Kathmandu and Pokhara pre-trek costs: hotels, food and transfers

The nights you spend in Kathmandu and Pokhara either side of a trek are a real part of the budget, and the honest way to price them is to count the nights, collect three written quotes and add the transfers we can source. We do not publish hotel or restaurant prices, because they are not in our cost tables and city rates vary far too much by room type and season for a single figure to be useful. What we can give you is the number of nights a trek really needs, the transfer costs from our tables and a worksheet that turns your own quotes into a budget line.

All transfer figures are from our route and region cost tables, verified 18 October 2026, with US dollar quotes converted at about NPR 134. They are market ranges, not tariffs.

How many city nights you actually need

The number of nights is the part you control, and it is where most under-budgeting happens. A reasonable plan has three kinds of night:

1. Arrival and rest. One night to recover from the international flight before you do anything else.
2. Preparation. One night, sometimes two, for permits, the TIMS card where it applies, gear and meeting your guide and partners. A first full day in the city is the safest time to fix a problem with kit.
3. Buffers. Flights to Lukla and Jomsom stop in poor weather, so add a spare night at the start and one or two at the end before any onward flight. Our buffer days guide explains why, and the Everest region note says to keep one to two spare days for flight delays.

For a trek that starts in Pokhara, such as Poon Hill or Annapurna Base Camp, plan one or two nights in Pokhara before and one after. Pokhara is about 6 to 8 hours by road from Kathmandu, or about 25 minutes by air, and about 7 hours in the Pokhara region note, so add the travel day to your count.

A sample count for an Everest Base Camp trip: one night on arrival, one for preparation, one buffer before the flight, and two buffer nights after the return, which is five city nights on top of the 12 trek days. Adjust it to your own flexibility.

Transfers we can price

Our tables put these city and short transfer lines on the route pages:

Lines with no published fare in our sources include taxis to Sundarijal, Phedi and Kande, and the airport transfer in Kathmandu. We show them as lines to check, so agree the fare before you get in. See Kathmandu airport to Thamel for the arrival journey and the jeep and bus costs guide for the road fares to trailheads.

A worksheet for hotels and food

Because we cannot give you a price, build the number yourself in ten minutes.

1. Count the nights in each city using the plan above.
2. Decide the room type: single or twin, private bathroom or shared, and the area. Our guides to where to stay in Kathmandu and where to stay in Pokhara explain the areas.
3. Get three written quotes per city for your dates, from hotels directly, not only from booking sites, and note whether breakfast, tax and service charge are included.
4. Estimate food at city prices: breakfast, lunch, dinner and drinks for each full day, using a restaurant menu you can see, not a guess.
5. Add transfers from the table above.
6. Add a margin of 10 to 20 per cent for extra nights from flight delays.
7. Divide by the number of people sharing a room.

The best saving is sharing a twin room with a partner, because the room price does not double. That is another reason to find a partner before the trip; see the trekking partner hub.

How city costs compare with the trail

City meals are the cheap end of your food budget. On the trail, our price bands show the cost rising with every altitude zone: in the Annapurna region a mid-range night is NPR 2,900 to 4,700 below 2,500 m, NPR 3,800 to 5,600 between 2,500 and 3,800 m and NPR 6,400 to 7,900 above 3,800 m. Everest above 3,800 m is NPR 6,300 to 9,000. That cost includes the room, three meals and small extras, so it is not comparable to a city room alone, but it shows why a night in the city is usually cheaper than a night at height. Our teahouse prices guide explains the trail side.

What to do in the city that saves money later

• Fix your gear first. A day for rent-or-buy decisions, with time to exchange; see renting versus buying trekking gear.
• Change money and get small notes. Cash is scarce on the trail.
• Buy snacks and a SIM, where prices are lowest; see our SIM card guide.
• Confirm flights and transfers the day before.
• Leave spare luggage with the hotel, with a receipt.
• Meet your guide and partner in person; our guide to meeting partners in Kathmandu explains how.

A short example worksheet

For two people sharing a twin room on a Poon Hill trip with two nights in Pokhara before and one after, the structure is: three nights of twin room, three days of city food for two, a local bus to Nayapul for each, and the return transfer. Plug your quotes into those lines and you have a real number.

Two worked structures

Because we do not quote room or restaurant prices, here are two worked structures that you can fill with your own quotes.

Poon Hill with Pokhara bookends. The route is four days. Plan one night in Pokhara before, so that permits, the taxi and gear are sorted without a rush, three nights on the trail, and one night in Pokhara after. That is two city nights. The lines are: two nights of room, two days of city food for each person, the taxi or local bus to Nayapul and the return from the finish, and the permit. Our tables give the local bus at NPR 270 to 670 and the return at NPR 540 to 670 per person, so the road lines are small next to the room.

Everest Base Camp with Kathmandu bookends. The route is twelve days and starts with a flight. Plan one night on arrival, one for preparation, one buffer night before the flight and two after your return, for five city nights. The lines are: five nights of room, city food for six or seven days, airport and Ramechhap transfers, a luggage store and a small contingency for a delayed flight. The flight itself belongs to the trail budget, not the city one; see internal flight costs.

Food in the city

City food is where most trekkers spend least per meal, and it is also where you can eat more variety before the menu narrows on the trail. A practical budget method is to look at the menus of three places you might actually eat in, estimate a typical breakfast, lunch and dinner with a drink, and multiply by your city days. Add a line for snacks to carry, since the cheapest place to buy them is the city. Our dal bhat and teahouse menu guide shows what the trail menu looks like by comparison.

Cash, cards and the last chance to withdraw

Plan your cash before you leave the city, since trail villages often have no machines. Estimate your trail spend from the per-night bands in our tables, add the extras you expect and add a margin. Withdraw in a couple of transactions rather than one, carry the money in several places and keep a small reserve of notes in a different pocket from your wallet. If your card has a foreign fee, ask your bank before you travel. These are the lines that never appear in an agency quote but affect how comfortable the trek is.

Where partners help in the city

Sharing a twin room halves the room cost, and sharing a taxi halves the transfer. Food is always your own. Partners can also share the work: one person checks the flight, another the permits, a third the gear. The trekking partner hub explains how to find people to plan with, and meeting partners in Kathmandu explains where to meet them. Contact details stay hidden until both trekkers agree, so you can start with a message and meet in a public place.

You can do the same for any route, using the Nepal trekking cost guide for the trail lines and the costs and budget hub for the rest. Rates change; confirm every price with the hotel or driver before you pay.