The Dhaulagiri Circuit is the hardest thing we run
Sixteen days around the seventh-highest mountain on earth. Two passes above 5,200 m, glacier travel, full camping support and no teahouses anywhere.
By the Lakeshore team · 8 min read · Updated 5 October 2026
People book this trek on the strength of the name, so we say this before anything else. The Dhaulagiri Circuit belongs to a different category of trip from the Annapurna Circuit, and the extra length is the least of the differences.
There are no teahouses. For the whole high section you sleep in tents, and a support crew carries everything and cooks for you. You cross the French Pass at about 5,360 m and the Dhampus Pass at around 5,240 m, camp at over 5,000 m in a place called Hidden Valley, and walk on glacier.
In return you walk right around Dhaulagiri I (8,167 m), the seventh-highest mountain on earth, through country where you see nobody for days at a time.
The route from Beni to Marpha
You start low, around Beni and Darbang, among farmland and subtropical forest, and follow the Myagdi Khola up into wilder and wilder country. First comes Italian Base Camp at about 3,660 m, then Glacier Camp, then Dhaulagiri Base Camp at around 4,750 m, right below the north face.
From base camp you cross the French Pass into Hidden Valley, a high, cold, enclosed basin with nothing living in it. Then it's over Dhampus Pass and down a huge descent to Marpha on the Kali Gandaki, where there are apple orchards, a bakery and, at last, a hot shower.
The trek takes sixteen days, and the middle six are the committing part: above 4,500 m, on glacier and moraine, with no road, no lodge and no easy exit.
Camping, and what a support crew means
There are no lodges above Darbang, so the trip runs as a full expedition with tents, a kitchen crew, a cook, porters and a guide. You carry a daypack and nothing else.
The rhythm is nothing like teahouse trekking. Tea arrives at your tent in the morning. Meals are cooked from supplies the crew carries in, and they're a lot better than you'd expect at 4,700 m. The camp comes down and goes up again around you.
It also means the trip costs several times what a teahouse trek does, because you're moving a small village around a mountain. That's where the money goes, and it's why nobody sells this cheaply.
Altitude, weather and what can go wrong
Sleeping above 5,000 m in Hidden Valley after crossing a 5,360 m pass is serious altitude, and the acclimatisation days earlier in the trek are not optional padding.
The passes hold snow and can close. Weather windows matter, and the crew makes the call. If French Pass can't be crossed, you either wait or walk all the way back out the way you came. There's no road, no other valley and no simple helicopter answer in bad weather. Glacier travel means crevasse risk, which means rope and a guide who knows the route. This is the one trek we run where mountaineering judgement is part of the service, not an extra, and the group climbing gear for the glacier sections is included.
Who should do this
People who have trekked at altitude before, ideally over a 5,000 m pass, and who are comfortable being a long way from anywhere for a week. Camping experience helps but isn't essential, because the crew handles the logistics.
You need to be fit enough for long days at altitude, day after day. More importantly, you need the temperament for a trip where the plan may change and the weather decides. People who need certainty find this hard.
If you've done the Annapurna Circuit, loved the pass day and wished the whole thing had been wilder, this is the trek you're looking for.
When to go
The window is narrow: roughly late April to May, and October into early November. Outside those months the passes are unreliable.
October is the most settled. Spring gives you longer days and more snow underfoot on the passes. We run this trek on request, not to a schedule, and we'd like a conversation before you book instead of a form. Tell us what you've walked and we'll tell you straight whether this is the year for it.
Walk it with us
Private departures on your dates, guided by the people who wrote this page.
Questions we get asked
How does this compare to the Annapurna Circuit?
It's harder in every way: higher, colder, remoter and longer, with camping throughout, glacier travel and no way to bail out in the middle. The Circuit is a teahouse trek with a big pass. This is a small expedition.
Do I need mountaineering skills?
There's no technical climbing, but you'll be on glacier and moraine at altitude, and roped up in places. Previous high-altitude trekking experience is close to essential.
Why is it so much more expensive?
Because there's no infrastructure. Every meal, tent and litre of fuel for sixteen days is carried in by people who have to be paid, fed and properly equipped. A teahouse trek rents what already exists, and this trek builds it as it goes. Our price covers that crew, the permits, the jeep to Darbang and the flight out of Jomsom.
What happens if someone gets ill in the middle?
That's the serious question. In the committed section the answer is to descend on foot with the crew's help. A helicopter evacuation only happens if the weather allows, and at those altitudes it often doesn't. That's why we're strict about experience and insurance.
Can it be done in fewer days?
Not safely. The acclimatisation profile is what makes the passes survivable, and there's no way to shorten the committed section.
Still deciding?
Tell us your dates and how much walking you've done, and we'll tell you whether Dhorpatan Hunting Reserve/Bukipatan Trek is right for you. If it isn't, we'll say so.
Nothing to pay online. We confirm your dates first.
Or call the office +977 61-457830