Nepal Bans Night Driving in 23 Districts as Monsoon Floods Cut Nine Highways

Landslides and flooding have blocked nine major highways and triggered a nighttime driving ban across 23 districts this week — here's what it actually means if you're travelling overland to a Nepal trailhead in late July 2026.

LR 作者 Laxman Rawal · 2026年7月24日 · 3 分钟阅读 · 更新于 2026年7月24日

Nepal Bans Night Driving in 23 Districts as Monsoon Floods Cut Nine Highways

Nepal has banned night-time driving across 23 districts, and nine major highways are partially or fully blocked by landslides and flooding, as the 2026 monsoon hits its most intense stretch. If you're travelling overland to a trailhead this week — Kathmandu to Pokhara, Kathmandu to Syabrubesi, or east toward Ilam — some of the roads you'd normally take are restricted between dusk and dawn, and a few are closed outright.

Key facts

Nepal's Monsoon Response Command Post placed 23 districts under red alert for nighttime vehicle movement on 19 July 2026
9 major highways are hit by landslides or flooding, mostly in Koshi and Bagmati provinces
The Department of Roads has deployed 155 pieces of heavy equipment, with 122 more on standby
District security committees can suspend traffic on any road at any time if conditions worsen

The affected roads read like a map of how trekkers actually get to the mountains. The Prithvi Highway — the main Kathmandu-Pokhara road used by anyone heading to Annapurna, Mardi Himal or the Poon Hill region — has partial blockages at Phisling in Chitwan and at Tismarkhani and Jawang Khola in Dhading. The Pasang Lhamu Highway, the road to Syabrubesi and the start of the Langtang Valley trek, is hit at Bokejhunda in Rasuwa. The Araniko Highway toward the Tibet border is blocked at Jurikhola and Kodari in Sindhupalchok. And the Mechi Highway in the far east, part of the overland approach toward the Kanchenjunga region, has landslides at Rajduwali in Ilam and Khobare Khola in Panchthar. On the BP Highway, the Khurkot-Nepalthok-Katunjebesi section is now under a nightly ban from 6pm to 4am.

Highways affected, and who they matter to
Highway	Matters if you're heading to	Current status
Prithvi Highway	Annapurna, Mardi Himal, Pokhara treks	Partial blockage, Chitwan & Dhading
Pasang Lhamu Highway	Langtang Valley trek	Blocked at Rasuwa
Araniko Highway	Tibet-border routes	Blocked, Sindhupalchok
Mechi Highway	Kanchenjunga region (overland)	Landslides, Ilam & Panchthar
BP Highway	Kathmandu-Bardibas shortcut	Nightly ban, 6pm-4am

23Districts under red alert

9Highways hit by landslides/floods

277Pieces of road equipment deployed or on standby

Jul 19Date the red alert took effect

What this means for trekkers

Flights are not affected — roads are

None of this touches Everest Base Camp trekkers flying Kathmandu-Lukla, or anyone flying into Pokhara or Jomsom: those routes run by air, independent of highway conditions. The restrictions hit overland travel specifically — the Kathmandu-Pokhara drive, the jeep ride to Syabrubesi for Langtang, and road approaches to the eastern hills. If your itinerary includes any of those legs this week, build in a half-day buffer, avoid scheduling a night drive, and ask your operator to confirm road status on the morning you travel rather than days in advance — conditions are changing daily.

None of this is unusual for late July — this is peak monsoon, and Nepal's Department of Roads runs the same drill most years: heavy equipment pre-positioned, night bans on the worst sections, roads reopened within hours once the rain eases. It typically clears through August and is fully behind us by the start of the autumn trekking season; see our month-by-month breakdown of when to trek Nepal if you're weighing a late-monsoon start against waiting for September. For now, the safest move if you're on the road this week is simple: travel by day, and check before you go.

Source: The Kathmandu Post, Peoples' Review

Cover photo: Serg Alesenko via Pexels (Pexels License).

来源： The Kathmandu Post

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