National park, permits and best time: the valley's rules, the year 2015 and the months that are worth it

The park: established 1976, 1,710 square kilometres, three districts

Langtang National Park was gazetted on 22 March 1976 as Nepal's first Himalayan national park and covers 1,710 square kilometres in the districts of Rasuwa, Nuwakot and Sindhupalchok, plus, since 1998, a buffer zone of 420 square kilometres in which the villages lie. The headquarters is at Dhunche. From the subtropical forests on the Trishuli below 1,000 m it reaches up to Langtang Lirung (7,227 m); in between are oaks, hemlocks, rhododendrons and bamboo, home to red panda, Himalayan black bear, tahr, musk deer and langurs – operators such as Namaste Nepal and Treklanders promise the panda, it is rarely seen. Gosaikunda with its lakes has been a Ramsar site since 2007. The rules in the park are the usual ones: no open fires, no collecting of wood or plants, carry rubbish out, camping only at designated sites, no drones without a permit. The lodges cook with gas or wood from the buffer zone; electricity comes from small hydro plants and solar panels, which is why charging costs money and fails in the evening.

Permit, TIMS and guide: what you need and where to get it

Two papers and one person. The national park permit costs foreigners NPR 3,000 per entry (around USD 22), citizens of SAARC countries 1,500, children under ten nothing; it is sold at the Nepal Tourism Board in Kathmandu (Bhrikutimandap, near Ratna Park) and at the park gate at Dhunche, where the army checks it. The TIMS card costs NPR 2,000 (around USD 15), for SAARC 1,000; since the new rules of 31 March 2023 it is issued only through a registered agency, with passport copy, photo, insurance details and emergency contact. Together around USD 37 – included in 40 of the 47 packages, not mentioned by Bold Himalaya, Pariwar, Alpine Luxury and Hiking Adventure Treks; Magical Nepal, Tours and Treks, Mountain Hike Nepal and Treklanders name only the park permit, not TIMS. The guide has been compulsory since 1 April 2023: the Nepal Tourism Board ended solo trekking by foreigners in national parks and conservation areas and published a list of 44 routes that includes Langtang, Gosaikunda and Helambu; anyone found without a guide pays a fine of NPR 12,000 per the guidelines. All 47 packages include a licensed guide – with the frame packages he is the core of the price. What you bring: your passport (not just the copy), two passport photos, the insurance policy with its number, and at booking the passport details for the operator, who usually arranges permit and TIMS the day before departure.

25 April 2015: the village that vanished, and the village that came back

At 11:56 am on 25 April 2015 the magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Nepal; in the Langtang valley a hanging block of glacier broke off the south face of Lirung, tore snow, ice, rock and earth with it on the way down and within minutes buried almost the whole of Langtang village under millions of tonnes of debris. The blast wave alone flattened the forest on the opposite side of the valley. The official toll is 306 dead: at least 175 of the roughly 370 locals present, 82 Nepalis from other regions – guides, porters, lodge staff – and 49 foreign trekkers; the residents themselves assume more, and many of the dead were never found. The survivors were flown to Kathmandu by helicopter and lived for months in a monastery in the city. A year later they went back and rebuilt the village around a hundred metres above the old site, largely with their own means and donations because state aid came slowly; the first lodges opened in 2016, and today two dozen houses of stone and tin stand there again. By the trail stands a memorial mani wall with the names of the dead, “forever in our hearts” in eleven languages. Anyone walking through the valley today passes the edge of the debris – the operators mention it with varying openness: Accessible Adventure, Namaste Nepal, Wonder Himalaya and Nepalaya name the earthquake in the itinerary, Mount Face and Alpine Luxury the rebuilding as a reason for the trip. The valley has been open again since 2016, the trails have been rebuilt, and the number of trekkers is again above that of before 2015. What remains is the question of safety: the debris mass is stable, the new lodges stand outside the fall zone, and the Lirung glacier is monitored – a residual risk as in any high mountain valley, no reason not to go.

The altitude: up fast, so walk slowly

The Langtang trek is lower than Everest and Annapurna, but faster: from Syabrubesi (1,460 m) to Kyanjin Gompa (3,870 m) is three days and 2,400 m of ascent, with nights at 2,470 and 3,430 m – the rule of thumb of at most 500 m of sleeping altitude gained per day above 3,000 is exceeded twofold on day three. Most people tolerate it; anyone who gets a headache, nausea or sleeplessness at Langtang should not go on to Kyanjin the next day but stay. The summit day is also the acclimatisation day: climb high (4,773 or 4,984 m), sleep low (3,870). Packages without a second night at Kyanjin (Nepal High Trek, Himalayan Recreation, Treklanders, Accessible Adventure) forgo that day – if you book one of them, add a day at Langtang or Kyanjin if your body asks for it. Diamox as prevention is a question for your doctor with three nights above 3,400 m, not a must; Base Camp Adventure, Himalayas On Foot, Unique Path and Trek & Adventure carry an oximeter, Trek & Adventure also oxygen. In an emergency the helicopter is the only fast rescue – hence the insurance to 5,000 m that 47 packages list in their exclusions. And the Khumbu cough is called the Langtang cough here: dry air, cold nights, a scarf over your mouth helps.

Best time: month by month

Assessments from operator texts (Annapurna Foothills, Namaste Nepal, Peregrine) and the valley's position north of the main ridge; not a weather forecast. Temperatures are guide values for Kyanjin Gompa.

What to bring – and what 13 packages lend

A teahouse trek needs no tent and no stove, but a sleeping bag to −10 °C (the blankets at Kyanjin are enough in October, not in December), a down jacket for the evenings, poles for the 2,400 m of descent, sturdy boots, a rain jacket, a headtorch for the summit morning, sunglasses and sunscreen for the altitude, a water bottle with filter or tablets, a small first-aid kit with blister plasters, and in winter spikes for Tserko Ri. Sleeping bag and down jacket are lent by 13 packages: Cordial, Nepal Lion, Outshine, Base Camp Adventure, Ace, Alpine Club, Mountain Tiger (sleeping bag and poles), Himalayas On Foot, Accessible Adventure, Glorious, Himalayan Social Journey, Travel Maker, Mountain Mart, Unique Path, Global Holidays, Incredible Treks – each to be returned. Anyone booking elsewhere rents in Thamel for one to two dollars a day. The bag for the porter should not exceed 10 to 12 kilos (one porter per two guests, 20 to 25 kilos together); the daypack with water, jacket and camera stays with you. Cash in rupees, passport, insurance policy, power bank – electricity costs and fails.

Questions about park and best time

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