Teahouse prices by altitude, food and lodging

On a Nepal teahouse trek you do not pay a fixed daily rate. You pay for a room, meals, and a collection of small extras, and the prices rise with altitude because everything above the road head is carried up the valley on someone's back. This guide gives dated price ranges, explains how the system works, what changes with height and how to build a realistic budget from what you see on the board. All figures are as of October 2026 and ranges vary by village, season and lodge committee, so treat them as a guide and photograph the board when you arrive.

If you want the whole-trek view, start with the Nepal trekking cost guide and the Everest Base Camp cost breakdown. This article zooms in on food and lodging.

How the room-and-meals deal works

Most teahouses run a simple bargain: the room is cheap, sometimes nearly free, because the owner expects you to eat dinner and breakfast in the dining room. If you eat elsewhere, or use the room without ordering, the owner may charge a higher room rate. This is custom, not law.

Practical advice:

• Ask at check-in what the room costs "with dinner and breakfast".
• Eat where you sleep. It keeps the room price low and is warmer, since the dining room stove is often the only heated space.
• Ask about the stove. Many dining rooms light a stove around late afternoon, and sitting there is the main comfort.
• Rooms are basic. Twin beds with foam mattresses, shared toilets at higher altitude, and thin partition walls. The first-time trekking guide describes what a typical room looks like.

Why altitude changes the price

Every item that is not grown locally is carried. Along the Everest trail, much arrives by porter or dzopkyo from Lukla, and in Annapurna, mules and porters from Besisahar or Jomsom. Fuel is also expensive: wood is restricted in protected areas, so lodges use gas, kerosene and, higher up, yak dung.

The cost therefore builds with each day of carrying:

The shape is more reliable than any number, but numbers help. As of October 2026, 2026-dated operator guides (listed in the sources) give the ranges below, converted at about NPR 140 to the dollar. Ranges vary, and the quoted figures come from different lodges and seasons.

Our own regional price bands, which feed the "What it costs" section of each route page, use rupees and three altitude bands. They are dated 18 October 2026 and are market ranges from operator guides, not a rate card:

For other regions we use a generic band: below 2,500 m a room is NPR 300 to 1,200 and dal bhat NPR 500 to 900, and above 3,800 m a room is NPR 1,000 to 2,500 and dal bhat NPR 1,100 to 1,800. The per-night total is higher than the room-and-dal-bhat sum because it includes breakfast, lunch, hot drinks, water and charging; a budget style runs about a fifth lower and a comfort style about a quarter higher. The route pages multiply these by the number of nights in each band, so the Everest Base Camp plan of five mid and six high nights comes to NPR 64,300 to 92,000 at mid-range prices.

Over a whole trek, many guides arrive at about USD 30 to 50 a day for rooms and food together at lower and middle altitude, rising near the top. These are what lodges charge trekkers who eat in, and they are not the cost of a guide or porter, which are covered in the Everest Base Camp cost breakdown.

What is on the menu

Menus are broadly the same on every route:

• Dal bhat (rice, lentil soup, vegetables, often pickle and papad), with free refills in many lodges.
• Noodles and soup, including thukpa and garlic soup, popular at altitude.
• Rice and potato dishes, including fried rice and Sherpa stew in the Everest region.
• Tibetan bread, porridge, eggs and chapati for breakfast.
• Pasta, pizza and apple pie at lower altitudes, where there are ovens and tourist trade.
• Tea, coffee and hot lemon, charged per pot or cup.

Many guides and lodge owners advise against ordering meat at altitude, since it travels for days without refrigeration. Eggs, lentils, rice and vegetables are the safer choices. For the customs around eating, see the trail etiquette and culture guide.

Where the price board comes from

In parts of the Annapurna Conservation Area, lodge management committees agree on shared menu and room rates, which gives you consistent prices between neighbouring lodges. Some villages in other regions also use shared boards. They are updated at the start of each season, so they are the best reference. If there is no board, ask the owner for the menu with prices before you order.

On Everest and Langtang, where lodge rules differ, prices vary more between lodges, so check a few before settling. Do not assume the lodge next door is cheaper, though; the difference is usually small.

The extras that add up

Add them to your daily budget as a separate line. Many trekkers spend more on extras than they expect, especially in the top three nights. The packing list covers power banks and other ways to cut that line.

A budgeting method that works without a price list

1. Collect menu boards. Photograph the board at every lodge for the first three days.
2. Compute a typical day: breakfast, lunch, dinner, two hot drinks, boiled water, one extra.
3. Add the room: with meals included, treat it as small.
4. Scale by band. For each altitude band, add a larger share than the last, and add a margin at the top two nights.
5. Add a buffer of 10 to 20 per cent for weather days and extras.

Done on day 3, this gives you a better estimate than a number you read before leaving home. If you want a worked example of how fixed and shared costs interact, see the Annapurna Base Camp budget example.

Ways to spend less without cutting corners

• Choose one meal that fills you. Dal bhat is the standard answer, and it comes with refills.
• Share dishes when you are not very hungry.
• Drink boiled or filtered water instead of bottles.
• Charge only what you need. Carry a power bank and use airplane mode.
• Buy snacks in the lower villages where prices are lowest, and carry a few for the top.
• Stay a second night where the room is cheap and the food good.

Ways to avoid trouble

• Keep small rupee notes. Change is often scarce above 4,000 m.
• Pay at the end, not in advance, and check the total against the board.
• Do not leave without telling the owner you are leaving, and do not argue over a bill in the dining room. Ask politely to see the list.
• Tip at the end if you are happy. It is custom, not mandatory.

Where to read next

For a route-by-route view, the Everest region page and the Annapurna region page list what each lodge zone is like. For the other half of the budget, the guide, porter and transport lines, see the cost hub.

Two sample days, in structure only

The shape of a day shows where the money goes, and the ranges above show roughly how much.

A day at about 3,400 m (Namche Bazaar, Manang):

• Breakfast: porridge or eggs with bread, tea or coffee.
• Lunch on the trail or at a lodge: a bowl of noodle soup or fried rice.
• Dinner: dal bhat with refills, plus a pot of tea.
• Extras: boiled water to fill a litre bottle, a shower if the sun has warmed the solar tank.
• Room: low if you eat both dinner and breakfast in the lodge.

A day at about 5,000 m (Gorak Shep, Thorong La High Camp):

• Breakfast: porridge or a simple egg dish, because the gas supply is the limit.
• Lunch: soup or instant noodles, which are the quickest to cook.
• Dinner: dal bhat or pasta, with a short wait because lodges are full.
• Extras: boiled water costs more, charging is usually limited and wifi may not work.
• Room: basic, with a shared toilet and a cold night; extra blankets are often available.

The second day costs noticeably more for fewer options, which is why budgets that average the whole trek often fall short on the last two nights.

Differences between regions

Prices follow the same altitude logic everywhere, but the details differ:

• Everest. The most expensive region, with a long carry from Lukla and strong demand. Prices rise sharply above Dingboche.
• Annapurna. Roads reach parts of the route, so the lower sections are cheaper, and the committee price boards reduce surprises. The pass side near Thorong Phedi is the exception.
• Langtang. Lower-priced than Everest for most of the route, with fewer luxuries in the higher villages.
• Manaslu and Upper Mustang. Lodges are more basic and the route is agency-led; many packages include meals, so check what is covered.

For the specific costs of the restricted-area routes, see the Manaslu permit guide and the Upper Mustang permit guide, since the permit, agency and guide lines change how the budget looks.