Muktinath

Muktinath sits at about 3,800 metres in the Mustang valley behind the Annapurna and Dhaulagiri massifs, and it is one of the very few sites revered equally by two religions: Hindus know it as Mukti Kshetra, a place of liberation and one of the 108 Divya Desams of Vishnu, while Tibetan Buddhists call it Chumig Gyatsa and associate it with Padmasambhava. Pilgrims bathe under 108 water spouts fed from the mountain and in two pools, in cold that is genuinely severe. In the small Jwala Mai temple nearby a natural gas seep burns as a continuous small flame over water, which both traditions treat as significant. The site is the end point of the Thorong La crossing on the Annapurna circuit, and a road now reaches it.

What you actually see

• The 108 spouts - the arc of water outlets pilgrims bathe under.
• Jwala Mai - the natural gas flame burning beside water.
• The Vishnu temple - the pagoda shrine at the centre of the complex.
• Mustang landscape - the dry trans-Himalayan valley around the site.

When to go

March to June and September to November. Winter is very cold and the road can close with snow. The rain shadow means the monsoon is lighter here than elsewhere. Rishi Panchami in late summer draws large pilgrim numbers.

Honest expectations

Altitude affects visitors who arrive quickly by road from Pokhara. The bathing water is close to freezing. The site is busy with pilgrim buses and jeep groups, and commercial development around it has grown fast. The road up from Jomsom is rough and windy.

Nearby

Jomsom lies south; the Thorong La crosses east to Manang.