Nepal Travel Guide

Nepal offers the clearest altitude progression anywhere on earth. You can walk from subtropical rice terraces to 5,500 m passes in ten days, sleeping in tea houses the whole way, and never carry a tent. That accessibility is exactly what makes it dangerous: altitude does not care how fit you are, and the trekking infrastructure makes it easy to gain height far faster than you should.

At a glance

Reference facts for planning Nepal.

Capital

Kathmandu

Currency

Nepalese rupee (NPR)

Language

Nepali (English common in trekking areas)

Drives on

the left

Plug type

C/D/M, 230V

Best time to visit

Where the good months sit, and why.

Months to think twice about: June to early September. The monsoon brings leeches, landslides, clouded-out views and flight cancellations into Lukla. Some regions, such as Upper Mustang, sit in rain shadow and stay viable.

Where to go

The places that justify the trip, and the guides we have written for them.

• Everest Base Camp

  Khumbu

  The classic twelve-day walk to 5,364 m, with a tea house every couple of hours and a small airstrip at the top of the region.

• Annapurna Circuit

  Annapurna

  Crosses a 5,416 m pass and moves from Hindu lowlands to Tibetan Buddhist high desert. Shorter now that roads reach further in.

• Langtang

  North of Kathmandu

  The best value trek in the country: glaciated valleys, a fraction of the crowds, and reachable by road from the capital.

• Upper Mustang

  Rain shadow north

  A restricted area requiring a special permit and a guide — a walled city, cave monasteries and a landscape that looks like Tibet.

Visas & entry

Almost everyone needs a tourist visa, but it is straightforward and available on arrival at Kathmandu airport and land borders.

• On-arrival tourist visas are issued for 15, 30 or 90 days. Bring passport photos and US dollars in cash for the fee.
• Online pre-application at the official immigration site saves significant queue time at the airport.
• Treks in restricted areas such as Upper Mustang require additional permits arranged through a registered agency.
• TIMS cards and conservation area permits are required for most trekking regions; check what applies to your route.

Use the official Nepal Department of Immigration website for the visa application; third-party agents charge for a service you can do yourself.

Daily budget

Rough per-person costs, excluding international flights.

• Tea house costs rise with altitude — a plate of dal bhat can cost several times more at 4,500 m than in the lowlands.
• A guide or porter is not legally required on most classic treks but materially improves safety, route-finding and the local economics of your trip.
• Trekking permits typically total US$50–100 depending on region.
• Kathmandu itself is inexpensive; the trek is where the money goes.

Recommended routes

Three ways to structure a trip, depending on how much time you have.

Getting around

Domestic flights to Lukla, Pokhara and Jomsom save days but are frequently delayed by weather — always keep buffer days before an international flight. Tourist buses and private jeeps cover the road network slowly. Within trekking regions you walk; there are no roads in most of the high country.

Safety & hazards

Acute mountain sickness is the dominant risk and it is entirely manageable if you respect it. Climb no more than 300–500 m of sleeping altitude per day above 3,000 m, take a rest day every 1,000 m, and know the symptoms: headache, nausea, dizziness and loss of appetite. The correct response to worsening symptoms is to descend — descending a few hundred metres often resolves it within hours.

Nepal guides

Long-form guides published for this destination.