Practical

How this trip actually works

Visas, permits, guides, money, connectivity and altitude — written as a reference for anyone doing a Nepal and Bhutan trip in the post-monsoon season, not as a to-do list.

Reference
Figures late 2026

ON THIS PAGE Visas & entry Trekking permits Guides & agencies Flights & transfers Money Phone & data Luggage Health & altitude Season & festivals

Visas and entry

Nepal

Visa on arrival at Kathmandu for most nationalities, EU passports included. US$30 for 15 days, US$50 for 30, US$125 for 90.
Pay in cash. USD is cleanest; euros are accepted at a poor rate; card terminals are unreliable. Bring unfolded notes and don't expect change.
The application can be pre-filled online at the Department of Immigration site within 15 days of arrival. Print or screenshot the barcode — it turns the kiosk queue into a scan. Otherwise use the arrival-hall kiosks, half of which are usually broken, or the paper forms at the side, which are often faster.
Tourist visas are multiple-entry by default, so a side trip to Bhutan or India needs nothing extra. But the days run continuously from first entry, including the days you spend outside Nepal.
Budget 45–75 minutes from aircraft door to taxi off a wide-body.

Bhutan

Everyone needs a visa in advance (except Indian, Bangladeshi and Maldivian nationals), and it is applied for by your licensed tour operator — you cannot do it yourself. US$40, one-off.
The visa is issued against paid nights, so it arrives once the tour is paid. It states a window — "do not arrive before / after" — and the number of nights.
The Sustainable Development Fee is US$100 per person per night and is separate from what the tour costs. It is not optional and not refundable.
You are met at Paro and accompanied by a guide for the whole stay. Independent travel is not permitted.
Carry a printout. Bhutanese immigration is efficient and courteous, and the queue is short.

Trekking permits in the Annapurna region

Two things are checked on the Mardi Himal trail, and a third is collected on it.

What	Cost	Where	Status in 2026
ACAP Annapurna Conservation Area Permit	NPR 3,000	Nepal Tourism Board / NTNC offices — Damside (Pardi) in Pokhara, Bhrikutimandap in Kathmandu. Sun–Fri, roughly 09:00–17:00, closed Saturdays	Required and enforced. This is the one checked at every post
TIMS card Trekkers' Information Management System	NPR 1,000–2,000	Issued only through a registered trekking agency — you can no longer buy one over the counter	Not enforced on Annapurna routes. See below
Machhapuchhre Rural Municipality fee	NPR 500–3,500	Collected in cash at a checkpoint on the trail itself	Payable on the day; cannot be arranged in advance

The TIMS situation, as of late 2026

TIMS remains on the books, but on the core Annapurna routes — Base Camp, the Circuit, Poon Hill and Mardi Himal — checkpoints verify the ACAP permit and do not consistently ask for it. The mandatory-guide rule introduced in 2023 absorbed most of the tracking function TIMS was designed for, since every trekker is now tied to a registered agency and a licensed guide.

It still costs very little, and many agencies issue a group TIMS as a matter of course. It is still required and enforced in Langtang, Manaslu, Kanchenjunga and the far west — so don't generalise this to other regions.

Get the ACAP before the trailhead

If you reach a checkpoint without one it costs double — NPR 6,000 instead of 3,000 — and not every post can issue one; some only verify. That is a queue nobody wants at 09:30 on day one.

Buying it in Pokhara rather than Kathmandu is usually quicker: the Damside office is less besieged in high season, and processing takes under half an hour with documents in hand.

What the office needs

Passport: Original, or a scan if an agency is collecting for you
Photos: Two passport photos per person
Payment: Nepali rupees, cash
Itinerary: Route and dates

An agency can collect on your behalf with scans alone, which matters if you are arriving from abroad the day before you walk.

Guides, porters and agencies

A licensed guide is not optional

Since April 2023, foreign trekkers in Nepal's national parks and conservation areas — the Annapurna Conservation Area included — must be accompanied by a licensed guide or porter-guide engaged through a government-registered agency. Checkpoints ask. Penalties range from a fine to being turned back. Solo travel is still fine in the ordinary sense: you can come alone and walk at your own pace, but not unaccompanied.

The distinction that trips people up

A porter carries loads. A guide is licensed, and a porter-guide is a separate licence category that does both. Hiring your own porter — a friend, a local contact — is entirely legitimate and often the better outcome for the person concerned. It does not remove the guide requirement.

If the person you want to walk with holds a government trekking licence, he can fill both roles; he still has to be put on a registered agency's paperwork, but that is administration rather than a different human.

What things cost

Licensed guide: US$25–35 per day, including his own food and lodging
Porter: US$18–25 per day, carrying up to 20 kg
Teahouse, per person: NPR 3,500–5,000 per day for room and three meals
Jeep, Lumre to Pokhara or Sarangkot: NPR 1,500–2,500 per person shared, or NPR 6,000–9,000 for the whole jeep
Agency package, 5 days: Typically US$350–500 per person, all in

Choosing an agency, and checking it

Search results for "best trekking agency in Pokhara" are almost entirely the agencies' own marketing, so the useful signals are elsewhere:

A referral from an operator you already trust. Good Himalayan companies know their counterparts, and a recommendation carries their reputation with it.
A referral from someone who works on the trail. Guides and porters know exactly which agencies pay properly.
Verification. Check membership in the TAAN members directory, and ask directly for the company's Ministry of Tourism registration number, the guide's licence number, and confirmation that guide and porter are insured. A real agency answers all three in one reply.

Pokhara-based operators are typically 15–25% cheaper than Kathmandu ones for Annapurna treks, because there is no transfer leg in the price.

Tipping, and who it reaches

Around 10% of the trek cost is the Nepali norm, handed over on the last evening in cash, in an envelope. For a five-day trek reckon NPR 8,000–12,000 for a guide and NPR 5,000–7,000 for a porter, from a pair of trekkers together. Draw it before you go up — there is no cash machine above the trailhead.

In Bhutan, tipping is not required but has become part of the tourism culture: roughly US$10–20 per day for the guide and US$10 per day for the driver, given at the end.

Flights and transfers

Between Kathmandu and Pokhara

By road it is about 200 km on the Prithvi Highway: 6–8 hours by private car, more with lunch or a stop. We drive out on 6 October via Bandipur, halfway and 30 minutes off the highway, and don't fly back: on 14 October we take the bus to Chitwan, and on 16 October on from there to Kathmandu.
Tourist buses — Greenline and similar companies — run every morning from Pokhara to Sauraha (Chitwan) and from Sauraha to Kathmandu: departures around 07:00, roughly 5–7 hours each, with air conditioning and a lunch stop, for about US$10–15 per person. Book a day ahead, earlier in Dashain week, when everything fills up.
If you do want to fly: Buddha Air runs seventeen-plus daily rotations and has the best operational record among Nepali domestics; Yeti is the usual alternative and often US$10–20 cheaper. Foreigners pay a higher published fare than Nepalis — reckon US$90–125 one way for a 25–30 minute hop.
Flights use Pokhara International Airport, the newer field east of the lake, roughly 45 minutes from Sarangkot.
Baggage is 20 kg checked plus 5 kg hand. Excess runs NPR 100–150 per kilo, paid at the counter — cheap, but bring rupees.
Morning flights are the reliable ones. Cancellations for weather are routine and airlines rebook onto the next service, which is why any itinerary through Pokhara wants a spare day somewhere.

Connecting at Kathmandu

The international and domestic terminals are about 500 m apart — a 5–10 minute walk, or a free shuttle roughly every twenty minutes.
There is no airside connection: you exit, walk, and check in again from scratch. Domestic check-in closes 45–60 minutes before departure.
Allow two to three hours between an international arrival and a domestic departure. Immigration and baggage alone can take ninety minutes.
Departing internationally, three hours is right rather than two: multiple security screenings, manual checks and no jet bridges.

Ground transport, typical fares

Leg	Fare	Time
Kathmandu airport → Patan or Thamel	NPR 1,200–1,800	35–50 min
Kathmandu airport → Bhaktapur	NPR 1,200–1,800	45–60 min
Car and driver, valley temple circuit, full day	NPR 5,000–6,500	8–10 h
Kathmandu → Bandipur → Sarangkot, car and driver	US$120–180	~7 h + stops
Pokhara airport → Sarangkot	NPR 1,500–2,500	40–50 min
Tourist bus Pokhara → Sauraha (Chitwan)	US$10–15 pp	5–6 h
Tourist bus Sauraha → Kathmandu	US$10–15 pp	5–7 h
Kathmandu → Bhaktapur, taxi	NPR 1,200–1,800	30–45 min

Taxis have meters and nobody uses them: agree the fare first, or use Pathao or InDrive, which quote up front and remove the argument. Both need mobile data, which is one more reason to buy a SIM at the airport.

Money

Nepal

The Nepali rupee runs at roughly NPR 155–165 to the euro and NPR 135–140 to the dollar. It is pegged to the Indian rupee, so it moves with the INR.
Cash machines charge a flat fee of about NPR 500 and cap most withdrawals at NPR 35,000. Take the maximum each time rather than little and often. Nabil, Himalayan, Standard Chartered and NIC Asia are the dependable ones.
There are no cash machines and no card terminals on a trek. Draw everything beforehand: NPR 4,000–6,000 per person per day covers teahouse, drinks, hot showers, charging and the municipality fee, with tips on top. Small notes — nobody on a ridge can change a thousand.
Cards work in mid-range hotels, Lakeside and Thamel restaurants and larger shops, usually with a 3–4% surcharge.
Rupees cannot be converted outside Nepal. Spend them or change them before you fly, and keep exchange receipts if you want to reconvert at the airport.

Bhutan

The ngultrum is pegged one-to-one to the Indian rupee, and Indian rupees circulate freely — but not 500-rupee notes. Hundreds and below only.
An all-inclusive package covers hotels, all meals, vehicle, guide, driver and entry fees, so cash is for tips, drinks, shopping and the occasional temple offering.
Best exchange is at Paro airport on arrival, or Bank of Bhutan and BNB in Thimphu. Cash machines exist in Thimphu, Paro and Punakha and take Visa and Mastercard, but treat them as backup — empty machines are common.
Around US$400–600 in cash comfortably covers nine days of tips plus a decent textile purchase.
Not covered by a standard package: alcohol, meals at luxury hotels you aren't staying in, shopping, tips, and horse riding at Tiger's Nest.

Phone and data

Nepal

Ncell and Nepal Telecom both have counters in the Kathmandu arrivals hall, both sell eSIMs as well as physical SIMs, and both take five to ten minutes. Bring your passport; they photograph it. Pay cash.
Tourist packs run roughly NPR 500–1,500 for 5–15 GB over 7 to 30 days.
Ncell is faster in the cities; NTC holds signal better in the mountains. A couple travelling together does well to take one of each — between them you have coverage almost everywhere on the Mardi ridge, where there is patchy but real signal at Low Camp and High Camp.
Teahouse wifi exists above Forest Camp at NPR 200–500 a night and is slow. Charging costs NPR 200–400 per device; a 20,000 mAh power bank removes the problem entirely. Cold drains batteries, so sleep with phones in your bag.

Bhutan

Tourist SIMs from B-Mobile or TashiCell are sold at Paro airport and in Thimphu for a few hundred ngultrum. Your guide will arrange one in five minutes if you ask on day one.
You may not need one. Hotels have wifi, and you are with a guide who has a phone all day.
Power: Bhutan uses 230 V with type D, F and G sockets; Nepal 230 V with type C, D and M. One universal adapter each covers both, and a short multi-socket means a single adapter charges four things at a teahouse.

Luggage

A combined Bhutan and trekking trip runs into three different baggage regimes.

The allowances

Carrier	Checked	Cabin
Long-haul to Kathmandu	Typically 1 piece, 23 kg	7 kg
Drukair, Kathmandu–Paro	30 kg	5 kg
Nepali domestic	20 kg	5 kg

Where bags go

Bhutan: take everything. Thirty kilos each is generous and you need the warm layers for a night at 3,800 m anyway.
The trek: leave the main bags at the Sarangkot hotel or with the agency — both do this free and routinely. Up the ridge you carry a 30–35 litre daypack each, plus one duffel for a porter if you take one.
Flying home: back to 23 kg. Weigh the day before; thangkas, pashmina and a wooden cup add up faster than expected.

The two things people leave behind

A proper down or synthetic jacket — High Camp drops below freezing and so does a Bumdra camp in early October. And a sleeping bag or liner rated to about −5 °C: teahouse blankets exist but are thin. Most Pokhara agencies rent bags for a couple of dollars a day if you would rather not fly one out.

Health and altitude

Insurance

Most standard European policies exclude trekking above 3,000 or 4,000 m, and nearly all exclude helicopter evacuation without an adventure add-on. For a trek to 4,200–4,500 m you need:

Trekking cover to at least 4,500 m — described as trekking, not mountaineering
Helicopter search, rescue and evacuation. A heli-evac from a high camp runs US$3,000–6,000 and is the only way off a ridge in an emergency
Medical repatriation, and cover for Bhutan as well as Nepal

Carry the policy number and the 24-hour emergency line on paper. Your phone may be flat or out of signal when you need it.

Altitude

Watch for headache that won't shift, nausea, dizziness, breathlessness at rest, poor sleep and loss of appetite. Mild symptoms at 3,500 m are normal; worsening symptoms mean going down, not pushing on.
Acetazolamide (Diamox), 125 mg twice daily, is worth carrying for the highest nights. Ask a doctor before leaving, or buy it over the counter in any Kathmandu pharmacy for a couple of euros.
Drink three to four litres a day, eat more than you feel like, skip alcohol above about 3,000 m, and never sleep higher than you need to.
Any itinerary that lets you touch a high point and then sleep lower is worth more than an extra rest day in the wrong place.

Water and stomachs

Never drink the tap. Bottled water is fine in cities; on the trail use the teahouse boiled-water service (NPR 100–200 a litre) or treat your own with a filter, a SteriPen or chlorine dioxide tablets. Buying plastic bottles up a ridge is expensive and locally frowned upon.
Cooked, hot and fresh is the rule. Dal bhat is made fresh all day and is the safest thing on any teahouse menu — and refills are free.
Carry loperamide, oral rehydration salts and a course of azithromycin. Traveller's diarrhoea on day three of a trek is the classic trip-ruiner and the classic easily-treated thing.

Before you go, and if something happens

Vaccinations: hepatitis A, typhoid and tetanus-diphtheria-polio as standard; hepatitis B and rabies if there is time. Nothing is required for entry from Europe.
Malaria is not a concern at the altitudes involved.
Sun: at 4,200 m the ultraviolet is brutal even when it is cold. Factor 50, SPF lip balm, and category 3 or 4 sunglasses.
In Kathmandu, the CIWEC Clinic in Lainchaur is the expat-standard travel-medicine practice, with altitude specialists and a branch in Pokhara. Nepal Mediciti and Grande International are the big private hospitals.
Emergency numbers: 100 general, 1144 tourist police in Kathmandu.

Season and festivals

Why late September to October

The monsoon breaks in late September and the air is washed clean. October is the clearest, most stable month of the Nepali year — cold nights at altitude, warm days, and mountain views that simply are not available in spring haze. It is also the busiest month, so teahouses at High Camp and hotels in Pokhara fill.

Kathmandu: 20–28 °C by day, 12–15 °C at night
Pokhara: 22–30 °C by day
Thimphu / Paro: 15–22 °C by day, 5–10 °C at night
3,500–3,800 m camps: 5–12 °C by day, −5 to 0 °C at night

What's on, autumn 2026

Remember the Nepali week: Sunday to Friday, with Saturday the day off. Permit offices, banks and government counters are closed on Saturdays.
Indra Jatra, 23–30 September. Kathmandu's biggest street festival, centred on Durbar Square and Basantapur: masked dances, chariots, and one of the few public appearances of the Kumari, the living goddess.
Dashain, 11–25 October. Nepal's longest and most important festival. Ghatasthapana opens it on the 11th, Phulpati falls on the 17th and Vijaya Dashami — the main tika day — on the 21st.
What Dashain means in practice: domestic flights and buses sell out as the whole country travels home, so book internal legs early. Bamboo swings go up at every crossroads, kites fill the afternoon sky, and markets heave. Many shops and offices close for the main days.
The sacrifices peak on Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami, around 18–20 October, at temples and army garrisons nationwide — most publicly at Hanuman Dhoka in Kathmandu Durbar Square. It is a stark thing to walk into unprepared. See Field notes for what it means.
In Bhutan, tsechu festivals run valley by valley through autumn on the lunar calendar. Ask a local operator whether one falls in your window — a small village tsechu beats any museum.