Emergency and Rescue Numbers for Nepal Treks

Save four things before you fly: the Tourist Police hotline, your embassy's number, your insurer's 24-hour line and your agency's emergency number. The Department of Tourism's Tourist Police page lists 1144 as the toll-free Tourist Police hotline, 100 for police assistance and 103 for traffic police. There is no single public mountain rescue number in the sources we checked: on a trek, rescue runs through your guide, agency and insurer, and that is why the other three numbers matter more than any hotline. This page lists what the official pages say, how to carry and use the numbers, what to do when there is no signal and where the Himalayan Rescue Association helps.

Numbers change, and we have checked the official pages as of October 2026; confirm them before you travel and again in Kathmandu. This is general safety information, not a substitute for your insurer's instructions. For the step-by-step response, see what to do in a trekking emergency.

The official numbers

The Tourist Police page on the Department of Tourism's site says to dial 1144 (toll free, hotline) for the Tourist Police, 100 for police assistance and 103 for traffic police. It lists the central office at Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu, inside the Nepal Tourism Board premises, with the phone +977-01-5347041, and unit numbers including Thamel 9851289453, the airport 9851289450, Pashupati 9851289446, Patan 9851289449, Pokhara 061-462761 or 9856082761 and Sauraha (Chitwan) 9844208699. Save the hotline and the unit nearest to where you will start. The page says the Tourist Police operate 24/7 in the Kathmandu valley and Pokhara city. Their functions include registering complaints, conducting preliminary investigations, helping to recover lost goods and documents and providing a police report for lost documents, coordinating with embassies, consulates and families when a tourist is seriously ill or caught up in a natural disaster, and coordinating during rescues. They also patrol tourist areas to prevent harassment, mistreatment and exploitation.

Embassy and insurer: the numbers you must bring

Your embassy or consulate in Kathmandu is the place for lost passports, serious illness or arrest. The UK FCDO, as one example, lists 24/7 assistance on +977 (0)14237100 from Nepal, +91 11 2419 2100 from India and +44 (0) 207 008 5000 from the UK. Find your own country's equivalents on its foreign ministry website and put them in your phone and on paper. Your insurer's assistance line is the one that arranges and pays for most evacuations, and you will be asked for the policy number first, so keep that with it. Your agency's emergency number reaches the people who can call the guide, arrange a jeep or a helicopter and talk to the lodge. See travel insurance for high-altitude trekking and helicopter evacuation for how those calls work.

Make the emergency card

Write the numbers on a card or a sheet in a ziplock bag: your name, nationality, blood group if known, allergies and conditions, policy number, insurer's 24-hour number, agency's emergency number, guide's name and phone, embassy number, an emergency contact at home and the Tourist Police 1144 hotline. Put one copy in your day bag, one in your main bag and one with a partner. Save the same details offline on your phone, because it may have no signal, no charge or no data when you need it. The partner safety guide suggests a card for the whole group, with each person holding copies of the others'.

Signal and power on the trail

Do not assume you can phone for help from anywhere. The UK FCDO notes that mobile coverage is limited on long stretches of the Annapurna Circuit and suggests renting a satellite phone. Signal usually covers the lower valleys and many main villages on the busy routes, and lodges often have Wi-Fi for a fee, but it drops in side valleys and on passes, as our route pages for the Annapurna Circuit, Everest Base Camp and Langtang Valley say. Buy a local SIM in Kathmandu if your phone allows it, carry a power bank and keep your phone warm, because batteries die in the cold. Ask your agency what the guide carries: a phone with two SIMs, a radio or a satellite messenger. If you are on a remote route with no signal for days, the plan is a pre-agreed schedule, not a hope.

What the Himalayan Rescue Association does

The Himalayan Rescue Association runs aid posts at Manang and Pheriche in the trekking seasons, as our clinics guide describes, giving advice on altitude illness and helping with assessment. These posts are not a general emergency number and are not staffed all year, so do not plan around them; but if you are near, they are the best first place to go with someone who is unwell. If a post is closed, your guide or lodge can still call for help through the agency or insurer.

What to say on the phone

Call in a calm voice and state the facts in order: who you are, where you are, what has happened, how many people are involved, how serious it is and how to reach you. Give the nearest village and lodge name, the day of the trek and the altitude if you know it, and describe the patient's symptoms and consciousness. Ask whoever you speak to for their name, repeat what you have agreed and write it down. Agree when you will call back and what you will do if you cannot. If you can, ask your guide to speak, because they know the place names and the landing sites. If the call drops, text the same facts: a text can get through on a weak signal when a call cannot.

Strikes, closures and other disruptions

The UK FCDO notes that political protests, demonstrations and strikes are fairly common in Nepal and can start at short notice. If a strike affects your travel to or from the trailhead, call your agency, check local media and avoid the demonstration, and keep the Tourist Police number handy. See Kathmandu to Lukla and getting to Nepal trailheads for travel buffers, and buffer days for how to plan around disruption.

Using the numbers with partners

If you share a trek with partners, agree who calls whom and make sure everyone has the group's contacts. The most useful habit is the simplest: before day one, take a photo of each other's emergency card, and then confirm that each phone has the numbers saved and the hotline works in Nepal. Contact details on FindTrekkingPartner stay hidden until both trekkers agree, so exchange emergency contacts as part of that agreement, not before. The Everest Base Camp partner page and the Annapurna Circuit one can help you find people on your dates. For all safety guides in the series, see the partners and safety hub.

Saving the numbers properly

Put the numbers in your phone under names that sort together, such as "EMERG Tourist Police 1144", "EMERG Embassy", "EMERG Insurer" and "EMERG Agency", so that you can find them with one search even with cold hands. Add the policy number in the insurer's contact notes. Take a screenshot of the list and keep it as a favourite photo, because a photo opens without a signal. Test the toll-free numbers from a Nepali SIM before you leave Kathmandu if you can, and ask your agency whether your foreign SIM can call them. Write the same list in pencil on a card, since ink freezes and phones fail. If you are trekking with partners, swap lists on the first evening, check that each person has the others' numbers, and agree who will call whom in what order. Five minutes of this on day one is the cheapest safety measure on the trek.

Language and clarity on a call

If you are calling a Nepali number, speak slowly in simple English and give place names the way the locals say them. Name the nearest village, the trail section and the lodge, not only a map position, and ask your guide or lodge owner to talk if the person on the line does not understand. Spell your own name and nationality, repeat the number you can be reached on and end by repeating what you have agreed. If you cannot get through, try again in a few minutes and try another number rather than waiting.