Manaslu Circuit Trek

The Manaslu Circuit takes you the whole way around Manaslu, the world's eighth-highest peak at 8,163 metres. It's a restricted-area route, which is part of why it has stayed quiet. The Annapurna and Everest trails see far more people. Manaslu still feels like the older, harder Nepal that's getting hard to find.

You start near Gorkha in the subtropical lowlands and climb through one ecological zone after another: river valleys thick with green, old stone villages, high pasture, and eventually the bare glaciated ground above 4,000 metres. For most of the way the trail tracks the Budhi Gandaki River, crossing and re-crossing on suspension bridges. Then the valley walls draw in and everything turns dry and Tibetan.

The culture is as much a reason to come as the mountains. The upper valley is home to a Tibetan Buddhist population that has kept its traditions going for centuries in near-total isolation. Mani walls, chortens, prayer flags, and old gompas mark every village. Samagaon and Samdo, close to the Tibetan border, feel more Tibetan than Nepali. The line between the two countries was never as fixed as a map suggests.

The high point, in both senses, is Larkya La Pass at 5,160 metres. You leave Dharamsala before dawn and pick your way across glacial moraine and snowfields to a col strung with prayer flags. On a clear morning the view runs to Himlung, Cheo Himal, Kangguru, and Annapurna II. From there the trail drops 1,500 metres into Bhimthang in a single day, back into a green world of waterfalls and yak pasture.

This is a route for experienced mountain walkers. The permit rules require a licensed guide, and out here self-rescue is not realistic. You need to acclimatise properly, carry cold-weather gear, and be ready to put up with basic teahouses. Manage all that and you get one of the best high-altitude treks in the country.