Nepal Visa, Passport and Money Advice

If you’ve got a valid British passport, you can obtain a tourist visa for Nepal from either the UK consulate or on arrival at Kathmandu’s Tribhuvan airport (or other major arrival points in Nepal). Make sure you’ve got 2 passport size photos with you and have completed a visa application form. Visas are usually valid for 30-60 days and visa information is changeable, so please check with the consulate or FCO for latest entry requirements.

To offer a useful service, we’ve teamed up with The Visa Machine – a professional visa service who can guide you though the process and take care of lodging and collecting your passport.

If you’re venturing out into the mountains on a trek during your Nepal holiday, you’ll need to apply for a trekking permit. By issuing these permits, the Nepalese immigration office can monitor the number of people out on a trek at any given time. Permits are arranged by our local partners and the costs are included in your itinerary.

The currency in Nepal is the Nepali Rupee. We recommend taking some US dollars and Rupees in small denomination notes so you can use them in the smaller towns where you can’t use your credit card.

The main banks in Kathmandu and Pokhara all have cash machines and almost all of them accept major credit and debit cards. Of course when you’re off trekking you won’t find any cash points!  Smaller banks such as the Himalaya Bank also have cash machines, though we would recommend only using theses machines during bank opening hours so as not to run the risk of losing your card if the system crashes.

While travelling in Nepal, tipping is customary and much appreciated. In the cheaper hotels 5% or some loose change is sufficient, in more up-market establishments 10% is customary.  Please use your discretion for good service.