Permits and guide: what the restricted area demands and who checks it

The four permits and what they cost

Restricted Area Permit (RAP). The area between Jagat and Dharapani – the former village councils of Sama, Lho, Prok, Chumchet and Chhekampar – has been a restricted area with a special permit of the Department of Immigration since it opened in 1991. It is charged per week: from September to November USD 100 for the first seven days and 15 for each further day, from December to August 75 and 10. A standard circuit spends eight to ten days in the restricted area (Jagat day 2 to Dharapani day 11), so USD 115 to 145 in high season. Trek Mania says it honestly: the package contains “seven days” of RAP, the rest you pay. If you walk the Tsum Valley you need a second RAP for Chhekampar and Chumchet: USD 40 for the first week from September to November, 30 otherwise, then 7 per day. MCAP. The Manaslu Conservation Area Permit of the National Trust for Nature Conservation, NPR 3,000 (around USD 22) once, valid for the whole conservation area from Philim; checked in Namrung. ACAP. Once you come over the pass to Bimthang you are in the Annapurna conservation area: NPR 3,000, stamped in Dharapani. TIMS. The Trekkers' Information Management System card, NPR 2,000, since 2023 only through agencies; not all operators name it for Manaslu (Trek Mania, Discover Altitude, World Himalaya, Alpine Club, Swissa do), because the RAP effectively replaces the registration. Some add a municipality levy (Everest Trekking Routes, Himalayas On Foot name a “Manaslu Rural Municipality Tax”), a few hundred rupees. In total: USD 180 to 200 per person in high season, 145 to 165 otherwise, included with 27 of the 32 packages.

Guide requirement and the two-person rule

The RAP is not issued to individuals but to a registered trekking agency for a group with a licensed guide whose number appears on the permit. That is older than the general guide requirement of April 2023 and applies regardless of it: no agency, no permit; no permit, no way past the police in Jagat. That is why all 32 products here are packages, and why you cannot walk the Manaslu like the Annapurna Circuit with a guide you hired yourself – he has to work through an agency that is liable for rescue and insurance.

The second rule for decades was group size: at least two paying travellers per permit, guide not counted. Adventure Glacier still writes it into the product description in 2026, Himalayas On Foot likewise, and seven packages require two people. Operator blogs report that the Department of Immigration decided on 22 March 2026 (8 Chaitra 2082) to admit single trekkers in all thirteen restricted areas – with agency and guide as before. We could not verify this officially; the authority's site was not accessible. In practice it used to mean: if you came alone, you paid a second “ghost permit” for a person who did not walk, around USD 100. 25 of the 32 packages today take single travellers with a supplement; whether the new rule or the old ghost permit is behind it, nobody says. Ask before booking what you pay alone – Magical Nepal quotes 1,349 instead of 1,081, Sole Encounters 2,069 instead of 1,950.

Procedure and checkpoints

Procedure per operator notes (Sole Encounters, Trek & Adventure, Himalayan Leisure) and practice 2025/26; the authority's opening hours without official confirmation.

The five mistakes that cost you the permit

Arriving in Kathmandu on a Saturday. The authority is closed on Saturdays; the permit comes on Sunday at the earliest, the trek starts on Monday. Packages with an arrival day on Friday or Saturday lose a day. Passport in the hotel safe. The agency needs the original, not the copy – Sole Encounters and Himalayan Leisure collect it on permit day and return it in the evening. Visa too short. A 15-day visa is just enough for a twelve-day tour with two hotel nights; for 14 to 19 days you need the 30-day visa for USD 50, and the extension in Kathmandu costs time. Counting the days in the restricted area wrongly. The RAP runs from the stamp in Jagat; if you wait a day in Samdo because of snow, you pay USD 15 extra at the exit – or the guide pays and you reimburse him. No photo with you. Two passport photos per permit, available in Thamel in ten minutes, but not in Machha Khola.

Questions about permits and guide

Sources and check status