Cheap treks for Nepali students: what fits under NPR 15,000

A Nepali student can trek for under NPR 15,000 on three routes: Chisapani to Nagarkot at about NPR 6,600 to 10,100, the two-day Ghandruk trek at about NPR 4,800 to 7,500, and Poon Hill at about NPR 8,500 to 13,500, all per person without a guide or porter. Mardi Himal is borderline at NPR 11,000 to 18,200. Langtang, Annapurna Base Camp and Everest do not fit. The numbers use NPR 2,000 to 3,000 a day for food and lodging, the Nepali park fee of NPR 100 at most parks, and road legs that are mostly placeholders because no verified fares exist. A group of five spreads a taxi or jeep and any guide, but not beds, food or permits. We checked fees on 21 October 2026; where sources conflict we show a range and say so.

Which treks fit under NPR 15,000 each?

Most budget advice online counts in dollars and assumes a NPR 3,000 foreigner permit. A Nepali student pays the Nepali rate, and the lodge and food prices are the same for everyone, because the owner charges per room and per plate. So the main lever is trek length: each day on the trail costs about NPR 2,500 for food and lodging, and everything else is small by comparison. Fifteen thousand rupees therefore buys about five days on the trail at the average, or six if you stay at the low end, once you subtract fees and the road.

This table is for one person with no guide and no porter. All figures are NPR. The road column is our own placeholder where a fare is missing, and we say which below.

The fee column is the ACAP entry fee of NPR 0 to 200 for the Annapurna routes (Nepali citizens do not need a TIMS card), and NPR 100 for the two parks, according to the Nepal Tourism Board page. We explain the conflicting ACAP figures in our Mardi Himal cost for Nepali trekkers post. For the full list of cheap options at foreigner prices, see cheapest treks in Nepal.

Chisapani to Nagarkot: the cheapest real trek

Chisapani to Nagarkot is three days on a forested ridge north-east of Kathmandu, reaching about 2,175 m. You start at Sundarijal inside Shivapuri Nagarjun National Park, where the Nepal Tourism Board lists NPR 100 for Nepali citizens against NPR 1,000 for foreigners. Because no flight or long drive is involved, it is the one trek where road costs are small.

Our sources give two road figures. A taxi to Nagarkot is NPR 2,000 to 3,000 one way according to Wikivoyage, which is NPR 400 to 600 each if five students share one car, and a local bus via Bhaktapur is under NPR 100. We found no fare for the Sundarijal approach, so we hold the whole road line at NPR 500 to 1,000 as a placeholder. Food and lodging for three days is NPR 6,000 to 9,000. The total of about NPR 6,600 to 10,100 leaves a student NPR 5,000 or more of the budget for a guide share or a second trek. Our short treks from Kathmandu post and the Kathmandu Valley rim hikes guide list day-hike alternatives that cost even less.

Ghandruk: two days with a Gurung village at the end

The Ghandruk village trek is a two-day walk from Nayapul with a night in one of the biggest Gurung villages in the Annapurna foothills. The cost is almost entirely transport. A local bus from Pokhara to Nayapul is NPR 270 to 670 in our own table and a jeep or bus from Ghandruk back to Pokhara is NPR 540 to 670, so the road is about NPR 810 to 1,340. Two days of food and lodging add NPR 4,000 to 6,000. Even with the highest fee guesses the total stays under NPR 8,000. Read the Ghandruk village trek guide for the day plan.

Poon Hill: the classic that still fits

Poon Hill is four days, three nights and a sunrise over Dhaulagiri and the Annapurna range, topping out at 3,210 m. Four days at NPR 2,000 to 3,000 is NPR 8,000 to 12,000, the ACAP fee is NPR 0 to 200, and the road is Pokhara to Nayapul and back at NPR 540 to 1,340, which doubles the bus fare from the Ghandruk table above. That gives NPR 8,540 to 13,540. A student who sleeps below Ghorepani and keeps to dal bhat, as in our Poon Hill cost breakdown and Poon Hill itinerary, can stay near the lower end. The one trap is the lodge price: our price data puts a room at NPR 500 to 1,200 and a dal bhat at NPR 700 to 1,200 above 2,500 m, so a snack and a hot shower at the top push you towards the high column. See teahouse prices by altitude and hot showers, charging and Wi-Fi.

Mardi Himal: only at the low end

Mardi Himal is five days. At NPR 2,000 a day the food and lodging is NPR 10,000, and with a cheap road leg and the lowest fee guess the trek sits just above NPR 11,000. At the average it is NPR 14,600 and at the top of our range it is NPR 18,200. So it fits under NPR 15,000 only if you hold the daily bill near NPR 2,500 and agree a fixed jeep price for the Kande and Siding legs. Our Mardi Himal cost for Nepali trekkers post has the whole table, and Poon Hill versus Mardi Himal helps you pick.

What does not fit under NPR 15,000

Be honest with your group about these.

• Langtang Valley. Eight days is NPR 16,000 to 24,000 for food and lodging alone, before the road to Syabrubesi, which we could not price from a verified source. Our Langtang Valley cost breakdown shows the foreigner view.
• Annapurna Base Camp. NPR 15,000 to 24,200 for seven days, per our Annapurna Base Camp cost for Nepali citizens post.
• Everest Base Camp. About NPR 38,000 to 56,000 with the Lukla flights, per our EBC cost for Nepali citizens post.

If a student group wants one of these, the honest answer is to save for it, or to do a shorter trek now and the bigger one later.

What does a group of five save?

A group of five still buys five permits, five beds a night and five plates of dal bhat, so the big lines do not fall. What sharing spreads is the vehicle and any guide:

• A taxi or jeep. One price divided by five. Five students in one car to Nagarkot pay NPR 400 to 600 each, instead of NPR 2,000 to 3,000 alone.
• A guide. Our Annapurna guide rate is NPR 2,700 to 4,000 a day, from market ranges in 2026 operator guides with no official minimum found. Over four days on Poon Hill that is NPR 10,800 to 16,000, or about NPR 2,160 to 3,200 each in a group of five.
• A porter. One porter for two or three people is often cheaper than each person carrying a heavy pack; see splitting guide and porter costs.

With a shared guide the Poon Hill total moves to about NPR 10,700 to 16,900, so it fits only if the group stays near the lower end. Chisapani to Nagarkot with a three-day guide at the Kathmandu day rate of NPR 4,000 to 6,000 adds NPR 2,400 to 3,600 each, giving about NPR 9,000 to 13,700, so it still fits. Our post on per-person trek cost in a group of five shows how to do this arithmetic for any trek.

Do students need a guide or permit?

Permits are cheap for Nepalis: the Nepal Tourism Board page lists NPR 100 at Annapurna, Langtang and Shivapuri Nagarjun, checked on 21 October 2026. We found no student discount. The page adds no VAT note, and some sites add 13 percent, so budget up to NPR 113.

On guides we report only the written rule. Our guide-rule record, checked on 19 October 2026, reads: a licensed guide through a registered agency is required in restricted areas (Department of Immigration) and, under the Nepal Tourism Board rule of April 2023, in national parks and conservation areas, where 2026 operator reports say checkpoints enforce it in Annapurna and Langtang but not in Khumbu. We found no notice that exempts Nepali citizens or applies the rule to them. Poon Hill, Ghandruk and Mardi Himal are in the Annapurna Conservation Area, so ask at the ACAP counter in Pokhara and note the date. For Chisapani to Nagarkot, no guide check is reported on the route in our records. The guide rule page keeps the current position.

How to keep the bill down

Carry your own water treatment instead of buying bottles, and eat dal bhat as your main meal; our dal bhat guide explains the menu. Agree a fixed price for any jeep before you sit down. Keep a buffer of about 10 percent, which is our own rule of thumb and not a published rate. Carry rupees; cards rarely work on the trail. Insurance is the line a student should not skip; see trekking insurance.

Where do you find four more people?

A group of five is the number our cost calculator defaults to, and it is the number at which a taxi becomes cheap. If your class or hostel has only two or three, post the trip free on FindTrekkingPartner and other Nepali trekkers can ask to join; contact details stay hidden until both sides agree. Our trekking partner page explains the matching, and the pillar guide, trekking in Nepal for Nepali citizens, covers the rest of the picture. We will update these totals when an official fare or Nepali fee schedule is published.