Upper Mustang-Tiji Festival Trek

Welcome to Nepal!

Your trip starts as soon as you land at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. Our representative will pick you up from the airport and take you to a hotel in Thamel.

You can spend your evening strolling down the vibrant walkway or enjoy a delicious dinner at nearby restaurants of this bustling tourist area.

Next morning, you’ll wake up with the pleasant sound of bells from the neighboring temples. Soon after your morning breakfast, you’ll gather around and a travel leader will guide you to some of the most spiritual and religious sites in the valley.

All of these destinations are listed under the UNESCO World Heritage List.

Firstly, you’ll visit the famous sights such as Syambhunath Stupa, Kathmandu Durbar Square, Patan Durbar Square, and Bhaktapur Durbar Square. You’ll also visit Changunarayan Temple, Pashupatinath Temple, and finally, the Boudhanath Stupa.

You can have your lunch anywhere during the travel, as per your needs. After the sightseeing trip, we will give you a trek briefing and get you prepared for the trek.

This day, we will take a flight to Pokhara. Alternatively, we can also arrange a ride to Pokhara via tourist bus. Either way, you’ll get enough time to explore the alluring Phewa Lake via walking along its coast or taking a boat to its other side.

You’ll get to spend the night in a luxurious hotel in the same city and experience its lively locality of Lakeside.

The next morning, we’ll wake up early and take a morning flight to Jomsom. The 20-minute flight lets you observe some of the delightful scenarios in the region.

Towards your sideways, you can view the glorious Annapurna and Dhaulagiri mountain range. At the same time, you can have a heavenly view of Kali Gandaki Gorge below.

As soon as we reach the windy valley of Jomson, it’s time to get excited. Why? Because the real trek starts now!

We’ll start walking alongside the great Kali Gandaki river for about 3 to 4 hours until we reach the gateway of Upper Mustang, Kagbeni.

Stationed at the bank of the Kali Gandaki river, which is flowing in a particular corridor from the past 80 million years, Kagbeni is an attractive village with a typical Tibetan lifestyle.

We’ll stay the night in Kagbeni for the day, overlooking the ruins of the old fortress and several flat-roofed houses.

This day, we’ll be entering the restricted area of Upper Mustang. The question is, are you ready for the adventure?

Starting from Kagbeni, we have to walk alongside the wide Kali Gandaki river basin. The deserted land surrounding the entire trail is pleasant to look at.

After a few hours of proceeding alongside the river, climbing a few barren hills and observing the prehistoric stones, we’ll reach the village of Thangbe.

Around the village, we can view the artistically cultivated land growing buckwheat, barley, wheat, and apple orchard.

You’ll be amazed to see green vegetation subsequently walking through the deserted walkway. Take a few minutes rest at this village and proceed further till we reach Chhusang.

About a kilometer away from Chhusang, we’ll encounter a Kali Gandaki bridge. After crossing the bridge, we’ll leave the river behind and start ascending upwards.

We need to climb a steep rocky gully till we reach the village of Chele. Here we’ll be spending the night. This trek will last about 6 to 7 hours.

Waking up with a fresh breeze is a pleasant way to start your morning in Chele, a small village of Mustang.

Our trek for this day includes climbing through several ridges and descending from the sparsely populated villages along the way.

We begin our trek passing through the enormous canyons and barren landscapes. Hiking upwards leads us to Samar, a village right below the gigantic mountains.

The next walking trail takes us inside a rich forest until we reach Bhena. It’s a small tea-stop from where we’ll catch sight of the scenic view.

We ascend and descend the steep hills multiple times before finally reaching Syangbochen. This village is much sparsely populated but has several artistic illustrations.

This 6-hour trek may bring pleasure to our eyes, but causes torture to our legs. So getting rest in Syangboche is necessary.

This day requires a long-distance trek but has an easy path. We’ll start with a light breakfast in Syangboche and walk through a large barren land with a cool breeze.

We’ll reach Ghiling after a short trek, where we can enjoy a heavy lunch to boost our stamina. From Ghiling, we’ll ascend a criss-cross way to reach Jaite.

From Jaite, we’ll walk alongside a narrow lowland to reach Nyi La and to reach a turning. From the turning, we’ll start seeing the vegetation of Ghami.

We’ll reach Ghami after 5 hours of trek. Ghami is a small picturesque village on the bank of a stream flowing from the Dhaulagiri Range.

Since we’ll arrive early at this place, the scenic view of Nilgiri, Annapurna, and other mountains will welcome us. This will be our resting place for the day.

Moving further from Ghami, we can cross a large steel bridge above the Tangmar Chu river and pass a criss-cross road. We need to climb a plateau observing few vegetations alongside.

A few minutes ahead, we’ll see the Mani Wall. This wall is considered the longest prayer wall in Nepal.

Move further ahead until we reach a narrow way and climb up a distance and we’ll reach a pass. We won’t see greenery for a while now.

After a few hours of trekking through a narrow pathway and several ascends and descends on the barren land, we’ll start seeing the Kali Gandaki river once again.

Walking along the Kali Gandaki corridor will take us to the village of Charang. Here we can visit ancient monasteries and palaces that are its main attractions.

At this point, we’ll be getting closer to our destination. The next day, we’ll reach the Lo Manthang, where Tiji Festival takes place.

This day we’ll head towards the Lo Manthang village.

We’ll descend to a canyon and ascend till we reach the Lo La Pass, 3950m.
From this height, view the Lo Manthang village. A few hours of trek will take us to this gorgeous village. The whole place has only one entrance.

After resting for a while, we can witness the start of the Tiji Festival, which starts at 3 pm. We can enjoy and participate in the festival with the local monks.

We’ll stay overnight there for the next two nights as well.

This day, we can dance with the locals in the Mustang Royal Palace of Lo Manthang.
But first, we can explore the surrounding of this village. Some of its main attractions are the Tall Champa Lakhang, the Red Thugchen Gompa, Chyodi Palace, and the Raja’s Palace.

Some villages near Lo Manthang are Tingkhar and Chhosar. They both feature multiple stupas and scenic beauty.

Chhosar is famous for its 2500-year-old Jhong Sky Cave that features 44 compartments. After a while, we’ll return to the Mustang Royal Palace. On our return, we can also witness the mask dance by the experts.

This day will be the final day of the Tiji Festival and also our stay in Lo Manthang. We will start off by exploring the famous Summer Palace, situated in Tingkhar. But, the palace is abandoned now.

Alternatively, we can climb up the viewpoint hill situated in the North of the village. From there, we will get to view the famous valley and snow-capped mountains at a distance.

We’ll end the day watching the final day of the Tiji Festival. We’ll be descending all the way back to where we started our trip.

We will take a different route to descend from the Lo Manthang village. We will walk westward through a terrain that leads us to a famous monastery in the region, Ghar Gompa.
Padmasambhava, an incarnated monk, built the 7th-century stupa.

After having lunch in a village near this famous stupa, we will walk further downhill towards the village of Dhakmar. The trek requires 9 hours of hiking via steep hills.

We’ll spend the night at Dhakmar and get ready to return back to our initial destination.

Waking up and descending further down to Samar will take us 6 hours. At first, we need to get to Ghami, where we will stay for a night on our way upwards.

We can have our meal in Ghami. The route from Ghami is the same that we took while ascending.

We’ll encounter several monasteries, stupas and other attractions on the way. After passing from the Nyi La pass, we’ll walk further towards the South till we reach Samar.

This day, we trek back to Chhusang and further down to Kagbeni. we descend a steep pathway until we cross Chele and cross Kali Gandaki Bridge.

We’ll encounter the river once again. We’ll then need to follow the road alongside Kali Gandaki until we ride the plane back to Pokhara.

We’ll have our meal and we’ll walk further till we reach Kagbeni.

The entire trek will take us 7 hours to complete.

We can meet with the locals once again.

This day, we’ll travel back to the headquarters of Mustang district, Jomsom village. It just takes us four hours of walking alongside the mighty Kali Gandaki river to reach here.

Once we’re in Jomsom, we can enjoy the famous apples of this place.
Also, the village is famous for its strong winds blowing during the midday.

This day, we’ll take an early flight to Pokhara from Jomsom Airport. On our way, we can get a glimpse of the Kali Gandaki Gorge, the deepest Gorge in the world.
Once we return back to Pokhara, we can visit some of the major points of attraction in the tourist capital of Nepal.

Here, we can visit the famous Peace Stupa, climb up hills to Sarangkot, or visit all the caves situated within the city. We’ll do as you prefer.

During the evening, we can stroll alongside the mighty Phewa Lake.

We’ll have to return to Kathmandu this day, either by flight. The flight takes only about 20 minutes its scnic flight as you can see mountains form the window. Upon landed in Kathmandu our airport pick up is waiting for you take from airport to Hotel.

After you’ve returned to Kathmandu, you can relax.

You can walk around Thamel and visit clubs or enjoy a massage at a spa.

On the final day, we bid farewell to you by dropping you off at the Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu.