What permits do I need for Upper Mustang?

Upper Mustang requires a Restricted Area Permit, obtained only through a registered Nepali trekking agency. As of December 2025, this changed from a flat US$500 fee for 10 days to US$50 per person per day, charged only for the days actually spent inside the restricted zone, plus the standard Annapurna Conservation Area Permit since Mustang falls within it.

Mustang Region

A high-altitude desert kingdom, and Nepal's last stronghold of Tibetan royal culture.

Trekking in the Mustang Region

The Mustang Region sits in the rain shadow of the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri ranges, an arid, high-altitude desert landscape that looks and feels closer to the Tibetan plateau than to the rest of Nepal. Its heart is Upper Mustang, the former independent Kingdom of Lo, a restricted area only opened to foreign trekkers in 1992 and still capped in visitor numbers today.

The route follows the Kali Gandaki Gorge, among the deepest river gorges in the world, cut between Annapurna and Dhaulagiri, north to Lo Manthang, the walled former royal capital, still home to centuries-old monasteries and, until Nepal's 1950s unification, its own line of kings.