So, Finally writing the Part 1 of my much awaited blog series from the Nepal Trip| May’17. This blog is completely about the trip planning, dos & don’ts, what to expect, the expenses, how to reach and all the – Before the Trip Details.
Lets get started.
Why Nepal?
Often, when we try to plan an international trip we lookout for places like Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia, Euro Trip and more popular places of similar kind. Places like Nepal, Bhutan, Vietnam or Tibet don’t usually top the list.
When I was planning,
I wanted to go to an International Location that was – 1. Not Super Expensive, 2. Had a better weather as compared to the Delhi Heat, 3. Had a diversity of experiences to offer since I was looking for exploration and not a specific experience & 4. No Visa Expenses
The 3rd Point made Nepal the clear winner.
Nepal has some of the most diverse experiences to offer to anyone who visits- If you are a nature lover, If you are an adventure sport lover or just want a casual hike, Whether you love photographing Scenery & landscapes or If you like capturing portraits, If you are looking for a peaceful retreat or If you are looking for some crazy parties. Whether you like the Mountains, or you want to walk under the sun in a forest. Nepal literally offers everything.
When is the Best time to Travel to Nepal?
However you can visit it really anytime of the year and find your part of adventure, but if you are visiting especially for the adventure sports & the super famous treks ( The ABC & The EBC ) – The best time to visit is (Oct-Nov) when the skies are clear and you get a very good view of the mountains & a good weather to hike too.
- I was super lucky that the Skies were Clear! Even in March!
I visited in March which is as per the locals the second best time to visit. But Honestly, this was the only time I had before my Job started so I went ahead.
So make sure you plan your visit at a time when it is safe to trek and when you can get the best of all the experiences that Nepal offers.
Pro Packing Tips. What all to carry?
Okay, I didn’t go super right about packing decisions. Hence the best person to recommend. Haha.
Tip 0.
Get a really nice and sturdy and comfortable Bag. Even though I went wrong on a lot of over packing, my bag was really epic and didn’t feel like a lot of weight carrying it around.
Along with a Main Bag – Carry 1 Small Bag + 1 side Pouch = To make your daily expeditions super easy and fun. Side Pouch for all the money matter and your Passport.
1. Pack Light – You really don’t need a lot of stuff, Make sure you think of each and everything you are keeping and if you will need it, or if it can be easily bought when needed.
You don’t need to carry an Umbrella for sure 😛 and Not a 1 kg Steve Jobs Biography.
2. Carry copies of your Passport & a Bunch of passport size photographs. This will be needed at check-ins, cyber cafes and most importantly to get a sim-card. Something I learnt after being denied all of these at the first go.
3. Carry Additional Memory & Hard drive, Carry a Notebook & a Pen – You ll often have to keep or note down a lot of stuff. Also, carry your meds along with the prescriptions.
4. If you own a Raincoat & one for your bag, Keep it. Protecting your luggage and keeping yourself dry on a trek/hike is super crucial. You can easily buy it off from a Shop at a good price too. I got a really nice deal in Pokhara.
5. Carry just 1 thick jacket instead of a lot of Winter Clothes, and apart from that prefer to keep the clothing really light, that is when you are planning to hit the road more often than chilling in a guesthouse.
Everything else is just the basics that you would do in any other trip.
How to Get in? Legally, obviously.
VISA?
Indian nationals do not require visa to enter Nepal. As per the Nepalese Immigration, Indian Nationals Traveling to Nepal must posses some ID Proof. Find List of IDs Here.
Mode Of Transport?
So, for anyone travelling from India there are a lot of economic options to enter Nepal via Road or You can simply book a flight and leave.
I am linking a very useful blog here that I refered while planning my trip. India to Nepal. However I took a flight since I planned my trip in super advance and got a really nice deal. And I was really excited about taking an international flight.
Kathmandu is the only international airport in Nepal. You can fly into Kathmandu by various international airlines that connect Kathmandu to India.
If you want to fly (and get some awesome Himalayan views), Delhi to Kathmandu is the least expensive route by air to Nepal.
Pro Tip: Book an early morning flight to catch a really pretty view of the Himalayas, I missed it while going, so ensured the same on my Return Journey.
About the airlines, Royal Nepal Airlines is the national airlines of Nepal. However there exist super mixed reviews about it, but I had a really nice experience. The flight was comfortable, very nice hospitality and really epic flight food.
Also, Random Trivia: Nepal Clock is 15 mins ahead of India.
How to Plan you trip?
Based on the number of days you have for the Trip you can make a very sorted plan to cover as many amazing places in Nepal. I went with a One-Way Ticket only and ended up spending 21 days ( 3 long weeks ) in the place and still had so much more that I wanted to try.
Decide the purpose of your trip and then plan the schedule. I did a 21 day trip as I just wanted to live in a different place, crash at any random place, roam around in the streets clicking photos, and just purely explore.
I spent a lot of time, over a month in advance to find anything and everything that interests me including the most random of the places just to see if I can fit them in a plan once I reach there.
Google maps allows this great feature to plan a trip my dropping Pins, this helped me identify clusters of places that I want to visit.
A lot of Nepal attractions are actually split East & West of Kathmandu – The capital city. I did the East half last year, and will definitely go back for the West Half.
So I identified 4 clusters,
1. In and Around Kathmandu
2. Pokhara
3. Chitwan
4. Lumbini
Which I will separately write about in Part 2.0 of this Blog.
The Balance
Something I guess which happened right in the first shot for me was the balance between how much to plan and book in advance & how much to leave as an adventure.
I only pre-booked my first accommodation for 2 days because I knew soon after that I can go out and find a place that might be better or just a different experience.
Same about my intercity travels, I figured catching an inter city commute is super easy and one can really walk up to the counter and get a seat on the bus, So I did not make a very hard and fast schedule of when I travel to which city. In fact 2 of the 4 times I just decided to leave for the next city next morning, because I realized I had seen almost everything on my list and had explored a decent bit too.
In fact 😛 I booked my return from Nepal to India only from my 2nd-last city when I had got a very good understanding of how my travel was figuring out and how much more time would be just right for me.
So yeah, do maintain this balance, don’t pre-book everything or plan every minute of everyday because then you might not be able to enjoy the openness & freeness of wandering around.
Accommodation in Nepal?
Now that you have reached Nepal, where to stay?
Well, Nepal as of now is really booming with Tourism and you can literally walk around and find a nice and affordable place to stay.
The multiple options to find a place to rest your bum can be:-
1. Zostel / Hostel World / Airbnb – I stayed in 3 of them myself and literally had an amazing experience meeting so many people and fellow travelers to chill with.
I booked all 3 via. Hostel World.
These hostels offer bed and breakfast and also have knowledge about the things to do, hence making your trip a really good experience. Also, the nice thing – You can read the reviews and get a fair idea of what the place offers, what to be careful with, and also allows you to make a booking in time leaving you with less of a worry.
( more in the itinerary blog )
2. Walk-in Cottages – As I said about the tourism on a rise, a lot of people have started making arrangements for an overnight stay for people who just want to crash for the night before leaving for the next stop.
3. Home Stay – This is a not to miss option, if you are able to make a really good native friend, who offers you a home-stay. Nothing like it. You get to stay with a Nepalese family and get to see their lifestyle so closely. And Nepalese people, as per my experience are really nice, helpful and leave no stone unturned when it comes to hospitality.
I got a chance to stay with a Native, he helped me so much in making this trip the experience that it was. He also cooked a very special farewell lunch on the day of my departure which was just the perfect ending.
Currency?
Okay. Super Important. So the crazy nice thing about Nepal – We have a higher exchange rate, Meaning: A rupee here is 1.6 rupees in Nepal.
The currency there is NR – Nepalese Rupee, however the currency is closed and you can only find it once you are in Nepal. Also, INR used to work in Nepal sometime ago, but thanks to demonetization- people have stopped trusting the currency and very rarely people will accept it.
However, you can exchange the money at a Bank – But 500s, even the new ones are very restricted and would recommend carrying only 100s & 50s.
I had some 500s too, but I was super lucky that a few people outside the bank understood the issue and were engineering students who were so happy & impressed to know that I was from IIT and hence agreed to exchange money.
Or if you have any contact in Nepal, transfer money online to them & get cash in Nepal. I made a couple of Indian Friends with an Indian Bank Account- So I just sent money via UPI & got NR from them, they really became my saviors as my card stopped working.
Also, you can withdraw money from ATMs and all globalized & Especially SBI Cards work well, however they levy a 500NR Charge per transaction.
Another easy way could actually be to carry USD i.e. dollars when you plan to visit and that can be easily exchanged at any local money exchange shops and even at the airport.
Hope this makes your money matters sorted.
How much to Carry?
Just to give a rough sense, I was able to manage a 21 days trip along with 2 flights, 4 inter-city travels, stay, food, souvenir shopping, lot of expeditions including jungle safari and trekking, and a decent amount of Drinking night-outs in 41,000 INR.
Nepal is not an expensive place at all, however there is no MRP Concept too 😛 You can literally find the same things at super variable prices. I will talk about the detailed expenses in Blog 2.0
But in general some advice & tips would be:
1. Set a daily budget for Stay based on your comfort and affordability. Look for places that offer Bed + Breakfast since that would be your go to meal before starting the day.
2. While looking for a place to stay, try to see its distance from all the major attractions that you want to visit in that city, and how easily can you get the local transport from there.
3. Have a basic sense check of the Adventure Sports / Experiences that you want to buy out and plan your budget according to that. Like I knew I wanted to go for a Trek, Paragliding, Jungle Walk & Jungle Safari. So I summed up their approx Price while deciding my budget.
In general, I had a lot of time, and time is money. So I just spent time instead of money on a lot of travel / experiences. Walking endlessly to reach places that I wanted to visit, Finding nice cheap hidden places to eat than find some fancy restaurant and feast.
And as I said, Net-Net Nepal is not an expensive place to visit.
Local Transport in Nepal?
Okay, So since you are here to travel, you will have to go to a lot of places and that would mean a decent Commute Budget, Right?
Well, Partially only.
Firstly, If you have time on your hand, go ahead Walk – Walk a lot. A concept I developed, you miss as much as 3 moments/10 minutes when you chose to take a transport instead of walking. Roaming in the streets is one of the best way to explore a place.
ProTip: Download your Maps for Offline Use, Also in Nepal, another app: Maps.Me comes in much more useful than Google Maps. These have a lot of detail and are super precise.
For most of your local commutes within a city- the city bus or renting a cycle / bike can be super economic. I mostly used the city bus which was decent active and made it easier to reach popular places. Also, it introduced me to some really lit music. Listen Thamel Bazaar & Kale Dai.
For the Inter-City Travel, a lot of buses ( Sleeper & Seater ) Ply between all major tourist routes. I used the same too, So my route was – Kathmandu – Pokhara – Chitwan – Lumbini – Kathmandu and I was very easily able to find comfortable and affordable buses between all these cities.
Food in Nepal?
Just a brief note on this one, the actual drool-worthy list is saved for the Blog 2.0
So in Nepal, the staple food that you will find and might also end up having quite often is Daal Bhaat: Which is like a meal plate with Daal & Rice along with some dry sabzi.
So be happy all you veg lovers 🙂
For the Non-Veg lovers, there is a lot of variety for you too, also you might find a lot more Buff Meat than your regular chicken meat.
However, meal timings in Nepal are a bit different.
Most people have super early breakfast that is Tea + Bread / Doughnut ( Desi ) which they have at around 6 or 6.30. And the heavy meal which is actually Breakfast + Lunch combined is at around 1 when all restaurants are full prepared with the Meals & the famous Daal-Bhaat.
It is slightly difficult to find proper lunch in late afternoon and only fast food joints would be an option. Evenings usually include Momos & Sekuwa as the most popular snack. Dinner happens at the regular time i.e 8.30 – 9pm and you will find a pretty good variety at any place you go. Thukpas, Noodles, Rice Bowls, lot of Non-Veg Curries etc.
In a summary, you will have a good time trying the food in Nepal, and there will be something or the other that you will find and like for yourself.
Language & People in Nepal?
Okay, So this is actually a concern when travelling to a foreign land. But honestly, people in Nepal are so nice. I came across really helpful people, soft spoken and super welcoming. Could be my luck but all were really nice people. And given the number of tourists that actually visit Nepal, people are used to having around and helping strangers.
About the language, a lot of Nepalese is similar to Hindi and you can somewhat understand if not speak fluently. And that is just fine to keep you going. And having said that, one of five people will definitely understand if you want to ask something.
Apart from the Nepalese native people, you will find a lot of solo / group travelers in Nepal and you will definitely have someone to talk to and enjoy with 🙂 I myself met people from over 10 different nationalities and backgrounds who have made my trip all the more memorable.
Writing this blog makes me miss that time of my life soo much. ❤ And now, having talked about Travel – Money – Accommodation – Food – Local Commute – Language & People. I guess the only stuff left is what all to visit and try, in the amazing land of Nepal.
I will next cover a detailed itinerary in the Part 2.0 of this series.
Hope this one helped and gave you some understanding if you were planning to visit Nepal.
Leave a comment if you want to add something or if you liked the post.
Super excited to write the Part 2.0 😀
Stay Tuned.
Molabocha 
Nice post Harshit!!
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