Cheeses of Langtang and Kyanjin Gompa
A high Himalayan valley where a yak cheese dairy, set up in the 1950s with Swiss advice, stands beside an old monastery.
Made, aged and sold here
Best time: October to November and March to May, the trekking seasons.
Kyanjin Gompa is a small monastery settlement at about 3,800 metres in the Langtang valley, north of Kathmandu. Herders bring yaks and chauri, the yak and cow cross, up to the summer pastures around it. In the 1950s a cheese dairy was set up here with Swiss advice, one of the first in Nepal, and trekkers have eaten its hard yak cheese ever since.
Yak cheese and chhurpi
The milk of yak and chauri is rich and high in fat. The Kyanjin dairy makes a firm, pale, Alpine-style cheese from it in the summer months, when the herds are on the high grass. Families in the valley also make chhurpi in both forms, soft for cooking with rice and hard for keeping. Butter tea, made with salt and yak butter, is drunk all day.
The valley
Langtang lies inside Langtang National Park, a protected area of forest, glaciers and high pasture. The village of Langtang was destroyed by an avalanche in the 2015 earthquake and has since been rebuilt. Most visitors walk in over several days from Syabrubesi, staying in lodges run by Tamang and Tibetan families who also keep the herds.
A trail idea for Langtang and Kyanjin Gompa
- Syabrubesi The trailhead town where the walk up the Langtang valley begins.
- Langtang village The rebuilt village and its memorial to those lost in 2015.
- Kyanjin Gompa The monastery and the cheese dairy beside it.
- Kyanjin Ri A morning climb for views of the glaciers and the summer pastures.
Written by the EveryCheese desk with AI assistance. Background: "Langtang National Park" on Wikipedia. Opening hours, markets, caves and tours change; check locally before travelling. If something is wrong, tell us.
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