Rahi’s Kailash Mansarovar Yatra Diary: Walking to the Centre of the World

An honest diary of the road to Mt Kailash, from Kathmandu to the Kora and back

by Rahi  |  Rahi Adventure  |  Yatra: June–July 2026  |  14 min read

Getting there: Delhi to Kathmandu

I took the train to Delhi and then flew to Kathmandu.

A tip that saved my trip: my passport was with the visa agent, because it goes ahead of you for the China visa. So I entered Nepal with my original Voter ID card. For Indian citizens this works at both Indian immigration and Nepal entry, but only the original Voter ID card. Aadhaar is not accepted. The flight itself is only about one and a half hours, but bad weather and waiting on the runway made mine much longer.

At Kathmandu airport, the Ncell SIM counter is right at the exit. You fill in a short form, and in about fifteen minutes your phone is working. My Jio international roaming also worked on almost the whole route, which surprised me. One more thing about money: in Nepal, Indian 100-rupee notes work in most places, and some hotels may also accept 500-rupee notes.

Kathmandu: the waiting and the wandering

Here is something most tour pages will not tell you: my visa came five days late, partly because it arrived on a weekend, and the tour start moved by three days. This is normal on this route. Group visas for Tibet take their own time, and no travel company can make them faster. So pack patience along with your clothes. It costs nothing and weighs nothing.

The waiting was not wasted. Kathmandu is a wonderful place to get ready. Thamel market is full of trekking gear shops. I bought good mid-range trekking shoes, trekking pants and duffle bag locks for much less than branded gear costs at home. If you have forgotten anything, you will find it in Kathmandu.

Thamel

Rudraksh shop

Pashupatinath needs its own paragraph. Only Hindus by birth can enter the main temple. Photography inside is strictly not allowed. I saw a guard delete photos from a pilgrim's phone, and you can be fined. Shoes come off at the gate. Around the temple, the Rudraksh shops are the best place on the whole route to buy a genuine mala. Order in advance and they will keep it ready for you. For non-Hindu friends, the Tilopa and Naropa caves just outside the temple complex are worth a visit.

Swayambhunath, also called the monkey temple, has 365 steps. It is an easy climb and a good test for your legs before the mountain. Boudha Stupa is open day and night and looks beautiful in the evening. With a group, plan one to two hours for each of these places.

Pashupatinath gate

Pashupatinath

Guhyeshwari

Swayambhunath

Boudha Stupa

Boudhanilkantha

The road to the border

We left Kathmandu at 4:30 in the morning. We did not start this early for fun. It is the best way to beat the traffic and the border queues, and by the end of this diary you will see why. The first part, to Syafrubesi, took about seven hours. About 60–70 percent of the road is good tarmac and the rest is rough. Syafrubesi is a small town with food, places to stay and a helipad. Remember this town, because it comes back at the end of my story.

The last 15 kilometres to the border at Rasuwagadhi took a full hour. The road is narrow and broken, but it runs beside a beautiful river. The border itself is basic: two immigration windows, long queues in peak season, and a lot of wind and dust. Sunglasses and a jacket help.

About the night at the border: the lodges here are very basic. Rooms are shared, every group eats in the same simple dining hall, and you may want to carry your own bedsheet. It is only one night, and it passes.

Crossing into Tibet: Kerung

The Chinese side feels very different from the first minute. Everything is orderly, strict and checked. Officials may check your phone, books and bags. Do not carry anything related to the Dalai Lama. Take out food and liquids for inspection, and stand in the order of your permit number. If you follow this calmly, it goes quickly.

Kerung is at about 2,800 metres and is a green town. It is the last real greenery you will see for a week. Hotel note: mid-range hotels here often have no restaurant, and meals may be served in the reception area. The town has everything a pilgrim may have forgotten to pack: oxygen bottles for about 20 yuan, neck pillows and basic medicines.

The drive from Kerung to Saga took about four hours, and here the route gave us its first gift: a new tunnel, opened only this year, that saves two full hours on the old road. On the way there is a waterfall stop, police checkpoints where they photograph the group, and the first bridge over the Brahmaputra. By early evening we reached Saga.

Border bridge

New tunnel

Kerung town

Saga: where you first feel the altitude

Saga is at 4,640 metres, and this is where you first really feel the thin air. From here, getting used to the altitude needs discipline. Stay warm and walk slowly. Drink water regularly once you reach Saga, but do not drink so much during the drive that you have to ask the driver to stop, or hold it for hours. Skip the daytime nap, because sleeping during the day is not recommended at high altitude. Do not take altitude medicines on your own. Tell the team about any symptoms, get your oxygen level checked by them, and let them guide you.

A nice surprise: Saga is nicer than you expect. There is one long, straight street of hotels, the rooms are clean, and there is even a vegetarian restaurant across the lane. At ten at night it was still not fully dark, because Tibet follows Beijing time.

The longest drive: Saga to Mansarovar

Breakfast was at six and we left by 7:30. Then come five to six hours of straight road across the empty land of western Tibet: desert, snow peaks and wide open sky. The stops are simple: toll gates, small towns and one viewpoint where you can see water, snow, desert and mountains in a single view.

If you have been to Ladakh in India, this will feel familiar. The land looks the same, and you may see the same wild horses, yaks and wild asses. Humans have made borders, but nature has not. That is the sad part of human nature.

We reached Mansarovar at four in the afternoon. About an hour before that, the lake first appears in the distance. Then, as you drive along the shore, Kailash himself appears above the hills. No photo can prepare you for that moment. The vehicle parikrama of the lake is mostly on good road, with a short off-road stretch at the beginning, and there is a stop where pilgrims collect the holy water.

Now the hard part. Stays at the lake are basic. Most lodges have shared rooms and no attached toilets, because building water toilets near the lake is not allowed. Only one hotel at the lake, Hotel Hot Spring, has proper rooms with bathrooms, and it gets booked fast in peak season. It really has a hot spring, with a hot water swimming pool and bathtubs, so you can enjoy Mansarovar water there. If you stay at the hotel, it is free. If not, you can pay extra, if the hotel allows it. I paid CNY 128 and really enjoyed it! There is electricity everywhere, kettles work and phones charge, but carry a power bank and a universal adapter.

Puja, the monastery, and on to Darchen

At three in the morning I watched shooting stars over the lake. In the morning we did the puja by the shore. Having seen it, my advice is that the place matters: there is a small hill nearby from where you can see both Mansarovar and Kailash, and that is the best spot for the prayer.

Chiu Monastery, a Padmasambhava shrine on a rocky hill by the lake, is a short but steep climb. It is also a useful stamina test. If you find this small hill difficult, please book a horse or porter for the Kora, without ego and without argument.

Puja at Mansarovar

Chiu Monastery

Darchen, forty minutes away at the foot of Kailash, was another nice surprise. It is a proper town with really good hotels, and you can see Kailash from the street. In the late afternoon we drove to Ashtapad: ten kilometres of very bad road and forty minutes of shaking, and then the closest view of the mountain's south face that you can get by road. It is worth every bump.

Darchen

Ashtapad

A pause, and a lesson about plans in Tibet

The next morning there were no horses. The authorities had booked hundreds of them for that day. So the Kora moved by one day and we stayed in Darchen. I am telling you this because it is the biggest truth of this route: in Tibet, nothing is fixed. Visa dates move, rooms change, horses are suddenly not available, and the pilgrims who struggle most are the ones who expected everything to run exactly on time. Kailash and Mansarovar are not like any other tour. They are completely unpredictable, so come with a flexible mind and an open heart.

Darchen is a good place for a rest day. There are massage houses next to the hotels (one even advertises massage for acclimatization), shops for last-minute Kora items like trekking sticks, sun cream and masks, and the mountain standing right above the town, so you can look at tomorrow's walk.

Darchen

Massage house

Kora, Day One: Yam Dwar to Derapuk

We passed through Yam Dwar, the gate of Yama where the parikrama begins, and were on the trail by mid-morning. Day one is 13 kilometres and took me about five and a half hours. The path runs through a wide, mostly gentle valley, with tea tents at regular intervals. The walk is not technically difficult. What makes it serious is the altitude, because every kilometre is at 4,900 metres or higher, and the sun, which is very strong at this height. Sunscreen and covered skin are a must. A bandana or mask helps with the dust from vehicles at the start.

At about the seventh kilometre, the path turns and Kailash suddenly fills the sky in front of you. At the lunch tent, as I wrote in my notes that day, you sit right at his feet. By late afternoon you reach Derapuk, which faces the North Face directly. This is the closest and most powerful darshan of the whole yatra. In the morning light, the face turns gold.

Now the difficult night. In peak season Derapuk is overbooked. The good buildings fill first (ask for the double-bed rooms; there are a few), the place is crowded, and the toilets are poor. I ended up in a tent, and that night it rained with heavy wind. It was a bad night, and I will not pretend otherwise. This one night is the worst stay of the whole route, and it is exactly what a well-planned group, travelling outside the peak rush and booking early, can manage much better.

Kora, Day Two: the Dolma Pass decision

Day two of the Kora is the real test: 22 kilometres over Dolma Pass at 5,630 metres. That means three to four hours of climbing, a long walk down past Gauri Kund, and several more hours of walking after that. After my sleepless, rainy night, and with snow in the forecast, I decided to go back to Darchen by car. Anyone can choose this from Derapuk. I watched the stronger walkers go ahead.

Here is what I saw on both sides. I saw elderly pilgrims, including two old Indian women, complete the full parikrama and walk back into Darchen on their own feet. And I saw fit young trekkers turn back. Kailash does not care how fit you are at the gym. What matters is your acclimatization, your sleep and your humility. Those who crossed the pass that day left at 6:30 and reached the top by 9:30. From the tea point after the descent, a vehicle can take you for the last part, so nobody has to walk the final flat kilometres if their legs are finished.

Gauri Kund

After Dolma Pass

Near Dolma Pass

The long road home

The return is two long driving days: Darchen to Saga, about nine hours with a proper lunch stop, and then Saga to the border, another five. We left Saga at 5:30 in the morning, and at the border I finally understood why every experienced organizer on this route insists on early starts.

The exit queue at Chinese immigration, in peak season and in the Horse Year: we arrived at 10:17 and came out at 2:25. That is more than four hours of standing in permit-number order, including the immigration staff's own lunch break. After that comes the bridge, and then the Nepal-side checks. Again, non-Indian passport holders usually move faster, and travellers outside the peak season usually find much smaller crowds.

Kerung border hall

Rasuwa border

Then came the last choice of the journey. From the border it is six to seven hours on the same rough mountain road back to Kathmandu, or you can take a helicopter from Syafrubesi. I took the helicopter: twenty minutes over the gorge that we had crawled through in the dust two weeks earlier. The road group that day was delayed by heavy rain and a flat tyre, and reached Kathmandu at ten at night after a seventeen-hour day. If your budget allows one luxury on this whole yatra, spend it here, at the end, when your body has already given everything.

Helipad

Over Kathmandu

What Kailash leaves you with

I came back with notebooks full of practical details, because that is my job as an organizer. But under all the planning, the summary is simple. This is a hard route with moments of pure grace: the first sight of the peak above Mansarovar, the gold on the North Face at dawn, and shooting stars at three in the morning over the holiest lake on earth. The hard parts are real, but the grace is greater. The pilgrims who do best are the ones who arrive rested, give their body time to adjust to the altitude, book a horse without ego, and keep their plans flexible, because this yatra is unpredictable and plans will change.

The mountain has been there for a very long time. It is not in a hurry, and for these two weeks, you should not be either.

Om Namah Shivaya.