Shey Phoksundo Lake trek: route, days, permits and costs

Shey Phoksundo is the walk in from Juphal to a lake inside Shey Phoksundo National Park, Nepal’s largest and only trans-Himalayan national park². A park information officer told The Kathmandu Post in October 2025 that 19,537 tourists had visited the lake over the previous five years¹. This page follows one operator’s 12-day itinerary³ stage by stage; other far-west routes are in the treks hub, and the walk beyond the lake is in Upper Dolpo trek.

Route and days

The trek begins at Juphal, reached by air from Nepalgunj, and descends into the Thulo Bheri valley before climbing to the lake³. The trail passes Suligad, Kagni, Chhepka and Tapriza on the way¹. Mission Summit Treks counts three walking days from Dunai to Ringmo³.

The 12-day itinerary runs to these altitudes and walking times³:

Day 2 in Kathmandu is set aside for trekking preparation³. The day 7 text gives six hours from Jharana hotel to Ringmo, against 5 to 6 hours in the day list³. Day 11 flies Juphal to Nepalgunj and on to Kathmandu, and day 12 is the flight home³. Accommodation is tea house, with camping as an option³.

Highest point

Sources give four figures. The Kathmandu Post’s October 2025 report puts the lake, locally called Rigmoh, at 3,611 m¹. Wikipedia gives 3,612 m in one place and 3,660 m in another². Mission Summit Treks gives 3,641 m for the Ringmo overnight stop, which it labels Ringmo Phoksundo Lake³. This page uses 3,611 m for the lake and 3,641 m for the Ringmo stage.

The same operator gives a maximum altitude of 4,300 m for the trip³. No stage in its own table is higher than 3,641 m³.

The park covers 3,555 km2 across Dolpa and Mugu².

Season

October is a suitable time to visit the lake¹.

In peak season tea-house rooms can run out, and trekkers then stay in tents³. The itinerary’s departure and return flights depend on Juphal’s air services, which The Kathmandu Post called irregular in October 2025¹.

Permits

The lake lies in ward 8 of Shey-Phoksundo Rural Municipality¹.

In October 2026 the Department of Immigration’s trekking permit table priced Lower Dolpa at USD 20 per person per week, then USD 5 per day beyond 1 week⁴.

In October 2026 the same table defined the Lower Dolpa area as Shey Phoksundo Rural Municipality wards 8 and 9 and Jagdulla Rural Municipality wards 1 to 6⁴. The lake’s ward 8 of Shey-Phoksundo falls inside that row^1,4. The table prices Upper Dolpa separately at USD 500 per person for the first 10 days⁴. See restricted-area permits.

Park entry is a separate fee per person per entry. In October 2026 the Nepal Tourism Board’s park entry-fee table set Shey-Phoksundo National Park fees as follows, with children under 10 free⁵:

The trek meets two charges: the Lower Dolpa permit⁴ and park entry⁵. The operator’s day 2 in Kathmandu is set aside for trekking preparation and permit paperwork, with a passport taken to the immigration office³. Other parks’ charges are collected in national park fees.

The lake

Phoksundo Lake has a water surface of 494 ha, and it was declared a Ramsar site in September 2007². It is up to 145 m deep, measured by echo-sounding².

The lake lies in the upper reaches of the Suligad river and is surrounded by glaciers, with a turquoise colour². It lies in ward 8 of Shey-Phoksundo Rural Municipality¹.

The park

Shey-Phoksundo is Nepal’s largest and only trans-Himalayan national park². It was established in 1984 and covers 3,555 km2². The Key Biodiversity Areas factsheet places it in Dolpo and Mugu districts of Karnali Province and gives its elevation range as 2,200 to 6,883 m⁶. Its northern boundary borders the Tibetan Autonomous Region of China⁶.

The park and its buffer zone hold at least 293 bird species and significant populations of Cheer Pheasant⁶. A 2019 to 2022 survey by the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation, supported by WWF, found 90 snow leopards, at a density of 2.21 per 100 km2². The park headquarters are in Palam, Dolpa District².

Visitor numbers

Of the 19,537 visitors in the five years to October 2025, 17,712 were domestic and 1,825 were foreigners, including 92 from SAARC countries¹. Visitor numbers have risen steadily despite limited road connectivity and irregular air services to Dolpa, on the same report¹.

Costs

In October 2026 Mission Summit Treks quoted a foreigner price of USD 2,000 per person for a group of 2 to 4 people and USD 1,850 per person for a group of 5 to 8³. The inclusions are the domestic flights Kathmandu to Nepalgunj and Nepalgunj to Juphal both ways, tea-house stays, and a guide and porter with one porter per two trekkers³.

The operator lists a group size of at least 2 and gives USD 1,750 per person for 9 to 12 people³. Its page calls the trek moderate in the overview and easy in one FAQ answer³.

The exclusions are extra nights in Kathmandu, international flights and insurance, and tips³. In October 2026 the Nepal Tourism Board’s table put foreigner park entry at NPR 3,000 per person per entry⁵.

Getting to the trailhead

The fast way in is by air. The Nepalgunj to Juphal flight takes 35 to 45 minutes, and Juphal sits at 2,475 m³. Air services to Dolpa are irregular¹. Details of operators are covered in flights to Juphal.

The overland route runs from Nepalgunj through Surkhet, Jajarkot and Rukum to Dunai, the Dolpa district headquarters¹. From Dunai the trail goes on foot via Suligad, Kagni, Chhepka and Tapriza to the lake¹. Overland travel is the alternative to the Juphal flight, whose services are irregular¹. Mission Summit Treks gives the distance from Kathmandu to the lake as 313 km³. For the district itself see Dolpa.