Muktinath is the most sacred Hindu site in Nepal after the temple of Pashupatinath in Kathmandu. Hindu pilgrims come here to bathe in the 108 water spouts shaped as cows’ heads and Buddhists come here to pay homage at a shrine enclosing an eternal blue flame. The flight from Pokhara to Jomsom offers magnificent views of Himalayas as it flies through a narrow slice between the tips of two Himalayan giants: Dhaulagiri (8,167m) and Annapurna I (8,091m). The trail from Jomsom passes along the Kali Gandaki river, the deepest gorge in the world to Kagbeni, a fascinating old citadel. The trail then divides into four directions of which the east route leads to Muktinath. The trail down from Muktinath via Eklya Bhatti (single teahouse) meets with the one coming from Kagbeni and then we walk into the Kaligandaki gorge visiting Marpha, which is well known for garden of apples, apricots and peaches sold fresh, dry and as ‘rakshi’ or distilled liquor brandy and its narrow lanes of cobbled stones with houses painted in white on each side.

Itinerary