Do you know how to budget for trip to Kathmandu? Kathmandu, the capital city of Nepal and probably the busiest city we have ever been to. It is never possible to guess whether someone will like Kathmandu or not. Kathmandu could be best described as a city full of bustle, smell, and excellent food. The city of Kathmandu lives with its own incredibly fast life. The crazy traffic, never stopping the sound of the horns and pollution can be quite overwhelming for first-time visitors.
For Roman, Kathmandu was just pure craziness, a hectic place with no system, where you need to watch out your every step so no one runs you over by bike or by car. For me, Kathmandu had its own magic. I loved the hecticness and the no rules way of living. I enjoyed watching the everyday life of Nepali people and I felt like that there is no stereotype in Kathmandu. Kathmandu definitely has its own charm.
Read more about craziness at Lukla airport!
Most people use Kathmandu just as a stopover between an international flight and a flight to Pokhara or Lukla to do Everest base camp trek. However, it is definitely worth staying there for a couple of nights before or after your trek.
Would you like to know more about travel planning? Check our Reverse Travel Planning Strategy and let us know what you think.
But how to budget for trip to Kathmandu?
Kathmandu is well-known for being a reasonably cheap place. But we were surprised how cheap Kathmandu really is. You can live there for less than a $10 for a day if you choose to stay in the low-cost accommodation. Accommodation and food will probably be your biggest expenses in Kathmandu anyway. So, you can really lower your overall budget by staying in a hostel.
What we really found hard was saving money on food. Because all the food is just simply delicious. We could not resist to going out and eat all the time. So if you can resist going out and eat a lot, you can lower your overall expenses.
Here is our detailed budget for trip to Kathmandu
Total days spend in Kathmandu: 10 days
Average daily costs per couple:
- Accommodation: $12
- Food: $18
- Miscellaneous: $6
- Sightseeing: $6
- Taxis: $2
- Phone: $2
So on average, we spend in Kathmandu: $44 a day per couple
Total costs: $435
Average costs: $22 per day per person
That is pretty affordable, don´t you think?
Accommodation in Kathmandu
There are so many options of where to stay in Kathmandu. The most popular place for tourist to stay is Thamel. Thamel is considered to be a safe place for tourist. It also has the widest range of accommodation, restaurants and shops. That is why 99% of travellers stay there.
We always start to look for an accommodation on Airbnb, but to our surprise, Airbnb in Kathmandu is quite expensive. Even more expensive than hotels offered on the internet.
All the hotels we stayed in were very simply furnished, with two beds, nightstands and a small wardrobe. Unlike lodges on the Everest base camp trek, hotel rooms in Thamel have power sockets and sometimes even own bathroom. We simply decided to look for an accommodation on booking.com and book rooms under $15 a night.
Where we stayed in Kathmandu:
- Trekkers Home – This hotel usually charge $30 per night per room, but you can very often find a lower prices on booking.com. We booked the hotel 3 weeks prior our arrival and we paid $15 per room per night.
- Zen Bed and Breakfast – we highly recommend this budget guest house. The owner is one of the friendliest guys we have ever met, who puts his client’s wishes as his priority. The guest house is in the middle of Thamel, so it is nice and easy to reach all the restaurants and nightlife in Thamel. The only downside is that it is harder to find the location of the guest house for the first time. It is hidden in the sidewalk. But thanks to its location, the guest house is very quiet during the night.
Food in Kathmandu
Eating in Kathmandu is super cheap. It was so cheap to eat outside that we actually spend most of our time in Kathmandu by eating. The average breakfast, which consists of pancakes, eggs and toast usually cost under $5. You can expect to pay for your coffee on average under $2. We did not eat breakfast outside very often, though. Rather we found bakeries, where you could purchase super delicious croissants and all kind of bread for under $3.
The most typical food that you can taste in Kathmandu is a traditional Bal Bhat, as well as momos and fried noodles and rice. The typical lunch for a couple cost around $8-10. We were also able to buy a diner under $5-7 per couple.
Miscellaneous in Kathmandu
We came to Nepal with the full gear, so we did not have to purchase any hiking clothes. The only thing we needed to buy were the trekking poles. Probably the best place where to buy a good quality trekking gear, but not branded, is a shop named Shonas Alpine Kathmandu. To our surprise the trekking poles were quite expensive, the cheapest ones cost $20. So we had to pay $40 in total for two pairs of trekking poles.
Sightseeing in Kathmandu
There are a lot of places to see around Kathmandu. Some of them pretty cheap, some of them little bit more expensive. Among the expensive sights belong Pashupatinath Temple (2 000 NPR per person) and Kathmandu Durbar Square (2 000 NPR per person). Monkey temple, or Swoyambhunath Stupa, on the other hand was pretty cheap, just 200 NPR per person. The biggest buddhist stupa, Boudhanath, cost 400 NPR per person.
Taxi in Kathmandu
On taxis, we spend just a few dollars as we used taxis just to travel from and to the airport. You can expect to pay from Kathmandu airport to Thamel around 700 – 800 rupees. Everything above that is a rip-off.
Tip: If you decide to visit some sites like a monkey temple It is quite hard to find a taxi around those places. Or, it is not that hard, as they wait in front of the site. But they will overcharge you. Because there is no other option. It is much better to find a trustworthy agency that will provide you with a driver for a day. It is actually much cheaper and the taxi driver will wait for you on the parking spot. We spend 5 hours Driving around Kathmandu and visiting all the famous places and paid $30.
Phone service in Kathmandu
Among other things we purchased was a SIM card and a phone plan for $10. Before our trip, I had read on some blogs that it is quite good to buy a sim card at the airport. So I followed that advice and it was a mistake. The blogs recommended buying a sim card at the airport because they have better plans. They were supposed to offer 4,5 Giga for better prices than in the city.
I am not sure if we were just unlucky or if the airport sellers turn out to be a tourist scam. When we left the customs at the airport we stopped to buy a sim card from the official seller shop. Or at least it looked like an official seller. However, we had bought the sim card and a plan for 4,5 Giga internet for 800 rupees. The guy even activated the sim card for us and he showed us that it all worked. However, the next day when we tried to use the data, we realized that we have no data at all. That is why we recommend to buy your sim card and a phone plan in Thamel. It is a great place to purchase your phone plan for reasonable prices and you will have a certainty that you actually get what you paid for.
We found out that the best plan was offered by Ncell, it also worked great in the mountains. The message on an international number cost between 7 -12 rupees per message. So with 300 rupees credit that is a lot of messages to home.
Overall, staying in Kathmandu was very cheap and affordable. Have you ever been in Kathmandu? Do you agree with our budget for tri to Kathmandu? Let´s us know in the comment section down below.
