Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal
Area: 147,181sq km
Population: 29,519,114
Population density: 184 per sq km
Capital: Kathmandu
Area: 147,181sq km
Population: 29,519,114
Population density: 184 per sq km
Capital: Kathmandu
Nepal country information
Passport & visa | Getting there | Cycling & maps | Cost of living | Accommodation | Food | Bike shops | Climate | Distances
Passport & Visa
| Passport Required? | |
|---|---|
| British | Yes |
| Australian | Yes |
| Canadian | Yes |
| USA | Yes |
| Other EU | Yes |
| Visa Required? | |
| British | Yes |
| Australian | Yes |
| Canadian | Yes |
| USA | Yes |
| Other EU | Yes |
Passports
Valid passport required by
all nationals referred to in the chart above.
Visas
Required by all nationals
referred to in the chart above except transit
passengers continuing their journey by the same
or first connecting aircraft on the same day
provided holding valid onward or return documentation
and not leaving the airport.
Visa Note
(a) All nationals
referred to in the chart above may obtain tourist
visas on arrival at the airport or (note
tour.tk) at any land border. (b)
Business can be conducted on a Tourist visa for
up to 30 days. (c) Nationals not referred to in
the chart above are advised to contact the embassy
to check visa requirements.
Types of Visa and Cost
Tourist:
£20 (single-entry); £15 (multiple-entry valid
for 15 days); £25 (multiple-entry valid for 30
days); £60 (multiple-entry valid for
90 days). Business: applications can
be made on arrival which need to be approved by
the Ministry of Industry.
Validity
Visas are
valid for up to six months from date of issue.
Visas are valid for 60 days on first visit to
Nepal in a visa year (1 January - 31 December),
but only valid for 30 days when national is visiting
Nepal for the second or more time in a visa year. Visas
may be extended in Nepal at the Department of
Immigration, Kathmandu (tel: 494 273 or 337),
or the Immigration Office, Pokhara. Maximum stay
in Nepal is 150 days in any calendar year. For
full conditions on visa extension (including charges
and conditions), contact the consulate (or consular
section at embassy).
Applications to:
Consulate (or consular section
at embassy). Visas can also be obtained on arrival
from the Immigration authorities at all entry
points (with fees payable in US Dollars) provided
travellers are in possession of valid travel
documents, two passport photos and the relevant
fee. Applications for business visas must be
made to the Department of Immigration (see above
under Validity for contact details).
Working Days Required
Minimum 24 hours if applying
in person; two weeks if applying by post.
Note tour.tk: Visa
obtainable at any land border at the cost of $30.
Valid for 90 days.
If you leave Nepal after a stay of longer than
15 days in a Nepalese visa year (January to December),
you can re-enter the country and get a 30 day
visa free of charge. Valid as of January 2008
Getting there
Getting There by Air
The national airline is Royal
Nepal Airlines (RA) (website:
www.royalnepal.com
).
Approximate Flight Times
From London to
Kathmandu 11 hours.
Main Airports
Kathmandu
(KTM) (Tribhuvan) (website:
www.tiairport.com.np
) is 5.5km (3.5 miles) east of the city (journey
time - 20 minutes). To/from the airport:
Buses and taxis to the city are available. Facilities:
Bank/bureau de change, duty-free shop, post
office, refreshments and tourist information.
Departure Tax
Rs791 for
international flights to Bangladesh, Bhutan,
India, the Maldives, Pakistan and Sri Lanka; Rs1,695
for flights to all other countries. Children under
two years are exempt.
Getting There by Rail
Two stretches
of the Indian Railway (website:
www.indianrail.gov.in
) line run to the border with Nepal, but only
one is serviced with a passenger train. Tourists
can't cross the border by train, but cycle-rickshaws
are available for onward journeys.
Getting There by Road
Kathmandu
is connected with India and Tibet by several picturesque
highways.
Note tour.tk: many roads in Nepal are in a state of disrepair, especially around Kathmandu.
Bus: A great number of services operate from all border points to Kathmandu and can be booked locally. However, during the monsoon season, landslides can often make border points impassable. Visitors are permitted to drive their own cars provided they are in possession of an international carnet. For information on how to obtain an international carnet, visitors should contact their national Automobile Association.
Note tour.tk: many roads in Nepal are in a state of disrepair, especially around Kathmandu.
Bus: A great number of services operate from all border points to Kathmandu and can be booked locally. However, during the monsoon season, landslides can often make border points impassable. Visitors are permitted to drive their own cars provided they are in possession of an international carnet. For information on how to obtain an international carnet, visitors should contact their national Automobile Association.
Note
All visitors
entering Nepal by land must use one of the following
entry points. From India - Sunauli, between Raxaul
Bazaar and Birgan, Kakarbhitta and Mahendranagar.
From China - Kodari. If entering overland by car,
an international carnet is required (enquire at
embassy for details).
Cycling & Maps
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 Himalaya: Tibet Kashmir Nepal Sikim Bhutanby Nelles Maps scale 1:1 500 000 |
Cost of living
Nepal: all prices in Nepalese
Rupees(NPR)
| drinks and snacks | food: local markets; restaurants; and stores | ||||
| water |
1 litre 1 litre 200ml 600ml 1.5 litre |
15- 20 110 16 32 72 |
bread loaf-white bread loaf-whole grain |
600g 750g |
40 50 |
| chowmein / fried rice |
per serve |
25-35 20-40 40-50 50-80 |
|||
| beer wine |
650ml bottle 750ml bottle |
110-160 350+ |
|||
| tea (chai) tea (chai) coffee filter coffee Nescafe instant |
cup pot cup 500g 125g jar |
20 400 250 |
|||
| rice pasta eggs tinned tomatoes |
kg |
100 50 |
|||
| milk yoghurt / curd cheese Magnum Icecream |
1 litre each |
40 | potatoes onions tomatoes green beans |
kg kg kg kg |
|
| cornflakes chips samosa roasted peanuts |
56-65g packet each sm/med/large |
3-6 5 / 10 / 15 |
|||
| apples oranges mandarins bananas (big) bananas (small) |
kg kg kg per dozen per dozen |
25-40 20-25 10-15 |
|||
| donuts chocolate biscuits (simple) biscuits (cream) |
each 100g block packet packet |
5 |
|||
| pineapple (can) oil (corn) |
500g 500ml |
||||
| peanut paste honey |
500g jar 360g |
||||
| accommodation | personal | ||||
| budget city hostel budget city hotel |
100 per dorm bed 350 double with ensuite |
deodorant roll-on soap shampoo toothbrush toothpaste disposable razor toilet paper |
50ml 150g 200ml each 100ml 5 pack small roll |
160 30 120 45 30 |
|
| camping | possible but accomodation is really cheap, especially outside of major cities | ||||
| internet-Kathmandu internet-tourist resort |
25 per hour 100 per hour |
||||
| *
tba = price to be announced * January 2009: at time of writing 1.00 USD = 79.20 NPR all prices have been taken from internet resources such as wikitravel, hostel world, leading supermarket chains, travel blogs, forums and of course our own travel experiences and purchases of everyday products in food markets, bazaars and local shopping facilities. They are only an indication and designed to give you a general impression of the cost of living in Nepal. Items are geared towards the budget conscious traveller with an occasional craving for a bit of luxury. |
Source:www.exchange-rates.org |
Accommodation
| Acommodation we used while in Nepal (January 2008): (prices based on two people sharing) | ||||
| Star system explained: from 0 to ***** where 0 is a total disaster and ***** is luxurious (and out of our price range) | ||||
| City / town: | Name accommodation: | Our experience: | Price: | Stars: |
| Bartung | Hotel Deepak | beautiful people, very basic | NPR 150 | ** |
| Bhalubang | Hotel Hamro | standard | NPR 250 | *½ |
| Butwal | Hotel Royal | better than nothing | NPR 400 | * |
| Daman | Gakri Shankar Hotel & Lodge | lovely people | NPR 200 | ** |
| Hetauda | Hotel Avocado | overpriced | NPR 400 | * |
| Kathamndu | Yellow House | nice & warm (not the rooms) | NPR 300 | *** |
| Kohalpur | Hotel Danfe | basic room, good food | NPR 200 | *½ |
| Kusum | home stay | a table as a bed | NPR 100 | ½ |
| Mahendranagar | Hotel Sweet Dream | big basic clean & airy room | NPR 500 | *** |
| Mugling | Hotel Matchapuchare | hot shower | NPR 300 | **½ |
| Naubise | Heera Hotel & Lodge | grotty room, ok food | NPR 200 | * |
| Pokhara | Giri Guesthouse | 13 in a dozen | NPR 325 | *½ |
| Sauraha | Nature Safari Camp | basic bungalow | NPR 150 | *½ |
| Sukhad | Navaratana Lodge | grotty box, but friendly people | NPR 100 | * |
| Thakurdwara | Bardia Jungle Cottage | beautiful setting near Bardia NP | NPR 200 | **½ |
| Waling | Staff Hotel & Lodge | great find, good restaurant | NPR 300 | *** |
Useful links:
www.kathmandu-overland.com Katmandu resources
www.ktmgh.com Kathmandu Guest House
www.hotelhorizon.com Hotel Horizon
www.encounternepal.com Hotel Encounter Nepal
Bike shops
| Kathmandu | Dawn Till Dusk **
Thamel Mall, Jyatha Shop no. 42/43 PO Box 19375 Kathmandu, Nepal tel. 4252446 / 4279062 mob. 9841531117 website: 
www.nepalbiking.com |
Our experience:
first off: GREAT. very good prices, good customer
service and lots of parts. We had our bikes serviced
here for the first time in three years... Had
all our wheels done, new crank set, cassette and
seat for Son, new pedals for us both, brakes,
wires etc, etc. And a very thorough clean as well!
But: the wheel building was not that good... we
found out later. Almost all our spokes broke when
we were in South-East and East-Asia and we had
the redo the back wheels when we were in Canada
and the US. I just think the shop didn't have
the right tools (spokes) for that particular job
(cycling around the world with a heavy load).
But we would still recommend Dawn till Dusk for
all the other work. |
|
Road distances
| Detailed distance chart from our trip through Nepal 2008 | |||
Mahendra- Siddharta-
Prithvi- Tribhuvan Highway |
as cycled by us (altitude in brackets) | km |
total
km |
| Gaddachauki (border with India, Banbasa) | Mahendranagar | 5 |
5 |
| Mahendranagar | Atariya | 42 |
47 |
| Atariya | Sukhad | 46 |
93 |
| Sukhad | Lamki | 20 |
113 |
| Lamki | Chisapani | 14 |
127 |
| Chisapani | Bardia NP turn-off | 18 |
145 |
| Bardia NP turn-off | Thakurdwara | 13 |
158 |
| Thakurdwara | Mahendra Highway Bardia NP turn-off | 13 |
171 |
| Mahendra Highway Bardia NP turn-off | Kohalpur | 60 |
231 |
| Kohalpur | Kusum | 59 |
290 |
| Kusum | Ryar | 33 |
323 |
| Ryar | Lamahi | 21 |
344 |
| Lamahi | Bhalubang | 26 |
380 |
| Bhalubang | Saddle Point (595) | 14 |
394 |
| Saddle Point | Chanauta | 21 |
415 |
| Chanauta | Gorusinge | 18 |
433 |
| Gorusinge | Butwal | 48 |
481 |
| Butwal (326) | Bartung (1209) | 35 |
|
| Bartung | Ramdi (497) | 26 |
61 |
| Ramdi | Galyan (829) | 15 |
76 |
| Galyan | Waling (856) | 18 |
94 |
| Waling | Syangja (940) | 26 |
120 |
| Syangja | Pass (1284) | 21 |
141 |
| Pass | Pokhara (860) | 17 |
158 |
| Pokhara | Duleguanda (590) | 27 |
|
| Duleguanda | Dumauli (422) | 26 |
53 |
| Dumauli | Pass (748) | 11 |
64 |
| Pass | Dumre (515) | 7 |
71 |
| Dumre | Khaireni (415) | 16 |
87 |
| Khaireni | Mugling (385) | 8 |
95 |
| Mugling | Naryangath | 37 |
|
| Naryangath | Tandi | 13 |
50 |
| Tandi | Sauraha (289) | 7 |
57 |
| Sauraha | Tandi | 7 |
64 |
| Tandi | Manahari (400) | 35 |
99 |
| Manahari | Hetauda (595) | 30 |
129 |
| Hetauda | Bhainse (731) | 11 |
|
| Bhainse | Chuniya (1257) | 12 |
23 |
| Chuniya | Lamidanda (1469) | 6 |
29 |
| Lamidanda | Lover's Chair (1896) | 8 |
37 |
| Lover's Chair | Aghor (2078) | 6 |
43 |
| Aghor | Simbhanjyan (2488) | 10 |
53 |
| Simbhanjyan | Daman (2293) | 3 |
56 |
| Daman | Palung (1819) | 9 |
65 |
| Palung | yellow bridge (lowest point @ 1743) | 2 |
67 |
| yellow bridge | Tistung pass (2030) | 9 |
76 |
| Tistung pass | Naubise (959) | 31 |
107 |
| Naubise | Thankot pass (1505) | 13 |
|
| Thankot pass | Thankot (1450) | 2 |
15 |
| Thankot | Kathmandu (1331) | 12 |
27 |
| All above mentioned towns have some sort of accommodation (except the ones in Italic (or we didn't see any in that particular town), be it a 100Rs room in somebody's house (Kusum), or a 300Rs hotel room with attached bathroom and cable tv (Staff Hotel & Lodge, Waling) | |||
| other distances (not travelled by us) | from a Nepalese road sign (reliable!) | ||
| Naubise | Mugling | 83 | |
