Upper Mustang Motorbike Tour (Nepal)

Ten nights from Kathmandu to Lo Manthang and back, guided, a thousand kilometres on a Royal Enfield.

Upper Mustang is the destination and the reason for the trip. It was an independent Buddhist kingdom until 2008, closed to outsiders entirely until 1992, and still requires a restricted-area permit to enter.

The route runs west and then north up the Kali Gandaki, which cuts between Annapurna and Dhaulagiri and by some measures is the deepest gorge in the world: the river bed sits more than five thousand metres below the peaks on either side. Muktinath follows at 3,800 metres, a pilgrimage site sacred to Hindus and Buddhists both, with a hundred and eight water spouts along one wall. Lo Manthang comes next, a walled town of mud-brick alleys in a valley of eroded cliffs, then the return by Tatopani and its hot springs and Bandipur, a Newari hill town on a ridge that trade left behind and tourism has not yet spoiled.

The bike hire is included; the full inclusions were not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking, as is whether the Upper Mustang permit cost is covered, since it is substantial. October to April is the season. Altitude matters above Muktinath, and the road beyond it is rough. Eleven days to reach the Valley of Lo and get back is efficient, and there is nowhere else in Nepal remotely like it: a Tibetan Buddhist culture that survived intact because the mountains kept everyone else out.