Kailash Manasarovar Yatra 16 Days

In Kailash like in any other Himalayan summit, you can feel all four seasons in a single day, a refreshing morning can turn into an uncomfortable hot afternoon while the night sky can suddenly filled with hail and winds.

However, the most unchanging weather pattern can be felt during the period spanning between March and mid-October. Between April and June, the Saga Dawa Festival is celebrated and you can observe the new Tarboche Flagpole erection at Kailash.

Between September and mid-October, the most bluest sky and Kailash in its beautiful glory can be seen. Between July and August, thunderstorms and heavy monsoon rain can make the route towards Dolma La pass a bit hard and wet.

However, the full moon days of July and August hold important places for Buddhists and Hindus so you will see the busiest Kailash trail at this time despite the rain.

At the winter times appearing between mid-October to late February, Kailash temperature drops to -36 degrees Celsius accompanied by gushing winds of up to 32 km per hour.

Thus, the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra will be closed in these months. In summary, March, May, September, and early October days will be the most favorable times for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra 16 days adventure.

Our Kailash Mansarovar Yatra 16 days trip falls under the category of a level III strenuous trek in the remote western region of Tibet, with the utmost elevation reaching nearly 5700 m at Dolma La Pass.

During the three days of outer Kailash parikrama, you will walk between 6 to 9 hours a day, with the second day being the hardest due to the pass crossing involvement.

The option of using horses and yaks will be available for the entire outer parikrama, but the crossing of the pass can be demanding for these animals too. Thus, you may have to get off at steep glacial sections on the pass.

Additionally, you will encounter three high Tibetan passes along the route, each with an average elevation of 5000 m, which will be crossed by vehicle rather than on foot.

The main difficulty arises from the greater altitudes and the severe climatic patterns of the remote Tibetan mountains. Moreover, your two nights at Dirapuk and Zutulpuk will be quite rustic where you will have to compromise on comfort and diet.

Thus, our Kailash Mansarovar Yatra calls for the spirit of adventure, adaptability, and good physical conditioning, along with some physical training and preparation.

The Tourism Bureau of Tibet has set an age allowance between 10 to 75 years old to qualify for the travel permit of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. In the case of Indians, it is set in between 18 to 70 years old.

This rule seems to be in place to safeguard the health of the pilgrims and tourists traveling up to Kailash. However, seeing the flourishing tourism in Tibet and around Kailash, the infrastructure here has been improving quite dramatically over the years.

For instance, for those who struggle with trekking, horses, yaks, and porters renting are available. In the past years, there used to be only one monastic guesthouse each in Dirapuk and Zutulpuk but now there are government-operated lodgings as well eliminating the necessity of camping.

The roads are also well made so you will have smooth crossings of the passes as well. As for our part, we offer you five-star accommodation in Kathmandu, and high-end lodgings in Kerung, Saga, and Darchen.

For your overland transportation, only large roomy private vehicles will be used provided with licensed professional drivers. And, our crew also carries portable supplemental oxygen in case of any acute mountain sickness occurrence.

The oxygen concentration in Tibet’s air is generally lower than in many other countries of the world and there are researches to prove that. In addition, the destination we are aiming for is set in a remote mountain corner with some of the high elevated terrain of western Tibet.

Therefore, the development of acute mountain sickness in our Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is normal. If you are very new to the high altitude journeys, you may get the AMS because of the struggle to adjust with the altitude and its new air.

We have placed rest and walking tours in Kathmandu along with another one day of such break in Kerung town so that before you reach Lake Mansarovar and Kailash, you can be acclimated as much as possible.

However, our average altitude during our Kailash Mansarovar Yatra 16 days expedition will occur between 4000 to 4500 m so sometimes the minor difficulties linked with AMS can be unavoidable.

Life Himalaya Trekking team will see to your condition and comfort the whole time and will also assist you in fighting the AMS on the trip. We have oxygen carried to supply you on time if needed.

We also urge you to take a long sleep and rest from Kerung town onward and prioritize hydrating even if you don’t feel thirsty at all. Try to consume ginger, lemon, honey, and garlic like the Tibetans and Sherpas in Nepal Himalayas do.

If you have some digestive discomfort, sleep issues, breathing troubles, and headaches, tell our Tibetan guide immediately. After monitoring your health, he may decide on whether to move forward, stay where you are, or take you to lower grounds.

You can also begin taking Diamox from Kathmandu so you can get adjusted quickly in Tibet. However, ensure you do not have any health conditions that would prevent you from consuming this drug.

Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is a physical as well as a mental expedition that will test your perseverance, resilience, and endurance. After all, it is the divine Kailash that we are taking you to.

So, once you decide you will engage in our luxury Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, go ahead and research about Kailash, its myths, its terrain, secrets, climate, living conditions, and people.

So once you are on the journey, nothing can shock you and you can adapt well to the circumstances. As for the trekking part, you will need to trek up and down only for three days during the outer Kailash parikrama. The first and third days will be pretty easy and manageable but the second day will literally test your motivation to reach Kailash.

So we suggest you do some running and stair climbing along with some introductory hiking up to 3000 m height. And, just to ensure that your health is in good shape, go through a general medical examination to rule out if you have any respiratory infections or any other ailments.

If you already have cardio and respiratory concerns that are serious, then please do not participate in our Kailash Mansarovar Yatra without consulting your doctor.

And, when the Kailash parikrama is ongoing, please listen to the guidance given by our guide and take every step gradually.

Expect only a plush luxurious sleeping setting from start to finish during our Kailash Mansarovar Yatra 16 days trip. In Kathmandu, the opulent twin or double rooms of five-star hotels such as Aloft Marriott/Dusit Princess await to offer you a luxury sleep at night. Only in Timure for a night, you will be accommodated in the mountain guesthouse of the village.

You can expect the same level of standard sleeping and luxury in Tibet up to Darchen as well. In Kerung, the twin room of Kerung Grand Hotel, and in Saga, the same type of setting at Saga Hotel will be at your disposal. At Lake Mansarovar, a fine guesthouse will be organized for your night while at Darchen, the Himalayan Hotel will serve you with luxury and comfort.

When at Dirapuk, we will accommodate you in one of the newly built guesthouses that offer more utilities than you typically get in the monastic hostel guesthouse.

However, in Zutulpuk, you will have to make with the limited utilities of the government or monastic guesthouse.

In terms of your dining arrangements, dinners, breakfasts, and lunches with a vegetarian menu along with hot beverages (tea or coffee) will be at your table.

Although vegetarian, the food options will be varied and you can try out some national and local dishes along with some international ones. During the Kailash walk however, the menu choices can be limited to Tibetan basic meals such as Tibetan bread, chapati, naan, and lentils at breakfast and rice, vegetable soup, tofu, etc for dinners and lunches.

You will benefit from the comfort of private transport with a professional driver and guide during the whole time of our Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

The private transfer service includes airport-to-hotel-to-airport transfers, Kathmandu tours, travel for a Visa, and transport from Nepal to Tibet. In Tibet also, a private, roomy bus or jeep driven by a licensed professional will be at your disposal to take you to your overnight stops.

If you choose to undertake the circumnavigation of Lake Mansarovar, you will be responsible for the additional costs of the jeep or bus, as well as for any fees if you decide to hire horses or yaks.

These fees must be paid on-site and our guide will assist you in negotiating the prices.

We are glad to let you know that our Kailash Mansarovar Yatra is now open for booking not only for this year but also for 2026 and 2027. We like to invite everyone whether you are first time traveling to Kailash or have been there several times to once again reserve this Yatra for a new experience and a new start.

If you have never traveled with us, then we request you entrust the winner of the 2024 Travelers’ Choice Award and experience world-class traveling with us. With us, you can travel the way you love, and design the travel itinerary the way that suits you.

As for our luxury Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, you can just forget your wallet beneath your bag as we have covered almost all trip expenses from your Visa, and permits to traveling, eating, and sleeping. No hidden fees and complete transparent transaction guaranteed.

If you are intrigued and feel like you can place your faith in us, then click the Book The Tour button now but not before you go through all the Yatra details. We are always open to answer your doubts and take on your suggestions through our WhatsApp or email.

Please indicate your travel dates, arrival and departing times, flight schedule, and personal information, and make the online 20 percent deposit. If you like to pay for the tour with your card, a 4 percent extra fee will be incurred.

Once completed, we will send you all the details of the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra and start with the preparation. Rest, leave everything to us.

The Kailash Mansarovar Yatra from the Nepal border has been resumed this June for Indian nationals as well. Moreover, the yatra from the Indian Border will also be reopened from 30th June onward.

Since 2020, this sacred Yatra has been suspended for the Indian Pilgrims. The blame for this suspension was given to the COVID outbreak; however, the main culprit was the political conflict and border issues between China and India.

Now everything seemed to be normal between the two giant nations after Xi Jinping and Narendra Modi reached to a new mutual agreement.

If you are looking for an easy and cheaper way to stay connected when in Nepal and Tibet, instead of turning on the roaming on your home carrier, it is better that you get the respective country’s SIM Cards.

For Nepal, the NTC or the Namaste/NTC SIM Cards can be bought at any outlet, and for Tibet, China Unicom, China Telecom, and China Mobile SIM Cards can be bought.

The NTC and NCELL also facilitate with their eSIM Cards which you can get online through their respective websites. You can benefit from their 4G/LTE service as well available both on the physical and virtual SIM Cards.

In the main posh locations of Tibet, you will get excellent WiFi but the farthest western corners such as Kailash may lack WiFi. But you can benefit from the 5G data connection to post your selfies and reels during the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra.

In Kathmandu, WiFi is almost free at any location and in your hotel rooms. In Timure however, it has to be paid per hour basis.

Since China has blocked the usage of Western social sites, it is better that you download a VPN to get access to these sites such as Google, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook, etc.

An electricity and charging utility will be present the whole time of our luxury Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. The five-star accommodation of Kathmandu will facilitate you to power up your gadgets in your room while in Timure, you may get to charge in your room or in the dining hall for an added fee.

The generally used electric outlets in Nepal are type M, D, and C consisting of two or three circular pins and the voltage supplied is 240.

Likewise, up to Darchen in Tibet, you will be facilitated with stable electricity in your room. In Dirapuk and Zutulpuk, there may be some power cuts as the power is supplied through solar panels and the government.

The electric outlets commonly found in Tibet belong to types I, C, and A consisting of flat and circular pins.

So to work both in Nepal and Tibet, the universal adapter will do the job for you.

Apart from Kerung, you can also get on with Kailash Mansarovar Yatra via Lhasa and Simikot.

Lhasa Flight and Overland Route

A straight short two-hour flight will lead you to Lhasa from Kathmandu where you will get two to three optional days for exploration and acclimatization.

Then the private overland transfer will travel you via Gyantse and Shigatse to Saga and Darchen. On the way back, you can choose to travel to Kathmandu via Kerung or Lhasa.

This route offers you a few more days for the adaptation and the opportunity of seeing the exclusive honorable sites of Lhasa, Gyantse, and Shigatse.

Helicopter Ride to Hilsa and Overland route to Kailash

This option involves two domestic Neal flights to Nepalgunj and Simikot after which a helicopter will fly you to Hilsa in Humla of Nepal. Then the overland private transfer will occur leading you to Darchen through Taklakot.

It will be a more luxurious, comfortable, and shortest option to touch down and walk the sacred path of Kailash.

Tibet being part of China has the Chinese Renminbi Yuan (RMB) in use as their official currency. Since the route that we have chosen for your Kailash Mansarovar Yatra has very limited bank options and ATMs, it is safe to convert your national money to RMB in Kathmandu.

National banks such as Himalayan Bank, Nepal Rastra Bank, Nabil Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, Everest Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, etc will be some of the reliable options for you.

Please carry your needed cash as card payments are not much in usage in Kerung, Saga, and Darchen. Dirapuk and Zutulpuk on the other hand are still remote towns that accept only cash to date.

Please know that at this moment, all travel within Tibet must take place as part of an organized group trip. So, you must partner with a reputable travel and tour agency certified by the government such as Life Himalaya Trekking for all your trip to Tibet occurring from Nepal.

Please understand fully that no independent and solo travel is allowed inside Tibet as of now. You can have the private tour only in the company of a local licensed Tibetan tour guide and private transport with a local licensed driver.

In terms of the formal papers required, a Tibet Visa (also termed as Tibet Travel Permit/TTP or Tibet Tourism Bureau Permit/TTB) is a compulsory requirement to get into Tibet from any part of the globe.

Along with TTP, the Chinese Visa is another requirement to get into Tibet for all foreign travelers. In relation to Nepal, the Chinese Visa will not be for individuals but for a group.

For the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, a few more permits are compulsory which will be overseen by our affiliated Tibet Travel company. Since the TTP and extra permits essential for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra need between 10 to 15 office processing days, we urge you to confirm our luxury Kailash Mansarovar Yatra one month in advance.

Also, you need to provide us with your passport and photo digital copies so we can move ahead with the permit process. Your documents should be in the following order:

• Photo size: 51 mm X 51 mm
• Photo background: White
• Photo Type: Plain, recent, and no glasses and makeup
• Passport: Colored fully scanned cope
• Passport Date: Residual duration with 6 months extending after the trip
• Passport Empty Pages: 2 to 3

Note

The extra permits that we have stated for our Kailash Mansarovar Yatra 16 days trip are the Military Permit, the Foreign Affairs Permit, and the Alien Permit.

The Military and the Foreign Affairs Permit needs advance application of 10 to 15 office days which will be processed by our affiliated Tibet travel agency. The Alien Permit is given on the site which will be taken care of by our Tibetan guide.

Life Himalaya Trekking will be seeing the arrangement and procurement of your Chinese Group Visa and TTP.

TTP

The Tibet Tourism Department is the governing body that grants permission to foreign travelers to enter and travel within Tibet. No matter where you are coming from, the Tibet Travel Permit (TTP) is the visa that you need to travel the region uninterruptedly.

Unlike other countries’ visas, the TTP cannot be applied individually; it must be done through your travel agency. Once we get all your documents, we will forward them to our travel partner in Tibet.

We will also provide them with the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra detail itinerary, your place of sleep, and travel arrangements as well. So once the TTP application is underway, no single change is possible and you will have to stick to the travel program you agreed to.

After our Tibet travel partner receives your documents and itinerary, they will forward everything to the Tibet Tourism Department. They will examine all the details and send the approval in the form of an invitation letter.

This letter is essential to present in the Chinese Embassy to get our group visa. The TTP will not be stamped or attached to your passport rather it will given after around 10 to 15 days which will be collected by our Tibetan guide. He will hold the permit safely for us till you are inside Tibet.

Chinese Group Visa

The Chinese Group visa, as the name implies is a single visa given as one for all members of a group traveling for the Kailash Mansarovar Yatra. It is not an individual visa which means that every group member must get into and out of Tibet on the same date.

The process of getting this visa will be underway once all guests arrive in Kathmandu. Since the Chinese Embassy is closed on Saturdays and Sundays, we kindly request you to get into Kathmandu on weekdays.

Our guide will accompany all members to the Chinese Embassy after your arrival day. At the embassy, you will have to present your photo following the criteria that we have stated above.

You will also need to give your original passport and fingerprints for biometric identification. Your documents will be on your hand again as the group visa arrives.

There are basically two methods to procure the group visa: the standard way and the express way. If we follow the standard method, you will receive your visa within four days, and the cost varies depending on your country’s passport.

For travelers from the US, the visa fee is 175 US Dollars per person, while travelers from other countries will pay between 70 to 170 US Dollars each.

If we follow the express method, you will receive your visa within three days, with costs ranging from 90 to 180 US Dollars per tourist.

For our Kailash Mansarovar Yatra, travel insurance is indispensable because of the highly elevated Tibet zone and the isolation of the area which still lacks advanced medical care and transport.

Therefore, we suggest you secure travel insurance that provides helicopter evacuation coverage up to 5700 m in Kailash. It should also include medical costs, trip cancellations, delays, lost luggage, and any other unexpected challenges that may occur during your travels.