Journey to Muktinath

Mr. Kishore Maharjan and wife Mrs. Srijana Josse share their adventurous drive through valleys and rivers to reach Muktinath and Jomsom, and their beautiful memories.

I was really looking forward for my trip to Jomsom and Muktinath. I had flown to Jomsom earlier but I had a different plan this time.We were eight people –four couples -- travelling to Muktinath. We left for the airport early in the morning to fly to Pokhara.After about 40-45 minutes we reached Pokhara and headed straight to the hotel.We stayed the night in Pokhara and planned to travel early the following day for Jomsom.

The next day, we rented two Scorpios and started our journey.With excitement and the beautiful weather on our side, we headed towards Jomsom. Through Baglung we reached Beni, a municipality and the district headquarter of Myagdi. Beni probably is the last stop to refuel gas in the cars as there are no gas stations after that point. The roads leading up to Beni were okay. From then on, the roads were all gravel. It was certainly not as risky as the way to Manang, but it was a rough drive.

On the way, we came across a beautiful valley surrounded by mountains on all sides.We passed a beautiful place called, Lete, which is at the height of 2,000 meters. We planned to stop here on our way back, at least for a drink if not to stay for the night. We reached Jomsom which is at the height of 2,700 meters. After the eight long hour drive from Pokhara, we were glad to reach Jomsom where we spent the night. There were a lot of tourists who travelled there by bus, flight, and some who even trekked from Pokhara. We stayed at a hotel called Om’s Home, probably the most famous hotel in Jomsom. This is the same hotel where Bollywood’s famous actors such as Amitabh Bachhan, and Sridevi stayed while they were shooting for a film. The rooms were quite comfortable and had hot showers, exactly what we needed after our long day.

After a hearty breakfast, we left for Muktinath the next morning. It was a one-and-a-half-hour drive uphill from Jomsom. There were stunning views of the Kaligandaki river and the hills and mountains as we moved uphill. We had to cross the Kaligandaki river on few occasions which made the drive even more enthralling. On the way to Muktinath, we crossed the beautiful Kagbeni village. It was here the roads divided to Muktinath and Lomanthan. We reached the base from where we had to climb up. While we could have taken a Khachhar(Mule) up to our destination, we simply decided to trek on foot.  So we trekked up to the temple which took us about 45 minutes to reach. The peacefulness of the environment could be felt as we gradually made our way up the temple. The temple is at a height of 3700 meters. We could see devotees taking bath in the holy water although the temperatures were freezing.  We could feel how religious the people here were and the strength of their faith towards god.

We could see devotees taking bath in the holy water although the temperatures were freezing.  We could feel how religious the people here were and the strength of their faith towards god.

We stayed there for about an hour and decided to return.It was another 45 minutes going down towards Jomsom.  On our way back we stopped at Kagbeni for a few photographs, but the strong winds we were not able to take pictures of the beautiful scenery. So we went on and reached Jomsom at around 1:30 in the afternoon, stopped for a quick bite.  We decided to stay at Lete for a night so that we could return to Pokhara as early as possible the next day.

After a two-hour drive, we reached Lete, a small beautiful valley surrounded by mountains. In the north east side sat the Annapurna Mountain, Nilgiri in the north west, and Dhaulagiri in the south. Because of the mountains that surrounded us, the temperatures in the valley wentbelow-1 0C at night. So we woke up to a chilly morning, had our breakfast, then and headed towards Pokhara.We reached Pokhara around two in the afternoon.Looking back, we are delighted by the beautiful memories we gathered of our trip to the holy place, Muktinath, and breathtaking scenes of Jomsom.

Due to the rough road structure, SUVs with 4WD are recommended.

Travelling to Muktinath during monsoon season is highly not recommended as the roads get slippery and water level of the river increases making it nearly impossible to cross.

Though there is a health camp in Jomsom, few basic medicines for altitude sickness, diarrhea, headaches must be carried along with a first aid kit.

Make sure you fill up your gas tank to the full before leaving Beni. After Beni, only a handful of shops sell fuel in bottles that can cost up to Rs. 250-300/liter.

The total expenditure for this trip was Rs. 35,000/- per couple. We rented two Scorpios which cost us Rs. 80,000/- (Rs. 40, 000 for each couple).For accommodation and food, excluding costs for drinks, it took around Rs. 15,000/- per couple for the entire trip.