Gosaikunda and Helambu: when the valley is not enough – the lakes, the pass and the walk to Kathmandu

Why you turn off: a loop instead of the way back

The Langtang trek returns the same way, and the bus ride back takes a day. The extension replaces both: instead of descending from Lama Hotel to Syabrubesi, you climb onto the ridge to Thulo Syabru, a Tamang village overlooking both valleys, and walk south from there until the trail ends at Sundarijal at Kathmandu's water pipeline – an hour by taxi from your hotel. In between lie three landscapes: the forest up to Sing Gompa with its small cheese factory, the Lauribina plateau with the lakes and views of Manaslu, Ganesh Himal and Langtang, and the ridges of Helambu, a region of the Hyolmo Sherpa with monasteries, rhododendron forests and villages that have seen little tourism. The price is the altitude: Gosaikunda lies at 4,380 m, higher than Kyanjin, and although you arrive acclimatised from the valley, you sleep two nights above 4,000. The Lauribina La (4,610 m) is no technical pass but a long day – seven hours, past three lakes up and 1,100 m down to Ghopte. After that it gets easier, if not flat: Helambu is an up and down over ridges between 2,200 and 3,600 m.

Gosaikunda: the lake Shiva struck with his trident

Legend has it that Shiva thrust his trident into the mountain to find water against the poison he had drunk while churning the ocean of milk; so Gosaikunda came into being, and a rock in the lake is held to be his head. In fact it is a dozen glacial lakes between 4,100 and 4,600 m – Saraswati Kunda, Bhairav Kunda, Gosaikunda as the largest, Surya Kunda below the pass –, protected as a Ramsar wetland since 2007. At the August full moon (Janai Purnima) thousands of Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims come from Nepal and India, bathe in the ice-cold water and change the sacred thread; then the lodges on the shore are overcrowded and the trails full. For the rest of the year it is quiet: half a dozen lodges on the north shore, wind, often snow from November, the water frozen from December to March. For trekkers Gosaikunda is above all the place before the pass – you arrive in the afternoon, walk around the lake in the evening and set off early the next morning for the Lauribina La. If you want only the lakes, you can reach them and return in five to six days from Dhunche; Mountain Hike Nepal offers that, though without an itinerary and with a fast climb to 4,380 m.

The stages of the extension

Altitudes and times per Peregrine's 16-day itinerary, rounded; Peregrine splits days 5 and 6 differently (Army Camp, Thotung Danda). Place names vary: Chandanbari = Sing Gompa, Laurebina = Lauribina, Gosainkunda = Gosaikunda.

The packages: one with an itinerary, three with a hint

Peregrine Treks, 16 days, USD 1,700 for two, 1,900 alone, 1,300 from seven: the only Viator package that describes the whole loop day by day – valley to Kyanjin with rest day, back to Lama Hotel, Thulo Syabru, Sing Gompa, Gosaikunda, Lauribina La, Helambu to Sundarijal. Guide, porter, lodges, full board, permits, TIMS and transport are summed up in a brief list; the hotel night on day one appears only in the itinerary. Up to eight per booking, guide in English or French, three reviews. Mountain Hike Nepal, 6 days, 597 for two: the lakes only, from Dhunche and back, with guide, full board, teahouses, permit and public transport – without an itinerary and without a porter; six days up to 4,380 m is fast, and anyone not coming from the Langtang valley should plan a day at Sing Gompa. Hiking Adventure Treks, 7 days, 700: “Langtang Gosainkunda” in the title, only meals in the inclusions, no itinerary, no refund – seven days for valley and lakes would hardly be feasible. Trek Mania, 13 days, 699: guide and permits only, everything else you pay yourself; Gosaikunda in the description, no itinerary. Unique Path “Langtang Panorama”, 10 days, 755: full board and gear, Gosaikunda in the description, no itinerary. If you seriously want the loop, you have one choice with an itinerary – or you ask one of the valley operators for an extension, which most agencies in Kathmandu offer.

The other extension: the Tamang Heritage Trail

West of Syabrubesi lies a second addition that is in none of the 47 packages: the Tamang Heritage Trail, a four- to six-day loop through the Tamang villages of Gatlang, Tatopani, Nagthali, Thuman and Briddim at 1,500 to 3,300 m – stone houses with carved windows, monasteries, hot springs (those at Tatopani have dried up since 2015), homestays instead of lodges and, from the Nagthali viewpoint, views of Langtang Lirung and Ganesh Himal. The trail was opened in 2004 as a community project and can be walked before the Langtang valley because it starts and ends at Syabrubesi. On Viator there are two products for it with one or two reviews each, which is why we do not show them; the agencies in Kathmandu combine the two into a twelve-day trip on request. For those who want villages and culture rather than another pass.

Questions about the extension

Sources and check status