How much does it costs to go to Nepal? Is Nepal cheap to visit? How much budget do I need to travel through Nepal? To help you out, we made a complete cost breakdown of our travel budget for 3 weeks in Nepal, including a summary of all our costs & expenses. By sharing this information we hope it can help you with planning your own trip to Nepal. If any information is missing, please let us know in the comments below. We’d love to hear from you!
Read also: Nepal in 3 weeks: travel itinerary + tips
Budget Nepal: before you read on
Let’s start by saying that Nepal is a very cheap destination to travel through. You have plenty of lovely hotels that are extremely affordable, the food is very cheap and if you go to Nepal for hiking you don’t pay much extra for activities.
We divided our travel budget for 3 weeks in Nepal into 5 categories: accommodations, transport, food & drinks, activities & others like SIM-cards, visas, and tips. Most of our budget goes to activities and food, but that’s typical of us. We love to experience, do as many things as possible (kind of FOMO-problem) and try to enjoy every day a healthy plant-based meal. In terms of accommodations, we love to stay in charming, trendy, and unique accommodations all in a budget-friendly way. Let’s say we could put ourselves somewhere between budget and mid-range travelers.
What’s not included in our travel budget for Nepal
- International flights – we came from Kuala Lumpur and paid $410 per person (return tickets)
- Travel insurance – World Nomads
- Purchase of our backpacks and camera bags
Read also: Best websites to find the cheapest flights
Accommodations in Nepal- 22 Days – $ 431 (Total for 2 persons)
Accommodations in Nepal are quite cheap. We use standard Booking.com to find and book cheap places to stay. During the trekkings in the mountains, our guide helped us out to book some teahouses that were run by local families. We upgraded twice to enjoy some more luxury: once in Chitwan National Park (Sapana Village Lodge, a beautiful safari lodge) and once in Nagarkot (Hotel Country Villa, because of the views).
Money-saving tip: use this link to save up to $45 on your first booking on Airbnb
- 14 nights in hotels – average $22/night
- 6 nights in teahouses – average $6/night
- 1 night in a guesthouse – average $16/night
- 1 night in a luxury hotel – average $71/night
Read also: Where to stay in Nepal: our favorite accommodations
Transport in Nepal – 22 Days – $ 196 (total for 2 persons)
In Nepal, it’s super easy to travel by local transport. There are tourist buses going from Kathmandu to almost everywhere in Nepal and they are super comfortable too. When you arrive at your next stop, you easily take a taxi to your hotel which is super affordable too. The only type of transport which is more expensive, are the jeeps that take you to the starting point of the trekkings. The roads up to the mountains are in an extremely bad condition which makes it almost impossible to reach with local buses. Before you book your hike, doublecheck if the transport is included or not. Below we listed the number and some examples of the prices we paid for transport in Nepal.
- 8 buses
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- Tourist bus from Kathmandu to Pohkara – Rs 800 ($7) per person
- Tourist bus from Pokhara to Chitwan – Rs 700 ($6) per person
- Local bus from Bhaktapur to Nagarkot – Rs 60 ($0,6) per person
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- 6 taxis
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- Taxi from Airport to Kathmandu – Thamel – Rs 700 ($6) per person
- Taxi from Kathmandu to Bhaktapur – Rs 1000 ($ 8,7) per person
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- 4 jeeps
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- From Pohkara to the start of our Mardi Himal Trek – Rs 3000/Jeep ($25)
- From Kimche to Pohkara after our Poon Hill Trek – Rs 4000/Jeep ($35)
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Food & drinks in Nepal – 22 Days – $ 648 (total for 2 persons)
We went out for breakfast, lunch, and dinner almost all the time in Nepal. We had breakfast included in most of the hotels we stayed at and during our trekkings, we had super cheap and local food at the teahouses. In big cities like Pokhara and Kathmandu is it very easy to find good restaurants with plant-based and healthy food.
- Eating out – $581 or $26 per day
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- Acai Bowl – Rs 400 ($3,5)
- Hummus plate – Rs 240 ($2)
- Rainbow salad – Rs 330 ($2,8)
- Vegan Pasta Bolognese – Rs 370 ($3,2)
- Beer – Rs 220 ($2,1)
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- Groceries – $66
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- Purify tablets to drink safe water at all times – Rs 200 for 50 tablets ($1,7)
- Snacks for during our trekkings – Rs 480 for a box of 8 mountain bars ($4)
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Excursions and activities in Nepal – 22 Days – $ 787 (total for 2 persons)
Most people go to Nepal to hike or trek into the Himalayan mountains, but there are so many more things to do. That’s also the reason why Nepal is a perfect destination for every type of traveler.
- The Swayambhunath Stupa or the Monkey Temple entrance fee – Rs 200 ($1,7) per person
- Entrance fee of Boudhanath Stupa, one of the holiest sites in the world Rs 400 ($3,1) per person
- Kathmandu Durbar Square fee – Rs 800 ($6,5) per person
- Entrance fee of the UNESCO World Heritage City of Bhaktapur – Rs 1500 ($13) per person
- 4D/3N Mardi Himal Trek – $166 for guide and permits
- 4D/3N Poon Hill Trek – $166 for guide and permits
- Jeep Safari in Chitwan NP – $149 per person
- A morning jungle walk – $45 per person
- A guided Tharu village tour – $8 per person
Read also: Must do: Poon Hill Trek in Nepal
Trekking gear for hiking in Nepal – 22 Days – $ 275 (total for 2 persons)
As we are traveling around the world and we didn’t have any trekking gear with us, we needed to buy or rent most of it. We did this in Kathmandu and Pokhara where you have many cheap trekking gear shops. Below you find a list of the gear we bought and the prices we paid.
Mik
- 1 x hiking pants – Rs 1800 ($15)
- a thermal pants – Rs 1400 ($12)
- 1 x dry fit long sleeve shirt – 1400 ($12)
- 1 x dry-fit shirt – Rs 1200 ($10)
- fleece jacket- Rs 1800 ($15)
- a pair of gloves – Rs 300 ($2,5)
- 2 pair of socks – Rs 125 ($1,1)
- 1 pair of hiking shoes – Rs 4000 ($35) and sold for Rs 2500 because we didn’t used them
Valerie
- 1 x hiking pants – Rs 1800 ($15)
- a thermal pants – Rs 1800 ($15)
- a thermal shirt – Rs 2800 ($25)
- 1 x dry fit long sleeve – Rs 1800 ($15)
- 2 x dry-fit shirts – Rs 1600/shirt ($14)
- fleece jacket – Rs 1800 ($15)
- a buf – Rs 150 ($1,3)
- 1 pair of gloves – Rs 300 ($2,5)
- 2 pair of socks – Rs 125 ($1,1)
- 1 x jacket Patagonia – Rs 5500 ($48)
- 1 pair of hiking shoes – Rs 4000 ($35) and sold for Rs 2500 because we didn’t use them
Read also: Nepal: everything you need to know
Other expenses in Nepal – 22 Days – $ 142 (total for 2 persons)
- Visa – We applied for a 30-day visa and paid $50 per person
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- 15 days – $30
- 30 days – $50
- 90 days – $125
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Check here the visa costs for your own country
- SIM-cards & data package from “NCell” (30days) – Rs 2000 ($17) for 16GB + 16 min calls to the same provider and we topped up with a 7-day package – Rs 300 for 4GB per person.
- Souvenirs & tips – $23
Total expenses for 3 weeks in Nepal – 22 Days – $ 2478 (total for 2 persons)
We traveled 22 days in Nepal and spent $2478 in total for both of us, which is an average daily budget of around $56 per person. Excursions and food were our biggest costs as we mentioned before and these costs increased the total travel budget for our trip to Nepal.
Now you’ve seen our travel budget in Nepal, you might be ready to go. The following websites can help you plan the perfect trip:
- Skyscanner to book the best and cheapest flights
- Booking.com to book your accommodation
- Lonely Planet to purchase a detailed Nepal travel guide
- TourRadar to join one of the amazing group tours
- TripAdvisor to read reviews and find great excursions
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