Nepal's trekking rulebook moved more in the first 90 days of 2026 than it has in the past five years. If you read advice from before March about TIMS cards, two-person minimums for Manaslu, or quietly walking the Annapurna Circuit alone, throw it out — most of it is now wrong.
Here is what actually changed, why it matters for a trek you're planning right now, and the parts the bigger booking sites have not caught up on yet.
Solo trekking is now legal in restricted areas — with one big asterisk
On 23 March 2026 the Department of Immigration ended Nepal's two-person rule for restricted-area permits. Until that date, places like Upper Mustang, Manaslu, Tsum Valley, Nar Phu, Upper Dolpo and Kanchenjunga required a minimum of two trekkers on a single permit. A single traveller with three weeks of holiday and a flight already booked could be quietly turned back at the Department counter in Kathmandu.
That is gone. A solo permit application now goes through cleanly.
The asterisk: every restricted-area permit still requires a licensed guide hired through a government-registered trekking agency. The same applies to Sagarmatha National Park (Everest), Annapurna Conservation Area, and other regulated trails. The 2023 mandatory guide rule was not rolled back — it was extended.
If you walk these routes without a guide and get checked at Monjo, Jagat, Chame or Jomsom, expect a penalty up to NPR 12,000 (about USD 90), an immediate escort back to the roadhead, and a cancelled permit. Two of our 2025 travellers met groups who had been turned back at Monjo — both had read older blogs that said "no one really checks." People do, every day, and the checkposts now scan permit numbers against guide licences.
What this means in practice
If you are a solo traveller who used to pay an agency a small fee just to add a phantom partner to your Manaslu permit, that fee is gone. The guide cost is the same as it was. The route is the same as it was. Your booking is faster and your paperwork is cleaner.
TIMS is dead. Conservation permits are not.
The Trekkers' Information Management System card — that USD 10–20 piece of plastic everyone collected at the Nepal Tourism Board office — is no longer required anywhere in Nepal. Not for Annapurna. Not for Langtang. Not for the Mardi Himal trek that everyone walks as a warm-up.
Don't celebrate too hard. Conservation-area entry permits replaced TIMS for revenue and tracking, and they cost more. The Annapurna Conservation Area Permit (ACAP) is NPR 3,000 (USD 23) for foreign trekkers. The Manaslu Conservation Area Permit (MCAP) is the same. These are required for entry into the area regardless of whether you are walking the full Annapurna Circuit or a three-day jaunt up to Poon Hill.
If you are doing the Manaslu Circuit, you stack three permits: the Manaslu Restricted Area Permit (USD 100/week in peak season, USD 75/week off-peak), MCAP, and ACAP for the descent into Annapurna territory. That arithmetic surprises a lot of first-time trekkers.
Quick reference for 2026 permit costs
- Everest Base Camp: Sagarmatha National Park Permit NPR 3,000 + Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality Permit NPR 2,000–3,000
- Annapurna Base Camp / Annapurna Circuit: ACAP NPR 3,000
- Manaslu Circuit: Restricted Area Permit USD 100/week (Sep–Nov) or USD 75/week (Dec–Aug), MCAP NPR 3,000, ACAP NPR 3,000
- Upper Mustang: Restricted Area Permit USD 500 for first 10 days, USD 50 per additional day
- Langtang Valley: Langtang National Park Permit NPR 3,000
- Kanchenjunga: Restricted Area Permit USD 20/week, KCAP NPR 2,000
Guide wages are separate at USD 25–30 per day. Porter wages run USD 18–25 per day depending on region. These prices are stable across the registered agencies in Kathmandu — anyone quoting you USD 8 per day is paying their guide poorly, which becomes your problem at 5,000 metres.
The Lukla flight situation got messier, not better
Kathmandu–Lukla used to be one flight. In Spring 2026 it is, on paper, a flight from a different city.
From 15 March to 15 May 2026 every commercial Lukla flight leaves from Ramechhap (Manthali Airport), a small strip about 132 km east of Kathmandu. The Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal moved the route to relieve pressure on Tribhuvan's single runway during the peak Everest climbing season. Autumn 2026 will almost certainly repeat the pattern — Civil Aviation typically announces the dates four weeks out.
What that means for your itinerary:
- A 4–5 hour pre-dawn jeep transfer from Kathmandu to Ramechhap, leaving around 1:00–2:00 a.m. for a 6:30 a.m. flight
- Or an overnight stay near Ramechhap the day before, which is what we recommend for travellers over 50 or anyone who flew into Kathmandu within 48 hours
- Your return Lukla–Ramechhap flight pairs with another long jeep ride back
Flight prices climbed too. Kathmandu–Lukla one-way is now around USD 254 as of Spring 2026, up roughly 10–20% on 2025 fares because of aviation fuel pricing. Round-trip flights cost more than the Sagarmatha National Park Permit by a factor of 20.
When the helicopter actually makes sense
Lukla helicopter charters from Kathmandu run roughly USD 600–1,200 per seat depending on the operator and how full the bird is. The maths only works for travellers who:
- Cannot lose two days to weather delays at either end
- Are flying out of Kathmandu on a fixed international ticket within a tight window
- Want to skip the Ramechhap detour entirely during 15 March – 15 May
For most trekkers on a 14-day Everest Base Camp itinerary, the fixed-wing route via Ramechhap is fine. Build a buffer day in Kathmandu on the way out, treat the helicopter as a return-day insurance option, and you'll usually walk away without using it.
What hasn't changed (and what surprises people)
Three things that travellers ask about most weeks, with the actual answers:
The shoulder seasons keep getting better
October and November are still the peak autumn months — clear post-monsoon air, stable weather, lodges packed. October is the busiest month on the Annapurna Circuit, and Manang teahouses fill three days in advance during the second and third weeks. April runs the same pattern in spring.
The quieter shoulder months — early March and late November — give you the same views with half the foot traffic on the trail. Mardi Himal in late November is one of the best-value Nepal treks anywhere on the calendar: clear views of Annapurna South and Machapuchare, cold but dry nights, lodges that are not turning people away.
Acclimatisation rules still bite
Nothing about the new permit framework changes how altitude works. The classic Khumbu itinerary still walks 2,610 m at Phakding, 3,440 m at Namche, an acclimatisation day, then 3,870 m at Tengboche and onwards. Skipping the Namche rest day to save a day shaved off your trip plan is the most common reason someone we know turned around above Dingboche.
If you are planning Everest Base Camp on a 10- or 11-day schedule because a tour operator quoted that, ask why. The 14-day plan exists because at 5,364 m there is no shortcut to a body that hasn't built red blood cells.
The new Everest summit rule does not apply to Base Camp
Worth saying clearly: the 2026 rule that climbers must summit a 7,000 m peak in Nepal before applying for an Everest expedition permit is for summit climbers only. Base Camp trekkers — the people who walk to 5,364 m, look up at the Khumbu icefall, and walk down — are not affected. If anything, fewer permitted climbers means slightly quieter Base Camp during April and May.
What we'd actually book right now
If someone wrote to us today wanting to walk in Nepal in autumn 2026, this is roughly what we'd suggest depending on experience:
- First Nepal trek, two weeks of holiday: Annapurna Base Camp in mid-October. ACAP only, no restricted permit. 4,130 m max altitude — high enough to feel real, low enough that altitude rarely ends a trek. The walk in via Ghandruk is one of the prettiest stretches of trail in the country.
- Comfortable hiker, three weeks, wants quiet: Manaslu Circuit in early November. Lower foot traffic than Annapurna or Everest, the new solo-permit rule makes the booking simpler, and Larke Pass at 5,106 m is genuinely spectacular when the autumn weather settles in.
- Veteran trekker who has already done EBC and ABC: Upper Mustang in October or early November. Different country up there — Tibetan Buddhist culture, ochre canyons, dry desert weather. The USD 500 restricted permit puts off the casual market, which is exactly why you go.
These are decisions we make every week with travellers walking into our Kathmandu office or messaging us on WhatsApp — not stock answers.
The booking workflow that follows the new rules
We walk every Nepal Nexus trek through the same paperwork process and it now looks like this:
1. We confirm your route, dates and group size, then issue a written proposal within 48 hours.
2. A 20% deposit confirms the trek. We start permit applications at this point — the Department of Immigration counter is two blocks from our office.
3. For restricted areas, your guide is assigned and licensed against your permit number. This is the link the checkposts now scan.
4. We send you the gear list, altitude protocol, insurance requirements (we recommend cover that includes helicopter evacuation up to 6,000 m) and what to expect on the day-by-day plan.
5. You arrive in Kathmandu, we meet for a briefing, and we walk.
The full proposal — line items, what's included, what isn't, your guide's name and licence number — is written down before you put a card on the table. If a Kathmandu agency cannot give you that on paper, walk away.
Questions we hear most weeks
If you're planning a 2026 trek and want a personal answer instead of a generic blog post, write to us. We'll usually reply within 48 hours, and the reply will be from someone who has actually walked the route you are asking about.
A written proposal costs nothing and commits you to nothing. Most travellers send three or four versions back and forth before they pick a plan, and we'd rather get the route right than rush the booking.
