What permits do you need for the Manaslu Circuit?
The standard Manaslu Circuit requires three permits: the Manaslu Restricted Area Permit (RAP), the Manaslu Conservation Area Permit (MCAP) and the Annapurna Conservation Area Permit (ACAP). If you add the Tsum Valley you also need a separate Tsum restricted-area permit. Nothing else, and notably no TIMS card: the restricted permit replaces it.
We arrange all of them and they are included in your package price. This is not a courtesy. It is the only legal route: the restricted permit is issued in Kathmandu, by the Department of Immigration, to a Nepal-registered trekking agency, against your passport and your Nepal visa. You cannot buy it yourself, online or at the trailhead, however early you turn up.
| Manaslu Restricted Area Permit | Approx. USD 100 per person for the first 7 days plus USD 15 per extra day, September to November; roughly USD 75 plus USD 10 per extra day the rest of the year |
|---|---|
| MCAP | Approx. NPR 3,000, required for the whole Manaslu side |
| ACAP | Approx. NPR 3,000, required for the descent to Dharapani |
| Tsum Valley permit | Approx. USD 40 per person per week (Sep–Nov), lower other months, only if you detour |
| TIMS card | n/a, the restricted permit takes its place |
| Who arranges them | We do. Included in the package. There is no do-it-yourself option. |
| What you bring | Passport with 6+ months validity, your Nepal visa, and passport photos |
The Manaslu Restricted Area Permit (RAP)
This is the permit that makes Manaslu different from every other teahouse trek in Nepal, and the one worth understanding properly before you compare quotes.
The upper Budhi Gandaki valley runs north to the Tibetan border, close enough that from Samdo you can walk up to the Rui La crossing in a morning. Nepal designates it a restricted area, which means access is controlled by the Department of Immigration rather than by a conservation trust, and the permit carries conditions that a conservation permit does not.
The restricted section runs from Jagat to Dharapani, which is to say almost the whole trek. It is priced per person per week and it is more expensive in the autumn than at any other time of year, which is the single biggest reason an autumn Manaslu trek costs more than a spring one.
Checkposts. The first serious check is at Jagat, on day two or three, where your permit, passport and guide's licence are all recorded. There are further checks further up the valley, including at Samdo, the last village before the pass. That record is not bureaucracy for its own sake: if weather closes Larkya La, it is how anyone knows who is on the far side of it.
Keep the permit on you, not in your duffel with the porter. Checkposts want to see the person, the passport and the permit together.
The MCAP permit (Manaslu Conservation Area Project)
The Manaslu Conservation Area covers roughly 1,660 km² of the Gorkha district, and the whole eastern half of your trek sits inside it. Entering requires an MCAP permit, and it is checked alongside the restricted permit.
Like ACAP on the Annapurna side, MCAP is managed by the National Trust for Nature Conservation rather than by the government directly, and the fee is the funding mechanism: trail and bridge maintenance, conservation work, and community projects in the villages you walk through. On this route the link between what you pay and what you see is unusually direct, because there is no road revenue and very little else coming into the upper valley.
The ACAP permit (Annapurna Conservation Area Project)
This one surprises people, because there is no Annapurna in the name of the trek. The reason is geography: once you are over Larkya La and walking down through Bimthang and Tilije to Dharapani, you have crossed out of the Manaslu Conservation Area and into the Annapurna Conservation Area, which is where the Annapurna Circuit runs.
So you need an ACAP permit for the last day and a half of the walk, and it is checked at Dharapani on the way out. It costs about the same as MCAP. Skipping it is not an option, and being told at Dharapani that you do not have one is a poor end to a fortnight.
The Tsum Valley permit (only if you detour)
The Tsum Valley is a side valley running north-east from Lokpa, sealed off from the main route by a gorge and only opened to foreigners in 2008. It is a restricted area in its own right: deeply Tibetan in culture, with working gompas at Mu and Rachen, a valley-wide tradition of non-violence towards animals, and almost none of the trekking economy that has reshaped the main trails.
You need this permit only if you take the detour. The standard Circuit does not enter the valley.
| Cost | Approx. USD 40 per person per week, September to November; lower December to August |
|---|---|
| Minimum group | Same as the main Manaslu permit: two trekkers, a registered agency and a licensed guide. You cannot do this independently. |
| Time needed | Add roughly 5–6 days to your itinerary |
If the Tsum Valley interests you, tell us at enquiry stage: it changes the permit paperwork and the itinerary, and it is not something we can add once you are walking. See the Manaslu Circuit with Tsum Valley itinerary for what the extra days actually look like.
The guide and group rules, and why there is no way round them
Three conditions come attached to the restricted permit. All three are checked, and none of them is a preference we could waive if you asked nicely.
- A minimum of two trekkers. The permit is issued to a group, not to an individual. One trekker on their own cannot be permitted for Manaslu, however experienced they are and however much they are willing to pay. If you are travelling alone, tell us at enquiry stage and we will put you on a date where somebody else is already going.
- A government-licensed guide. This is not the 2023 nationwide rule that people argue about; the restricted-area requirement long predates it and is enforced at the checkposts. Ours are licensed by the Government of Nepal: our lead guide holds licence #1497.
- A Nepal-registered trekking agency. The application is filed by the company, not by you, and it needs your passport and your Nepal visa in hand before it can be submitted. That is why we ask for scans as soon as you book.
You will find forum posts describing ways around the two-person rule. We do not do that, and we would be wary of an operator that offered to. A permit that does not match the people walking under it is worth nothing at a checkpost and less than nothing in an insurance claim.
Booking with us covers all of this by default. See about us for who you are actually walking with.
Passport and photo requirements
- Passport valid for at least 6 months beyond your date of entry into Nepal. UK passport holders: check the expiry now, not the week before you fly.
- A scan of the photo page, sent to us when you book. The restricted permit application needs it well before you land, so this is the one piece of admin we will chase you for.
- Passport photos. Bring six. Manaslu needs more of them than an ordinary trek because there are more permits. We can get more taken in Kathmandu in under an hour if you run short.
- Your Nepal visa. The restricted permit cannot be issued until the visa exists, which is why it is filed after you land rather than before.
- Your insurance policy number and emergency assistance number: see below.
Nepal visa on arrival
UK passport holders get a visa on arrival at Kathmandu airport. It is a straightforward process (kiosk form, payment, immigration desk), and the fee is banded by length of stay, starting at around USD 30 for 15 days, with 30-day and 90-day options above that.
Choose the band that covers your whole trip, not just the trek. For Manaslu the 15-day visa is too short for everybody: the classic itinerary alone is 14 days on the ground, before arrival and departure days and the day in Kathmandu while the permit is filed. Take the 30-day band. Bring USD cash for the fee.
Full visa detail sits with our brand hub, 6knepaltreks.com. It applies to every trek we run, not just this one.
Insurance paperwork
Insurance is not a permit, but it is a condition of trekking with us and it is checked before you start.
Your policy must cover trekking to at least 6,000 m and helicopter evacuation. A large number of standard UK travel policies cap trekking cover at 3,000 m or 4,000 m, which would leave you uninsured on the highest and most serious day of the trek. Read the altitude limit in the policy wording, not the marketing page.
Two Manaslu-specific points. First, check that the policy does not exclude remote or restricted areas, which a few of them do. Second, check what it says about evacuation from a place with no road: on this route, between Jagat and Dharapani, a helicopter is not a luxury upgrade over a jeep, it is the only way out that is faster than walking.
Send us the policy number and the insurer's emergency number before departure. Why this matters in practice is set out on our Larkya La guide and altitude sickness guide.
What we handle for you
- Manaslu Restricted Area Permit, filed with the Department of Immigration in Kathmandu
- MCAP permit for the Manaslu Conservation Area
- ACAP permit for the descent into the Annapurna Conservation Area
- Tsum Valley restricted permit, if you are detouring
- All permit fees, included in your package price
- The office visits and queueing, which take the best part of a working day in season
- Pairing you with another trekker if you are travelling on your own, so the two-person minimum is met
- Extra passport photos if you arrive short
You bring the passport, the visa and the photos. See the cost page for exactly what else the package covers, and the packing list for the documents to carry.
