Culture and customs

Staying in a Nepali village home: take your shoes off, accept tea with your right hand, pay the agreed price and thank hosts with a school donation, not sweets.

How to take photographs on a Nepal trek without causing offence: asking first, children and payment, ceremonies and monasteries, no flash on paintings, drones, sharing images online, and what to do when someone says no.

How the Himalayan new year festivals work: Losar for Tibetan Buddhists, Sonam Lhosar for the Tamang, Tamu Lhosar for the Gurung and the Sherpa celebration, why the dates differ, what winter trekking means for lodges and routes, and how to be a good guest.

What Mani Rimdu is, where it is held (Tengboche, Thame and Chiwong), why dates move each year, how to plan an Everest trek around it, how crowded the lodges get, and how to behave as a guest at a Sherpa monastery festival.

How the seven Leave No Trace principles apply on Nepal treks: planning to avoid single-use plastic, staying on paths, carrying waste down, leaving mani stones and plants alone, fuel and firewood, wildlife and being considerate of porters, villagers and other trekkers.

How to trek ethically with porters: the IPPG standards on clothing, shelter, food, medical care and loads, the 20 to 25 kg figure our pages cite, questions to ask an agency, what a fair day rate range looks like as of October 2026, tipping, and what to do on the trail.

How to behave in a Nepali teahouse: the eat-where-you-sleep bargain, ordering early, the stove and shared tables, wet gear and boots, noise and early starts, paying the bill, tipping the staff, and how to treat guides, porters and other trekkers.

The Nepali words and phrases that matter most on a trek: namaste and thanks, asking prices and names, food and water, numbers, emergencies and directions, with simple spellings from Wikivoyage, notes on pronunciation and what to do in villages where other languages are spoken.

How to dress on a Nepal trek so you are warm, practical and respectful: what covering shoulders and knees means in villages and at monasteries, what to wear at temples, shrines and homestays, what to avoid, and a scarf-and-sarong kit that solves most situations.

Who lives in the upper Budhi Gandaki: the Tibetan-speaking people of Nubri, the villages of Lho, Sho, Shyala, Samagaun and Samdo, what to see at Namrung, Lho and Pungyen Gompa, how trade with Tibet shaped the valley and how to visit respectfully.

What to understand about Lo, the old Kingdom of Lo, before you walk to Lo Manthang: the walled city and its four temples, the Lhoba people, cave paintings, mani walls and Ghar Gompa, and how to behave in monasteries in a place that was closed until 1992.

Who the Tamang people are, what you will see in Gatlang, Thuman, Briddim and the Langtang Valley, how Tamang Buddhism, music and Sonam Lhosar fit together, how homestays work, and how to visit the memorial at the old Langtang village with respect.

Who the Gurung (Tamu) people are, what to see in Ghandruk and the southern Annapurna villages, how the Gurkha tradition shapes the area, Tamu Lhosar and village religion, and how to visit respectfully and stay in family lodges.

Where your money does the most good on a Nepal trek, from eating where you sleep and hiring locally owned agencies to buying handicrafts, carrying small notes and tipping fairly.

How the 2015 earthquake changed Langtang and other trail communities, how recovery and homestay tourism work now, and how to visit memorials, villages and lodges respectfully.

How to help in trail villages without teaching children to beg, disrupting classes or funding harm, with practical rules for gifts, school visits, orphanages and money.

Where to taste yak cheese in Langtang, apples and brandy in Marpha on the Kali Gandaki, and the other regional foods worth planning a lunch stop around.

What you will be offered to drink on Nepal treks, from sweet milk tea and salted butter tea to home-distilled raksi and tongba served in a wooden pot, with etiquette and caution.

Prayer flags, chortens, mani walls, tika, shrines and pilgrimage lakes explained, with the simple rules for passing them on your right and joining in without causing offence.

How women shape life on Nepal's trekking trails, from lodge kitchens and fields to guiding, and what female and male trekkers should know about conduct, dress, photography and hosts.

What dal bhat is, why refills make it the best-value order, how the rest of the teahouse menu works, dated meal prices by altitude and region, how ordering and etiquette work and how to eat well on a long trek.

Who the Sherpa are, the Buddhist landscape of the Khumbu, what you meet from Phakding to Tengboche, Mani Rimdu, etiquette at mani walls and gompas, porter welfare and responsible trekking in Sagarmatha National Park.

How to behave at gompas, nunneries, mani walls, chortens and prayer wheels on Nepal's Tibetan-Buddhist and Bon treks: direction, dress, photographs, donations, and what to ask your guide.

How to behave on Nepal's trails: mani walls and chortens, monasteries and photography, festivals, food, porters and guides, with examples from the Khumbu, Annapurna, Langtang and Mustang.