Ngawal, Manang, Nepal — on the Nar Phu Valley trek route

Photo: Kondephy · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons · resized; shared under the same licence

Nar Phu Valley

Annapurna

A restricted valley to two walled villages near the Tibetan border

Nar Phu Valley is a 14-day trek into a narrow, restricted valley north of the main Annapurna Circuit, requiring a Nar-Phu Rural Area Permit in addition to the standard ACAP permit. The route follows the Phu gorge to the walled village of Phu (4,050m), opened to foreign trekkers only in 2002, then crosses Kang La (5,320m) to rejoin the Annapurna Circuit at Ngawal before the drive back out.

Days 14 days 11 on the trail
Highest sleeping altitude 4,150 m highest point touched: 5,320 m
Difficulty Hard
Price From USD 1,800

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Route map

Waypoints

  1. Day 1 — Dharapani 1,860 m
  2. Day 2 — Koto 2,630 m
  3. Day 3 — Meta 3,570 m
  4. Day 4 — Kyang 3,720 m
  5. Day 5 — Phu 4,050 m
  6. Day 6 — Phu 4,050 m
  7. Day 7 — Nar 4,150 m
  8. Day 8 — Nar 4,150 m
  9. Day 9 — Kang La 5,320 m
  10. Day 9 — Ngawal 3,660 m
  11. Day 10 — Manang 3,540 m
  12. Day 11 — Dharapani 1,860 m

Elevation profile

Nar Phu Valley: sleeping-altitude profile, with SRTM terrain trace
Day Place Altitude Gain from previous night
1 Dharapani 1,860 m first night
2 Koto 2,630 m +770 m
3 Meta 3,570 m +940 m
4 Kyang 3,720 m +150 m
5 Phu 4,050 m +330 m
6 Phu 4,050 m 0 m
7 Nar 4,150 m +100 m
8 Nar 4,150 m 0 m
9 Ngawal 3,660 m -490 m
10 Manang 3,540 m -120 m
11 Dharapani 1,860 m -1,680 m

High points on this route that are not sleeping altitudes:

  • Kang La (day 9): 5,320 m
Nar Phu Valley: sleeping-altitude profile, with SRTM terrain trace Kang La 5,320 m Nar — 4,150 m

Terrain elevation interpolated between waypoints by SRTM30m — not the route's sourced altitudes. May read above or below maxAltitude/maxSleepAltitude (both cited, manual figures); render or label accordingly, do not treat as the same number.

Acclimatisation

1 night on this itinerary gains more than 500 m of sleeping altitude: Meta (+940 m). 0 of its 2 rest days follow the largest gains. The highest night is 4,150 m.

Sleeping altitude by night, with gains above 500 m marked where the night is above 3,000 m
Day Sleeping at Altitude Gain from previous night Rest day
1 Dharapani 1,860 m first night
2 Koto 2,630 m +770 m
3 Meta 3,570 m +940 m (above the 500 m guideline)
4 Kyang 3,720 m +150 m
5 Phu 4,050 m +330 m
6 Phu 4,050 m 0 m Rest day
7 Nar 4,150 m +100 m
8 Nar 4,150 m 0 m Rest day
9 Ngawal 3,660 m -490 m
10 Manang 3,540 m -120 m
11 Dharapani 1,860 m -1,680 m

Cited to the Wilderness Medical Society Clinical Practice Guidelines (2024): above 3,000 m, do not increase sleeping elevation by more than 500 m per day, and take a rest day every 3–4 days. WMS itself notes that terrain often makes strict adherence impossible.

This is itinerary information, not medical advice, and not clearance to trek. Acclimatisation varies between individuals.

Your trip, day by day — all 14 days, travel included

Every day of the 14-day trip in the order it happens, including the flights, drives and rest days that have no walking stage. These are trip day numbers. The next section numbers walking days instead, starting again at 1, so a day number here and a walking day number there are not the same day.

  1. Day 1 of 14

    Kathmandu — Arrival & Orientation

    Arrive in Kathmandu and go through the permit and briefing process — Nar Phu requires a restricted-area permit on top of the standard Annapurna Conservation Area Permit.

  2. Day 2 of 14

    Drive to Dharapani (1,860m)

    Drive from Kathmandu via Besisahar to Dharapani (1,860m), a permit checkpoint on the main Annapurna Circuit trail and the start of the trekking days ahead.

  3. Day 3 of 14

    Dharapani to Koto (2,630m)

    A short walk up the valley to Koto (2,630m), where the Nar Phu Rural Area Permit is checked before the trail leaves the main circuit route.

  4. Day 4 of 14

    Koto to Meta (3,570m)

    The trail turns off the main circuit and climbs into the narrow Nar Phu gorge, reaching Meta (3,570m), the first stop inside the restricted area proper.

  5. Day 5 of 14

    Meta to Kyang (3,720m)

    Continue up the gorge to Kyang (3,720m), the site of a ruined fort overlooking the trail.

  6. Day 6 of 14

    Kyang to Phu (4,050m)

    The valley opens into high desert on the approach to Phu (4,050m), a walled village near the Tibetan border that was closed to foreign trekkers until 2002.

  7. Day 7 of 14

    Acclimatization Day in Phu (4,050m)

    A rest day inside Phu's walls before continuing up-valley toward Nar.

  8. Day 8 of 14

    Phu to Nar (4,150m)

    The trail drops and climbs again via Nar Phedi monastery to Nar (4,150m), a walled village of its own on the other side of the ridge separating the two valleys.

  9. Day 9 of 14

    Acclimatization Day in Nar (4,150m)

    A second rest day, this one ahead of Kang La, the pass linking Nar Phu back to the main Annapurna Circuit.

  10. Day 10 of 14

    Cross Kang La (5,320m) — Descend to Ngawal (3,660m)

    A long day of over 1,000m of ascent from Nar to the pass, crossed in a single push and not slept at, followed by the descent to Ngawal (3,660m) and the main Annapurna Circuit trail.

  11. Day 11 of 14

    Ngawal to Manang (3,540m)

    A shorter day down to Manang (3,540m), the main trading village on the Annapurna Circuit.

  12. Day 12 of 14

    Manang to Dharapani (1,860m)

    Retrace the trail back down the Marsyangdi valley to Dharapani (1,860m), the roadhead for the drive out.

  13. Day 13 of 14

    Drive to Kathmandu

    A full day's drive back down the valley and on to Kathmandu.

  14. Day 14 of 14

    Departure

    Free time in Kathmandu before departure, or an onward connection.

Walking days on the mapped route — 11 days of sourced altitudes

Numbered by walking day: walking day 1 is the first day with a mapped stage. Every altitude below is a waypoint from this route's own sources, listed at the foot of the page.

Walking day 1
  • Dharapani 1,860 m overnight

    Drive from Kathmandu/Besisahar. Permit check post. Coordinate corrected during the Task 9 audit: the annapurna-region cache's only "Dharapani" node (28.2820199, 83.8340827, no ele tag) is an unrelated, same-named village roughly 65km southwest of the real trailhead — the resolver had no other candidate to pick from in this region's cache and both the original author and a first resolver pass missed it because there was no name-based disagreement to catch, only a chain-distance one. The real Manang-district Dharapani (28.5189984, 84.3583825) is the node manaslu-circuit/manaslu-tsum already use correctly — OSM ele=1860 there is an exact match to this waypoint's own published altitude.

Walking day 2
  • Koto 2,630 m overnight

    Restricted-area checkpoint — Nar Phu Rural Area Permit checked from here.

Walking day 3
  • Meta 3,570 m overnight

    First stop inside the restricted area proper.

Walking day 4
  • Kyang 3,720 m overnight

    Ruined fort site. Note: OSM has two candidates named "Kyang" in this bbox — a Ghandruk-area hamlet and this Nar Phu one; the Ghandruk one is nearer the region centre and would be picked by nearest-match, so this node was chosen by hand from its position in the Phu valley instead.

Walking day 5
  • Phu 4,050 m overnight

    Walled village near the Tibetan border, opened to foreign trekkers in 2002.

Walking day 6
  • Phu 4,050 m overnight

    Acclimatization / rest day.

Walking day 7
  • Nar 4,150 m overnight

    Via Nar Phedi monastery (not separately resolved in OSM).

Walking day 8
  • Nar 4,150 m overnight

    Acclimatization day before Kang La.

Walking day 9
  • Kang La 5,320 m day stop

    Crossed same day, Nar to Ngawal — over 1,000m of ascent from Nar. Sources also cite 5,322m; OSM ele=5,306m, 14m off, within normal cross-source spread.

  • Ngawal 3,660 m overnight

    Rejoins the main Annapurna Circuit trail.

Walking day 10
  • Manang 3,540 m overnight
Walking day 11
  • Dharapani 1,860 m overnight

    Retrace toward the roadhead for the drive out. Coordinate corrected during the Task 9 audit: the annapurna-region cache's only "Dharapani" node (28.2820199, 83.8340827, no ele tag) is an unrelated, same-named village roughly 65km southwest of the real trailhead — the resolver had no other candidate to pick from in this region's cache and both the original author and a first resolver pass missed it because there was no name-based disagreement to catch, only a chain-distance one. The real Manang-district Dharapani (28.5189984, 84.3583825) is the node manaslu-circuit/manaslu-tsum already use correctly — OSM ele=1860 there is an exact match to this waypoint's own published altitude.

The remaining 3 days of this 14-day trip cover travel to and from the trailhead, and buffer time for delays en route — the specifics vary by route.

Permits

Permits required for this route, with fee and verification date
Permit Fee Verified
Nar Phu Restricted Area Permit USD 100 Verified 2026-09-07
Annapurna Conservation Area Permit NPR 3,000 Verified 2026-09-07

Cost breakdown

Permits (NPR)
NPR 3,000
Permits (USD)
USD 100

Permit fees above are the only figures on this page we have re-verified against the issuing authority; the route's itinerary and altitudes are built from the sources listed further down this page, not independently re-verified with one. Other trip costs — teahouse accommodation, a guide, a porter, and flights where the route requires one — vary by season, operator and party size and are not itemised here.

When to go

Month-by-month fit for Nar Phu Valley, based on this route's own best-months window.

  • Jan avoid
  • Feb shoulder
  • Mar best
  • Apr best
  • May best
  • Jun shoulder
  • Jul avoid
  • Aug shoulder
  • Sep best
  • Oct best
  • Nov best
  • Dec shoulder

Sources

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14 days in the Annapurna region, highest night at 4,150 m, from USD 1,800.

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