Humla to Kailash: Simikot to Hilsa route, days, season and permits

Humla is the Nepal end of the pilgrimage to Mount Kailash: the route runs from Simikot up the Humla Karnali to Hilsa on the Tibet border, and the Nepal section of the Great Himalaya Trail ends at Hilsa¹. The route has historically been an ancient foot trail along the mountain slopes on the left side of the Humla Karnali¹. This page sets out the walk, an operator’s full itinerary, the high points, the season, permits and costs. The district is covered in Humla, and the other long routes are in the treks hub.

Route and days

On foot, the Simikot to Hilsa walk takes 4 to 5 days with overnight stops at a few villages on the way¹. Travel companies offer helicopter flights over the same distance, which take about 20 minutes¹. The distance is about 92 km by the jeep road in ABC Adventures’ itinerary². A detour at the confluence of the Humla Karnali and Salli Khola leads to Hilsa by the Nyalu La pass and the Limi valley¹; that variant is on the Limi Valley trek page.

In October 2026 ABC Adventures’ 2027 jeep itinerary from Lucknow ran 11 days and drove Simikot to Hilsa instead of walking². Its stages, with the operator’s elevations:

Highest point

On ABC Adventures’ itinerary the highest point is Dolma La at 5,630 m, crossed on day 8 of the circuit, the 22 km parikrama day². The operator’s header lists the same 5,630 m as the highest altitude, with a difficulty of moderate to strenuous².

On the Nepal side the high point of the walk is the Nara La pass on the Simikot to Hilsa route, which Wikipedia gives as 4,530 m in its text and 4,535 m in a photo caption¹. Hilsa itself is at 3,640 m on the operator’s figure². Simikot is at 2,910 m on the same itinerary².

Humla at a glance

Humla is a district in Karnali Province in north-western Nepal, and it is the second-largest district in the country by area¹. Simikot is its administrative headquarters¹. The 2011 census recorded 50,858 people¹.

On the page seen in October 2026, Wikipedia gave Humla as reachable only by air or on foot, with a motorable road from Hilsa to Simikot still being built¹. That conflicts with ABC Adventures, which runs a jeep between Simikot and Hilsa on days 3 and 10 of its 2027 itinerary². Humla has grown in significance as a preferred route for the Kailash pilgrimage¹. The road from Tibet ends in Humla at Hilsa, on the border¹, and the trekking route to Tibet starts from Simikot¹.

The wider Kailash Sacred Landscape spreads across remote parts of the Tibet Autonomous Region of China and contiguous areas of Nepal and India⁵. The nonprofit ICIMOD’s feasibility assessment report is the source for that description.

Season

ABC Adventures gives May to September as the best season, and its 2027 fixed departures run from 10 May 2027 to 30 September 2027².

The Embassy of India’s page, last updated 19 October 2026, advises avoiding travel during or near full moon days: the pilgrimage then sees a high density of travellers and overbooking, with incidents of pilgrims being stranded in Simikot and Hilsa⁴. The same page gives the Simikot and Hilsa route as connected only through air, which needs fair weather and visibility to remain open, so delays of days are possible at all points⁴. ABC Adventures’ jeep stage on the same stretch conflicts with that². Flight options are covered in flights to Simikot.

Permits

In October 2026 the Department of Immigration’s trekking route and permit fee table priced Humla at USD 50 per person per week, with USD 10 per day beyond 1 week³. The areas named are Simikot Rural Municipality wards 1, 6 and 7, Namkha Rural Municipality wards 1 to 6 and Changkheli Rural Municipality wards 3 to 5³.

For Indian pilgrims, the Embassy of India’s guidance sets out these steps: a Chinese visa and a travel permit for the Tibetan Autonomous Region before the journey starts, the Chinese visa from the Chinese embassy in New Delhi and not Kathmandu, and a Nepal restricted-area permit for Simikot and Hilsa obtained by the travel agent⁴. ABC Adventures’ package includes all Xizang Autonomous Region permits². See Kailash via Humla and restricted-area permits.

Costs

ABC Adventures’ package for the 11-day jeep trip includes the Nepalgunj to Simikot and back airfare and the Simikot to Hilsa jeep round trip².

The extras are in yuan. In October 2026 the page priced a horse and horseman at Yuan 3,000 for 3 days and a personal porter at Yuan 1,500 for 3 days for the Kailash parikrama, and advised carrying Yuan 5,000 per person for additional expenses².

The Embassy of India’s page lists no ATM facilities in Simikot or Hilsa and advises carrying adequate cash for emergencies⁴.

Getting to the trailhead

The trailhead is Simikot. ABC Adventures flies Nepalgunj to Simikot in about 50 minutes on day 2 of its itinerary². Simikot is the starting point for trekking and mountaineering in Humla, reached through Simikot Airport, and the trekking route to Tibet starts there¹.

The Embassy of India’s page puts medical facilities in Simikot and Hilsa as minimal or absent⁴. For the transit city, see Nepalgunj.