Dhaulagiri Circuit Trek - 22 Days

Upon landing in Kathmandu, you will be greeted and escorted to the hotel by a representative from Himalayan Trekkers. After assisting until you check-in at the hotel, you can have some rest depending upon your time of arrival. Also, a good option would be to meet us in our office and have further trek discussion.

After breakfast, we will start for cultural and historical sites UNESCO World Heritage Sites such as the Pashupatinath Temple, the Boudhanath Stupa, the Swayambhunath Stupa as well as the Kathmandu Durbar Square. 

After sightseeing, we might go to the welcome dinner with the Himalayan Trekkers team in an authentic Nepali restaurant that also hosts a cultural program.

A scenic flight of Pokhara in the morning after breakfast will start our day. Depending on your flight time and the time available, we may either continue to drive to Drabang, our trek starting point or choose to explore Pokhara and its attractions for this day. 

Pokhara is also known as the City of Lakes and has a lot to explore. Also, it would be a good idea to grab a beer by the lakeside and relax before you start.

We start from Pokhara after breakfast and drive Drabang via Beni Bazar. The drive is about 5 hours with stops including lunch.

We start the day after crossing the suspension bridge and start walking along the Myagdi river. We will follow the west side of the river and continue walking into the valley leading towards the Dhaulagiri region. 

This interesting trekking trail of the Dhaulagiri region offers diverse terrain and gradual climbs and is an easy day compared to what lies ahead. The main valley that you follow towards Dhaulagiri. We will cross the village of Dharapani and stop there for lunch and then continue the trail to reach Sibang after crossing picturesque hillsides with terraced farms and thin forests.

The day starts after a big mountain breakfast at the Sibang camp and continues to Muri which offers magnificent views of the 8th highest mountain, Dhaulagiri. 

We will have a lunch stop at Muri and then take a short descend and cross the Muri River. The trail starts to get steeper from here and is a gradual climb through a forest ridge until we reach the camp at Jugapani. We will also stroll around the camp side looking for good photographs!

After a good mountain breakfast at Jugapani, we continue walking along the river bank and start climbing up towards Boghara  (2,080 meters) which is a gradual walk of about 4 hours with a decent pace and then we stop for lunch here. 

After lunch we take it slow and easy and continue to walk towards Dobang, our camp for the day. The forest gets thin and alpine-like as we are gaining altitude.

After your healthy breakfast, you are headed towards Soligari.

We will continue from Soligari after breakfast and then walk towards the Italian base camp. Most of the walk is up to the hill with from Soligari you quickly leave the trees behind, cross the Choriban Khola and ascend steadily up grassy slopes to reach Italian Base Camp by lunchtime.

This day is dedicated to acclimatization and you can take a day trip to 4050 m, which will prepare you for the accent to the higher camps on the coming days. Acclimatization is important as this gives your body time to adapt to the high altitude which has a relatively low level of oxygen.

From the camp at the Italian basecamp, we approach the steep moraine towards the Chhonbardan glacier camp. After a steep climb of a few hours, we reach the French Camp for lunch and then and continue on the rocky trail to the glacier. 

We reach the camp early in the afternoon and spend time relaxing. You can take a short walk around the area to have a feel of high altitude as we will have some time before it gets dark.

Since we are already at high altitude we won’t do a strenuous walk and take it easy for the day, just doing 5 hours of walk to the Dhaulagiri Base Camp through the moraine covered glacier.

We take rest on this day to acclimatize as the next two points in the trek are above 5000m and to sleep in those conditions we must get proper rest before climbing up. We will take a couple of hike in the surrounding areas.

This is the most challenging day of the Dhaulagiri circuit trek. We will start early and have a packed breakfast on the way. We follow the path keeping the glacier on the south and continue walking to the crest of a massive moraine ridge that finally takes us to the French Col. 

This is the highest point of the Dhaulagiri trek (if you are not doing the Dhampus peak) and after that, we will descend the slopes of "Hidden Valley", where we will camp for the overnight.

If you are doing this part of the trek, climbing Dhampus Peak, we must start early in the morning, before sunrise. Things also depend on the weather conditions and it is severely cold as we walk slowly to cross the Dhampus Pass at 5,258 m. 

We will continue to the peak, at roughly 6000 m height, and spend some time on the top to enjoy the view. We will come back to the camp at Hidden Valley.

This is a spare day, in case the weather gets bad for the Dhampus Peak accent on day 15. If everything goes as planned we will spend this day as a rest day, before we begin our long descent or might as well completely skip this day.

This day might be quite challenging for your knees as it is the longest descent of the day. There are a few ups and downs before the actual long descent starts. We can go beyond Yak Kharka and save time on the next day, but it is not a promising idea.

We will walk down to Jomsom from Yak Kharka and spend overnight in Jomsom. Jomsom has a small airstrip and is also the gateway to Upper Mustang. Explore the town in the Evening. Watch your hat or cap as this windy valley acts as a wind tunnel for the strong wind passing through the Himalayas.

The airport at Jomsom is pretty much operational in the high season and the weather is expected to be fine. If there is a cancellation, we will drive down to Beni and In case of harsh weather drive to Beni on a Jeep and reach Pokhara by late evening.

After breakfast flight/drive to Kathmandu. 

Collect your souvenirs and stroll around the bustling Kathmandu city, visiting the old town is highly recommended. Farewell dinner in the evening. This day is also optional.

Fly Home! It's your time to fly back and we bid you farewell and we hope that you have a great trip. Have a safe journey!! See you again in Nepal.