Flights to Juphal: Nepalgunj to Dolpa for Phoksundo and Dolpo

Dolpa’s airstrip sits at Juphal, in Juphal Municipality of Dolpa District, Karnali Province². It is the gateway to Shey Phoksundo National Park, where Phoksundo Lake is the major attraction, and it connects to the Upper Dolpa trek². The flights run from Nepalgunj; the district is on the Dolpa page, the lowland hub is Nepalgunj, and other routes are in the getting-there hub.

Nepal Airlines timetable, October 2026

Nepal Airlines’ domestic summer schedule was effective from 1 to 31 October 2026 and was based on two DHC-6 aircraft¹. The page notes that it is subject to change without prior notice¹. For Dolpa it listed these flights:

Operators

The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal’s airport profile lists Tara Air, Sita Air, Nepal Airlines and Summit Air as scheduled operators, with scheduled connectivity to Nepalgunj and Surkhet². Tara Air lists Dolpa among its scheduled and charter destinations⁵. Dolpa is served by Juphal Airport, and Summit Air names Shey Phoksundo Lake, Shey Phoksundo National Park and Shey Gompa as the major attractions of Dolpo⁴. The authority’s page for the domestic summer schedule 2026 names seven airlines: Buddha Air, Nepal Airlines Corporation, Shree Airlines, Sita Air, Summit Air, Tara Air and Yeti Airlines⁶.

On fares, the authority posted a press release on domestic air fares dated 8 October 2026⁷. The first leg from Kathmandu to Nepalgunj is described on the Nepalgunj page; in October 2026 Buddha Air listed 6 daily flights on it⁸.

Dolpa (Juphal) Airport

The profile gives the airport’s identifiers as location indicator VNDP and IATA code DOP, and its elevation as 2503 m (8212 ft)². It opened for operation in 1975². The runway measures 560 m by 20 m and is designated 16/34². The airport takes DHC6, L410 and Y12 aircraft, has parking for two DHC6 aircraft, and no refuelling facility². It is listed for visual flight rules traffic only². The profile gives operation hours of 0600 to 1215 local time from 16 February to 15 November². The authority’s list of domestic airports in operation includes Dolpa Airport¹³.

Dolpa Airport is also known as Juphal Airport and is one of the two airports of Dolpa District¹¹. The airport was upgraded in 2017, when its gravel runway was turned into a blacktopped runway¹¹. The two sources differ on the basics, and the profile’s figures are the ones used above:

Dunai, the district headquarters, is a three-hour walk from the airport².

Dunai and the road

Dunai is the district headquarters of Dolpa, a district of 7,889 square kilometres¹². As of November 2012 Dolpa had only 1 vehicle and no road links to other districts¹². A road 118 km long, completed in 2018, connected the district with the national road network¹².

Weather and closures

Summit Air gives April to November as the best time to visit Dolpa⁴. In July 2016 flights to and from Jufal were affected for a week by bad weather, and flights from Nepalgunj to Dolpa were stopped by incessant rainfall⁹. The monsoon stopped the Nepalgunj and Dolpa services that week, many flights were forced to return midway, and patients, tourists, students and the public were stranded at the closed airport¹⁰. Daily essentials began to run short in Dolpa, with the only modern means of travel shut down¹⁰.

Walking is the other way in or out: in July 2016 locals were compelled to walk on the steep cliffs to reach their destinations⁹.

For the walk on from Juphal see the Phoksundo Lake trek page.