The long walk to Manaslu

Manaslu is 8,163 metres and the eighth-highest mountain in the world. It stands in Gorkha district — the same district as Gorkha Bazaar, the old hill town that gave Nepal its ruling dynasty. Most people who pass through Gorkha on the way to the trailhead never quite register that the mountain they are walking towards is administratively local. The Manaslu Circuit does not begin at a famous gateway. It begins here, quietly, at a roadhead up the Budhi Gandaki.

The route

The trek follows the Budhi Gandaki north, crosses a high pass, and drops into the Annapurna region on the other side. It is a genuine circuit around the massif rather than an out-and-back.

Trailheads have historically been Arughat, then Soti Khola, then Machha Khola, in that order, as the road pushed further up the valley. From the roadhead the trail climbs through the gorge to Jagat, where the restricted zone effectively begins, then on through Deng and Namrung. Somewhere above Namrung the country changes: the terraced lower valley gives way to Tibetan-influenced villages, and Lho and Samagaun are Buddhist in a way the lower gorge is not.

Samagaun at around 3,500 metres is where you stop for a day. This is not padding. The pass ahead is high enough that skipping acclimatisation is how people get into trouble. Most itineraries use the rest day for a walk up towards Manaslu Base Camp or Pungyen Gompa, which does the acclimatisation for you.

From Samagaun the trail runs to Samdo, then to the huts at Dharmasala, also called Larkya Phedi. From there you cross Larkya La, usually given as 5,106 metres, though you will see 5,160 quoted too. It is a long day, normally started in the dark, and it ends with a substantial descent to Bimthang. From Bimthang you walk out through Tilije to Dharapani, which sits in the Annapurna Conservation Area in Manang district, and pick up transport from there.

Fourteen days is the standard figure from roadhead to Dharapani. Twelve is possible if the roads cooperate and you are fit. Longer versions add the Tsum Valley, a side valley off the main route that is worth the days if you have them.

Permits, and what actually changed

Manaslu is a restricted area. You need a Restricted Area Permit, and you cannot get one as a walk-in individual — it is issued through a government-registered trekking agency, and a licensed guide must walk with you. That part has not changed and is not negotiable at the checkpoints.

What has changed is the group size rule, and this is where older trek write-ups will mislead you. For years the permit was issued only to groups of two or more. Solo trekkers either found a partner or paid an agency to add a second name to the paperwork — a well-known workaround that meant paying twice. On 22 March 2026 the Department of Immigration removed that requirement across restricted areas in 13 districts, Manaslu among them. A single foreign trekker can now be issued a permit alone. The department also set a maximum ratio of one guide to seven trekkers and moved applications online.

To be clear about what "solo" now means: you can be the only client on your permit. You still walk with a licensed guide booked through a registered agency, and that agency remains responsible for your rescue and logistics. Independent, unguided trekking in the restricted area is still not allowed.

On top of the Restricted Area Permit you need two conservation permits: MCAP for the Manaslu Conservation Area, and ACAP for the Annapurna side, because you exit at Dharapani inside the Annapurna Conservation Area. People are occasionally surprised by the ACAP requirement on a trek they do not think of as Annapurna. You need it anyway.

The Restricted Area Permit is priced by season and charged for a first block of days with a per-day rate after that, and the September-to-November rate is higher than the rest of the year. Fee amounts change, so confirm the current figures with your agency in Kathmandu rather than trusting any number you read online, including the ones on trekking company blogs, several of which still describe the old two-person rule as current.

Seasons and the road

Autumn, roughly late September to November, is the most reliable window: stable weather and clear views of the pass. Spring, March to May, is the second choice. Monsoon is a poor idea on this route specifically — the Budhi Gandaki gorge is the landslide-prone part, and it is where the road building is concentrated.

That road is the thing most out-of-date descriptions get wrong. Jeeps now go far higher up the valley than the classic Arughat and Soti Khola starts suggest, reliably to Machha Khola and often to Jagat, with construction pushing further still. The practical effect is that you can cut a day or two of walking, and also that some of the lower trail is now road. The roadhead moves with each monsoon. Ask locally rather than planning around a fixed start point.

Gorkha Bazaar

Gorkha Bazaar sits on a ridge on the way in or out, and it is a sensible place to break the journey rather than doing the whole drive from Kathmandu in one push. The Gorkha Durbar stands above the town, and on a clear morning the ridge gives you a long view over the hills you are about to walk into — or have just walked out of.