Flight Expenses from
Bangalore to Kathmandu on Royal Nepal Airlines : INR 8500 approx 3 hrs
New Delhi to Kathmandu on Royal Nepal Airlines : INR 5000 approx 2 hrs
Mumbai to Kathmandu on Royal Nepal Airlines : INR 7000 approx 2 hr30m
- If you are travelling from Chennai you may need to connect either through Delhi (2hr 50m) or take a train or do a road trip to Bangalore and take the non stop flight to Kathmandu, which works out cheaper than taking the Delhi connect. Other airlines are almost double the cost.
- Royal Nepal airlines flight from Delhi to Kathmandu and back was neat, comfortable with good food and hospitality. I find no reason to pay twice the price to a different airline!
Flights from Kathmandu to Pokhara one way cost about INR 4650 to 5000
Mountain flight from Pokhara to Jomsom one way about INR 4500 if booked early.
For foreign nationals who are non Indians the fare is about USD 115 approx
One would usually find Simrik Airlines, Buddha Airlines or Yeti airlines in the KTM-PKR route and only Tara Air operating 16 seater mountain flights from Pokara to Jomsom.
The flight schedules are very fragile and cancellation prone due to changing weather conditions. It is also said that the order of preference is foreign nationals (highest flight fare), then Indians and later locals (lowest flight fare). So we were told not to be late or our boarding passes could get issued to somebody else with a higher ticket price.
Interestingly, if there are seats on an earlier flight and you are early at the counter, the airlines issue boarding passes on the preceding flight if you are interested!
Vegetarian food in Kathmandu and Pokhara are available in a food outlet called Aangan. Prices could look really big with a Veg Thali costing about NPR 450 and a masala dosa about NPR 390. There are no pure vegetarian hotels from Jomsom and ahead. A plate of Kichadi in Hotel OM's Home costed NPR 400! and Aloo Paratha's are the cheapest at NPR 180 per piece. In Muktinath, there was a small hotel by name Royal Mustang, you can order food when you trek up the Muktinath temple and return for lunch and a Thali (2 roti, dhal, rice and a vegetable curry) can cost about 350-400NPR
Hotel rooms per night for 3 star stay in Kathmandu and Pokhara cost about INR 2500 per night. Do not forget to get yourself a local SIM card when you get down at the airport.
Communication: Prepaid packages start at INR 300 but they recommend the INR 1500 package if you are staying between 7 to 10 days. Airtel told me that i would not need international roaming to be activated for Nepal and the moment i disembarked the flight in Kathmandu, the network indicated that my calls were barred, however i got all the weekend offer messages on SMS from India!
Transportation: If you are going through an agent, the package costs you close to INR 32000 per head and includes all costs including airport transfers, permits and entry fee at sight seeing spots. There are two permits ACAP (Annapurna Conservation Area project permit) and TIMS (Trekkers Information Management System) together costing INR 2000. Share Jeeps from Jomsom to Muktinath cost about 400 per head but are dependent on how many co travellers are there at that point in time and their willingness to share depending on how much luggage each party has!! However if you want to hire the vehicle for yourself, it costs about INR 3500. This is a better option if you want control of the day's schedule!
In all the budget is about INR 65000 per head, unless you're okay to have bitter juice and squeeze the budget lemon hard! :)
Indicative split up as follows:
Flights : 20,000
Hotels : 10,000 [5 nights]
Food : 7,500 [1500 a day]
Transportation & Permits: 10,000 [Airport transfers, sight seeing, Jeep/Scorpio to Muktinath]
Exigencies : 10,000
Communication : 2000
Sourveniers & shopping : 5000
My trip expenses were about INR 1.25 Lakh for 2 people. My exigency fund was exhausted after the return mountain flight was cancelled due to bad weather and we paid up INR 10,000 to return to Pokhara in a Scorpio after we found no people to share the trip.
Thanks for reading and do drop in your queries or comments in the section below!
Bangalore to Kathmandu on Royal Nepal Airlines : INR 8500 approx 3 hrs
New Delhi to Kathmandu on Royal Nepal Airlines : INR 5000 approx 2 hrs
Mumbai to Kathmandu on Royal Nepal Airlines : INR 7000 approx 2 hr30m
- If you are travelling from Chennai you may need to connect either through Delhi (2hr 50m) or take a train or do a road trip to Bangalore and take the non stop flight to Kathmandu, which works out cheaper than taking the Delhi connect. Other airlines are almost double the cost.
- Royal Nepal airlines flight from Delhi to Kathmandu and back was neat, comfortable with good food and hospitality. I find no reason to pay twice the price to a different airline!
Flights from Kathmandu to Pokhara one way cost about INR 4650 to 5000
Mountain flight from Pokhara to Jomsom one way about INR 4500 if booked early.
For foreign nationals who are non Indians the fare is about USD 115 approx
One would usually find Simrik Airlines, Buddha Airlines or Yeti airlines in the KTM-PKR route and only Tara Air operating 16 seater mountain flights from Pokara to Jomsom.
The flight schedules are very fragile and cancellation prone due to changing weather conditions. It is also said that the order of preference is foreign nationals (highest flight fare), then Indians and later locals (lowest flight fare). So we were told not to be late or our boarding passes could get issued to somebody else with a higher ticket price.
Interestingly, if there are seats on an earlier flight and you are early at the counter, the airlines issue boarding passes on the preceding flight if you are interested!
Vegetarian food in Kathmandu and Pokhara are available in a food outlet called Aangan. Prices could look really big with a Veg Thali costing about NPR 450 and a masala dosa about NPR 390. There are no pure vegetarian hotels from Jomsom and ahead. A plate of Kichadi in Hotel OM's Home costed NPR 400! and Aloo Paratha's are the cheapest at NPR 180 per piece. In Muktinath, there was a small hotel by name Royal Mustang, you can order food when you trek up the Muktinath temple and return for lunch and a Thali (2 roti, dhal, rice and a vegetable curry) can cost about 350-400NPR
Hotel rooms per night for 3 star stay in Kathmandu and Pokhara cost about INR 2500 per night. Do not forget to get yourself a local SIM card when you get down at the airport.
Communication: Prepaid packages start at INR 300 but they recommend the INR 1500 package if you are staying between 7 to 10 days. Airtel told me that i would not need international roaming to be activated for Nepal and the moment i disembarked the flight in Kathmandu, the network indicated that my calls were barred, however i got all the weekend offer messages on SMS from India!
Transportation: If you are going through an agent, the package costs you close to INR 32000 per head and includes all costs including airport transfers, permits and entry fee at sight seeing spots. There are two permits ACAP (Annapurna Conservation Area project permit) and TIMS (Trekkers Information Management System) together costing INR 2000. Share Jeeps from Jomsom to Muktinath cost about 400 per head but are dependent on how many co travellers are there at that point in time and their willingness to share depending on how much luggage each party has!! However if you want to hire the vehicle for yourself, it costs about INR 3500. This is a better option if you want control of the day's schedule!
In all the budget is about INR 65000 per head, unless you're okay to have bitter juice and squeeze the budget lemon hard! :)
Indicative split up as follows:
Flights : 20,000
Hotels : 10,000 [5 nights]
Food : 7,500 [1500 a day]
Transportation & Permits: 10,000 [Airport transfers, sight seeing, Jeep/Scorpio to Muktinath]
Exigencies : 10,000
Communication : 2000
Sourveniers & shopping : 5000
My trip expenses were about INR 1.25 Lakh for 2 people. My exigency fund was exhausted after the return mountain flight was cancelled due to bad weather and we paid up INR 10,000 to return to Pokhara in a Scorpio after we found no people to share the trip.
Thanks for reading and do drop in your queries or comments in the section below!
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