Forgotten Kingdom of the Himalayas (Upper Mustang, Nepal)

Nine nights from Kathmandu into Upper Mustang, guided, on a Royal Enfield Himalayan, to the walled capital of a former kingdom.

Upper Mustang was closed to outsiders entirely until 1992 and still needs a restricted-area permit. It sat in the rain shadow of the Himalaya and was ruled by its own king until 2008, which left a landscape and a culture closer to Tibet than to Nepal.

Pokhara opens the route, with Annapurna and the fishtail summit of Machapuchare over the lake, then Kalopani with river crossings and terraced farmland. Kagbeni follows, the last village with internet before the restricted zone, then Ghami, and Lo Manthang over the Kora La at 4,460 metres: a walled town of mud-brick alleys in a valley of eroded sandstone, with the king’s winter palace and several very old monasteries in it. Samar comes next, a medieval village where the lodges have shared bathrooms and nothing else, then Tatopani by way of Marpha, a Thakali stone village known for its apples, and Pokhara, with a flight back to Kathmandu.

The bike hire is included; the full inclusions are not itemised on the operator’s page and are worth confirming at booking. The permit cost and the accommodation standard are both worth confirming, since this is remote country and the lodges reflect it. October to April is the season. Ten days is short for what it reaches, and the flight back from Pokhara is what makes the arithmetic work. There is nowhere else in Nepal quite like the Valley of Lo.