Tsum Valley Trek Permit Cost 2026: What You Actually Need

Updated on: 23 Aug, 2026

Reading time: 8 min

Quick answer: A Tsum Valley trek needs three things: the Tsum Valley Restricted Area Permit (about US$40 per person per week from September to November, or about US$30 from December to August), the Manaslu Conservation Area Permit (about NPR 3,000), and a small local municipality fee. You do not need a TIMS card, and you do not need the more expensive Manaslu Restricted Area Permit unless you also walk the Circuit.

The single most common error in Tsum Valley quotes is charging you for the wrong restricted-area permit. Tsum and Manaslu are neighbouring areas with separate permits at very different prices. So if a quote bills you at the Manaslu rate for a Tsum-only trek, you are paying roughly US$60 per week too much.

Below, this guide sets out what you genuinely need, what each item costs, and which line items to question.

Key Takeaways

• The Tsum Valley RAP costs about US$40 per person for the first 7 days in autumn, about US$30 off-season.
• The Manaslu RAP is a different permit at about US$100 per week. You only need it if you walk the Circuit too.
• TIMS is not required in a restricted area. Some operators still bill for it.
• A licensed guide and a registered agency are compulsory, even after the March 2026 rule change.
• Expect roughly US$75 to US$110 per person in total permit costs for a standard trek.

What three permits do you need?

1. Tsum Valley Restricted Area Permit (RAP)

This is the main one, and it is issued by the Department of Immigration through a registered trekking agency. You cannot buy it yourself as an individual walking into an office.

Also the fee is charged by the week, and it changes with the season.

2. Manaslu Conservation Area Permit (MCAP)

The Tsum Valley sits inside the Manaslu Conservation Area, so you need this alongside the restricted permit. It costs about NPR 3,000 for foreign trekkers, which is roughly US$23.

3. Chumnubri Rural Municipality entry fee

Since Nepal restructured local government, rural municipalities collect their own small entry fees. Chumnubri covers this area. So expect a modest additional charge, collected locally rather than in Kathmandu.

How much do the permits cost in total?

For a standard trek of about ten days inside the zone, budget roughly US$75 to US$110 per person.

So the total is considerably less than most people expect, and much less than the Manaslu Circuit. That is worth knowing when you compare the two trips.

Why do people get charged the Manaslu rate by mistake?

Because the two areas sit side by side and share a trail for the first four days.

You walk in from Machha Khola through Jagat, which is the checkpoint for the whole zone. Then, just past Philim, the trails divide. The Manaslu Circuit continues north. Instead, Tsum turns east into the Shiar Khola.

The permits divide at that same point. Here is the difference in plain figures.

So the gap is about US$60 per person per week in high season. On a two-week trip for two people, that is a meaningful sum.

Our Manaslu Circuit permit guide covers the Circuit side in full, including why that route also needs an Annapurna permit at the end.

When do you need both? Only when you combine the two into a single trip. Then you carry the Tsum RAP and the Manaslu RAP together. We explain how that works in our guide to the combined Manaslu and Tsum trek.

Do you need a TIMS card for the Tsum Valley?

No. The TIMS card applies to general trekking areas, and a restricted-area permit replaces it.

Still, this matters, because several well-known operator websites still list TIMS in their Tsum Valley inclusions. If it appears as a separate charge on your quote, ask why. You are either being billed for something you do not need, or the page has not been updated in years.

For how TIMS works elsewhere in the country, see our Nepal trekking permits guide.

What is the guide rule after the March 2026 change?

You can now apply as a single trekker, but you still cannot walk the valley unguided.

On 22 March 2026, Nepal’s Department of Immigration removed the long-standing requirement for a minimum of two trekkers in restricted areas. Before that, a solo traveller could not obtain the permit at all, and agencies sometimes added a phantom second name to make an application work.

However, the change kept two rules firmly in place.

• You must trek with a licensed guide.
• The permit must be issued through a registered trekking agency.

So solo travellers are genuinely welcome on this trek now. Trekking it alone and unguided is still not permitted, and checkpoints do enforce it.

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How do you get the permits?

Your agency does it. You supply the documents.

First you will need your passport, several passport-sized photographs, a copy of your travel insurance certificate, and your exact trek dates. Because the permit is issued in Kathmandu before you leave, the office needs a few working days.

So send your documents when you book rather than when you land. Friday arrivals are the tightest, because government offices close for the weekend.

Then your guide carries the permits and presents them at checkpoints. There are checks at Jagat on the way in and again on the way out, so keep your passport accessible rather than buried in your duffel.

How can you keep permit costs down?

You cannot skip any of them, but you can plan sensibly.

• Trek outside the September to November window if your dates are flexible. The RAP drops from about US$40 to about US$30 for the first week.
• Keep your days inside the restricted zone tight. The daily add-on is charged per person per day, so an efficient itinerary genuinely saves money.
• Travel in a small group. Permits are per person, but the guide, the jeep and the porter costs are shared.
• Do not attempt to trek without a guide. It is not allowed, checkpoints are strict, and the saving is not worth losing your trip over.

For where the rest of your money goes, see our overview of trekking costs in Nepal.

What if the fees change?

Permit fees and restricted-area rules in Nepal do change, sometimes with little notice.

We should be straight about one thing. When we last checked these figures, the Department of Immigration website was unreachable, so the amounts above come from our own recent permit filings rather than from a live government page that day. Also they match what we have paid.

Because of that, we re-confirm every figure with the Department of Immigration before each departure rather than quoting an old number back to you. If a fee has moved, you pay the correct amount and we tell you. A confident wrong number helps nobody.

Accuracy note: Tsum Valley restricted-area permit fees and the Manaslu Conservation Area Permit come from our Nepal trekking permits guide (retrieved 2026-08-20). The removal of the two-trekker minimum in restricted areas on 22 March 2026, and the fact that the licensed-guide and registered-agency rules were kept, is reported by the Kathmandu Post. The contrast with the Manaslu restricted-area permit (about US$100 per week in autumn) is set out in our Manaslu permit guide; the point that a TIMS card is not required in a restricted area is consistent with our own filings, where no TIMS is issued alongside a restricted-area permit, and with our Nepal trekking permits guide (retrieved 2026-08-20); permit fees reviewed by a licensed Spade Himalaya trekking guide and re-checked before every departure.

Author

Pawan Bhattarai

Pawan Bhattarai is a co-founder of Spade Himalaya, a Nepal-based trekking and tour company he started to help share Nepal's mountains with the world. A keen traveller with a background in technology and content, he writes carefully researched guides to help people plan their trip. On the ground, Spade's treks are led by licensed local guides.