Shey Phoksundo Lake

Shey Phoksundo Lake is Nepal's deepest lake at 145 meters, a stunning turquoise jewel set at 3,611 meters in the remote Dolpa district of Karnali Province. The lake has no outflow and its waters never freeze — a phenomenon that has given it deep spiritual significance for the Bon and Buddhist communities who have lived here for centuries.

The lake sits within Shey Phoksundo National Park, Nepal's largest national park covering 3,555 square kilometers of trans-Himalayan wilderness. The surrounding landscape is breathtaking — barren brown hills and snow-capped peaks frame the impossibly blue lake, while the 167-meter Phoksundo waterfall cascades into the valley below.

The trek to Phoksundo Lake typically takes 5-7 days from Juphal (accessible by flight from Nepalgunj). The trail passes through Suligad Canyon, ancient villages like Ringmo (one of the oldest Bon settlements in Nepal), and forests of blue pine and birch. The upper Dolpa region beyond the lake — Peter Matthiessen's 'Snow Leopard' country — is one of the most remote inhabited areas on earth.

This is true off-the-beaten-path Nepal. Facilities are basic, trails are rugged, and the region sees only a few hundred trekkers annually. That isolation is precisely its appeal — Dolpa offers the Nepal that existed before the trekking boom.