Upper Mustang Trek — Self-Launched

Land at Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM). Grab a prepaid taxi from the official counter outside arrivals (around NPR 800–1,000 / £5–6 to Thamel — ignore touts inside the terminal). Check into a Thamel guesthouse, get a Nepali SIM (Ncell or NTC, ~NPR 500 with data), change some cash and wander the lanes. If you have energy, walk to the Garden of Dreams or catch sunset at one of the rooftop bars. Buy a Lonely Planet or download offline maps today — and start your acclimatisation habits: drink 3+ litres of water a day from here on.

🚌Airport taxi ~£5

🛏Thamel guesthouse / budget hotel (private room, shared or attached bath) — £12–18

• →Thamel orientation walk
• →Garden of Dreams (NPR 400)
• →Nepali SIM card & cash setup

Do the classic valley circuit independently. Start early at Kathmandu Durbar Square (NPR 1,000), walk 25 minutes to Swayambhunath/Monkey Temple (NPR 200), then take a taxi (NPR 300–400 shared) to Pashupatinath (NPR 1,000) and finish at Boudhanath Stupa (NPR 400) for the evening kora and butter-lamp lighting. Guweyswori Temple near Pashupatinath is free to enter. Buy the combined ticket discounts where offered, or simply pay as you go — total entry under £20. A local guide for the day is optional (NPR 4,000–5,000 / £25–30) but the signage is decent.

🚌Taxis/short rides across the valley ~£6

🛏Thamel guesthouse — £12–18

• →Kathmandu Durbar Square
• →Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple)
• →Pashupatinath Temple
• →Boudhanath Stupa
• →Guweyswori Temple

Book a tourist bus from Kathmandu to Pokhara (NPR 1,200–2,000 / £8–13, ~7–8 hours, departing 7am from Sorhakhutte or Kantipath). Alternatively a night bus saves a day. Arrive early afternoon, check into a Lakeside guesthouse, then hire a rowing boat on Phewa Lake (NPR 800–1,000 for 2 hours) and watch the Annapurna, Machhapuchhre, Dhaulagiri and Manaslu ranges turn pink at sunset from the Lakeside promenade. Sort your Upper Mustang permit paperwork with your agency contact today if you haven't already — it takes 2–3 working days.

🚌Tourist bus Kathmandu–Pokhara ~£10

🛏Lakeside guesthouse, Pokhara — £12–18

• →Phewa Lake rowing boat
• →Lakeside sunset viewpoint
• →Permit paperwork check

The morning flight Pokhara–Jomsom (Tara Air / Yeti, ~20 minutes, NPR 8,000–11,000 / £50–70 one way) is one of the world's great mountain flights — sit on the left for Nilgiri views. Flights are weather-dependent; the fallback is a shared jeep up the Kali Gandaki road (NPR 2,000–3,000, 6–7 hours). Land in windy Jomsom, a windswept Thakali town of apple orchards and whitewashed houses, and take a short acclimatisation walk to Eaklibatti village. Sleep at 2,720m and take it easy — you've jumped a lot of altitude today.

🚌Pokhara–Jomsom flight ~£60 (jeep fallback ~£20)

🛏Jomsom teahouse (twin room) — £10–14

• →Scenic Pokhara–Jomsom mountain flight
• →Eaklibatti village walk
• →Thakali dal bhat dinner

Walk north along the Kali Gandaki, the world's deepest gorge, between the Dhaulagiri and Nilgiri walls. Enter Upper Mustang at Kagbeni, where your permit is checked at the ACAP/Mustang checkpoint — carry your passport, TIMS and restricted-area permit (organised in advance through a licensed agency; roughly US$500 for 10 days + US$20/day after, plus ACAP NPR 3,000 and TIMS & guide costs). Continue through the ochre, eroded cliffs to Tangbe village (mustard fields, chortens) and on to Chele. ~5–6 hours of easy walking.

🚌On foot ~5–6 hrs

🛏Chele teahouse — £8–12

• →Kagbeni permit checkpoint
• →Kali Gandaki gorge walk
• →Tangbe village stop

A steeper day: climb through a canyon to Taklam La Pass (3,624m), drop to Samar village for lunch, then over Dajori La Pass (3,735m). Look for the Ramchung Cave on the skyline ridges. The landscape changes hard here — grey-blue cliffs, juniper, and almost no trees from now on. Sleep high at Syanboche (3,800m) and keep the evening walk short.

🚌On foot ~6 hrs

🛏Syanboche teahouse — £8–12

• →Taklam La Pass (3,624m)
• →Samar village
• →Dajori La Pass (3,735m)
• →Ramchung Cave viewpoint

Two passes on the menu: Yamada La (3,850m) and the Nyi La (4,010m — a genuinely airy crossing with prayer flags and views down to the GhamiKhola). Descend into Ghami, one of Mustang's largest villages, famous for its long mani wall and the nearby red-cliff gompas. Optional afternoon side trip to Ghami monastery and the cliff caves. Take electrolytes and go slow: you're above 4,000m for the first time.

🚌On foot ~5–6 hrs

🛏Ghami teahouse — £8–12

• →Yamada La (3,850m)
• →Nyi Pass (4,010m)
• →Ghami mani wall & village
• →Ghami gompa side trip

A more relaxed walk down the GhamiKhola canyon, up over Tsarang La (3,870m), and into Tsarang — once the royal capital, with a five-storey white dzong-palace and a 500-year-old monastery. There's a small museum and the old royal palace to poke around in the afternoon. Teahouse life: dhal bhat at 6pm, stoves at 7pm, sleep by 8:30.

🚌On foot ~4–5 hrs

🛏Tsarang teahouse — £8–12

• →Charang Chu canyon
• →Tsarang La Pass (3,870m)
• →Tsarang royal palace & monastery

Cross the last pass, Lo La (3,950m), and the walled city of Lo Manthang appears below you — a white-washed Tibetan-plateau town of 3,800m surrounded by red cliffs and the distant snows of Nilgiri, Tilicho, Annapurna I and Damodar Kunda. Walk through the 600-year-old gate into the old town. Check into a teahouse; the best ones are inside the walls (Tashi Delek, Hotel Royal Mustang).

🚌On foot ~5 hrs

🛏Lo Manthang teahouse inside the walls — £10–14

• →Lo La Pass (3,950m)
• →Lo Manthang walled city entry
• →Annapurna/Nilgiri viewpoints

A rest/full day inside the kingdom. Visit Jhampa Gompa (the oldest, 1448), Thupchen Gompa and Chhoeda Gompa — monastery entry is typically NPR 200–500 each, and ask before taking photos. Walk to Tingkhar, the last inhabited village before China, with its chortens and view across the valley. Optional side trip to the Sky Caves of Chhoser (jeep ~NPR 4,000–5,000 shared) if you want the big cultural highlight — cliff-carved monasteries and cave homes. Otherwise, sit with a pot of butter tea.

🚌On foot (optional shared jeep to Chhoser ~£20)

🛏Lo Manthang teahouse — £10–14

• →Jhampa Gompa
• →Thupchen Gompa
• →Chhoeda Gompa
• →Tingkhar village walk
• →Optional Sky Caves of Chhoser

Leave by a different route, heading east and then south. Stop at Ghar Gompa near Gyakar — one of the oldest Nyingmapa gompas in Mustang, founded by Padmasambhava legend, with a famous rock carving. Continue down red-cliff country to Drakmar, a tiny farming settlement among eroded canyons. You can often see the Dhaulagiri and Nilgiri ranges from the ridge behind the village at sunset.

🚌On foot ~5–6 hrs

🛏Drakmar teahouse — £8–12

• →Ghar Gompa (Gyakar)
• →Gyakar village
• →Drakmar sunset ridge walk

A long plateau traverse across dry, moonscape terrain, with the occasional white chorten and yak herd. Then a big descent to Ghiling, a village set in a green irrigated bowl of barley fields. Arrive with time to explore on foot — the three gompas, a few chortens and friendly locals. A shorter day: good for a bit of recovery.

🚌On foot ~5 hrs

🛏Ghiling teahouse — £8–12

• →Plateau traverse
• →Ghiling village & gompas
• →Village evening walk

Drop back down to the Kali Gandaki — a valley floor walk with the wind kicking up in the afternoon (get going by 7:30am to beat it). Chhuksang has an interesting set of old red-cliff gompas and caves, some of which you can wander into. Very quiet, very authentic — this is what pre-tourist Mustang looks like.

🚌On foot ~4–5 hrs

🛏Chhuksang teahouse — £8–12

• →Kali Gandaki valley walk
• →Chhuksang cliff gompas & caves

Walk out of Mustang: rejoin the Annapurna Circuit trail at Kagbeni (with its 15th-century red gompa above the village), then follow the road back to Jomsom — a flat, windy, ~5–6 hour day. You'll break the 3,000m mark for good. Celebrate with a proper meal and an apple brandy at one of Jomsom's Thakali lodges.

🚌On foot ~5–6 hrs

🛏Jomsom teahouse/lodge — £10–14

• →Kagbeni red gompa
• →Exit checkpoint
• →Thakali dinner in Jomsom

Morning flight back to Pokhara (book a couple of days in advance, or be flexible and take the jeep — flights cancel in wind). Then spend the day doing absolutely nothing: lakeside cafes, a massage (NPR 2,500–3,500), hiring a scooter for Sarangkot sunrise tomorrow if you're still feeling energetic (NPR 1,000/day + fuel), or a yoga class. Wash everything. Eat something not dhal bhat.

🚌Jomsom–Pokhara flight ~£60

🛏Lakeside guesthouse, Pokhara — £12–18

• →Phewa Lake walk
• →Lakeside cafes
• →Optional massage or yoga

Tourist bus or shared micro back to Kathmandu (7–8 hours, ~£10). Alternatively take a short Pokhara–Kathmandu flight (~£75–90) if you're short of time. Arrive in the late afternoon, check back into a Thamel guesthouse, and do your souvenir shopping on the way home — thangka, prayer wheels, pashmina, and the many trekking shops on Tridevi Marg.

🚌Tourist bus Pokhara–Kathmandu ~£10

🛏Thamel guesthouse — £12–18

• →Souvenir shopping in Thamel
• →Trek gear shopping on Tridevi Marg

Take a local bus or taxi to Patan Durbar Square (NPR 1,000 entry) — the most beautiful of the three squares, with the Krishna Mandir and Patan Museum. Then a shared bus or taxi (NPR 300–400) east to Bhaktapur (NPR 1,800 entry for foreigners): the Nyatapola Temple, Pottery Square and the Bhaktapur Durbar Square. Walk on to Changunarayan Temple (NPR 300, UNESCO-listed, on a hill above the Bagmati river) and take a local bus back to Kathmandu. A taxi day-hire (~NPR 6,000–8,000 / £35–45) is worth it if you want to pack all three in.

🚌Taxis/local buses ~£8

🛏Thamel guesthouse — £12–18

• →Patan Durbar Square
• →Patan Museum
• →Bhaktapur Durbar Square
• →Pottery Square
• →Changunarayan Temple

Last breakfast, pick up any tailoring, and taxi to Tribhuvan International Airport (~£5, allow 1.5 hours before your flight given Kathmandu traffic). If your flight is late, consider a morning walk to the Boudhanath kora again — it's a very different place at dawn.

🚌Airport taxi ~£5

🛏—

• →Airport transfer