Lo Manthang

Lo Manthang is the walled medieval capital of Upper Mustang, standing at around 3,840m on the bare Tibetan plateau behind the Himalaya. Once the seat of the old Buddhist Kingdom of Lo, it remains one of the best-preserved fortified towns in the Himalaya — a compact maze of whitewashed mud-brick houses, gompas and palace walls set against an immense ochre landscape.

What to expect

Inside the walls, the former royal palace rises above narrow lanes that have changed little in centuries. The town's three great temples — the Jampa, Thubchen and Chode gompas — hold weathered murals and towering clay statues, some dating back over five hundred years. Wandering the alleys, you pass prayer wheels, chortens and locals in traditional Tibetan dress going about daily life.

The surrounding country rewards day trips. To the north, the cliff face at Chhoser is honeycombed with ancient cave dwellings climbing several storeys into the rock, while painted villages such as Garphu sit among barley fields below the wind-carved hills. If you can time your visit for late spring, the Tiji festival fills the central square with masked monastic dances over three vivid days.

A former kingdom

Lo Manthang was the capital of the Kingdom of Lo, a semi-independent Buddhist realm founded in the fourteenth century that controlled the lucrative trade in salt and wool between Tibet and lowland Nepal. The kingdom kept a hereditary king, or raja, into modern times, and the royal lineage and its palace remain central to the town's identity. That long isolation behind the Himalaya is exactly why so much of its medieval fabric and Tibetan Buddhist culture survives intact, where it has been lost on the Chinese side of the border.

Good to know

• Altitude: At nearly 3,840m, nights are bitterly cold and the air is thin — acclimatise on the way up rather than rushing north.
• Access: Lo Manthang is deep inside restricted Upper Mustang and cannot be visited independently; you need the special permit and a licensed guide, as covered in our Upper Mustang permits and access guide.
• Getting there: Most travellers reach it on the Upper Mustang trek from Jomsom, staging through the medieval village of Kagbeni at the checkpoint.
• Plan around it: See how it anchors a longer trip in our Mustang itinerary and the rest of the region's highlights in more things to do in Mustang.

Lo Manthang is the prize at the end of one of Nepal's most atmospheric journeys — a living medieval city where Tibetan Buddhist culture has endured, almost untouched, in the rain shadow of the world's highest mountains. Give it at least two nights: one is rarely enough to walk the lanes, visit the temples and reach the cave monasteries, and the slow pace is part of what makes the place so memorable.