Upper Dolpo Trek

The afternoon today is busy with activities. We will take you for an exploration of the heritage sites in Kathmandu valley. You will explore ancient and medieval sites of spiritual, cultural and historic importance. These sites are enlisted in the cultural heritage list by UNESCO. You will explore Swoyambhunath – the oldest monument of all in Kathmandu and an important Buddhist spiritual site, Patan Durbar Square – a medieval royal palace square and a local vicinity, Pashupatinath – an important Shiva temple area where Hindu people are cremated on the bank of River Bagmati, and Boudhanath – the largest Buddhist stupa in the world.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Hotel
• Kathmandu
• 1400m

We drive to the airport to catch our morning flight to Nepalgunj, a city and major trade center in mid-western Nepal. An hour-long flight takes us to the mid-western city and lets us some time to explore some happenings there. As we are staying overnight here, we can take some leisurely walk around and feel how different it looks from the Nepalese capital city. Back in the hotel, we prepare for the flight tomorrow to Juphal to start our trek

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Lodge
• Nepalgunj
• 150m

We drive to Nepalgunj airport for our spectacular flight to Juphal in Dolpa district. About 45 minutes of Mountain View flight with the sights of Annapurna and Dhaulagiri range of the Himalaya takes us to the beautiful Dolpa. When we land at Juphal airport at Juphal village, we meet our whole trekking crew with all the stuff ready for our adventure. After sorting other stuff out for the trekking portion, we set off on the very first day of the trek to Dunai today. Dunai is the district headquarters of Dolpa and we reach there after gentle trail walking along the Bheri River.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Lodge
• Dunai
• 2140m

The second day of the trek takes us to Ankhe today. We start the day after relishing our breakfast at the camp. We follow the trail that goes along the river valley. We walk across Thulo Bheri and Phoksundo river valley towards the destination today. The trail passes through villages of Dhera and Raha and also goes through a densely forested part before making it to Ankhe. The walk today brings a beautiful view of Kagmara peak and fascinating landscape in the region.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Lodge
• Ankhe
• 2660m

The third day on the Dolpo trail is taking us to Renje today. The walk involves several going up and down on the trail as it curves through the terrain. We cross several suspension bridges over calming rivers; walk past lushly forested part before reaching Renje for the overnight stay. It’s going to be a beautiful nature walk although descending and ascending the trail ceaselessly until we reach the destination can be tiring and monotonous. But the landscape and excitement the walk is bringing to us are worth taking the effort without any complaints.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Renje
• 3104m

We are entering the Phoksundo region on our trek today when we walk to Phoksundo Lake, the deepest lake in Nepal. We traverse the trail along Pungmo River and advance towards Palam village through a coniferous cedar forest. The walk after Palam village and climbing to a ridge bring the view of Lake Phoksundo for the first time along with a beautiful waterfall. We then descend through the forested part and walk towards Ringmo village and eventually to Phoksundo Lake shortly after.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Phoksundo Lake
• 3610m

As we have already reached the elevation where we need a definite acclimatization day to adjust and be able to go further higher, we spend the day today here at Phoksundo. This acclimatization day is also a perfect time to exploit and admire the beauty and serenity of the lake and surrounding. We go for some exploration of Ringmo village where we can immerse into the incredible culture and spirituality of the place. The uniqueness of the lifestyle, costumes and culture of the people living in the village is an amazing cultural experience of the region. We can also explore the monastery there and see how devoted people are to their faith which has given them the ability to lead a simple yet inspiring life.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Phoksunda
• 3610m

We are going to enter an even more remote area on the trek today when we walk to Phoksundo Khola. The trail goes from the western end of the lake and advances unsteadily and unevenly ahead towards the destination. The trail is tricky and difficult with many narrow passages, rock crevasse, and bogginess. We walk across the trail, past meadow and riverbed to reach Phoksundo Khola along the river valley.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Phoksunda Khola
• 3507m

The walk today involves walking on the glacial valley on the very first part of the day. Once we reach the river confluence, we take the trail northeast to climb to a sheep pasture. We then follow the steep uphill trail where our stamina will be well tested. Although the walk today is effort demanding, it brings us fascinating views of beautiful mountain peaks along the way. We set our camp at Phoksundo Bhanjyang closer to Kang La pass, the first pass we cross on our trek.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Bhanjyang
• 4400m

We take our breakfast at the camp and set off for the day. The very first task of our walk today is to walk to Kang La pass at the elevation of 5,151 meters above sea level. A strenuous effort to go trek up to the pass is well worth as the exquisite view from the top awaits us. We follow a steep downhill trail after the pass to go to the riverside and walk along the river bank. We walk past mud caves, yak and sheep pastures, and cross the river several times before reaching Shey Gompa to stay overnight.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Shey Gomba
• 4126m

We spend an extra day at Shey Gompa exploring the wonders of this beautiful spiritual place. We definitely enjoy the magnificence of the Gompa which has its history since 1655. We also go to explore Shey village hiking around it and exploiting the Buddhist and Bon Po cultural and spiritual wonders. Amazing mountains with strange forms surround Shey village and Gompa which will give us a nice time wondering about them. Stay overnight at Shey Gompa.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Shey Gomba
• 4126m

The walk today involves the crossing another high mountain pass. But before starting on the climb to the pass, we will get a good warm-up walk down the trail through woods to a canyon. A winding and rocky trail lead us towards the pass right after the descent to the canyon. The trail descends again after crossing the Saldang La pass. The descent is quite long and tiring but yet we will have a nice nomadic life experience of the region before we reach Namdung Gaun for an overnight stay. If time permits us, we will visit a monastery in the village which is perched on a cliff of a gorge.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Namduna Gaun
• 4800m

We have spent quite a few days and experienced a great deal of the Dolpo region but there are still more days ahead with magical wonders to amaze us. We are walking to Saldang today through the sloppy uphill walk. The walk feels strenuous as it goes long and tests our stamina with stretching uphill trail. We see Saldana village from our walk-up before we start our descent to reach the destination itself. Saldang is an affluent village in the region that lies on a trade route to Tibet. The village is beautifully perched on a plateau just above Namga Khola.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Saldang
• 3620m

We trek to Sibu after breakfast today. Some people choose to go to Yangze Gompa instead which will take one more day on the trip. But we choose to walk to Sibu along the river. We come across several small chhortens, mani stones, terraced fields and monasteries. We walk past Namdo village that is an affluent settlement in the region and Namdo monastery down to river bank and continue further to Sibu for the overnight stay. The walk is an amazing combination of remoteness and wonders.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Sibu
• 3942m

We embark on our trek for the day after relishing our mountain breakfast. We are walking to the base of Jeng La, the third high mountain pass we are crossing on our trip. The trail goes along a stream called Nam Khong Khola and reaches a confluence to start an uphill climb steeply to Jeng La Phedi on a yak pasture. Our walk today will bring us some encounters with yak caravans carrying stuff on their back.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Jeng La Phedi
• 4900m

We have a well worth effort to make early in the morning on our walk today. We embark on the trek towards Jeng La pass for about two hours to rejoice the view of the Dhaulagiri range of the Himalayas. After spending some time at the pass, we start descending towards the destination. The trail runs down towards Tarap valley and eventually reaches Tokyu Gaun where we spend overnight today.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Tokyo Gaun
• 4210m

The first part of the day today is an exploration of an ancient monastery here before we set off on the trek for the day. We start the trek to Dho Tarap today after the monastery exploration and breakfast at the camp. The trail goes downhill passing through a river valley. We can experience the abundance of cultural and spiritual wonders of the region on our walk before reaching Dho Tarap for the overnight stay..

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Dho Tarap
• 4040m

We are trekking to Serkam today following the trail along the Tarap Khola. We traverse the trail through a narrow gorge towards the destination. It’s a nice and gentle walk although it feels on us after these many days of walking effort on the remote mountains. We leave the riverbank trail and enter a hilly gorge after walking for a few hours on it. We see many wonderful sights and things on the trail before reaching Serkam for the overnight stay.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Serkam
• 3630m

The walk from Serkam to Khani Gaun today involves steep slope walking. Long and careful stride on the tricky trail is what we need to face today. The trail that follows the Tarap River takes us to Khani Gaun. The stretch of the trek brings some wonderful sights along the trail before we reach the destination and find a suitable place to establish our camp to stay overnight.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Khani Gaun
• 2550m

We are trekking to Tarakot today. The walk is relatively shorter than many of the other days we have gone through on the trip. We pass through Lalberi village and enter a beautiful forested part to descend to the river bank. We follow the trail on the river bank to reach Tarakot. Once we reach Tarakot and establish our camp, we might choose to go on a few hours hike to Samdul Gompa or simply relax at camp taking advantage of reaching early at the camp.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Tarakot
• 2280m

We set off on the trek to Dunai after breakfast. We are going to complete one full circle to the Upper Dolpo region and near the completion of our trek. The trail to Dunai passes Lawan village and along the Bheri River to ascend to Byas Gadhi. We cross the river and make one final climb to Dunai. The walk, although long, is a pleasant journey through the lower Dolpo region. Once we reach the headquarters of Dolpa district, Dunai, we set up our camp to stay overnight.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Dunai
• 2140m

We take an easy day today to walk to Juphal. A short 3 hours of the trek will take us back to Juphal on the trail alongside the Bheri River. We pass through some beautiful villages of Rupgad, Dhupichaur, Motipur, Kalagaunda etc. to reach Juphal leaving the amazing Upper Dolpo trekking trail behind us. A wonderful trekking journey to this remote yet fascination region comes to an end here and we feel our legs being very thankful and excited to end the trek.

We thank all our supporting crew members for making this wonderful trip happen in the most wonderful way possible in the region.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Tea House
• Juphal

We take the morning flight to Nepalgunj from the Juphal airstrip to leave the rugged Dolpo far behind. Once we land at Nepalgunj airport, we prepare to board another plane to Kathmandu. Once back in Kathmandu, you can enjoy another free and relaxing time wandering around the streets of your neighborhood.

• BF/Lunch/Dinner
• Hotel
• Kathmandu
• 1400m

Get ready 3 hours prior to your departure flight. We will come to transfer you to the airport for the flight. We really hope that this Upper Dolpo Trek has given you some incredible memories to cherish in life.

• BF
• NON
• Kathmandu
• 1400m