Manaslu Circuit Permits and Route Checks Before You Book
Before you book the Manaslu Circuit, verify NTNC conservation area permits, restricted-area rules via the Department of Immigration, and current route conditions. Here is who to ask.
Page last updated: 13 October 2026. When anything on this page changes, this date changes with it.
Conditions along the Budhi Gandaki corridor can change without much notice, and nothing here replaces confirmation on the ground. Before you pay a deposit or book a flight for the Manaslu Circuit, confirm the current position with a licensed local trekking agency and with the relevant government office. This page is about which offices those are, what they can tell you, and what to ask them.
Disclosure: nothing on this page is sponsored, and no permit office, trekking agency or insurer has paid to appear in it. If that ever changes, the disclosure will be written here in plain language, not tucked into a footer.
Why the 12 October 2026 report is mentioned here
On 12 October 2026, the news outlet Boldsky published an item referring to a flash flood on the Budhi Gandaki in Gorkha district. It is mentioned here for one reason only: readers planning the Manaslu Circuit have been forwarding it and asking whether the route is affected. That is also the full extent of what can be stated. We have not confirmed the item with any named official body, and as of 13 October 2026 we have seen no district administration, police or hydrology authority statement we can attribute.
Which brings us to the rule this page runs on. A claim appears here only if a named official body confirmed it, with the date and the source recorded next to it. Anything short of that is written as unconfirmed, or left out. So nothing below tells you that a flood happened, that a bridge is gone, that a road is cut, that a lodge is closed, or that any trail is open. If an authority does confirm an impact on the corridor, the update goes in this section with its date attached, and the page date at the top changes.
Why this is a checking method, not a status report
The Gorkha stretch of the Budhi Gandaki, and the same river further down along the Dhading side, is the spine of the usual route: north from around Arughat and Machha Khola, over Larke Pass (Larkya La), and out through Bimthang toward Dharapani. That geography is stable. Almost everything else you want to know is not. Bridge status, road access, bus services and which teahouses are trading all change often, and each one needs a dated source. A snapshot page goes stale and can end up simply wrong, so the useful thing to carry with you is the routine. Treat the dated block above as the only part you need to re-read before you leave.
Manaslu Circuit permits: what is verified and what is not
Permit administration in Nepal has been reorganised more than once, and the document set for the Manaslu Circuit is more layered than most trek summaries suggest. A few things have held steady long enough to state plainly. Everything else is a question, and we have flagged it as one.
Verified as of 13 October 2026
- The Manaslu Conservation Area Permit and the Annapurna Conservation Area Permit are both issued by the National Trust for Nature Conservation (NTNC), which manages those two conservation areas under an agreement with the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation.
- Restricted-area permits for foreign nationals are handled through the Department of Immigration. The Manaslu Circuit passes through a restricted area, so this applies to you.
- A licensed guide and a minimum group size apply on this route. Both attach to the restricted-area permit rather than to your own preference, so they are not something an agency can waive for you.
Still to be confirmed, office by office
- Manaslu Conservation Area Permit - confirm today's fee and where it is issued, in Kathmandu or on the route.
- Annapurna Conservation Area Permit - needed only if your itinerary exits into the Annapurna Conservation Area. It is itinerary-dependent, not automatic.
- Restricted-area permit - confirm the current minimum group size, the guide requirement, and the photographs and documents you need to supply. Your agency usually files this on your behalf.
- TIMS - check whether it applies to a restricted-area route such as this one in the current season, and if it does, whether it is issued by the Nepal Tourism Board or by TAAN through your agency.
- Local and municipal entry fees - some local governments along the Arughat and Machha Khola to Larke corridor collect their own charge. Ask your agency first, then ask the office itself.
Notice what is missing from that second list: no fee, no validity period, no office address and no opening hours. Fees are revised by government decision, and a stale figure is worse than no figure, because it is the one people budget against. Where a detail can be verified it will carry a last-verified date, the way the block above does. Where it cannot, the instruction is the one you started with. Verify before you travel.
How to verify, one office at a time
- NTNC - for the Manaslu Conservation Area Permit: what do I need, what does it cost today, and where is it issued?
- NTNC again - for the Annapurna Conservation Area Permit, if your exit route runs that way.
- Department of Immigration - restricted-area permit: group size, guide requirement, photographs, documents, and how the permit connects to your visa terms.
- Nepal Tourism Board, or TAAN if your trek is booked through an agency - confirm who issues TIMS for this route in the current season.
- Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation - the body overseeing the conservation areas NTNC manages, as a cross-check on the answers above.
- Your licensed local agency - the only source that can tell you what the trail actually looked like this week.
Reach each body through its official website or a phone number listed there. Copied URLs from old blog posts fail quietly, and office names and locations change. Searching the official domain on the day you travel beats any link you saved months ago.
Insurance
Helicopter evacuation cover and route-closure cover vary by policy. Whether a changed itinerary or a closed route is covered depends on the wording of the policy you actually buy, so check it against the insurer's own current documents rather than assuming. No insurer is recommended on this page.
What to do before you book
Get your permit answers in writing from the issuing offices first, then decide on flights and deposits. Ask your agency what it has confirmed in the last 48 hours and who confirmed it. Keep your booking terms flexible enough that a route change does not wipe out the whole cost of the trip, and travel with a policy you have read rather than one you have only seen advertised.
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