Written by Shreejan Simkhada, CEO of The Everest Holiday and third-generation Himalayan guide. TAAN Member #1586. Written on 29 September 2026, road status updated 14 October 2026. This is a live situation and I update this page as the position on the ground changes.
Update, 14 October 2026: As of 14 October 2026 the Besisahar–Chame road and the Beni–Jomsom road are repaired and open to vehicles again. We still check road and trail conditions 48 hours before every departure.
The short answer: the road has reopened, and you can still fly in
The vehicle road up to Jomsom was badly damaged in late September, and as of 14 October 2026 it is repaired and open to vehicles again. You can reach Jomsom, Muktinath and Upper Mustang by road, and the flight from Pokhara is still the quicker way in when time is short. Our Upper Mustang trek goes in by road as standard, and we can arrange Kathmandu to Pokhara and Pokhara to Jomsom flights, both ways, on request. If you have a Mustang trip this October and you saw the headlines about the Beni to Jomsom road, read this before you change anything. If your dates are close, message me on WhatsApp and I will give you the honest position for your exact plan.
What actually happened to the road
After the heavy rain of the last week of September, the Beni to Jomsom to Korala road, which is the main vehicle route up the Kali Gandaki into Mustang, was damaged at 46 separate points along the Myagdi section. Officials have quoted more than a week to fully reopen it, and heavy snow at the Korala pass on the Tibet border closed the top end and disrupted the cross-border trade as well. As of 29 September I treated this road as closed and under repair. As of 14 October 2026 the Besisahar–Chame road and the Beni–Jomsom road are repaired and open to vehicles again. We still check road and trail conditions 48 hours before every departure.
Why a blocked road does not close Mustang
Mustang sits in the rain shadow behind the main Himalaya, which is why it stays dry when the south side is under monsoon cloud, and no damage to the walking trails of Mustang has been reported in this rain. The road is one way in. It is not the only way in.
Option one: fly Pokhara to Jomsom
This is still the quickest way in, and the backup if the road is held up again. Our Upper Mustang trek goes in by road as standard, but we can arrange the Kathmandu to Pokhara and Pokhara to Jomsom flights, both ways, on request. Small fixed-wing aircraft fly the short hop from Pokhara up to Jomsom, usually in the early morning before the valley wind picks up. From Jomsom you are already inside Mustang and standing at the start of the walking routes. Mountain flights depend on the weather, and at the tail of the monsoon a morning can be held for visibility, so we build a buffer day into the plan and we do not cut the timing fine. But the aircraft never needed the road, which is why this stays a good backup.
Option two: walk the parts that are walkable
Once you are at Jomsom, the trekking routes up to Kagbeni, on to Muktinath, and north into Upper Mustang towards Lo Manthang are reported clear, because they are trails and side valleys rather than the flood-hit road. Muktinath, the temple that draws both Hindu and Buddhist pilgrims, sits above Jomsom and is reached on foot or by the local vehicle tracks within Mustang, which are separate from the Beni to Jomsom road that took the damage. Your guide confirms each local vehicle section on the day rather than assuming it, and where a short stretch needs walking instead of driving, we walk it. This is ordinary Mustang trekking, not a workaround.
Option three: wait for the road, if the road is your trip
If your plan is a road journey, which is how our Upper Mustang trek goes in as standard, the honest answer is different. The Upper Mustang motorbike tour and the other Mustang motorbike and mountain-bike trips ride the Kali Gandaki road itself, so they depend on exactly the stretch that was damaged. That stretch is repaired and open to vehicles again as of 14 October 2026, and we still check it 48 hours before every departure. If you are flexible, mid-October onwards is the safer bet for a road-based Mustang trip this year. Related: Kalopani, Mustang: Where to Stop the Night in the Kali Gandaki Valley.
The Mustang treks we run, and how they get in
The Upper Mustang trek is our flagship route into the old forbidden kingdom, up to Lo Manthang, Ghar Gompa and the walled capital, and it goes in by road as standard, driving from Kathmandu to Kagbeni. If the Beni to Jomsom road is ever held up, we can swap in the Kathmandu to Pokhara and Pokhara to Jomsom flights, both ways, on request. Upper Mustang is a restricted area, which means a licensed guide and a special area permit are compulsory, and the permit runs at fifty US dollars per person per day inside the region. We arrange all of that for you before you leave. Since March 2026 a solo trekker can hold the restricted-area permit too, with a licensed guide, so you do not need to find a second walker to come. For the fuller picture of the gateway town itself, there is our Jomsom and Mustang gateway guide, and for the temple, our Muktinath pilgrimage guide. Related: Lower Mustang Motorbike Tour: Route, Cost, and 8-Day Itinerary (2027).
What I am telling people booked into Mustang this October
Do not cancel. The road is open again. If you are booked on our Upper Mustang trek, which goes in by road as standard, I will tell you honestly if a road check on the day means switching to the Kathmandu to Pokhara and Pokhara to Jomsom flights, which we arrange on request, with a buffer day for the flight weather. If your trip rides the road, such as the motorbike tour, keep your dates; I check the road 48 hours before every departure. Keep your travel insurance sorted, with helicopter evacuation and the real altitude of your route covered, and buy it at home rather than here, because the local policies are often refused by the operators and hospitals at the moment they are needed. And wait for a person who has actually checked the ground before you accept a confident yes or no from anyone, including me. My guides are in these valleys, and trail and road news moves guide to guide faster than any bulletin.
For the wider country-wide picture this week, meaning which regions are trekking normally and which roads are cut, I keep a late-September floods travel update, and for the road-versus-trail logic in general there is is the Annapurna Circuit open?.
Talk to a person on the ground
If you have a Mustang or Muktinath trip this autumn, or you are deciding on dates, message me on WhatsApp and I will tell you the current position for your exact route, whether I would fly you in, and whether I would move a road-based trip. We are a licensed Kathmandu operator, registered in 2016, TAAN member 1586, with our own guides in Mustang.
Every booking helps fund our Nagarjun Learning Center. Written by Shreejan Simkhada, CEO of The Everest Holiday and third-generation Himalayan guide. TAAN Member #1586.
Chat with Shreejan