Monsoon road closures in west Nepal: dated landslide and highway reports

Road closures in west Nepal come in two layers: landslides on the hill road itself, and washouts on the long highways from Kathmandu that feed it. This page keeps a dated record of both. Every closure below carries the date it was reported. The roads are described in Karnali Highway, and the buses that use them in buses and jeeps. The other planning pages are in the getting there hub.

The Nepal Tourism Board gives the monsoon as June to September, and says 80 percent of all the rain in Nepal falls in it¹. The dated reports below fall mostly inside that window.

Karnali Highway: reported closures

The Surkhet to Jumla road passes through Dailekh and Kalikot, and the press reported these closures on it^2,5:

What authorities told travellers

On 27 August 2025 authorities urged travellers, including tourists heading toward Jumla, to use alternative routes until repairs were completed⁵. In July 2026 the Jumla Road Division asked passengers and the public not to travel along the blocked section until a notice was issued, and its chief said the risk of landslides, floods and road erosion remained high during the monsoon⁶.

The July 2026 closure also stranded vehicles loaded with apples for three days on the Jumla-Kalikot-Dailekh section⁶. The same report quotes an apple trader who lost around Rs 1 million the year before to rain, floods and landslides⁶.

Long-distance services suspended

In its report of 26 September 2026 the Kathmandu Post said long-distance vehicles in Karnali had been suspended because of the risk of floods, landslides and road blockages⁴. Provincial police said services to Surkhet, Nepalgunj, Jumla, Humla, Kalikot, Dolpa, Salyan and Rukum had been stopped, while short-distance local services ran depending on road conditions⁴.

The roads from Kathmandu

Most travellers reach the far west on the long highways from Kathmandu, and the same rains cut those. On 26 September 2026 the Kathmandu Post reported that the Prithvi Highway, a major road connecting Kathmandu with western Nepal, was affected at several locations⁴. Other reports from that week and the next:

On 25 September 2026 the Mugling to Narayanghat and Pokhara section was reported open, with the Bharatpur road office saying it was at lower risk⁴. For the long-haul bus and highway route see Kathmandu to the far west by road.

The pattern

The Karnali Highway was reported blocked in August 2025, September 2025 and July 2026, and Karnali services were suspended in September 2026^2,3,6,4. The months to aim for are in best time to visit west Nepal.