Lubra Village

Lubra is a tiny, little-visited village tucked into a side canyon of the Kali Gandaki, ringed by extraordinary red-rock cliffs and eroded pinnacles. What sets it apart from every other settlement in Mustang is its faith: Lubra is one of Nepal's last surviving Bon villages, keeping alive the indigenous, pre-Buddhist religion of the Himalaya.

What to expect

A handful of mud-brick homes, barley terraces and chortens cluster along a stream at around 2,900m, dwarfed by the banded orange and grey rock walls above. At the heart of the village stands an ancient Bon monastery, founded centuries ago by the Yangton lineage, where rituals follow the old Bon customs — including circling sacred sites counter-clockwise, the reverse of Tibetan Buddhist practice.

The walk in is half the reward. Lubra sits off the main route, reached by a low pass or by following the side valley up from the river, and the approach winds through some of the most striking canyon scenery in Lower Mustang. Few travellers make the detour, so a visit feels genuinely quiet and unhurried — a glimpse of a tradition and a landscape both largely untouched by the road.

A living tradition

Bon predates the arrival of Buddhism in the Himalaya and was once widespread across the Tibetan world before Buddhism became dominant. Villages that still follow it, like Lubra, are now rare, which makes the community's continuity remarkable. The monastery here has been tended by the same family lineage across generations, and the rhythms of village life — the festivals, the rituals at the gompa, the way offerings are made — still follow Bon rather than Buddhist custom. For visitors, the appeal is not a single monument but the chance to see an ancient way of life carrying on, quietly, in one of the more spectacular settings in Mustang.

Good to know

• Getting there: Lubra is a short off-route detour between Jomsom and Kagbeni; walk in over the pass or up the side valley.
• Respect local custom: This is a living Bon community — walk around chortens and the monastery counter-clockwise, as locals do, and ask before photographing people or interiors.
• Nearby: Combine it with the fortress village of Jharkot above and the apple village of Marpha to the south.
• Plan it in: Fit this quiet detour into our Mustang itinerary, and see the wider picture in more things to do in Mustang.

For travellers who want something beyond the main sights, Lubra offers a rare combination — dramatic canyon scenery and a centuries-old Bon community holding onto the oldest spiritual tradition in the Himalaya. It is the kind of place that makes a Mustang trip feel personal: no crowds, no entry queues, just a quiet village, an old monastery and the wind moving through the red rock.