footwear and feet. New boots on Day 3 is the single most common reason someone finishes the trek limping.
A sleeping bag rated to minus 10C comfort. Lower than you need for Everest, because you never sleep above 3,700 m, but the rooms at Nile and Mu Gompa are unheated stone and there is no insulation. Blankets exist and are usually not enough.
Real sun protection. Upper Tsum is dry, high-altitude Tibetan terrain with thin air and reflected light off pale rock. Factor 50, lip balm with sun block, a brimmed hat and wraparound sunglasses. Sunburn is far more likely on this trek than altitude sickness.
Also bring
Two litres of water capacity and a filter or purification tablets. A 35 to 45 litre daypack. Layers rather than one thick coat: base layer, fleece, windproof shell, light down for evenings. Trekking poles, which earn their weight on the descent days. A headtorch, because power is limited and evenings are long. Earplugs. Enough clothing for eleven days, since laundry is not realistic above Chumling.
For women
Bring the sanitary products you prefer, as there is nothing available for sale above Jagat, plus sealable bags to pack used items out. Your guide can arrange a private room in most villages if you ask when booking.
Dress in the villages
Tsum is conservative and religious in a way that most trekking routes are not. Covered shoulders and knees in villages and monasteries. Skin-tight leggings worn on their own read as immodest here. Walk clockwise around mani walls, chortens and prayer wheels, always, and ask before photographing people or shrine interiors.
Trips Altitude
Trips FAQs
The questions we actually get about Tsum, starting with the two that matter most: how it differs from the Manaslu Circuit, and what the permit rules genuinely are in 2026.
They are not, and conflating them is the single most common mistake we see on this route.
The Manaslu Circuit is a high-altitude trek. It goes over the Larke La at 5,106 m, you sleep at 3,900 m at Samdo and 4,460 m at Dharamsala, and altitude illness is a real planning concern. It is graded strenuous for good reason.
Tsum tops out at 3,700 m sleeping altitude, with an optional 4,060 m side hike. No pass. No snow crossing. Altitude illness is uncommon on this route and mostly limited to mild headaches at Chhokangparo.
They share the first four days of trail, up the Budhi Gandaki, and then split at Lokpa. That shared start is why people confuse them. What makes Tsum demanding is eleven walking days, some over 20 km, a rough lower gorge and genuine remoteness. It is a long trek, not a high one.
Two permits: a Tsum Valley Restricted Area Permit (RAP) and a Manaslu Conservation Area Permit (MCAP). We arrange and pay for both.
The RAP can only be issued through a registered Nepali trekking agency. You cannot walk into an office and buy one yourself, and you cannot get one at the trailhead. It is issued in Kathmandu against your passport, and your licensed guide’s name goes on it.
On 22 March 2026 the Department of Immigration removed the old minimum-of-two-trekkers rule across Nepal’s restricted areas, Tsum included. Before that date a single trekker could not get a permit at all and agencies used to issue a dummy second name. That practice is now unnecessary. A solo traveller can hold a Tsum RAP in their own name.
What did not change: a licensed guide is still mandatory, and the agency requirement stands. So solo in the sense of one client on the permit is fine. Solo in the sense of walking in alone without a guide is still not allowed and the Jagat checkpost enforces it.
The RAP is priced per week, with a per-day charge after that, and the rate is higher in the September to November season than in the December to August window. Published figures vary between operators, so we quote you the current Department of Immigration rate at booking rather than a number that may be out of date.
In practice, a Restricted Area Permit supersedes the TIMS requirement, and the Manaslu and Tsum checkposts operate on RAP plus MCAP. Several competitor pages still list TIMS for this trek out of habit, copied forward from older itineraries.
If the rule is applied differently at a checkpost in a given season, your guide sorts it there and we cover the cost. It is not something for you to chase.
Yes, and it is a good trip, but be clear about what you are adding.
Days. Combining the two runs 21 to 24 days depending on the itinerary, against 15 for Tsum alone. You walk into Tsum, come back down to Lokpa, then continue north up the Budhi Gandaki to Samagaon, Samdo and over the Larke La.
Permits. Tsum and Manaslu are two separate restricted areas with two separate RAPs. A combined trek needs both, not one covering the pair. That is the detail most pages skip. You also need the Annapurna Conservation Area Permit for the exit through Dharapani, on top of the MCAP.
Difficulty. The combined trek is not a longer moderate trek. Adding the Larke La at 5,106 m makes it a genuine high-altitude trip with all the acclimatisation planning that implies.
If you have three weeks and want both, tell us at booking and we build it. If you have two weeks, do Tsum properly rather than rushing both.
It is real and it is one of the more remarkable things about the valley.
Tsum has a community-wide commitment against killing animals, rooted in the Buddhist precept against taking life and reinforced by public vows taken in the presence of visiting lamas. Hunting is prohibited. Butchering animals within the valley is prohibited. The commitment is periodically renewed and the villages hold each other to it.
You see the consequences rather than the rule. Blue sheep and Himalayan tahr graze near the trail and near settlements without bolting. Pheasants are unbothered. In most of Nepal, wildlife at this altitude keeps a long distance from people, and the contrast is obvious once you have walked elsewhere.
What it means for you: meat on the menu in Upper Tsum is either carried in or absent, and the vegetarian food is better than the meat anywhere on this trail. Do not make jokes about hunting, and do not bring meat products into the upper villages.
Beyul means hidden valley. In the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism these are places said to have been consecrated by Padmasambhava in the eighth century and concealed as refuges, to be found when the outside world became dangerous. Tsum is Beyul Kyimolung, usually translated as the valley of happiness. There are several such valleys along the Himalaya. Khumbu and Rolwaling are others.
The 2008 closure is a separate, political thing. Tsum sits directly on the Tibetan border and Nepal kept the whole northern Gorkha frontier as a restricted zone for security reasons. Foreigners were not permitted, full stop, until the government opened it to controlled trekking in 2008.
Those two facts combined are why the valley feels the way it does. Religious insulation for centuries, then political insulation until eighteen years ago. Nothing here was built for trekkers, because until recently there weren’t any.
We grade it moderate, and we will defend that.
Grading a trek strenuous while listing its maximum altitude as 3,700 m in the same table is inconsistent. Strenuous grades exist for treks with high passes, snow, long days above 4,500 m, or technical ground. Tsum has none of those.
What it does have: eleven consecutive walking days, several of 20 km or more, 5 to 7 hours of walking most days, rough underfoot in the lower gorge, and no road access if you want out. That is real, and someone who does not walk regularly will find it hard work.
Fitness target: comfortable walking 6 hours over hilly ground on consecutive days. Train for eight weeks with three or four sessions a week, at least one of them a long hill walk with a pack. Previous high-altitude experience is not needed for this trek, which is exactly the point of it.
Some, and less than you may be expecting. We would rather say this now than have you disappointed on Day 8.
Ganesh Himal is the main event, visible from Chumling and dominant from Chhokangparo. Sringi Himal and Boudha Himal appear in sections. But Tsum is a valley trek and the valley walls block the horizon for much of it. There is no dawn viewpoint push, no amphitheatre, no line of 8,000 m peaks.
Set against Annapurna Base Camp or anything in the Khumbu, Tsum loses on scenery and it is not close. It wins on culture, quiet and the sense of being somewhere that has not been arranged for you. Pick accordingly.
Basic, and more basic the higher you go.
Lower down, through Machha Khola, Jagat and Philim, they are standard Nepali teahouses: twin rooms, plywood walls, shared squat toilets, sometimes a hot shower for a fee.
In Tsum itself, particularly at Nile and Mu Gompa, you are often in a village homestay or a monastery guesthouse rather than a purpose-built lodge. Stone rooms, no insulation, no heating in the bedrooms, an outside toilet, and solar power that runs the lights and not much else. At Mu Gompa the accommodation may be inside the monastery compound.
Expect no hot shower above Chumling on most departures. Expect to charge a phone slowly, for a fee, and to be told no when the sun has not been out. Bring a power bank and a decent sleeping bag and none of this will bother you.
Yes, and we run solo travellers on this route regularly.
You are with a licensed guide from Kathmandu to Kathmandu, which is a legal requirement in a restricted area rather than an upsell. Tsum is a conservative and religious valley, and the practical effect for a solo traveller is that villages are safe and quiet. Petty theft is rare and violent crime effectively unheard of.
Practical points: private rooms are available in most villages if you request one at booking, though at Mu Gompa and Nile the buildings may not allow it. Dress modestly in villages, which is advice we give everyone here. Tell your guide if anything makes you uncomfortable, including anything involving our own staff, and it is dealt with that day.
Vegetarian is the default and the food is better for it.
Dal bhat is the staple, and in this valley it comes with whatever the village grows: potatoes, barley, buckwheat, greens, sometimes local cheese. You also get Tibetan bread, thukpa and momos. Portions of dal bhat are refilled at no extra cost, which matters on a 20 km day.
Meat in Upper Tsum is uncommon because of the vow, and where it appears it has been carried up over several days without refrigeration. We advise against it, as we would anywhere at this remove from a road.
Menus shrink as you go up the valley. At Mu Gompa expect four or five options, not twenty. Tell us at booking about allergies or a gluten-free diet, because that needs planning rather than improvisation up there.
Less than on almost any other Nepali trek of this length, but not zero.
You sleep at 3,700 m at most, and you reach it gradually over six walking days. Serious altitude illness at that height is uncommon. What people do get is a mild headache or poor sleep the first night at Chhokangparo, 3,031 m, and again on arrival at Mu Gompa.
Our guide takes oxygen saturation and pulse readings every evening from Chumling onwards and writes them down, so a trend is visible rather than a single number. The exploration day at Mu Gompa doubles as an acclimatisation buffer. If someone is struggling, descending to Chhule takes a couple of hours and fixes it.
The remoteness is the real risk here, not the altitude. Getting a sick person out from the head of this valley is slow.
Be honest with yourself about this before you book, because Tsum is not a valley you can leave quickly.
From Mu Gompa or Nile, walking out to the road at Machha Khola takes three to four days. There is no shortcut and no jeep road above Jagat. A helicopter can reach the upper valley, but it needs daylight, clear weather and a landing spot, and cloud closes the valley for days at a time in poor conditions.
If you leave early for a non-medical reason, a guide or porter walks out with you and you cover the extra transport and lodging. If it is medical, your insurance covers the evacuation, which is precisely why we insist on a policy with a proper remote-evacuation clause.
Unused trek days are not refundable, which is standard, and we say it plainly rather than burying it.
Below Lokpa you share the trail with Manaslu Circuit groups, and in October that is a steady flow of people.
Above Lokpa it empties out. Tsum takes a small fraction of the traffic the Circuit does. On a typical October day in the upper valley you might pass one or two other groups. In May you may pass none. In the shoulder weeks, late November or early March, you can have entire days with no other foreigners on the trail.
That is the appeal and it is also the trade-off. Fewer trekkers means fewer lodges, less competition on quality, and no one to rely on if something goes wrong.
Mid-September to early December is the best window. Clear air after the monsoon, stable weather, and the Tibetan festival calendar falls in this period. October is the most reliable and also the busiest, which in Tsum still means quiet.
March to May is the other good season. Rhododendron in the lower and middle valley, warmer nights, a little more haze. Late April and May can be humid and heavy going in the gorge.
July and August we do not run. Leeches in the lower gorge, cloud on the whole valley, and landslides that close the access road.
December to February is possible but hard. Mu Gompa gets seriously cold, some upper lodges shut and families move down, and you may find the top of the valley half empty of people.
Patchy, and worse than the Everest region by a distance.
Ncell and Nepal Telecom get intermittent coverage in the lower gorge and around Philim and Chumling. Upper Tsum is largely dead, with occasional signal on ridges and none at Mu Gompa. Wi-Fi exists at a few Lower Tsum lodges, costs extra and is slow.
Your guide carries a local SIM and, on our departures into the upper valley, a satellite phone for emergencies. Tell people at home to expect a gap of five or six days rather than daily messages. It is one of the better things about this trek.
The last reliable ATM is in Kathmandu. There is no bank, no ATM and no card machine anywhere on this trek, and no reliable place to change foreign currency after you leave the city.
Carry Nepali rupees in small notes for the whole trip. Budget roughly USD 250 to 400 in rupee equivalent for fifteen days: drinks, hot showers, charging, Wi-Fi, monastery donations and tips. Take a little more than you think, because there is no way to top up.
Small denominations matter. A village lodge at Nile cannot break a 1,000 rupee note at seven in the morning.
Tipping is customary and it is discretionary. Nobody will chase you for it.
A common approach is to set aside around 10% of the trek price for the whole team, then split it with more going to the guide and the rest divided between porters. It is handed over on the last evening, in rupees, usually with everyone present.
Monastery donations are separate and small. A few hundred rupees at Rachen, Mu Gompa and Piren Phu is normal and goes to the upkeep of buildings that have no other income.
Good to Know
The questions we actually get about Tsum, starting with the two that matter most: how it differs from the Manaslu Circuit, and what the permit rules genuinely are in 2026.
Tibetan Buddhism holds that Padmasambhava, the eighth-century master who brought tantric Buddhism across the Himalaya, consecrated a number of valleys as beyul, hidden lands. The idea is that each was sealed and would be revealed by a treasure-finder when the times demanded a refuge. They are not mythical places. They are real, mapped valleys, and Tsum is one of them, known as Kyimolung, the valley of happiness.
Practically, that status shaped how the valley was settled and governed. Religious authority sat with the monasteries rather than with any outside administration, and the community regulated its own affairs by consensus and vow. That is the same mechanism that produced the non-violence commitment.
The physical evidence is everywhere once you are looking. Mani walls that run for a hundred metres and more. Chortens at every village boundary. Prayer wheels turned by streams. Houses built around a shrine room. None of this was put up recently and none of it is for you.
Walk clockwise around all of it, left shoulder to the wall, always. If you are unsure, watch what your guide does and copy it.
The Buddhist first precept is to refrain from taking life. Most Buddhist communities in Nepal interpret that loosely. Tsum does not.
The valley has a standing community prohibition on hunting and on butchering animals, taken as a formal vow and periodically renewed in ceremony with the involvement of local lamas and village committees. There are signboards at village entrances stating it. It covers wild animals and domestic ones alike.
What that produces is visible within a day of entering the valley. Blue sheep on the slopes above Nile and Mu Gompa graze in view of the trail. Himalayan tahr do the same. Danphe pheasants walk across the path rather than exploding out of cover. Anyone who has trekked elsewhere in Nepal notices immediately, because everywhere else this wildlife keeps a long distance from people, for good reason.
Your side of it is simple. No meat carried into the upper valley. No jokes about hunting or fishing. Do not push a lodge for a meat dish in Upper Tsum. And if a family declines to kill a chicken for the visitors, that is not a service failure, that is the entire point of where you are.
Most operator pages list these three as bullet points and never explain them. Here is what you are actually visiting.
Rachen Gompa, on the valley floor near Chhule, was founded in 1905 and houses a community of Buddhist nuns. It is a nunnery, not a monastery, and the distinction matters: this is one of the larger female monastic communities in the Nepal Himalaya, and the nuns run it. The main hall carries long painted narrative panels of the life of the Buddha and holds a scripture library. Prayers are held morning and afternoon. Sit at the back, do not photograph during prayers, and leave a donation on the way out.
Mu Gompa, at 3,700 m at the head of the valley, was founded in 1895 and is the largest monastery in Tsum and its highest permanent building. It sits in open Tibetan terrain roughly two hours below the border. It holds statues, old texts and religious instruments, and a resident community that changes with the season. You will most likely sleep in its guesthouse.
Piren Phu, above Burgi at around 3,245 m, is a cave shrine at the foot of a cliff, associated with Milarepa. Milarepa is the eleventh-century Tibetan yogi whose life story turns on renouncing violence: he is remembered as having caused deaths through sorcery in his youth, then spending decades in ascetic meditation in caves like this one in atonement. The cave holds two shrines, wall paintings, carved stone tablets and prayer texts. A village key holder opens it. In a valley that has sworn off killing, the choice of patron saint is not accidental.
Tsum Valley Restricted Area Permit (RAP). Required from Jagat upwards. Issued only through a registered Nepali trekking agency, only in Kathmandu, only against your actual passport, and it names your licensed guide. It cannot be bought at the trailhead or online. Priced per week with a per-day charge beyond that, at a higher rate in the September to November season than in the December to August one.
Manaslu Conservation Area Permit (MCAP). Required alongside the RAP, a flat per-person fee, checked at Jagat.
We hold both before you fly.
What changed. On 22 March 2026 the Department of Immigration removed the long-standing minimum-of-two-trekkers requirement across Nepal’s restricted areas, Tsum among them. Until then a single trekker could not legally be issued a RAP, and the workaround, widely used, was to put a fictitious second name on the paperwork. That is no longer needed. One person can now hold a Tsum RAP in their own name at the standard fee.
What did not change. A licensed guide is still mandatory in the restricted area, and the permit still has to come through a registered agency. Walking into Tsum without a guide is not permitted and the Jagat post checks. Any page telling you that the March 2026 change means you can now trek Tsum independently has misread it.
One more. Tsum and Manaslu are separate restricted areas with separate permits. Combining the two treks needs two RAPs, plus the ACAP for the exit past Dharapani.
Tsum has had foreign visitors for eighteen years, not sixty. The habits that have worn smooth in Khumbu have not worn smooth here, and small things register.
Circumambulate clockwise. Mani walls, chortens, prayer wheels, monastery courtyards. Pass with them on your right. Spin prayer wheels clockwise, one hand, walking past.
Dress covered. Shoulders and knees in villages and inside monasteries. Tight athletic leggings worn on their own are read as immodest. Take a pair of loose trousers.
Ask before photographing. People, monastery interiors, shrine rooms, nuns and monks. Sometimes the answer is no. In Piren Phu and inside Rachen’s main hall, assume no unless told otherwise.
Do not point your feet at an altar or step over anyone’s legs or belongings in a shrine room. Take shoes off where others have.
Do not hand out sweets or money to children. It teaches begging in a valley that does not have the habit yet. If you want to give, give at a monastery or a school through your guide.
Below Jagat you get ordinary teahouses. Twin rooms, plywood, shared toilet, a hot shower for a fee at most places.
In Tsum proper the standard drops. Villages like Chumling and Chhokangparo have a handful of small lodges. At Nile and Mu Gompa you are more often in a homestay or the monastery guesthouse: stone rooms, unheated bedrooms, an outside toilet, one dining room with a stove that everybody sits around.
Hot showers above Chumling are unreliable and often just a bucket of heated water. Assume you will not shower for the last week and be pleasantly surprised.
Power is small solar systems. Charging costs money per device, takes a long time, and can simply be unavailable after a cloudy day. Bring a 20,000 mAh power bank and you will not think about it.
Blankets exist and are not enough. Your sleeping bag is doing the work at Nile and Mu Gompa.
Everything gets more expensive the further up you go, because it walked there on somebody’s back. That is not a markup, it is arithmetic.
Kathmandu to Machha Khola is 8 to 9 hours in good conditions, about 160 km. The first half is the Prithvi Highway and fine. The last three hours are unpaved road cut into the Budhi Gandaki gorge, narrow, single-lane in places, with drops.
We use a 4WD private vehicle rather than a bus for that section, and we do not run it after dark.
After heavy rain it can close. Landslides on that stretch are routine in monsoon and not unknown in the shoulder seasons, and clearing takes anything from two hours to a day. This is the most likely thing to disrupt your trip, more likely than weather on the trail and far more likely than altitude.
Which is why we ask for a spare day. If your international flight leaves the morning after you are due back in Kathmandu, one landslide turns into a missed flight. One buffer day removes the whole problem.
It suits you if you have walked multi-day routes before and want somewhere that is not busy. If you have an interest in Tibetan Buddhism beyond photographing a prayer flag. If you have done Everest Base Camp or Annapurna and found them crowded. If you want a long trek without a high pass, which is a surprisingly rare combination in Nepal.
It does not suit you if your priority is mountain scenery. Tsum will underdeliver against Annapurna Base Camp or the Khumbu and we would rather tell you than take your booking. It also does not suit you if you need a hot shower and reliable Wi-Fi, or if you are on a tight schedule with no buffer, or if you want to say you went high. You do not go high here.
Age and experience. We have run this valley with people in their sixties and with families. There is no altitude barrier worth speaking of. The barrier is eleven consecutive days of walking, so the honest question is not how fit you are on one day but how you feel on day nine.
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Book six to eight weeks ahead. The Restricted Area Permit needs your passport scan and a Kathmandu office day before you fly, and it cannot be issued at the trailhead.
A 20% deposit holds your place, with the balance due in Kathmandu before the drive out. We can hold a provisional booking for seven days at no cost while you sort flights and insurance.
Once you are booked we send a pre-departure pack: a training plan for the eight weeks before you travel, a kit list you can tick off, a short primer on Tsum etiquette worth reading on the plane, and a note on which insurance policies actually cover remote evacuation rather than just high altitude.
The drive is the unpredictable part, not the trek. Kathmandu to Machha Khola is 8 to 9 hours on a good day and the last stretch is unpaved. After heavy rain, landslides can close it and add half a day. Keep one spare day before your international flight.
Your passport scan is needed early. The Restricted Area Permit is issued in Kathmandu against your actual passport, and your guide’s name goes on it. Late paperwork is the one thing that can genuinely stop a departure.
Monsoon is a real no. July and August put leeches in the lower gorge, cloud over the whole valley and landslides across the access road. We run Tsum March to May and September to early December. Winter is possible but Mu Gompa is bitter and some upper lodges close.
