Nepal: A Tourist's Manual: How Much Should I Plan to Spend on Housing While In Nepal? Getting the most from your stay in Nepal

Sunday, November 24, 2013

How Much Should I Plan to Spend on Housing While In Nepal? Getting the most from your stay in Nepal

You can spend as little as $1 per day for a bed on the low end or you can stay at the Hyatt Regency for well over $100. We all know how to do it the expensive way, but finding decent, affordable housing can be a challenge. Well, necessary not price wise, but ‘grossness factor’ wise.

I did a blog post last year about the airport area and found a very bottom of the barrel room for only 100NRs. The problem was that it was very dirty and probably infested with bedbugs. Surprisingly, there were a few decent places in the area near the airport that were priced well, under $10 for a single room. If you have an early morning flight you will do well to stay closer to the airport due to taxis charging a premium for early morning and late night fares. However, if you are a middle-class traveler you will not be happy with this advice. You would do well to keep your room and pay for the taxi. This advice is more for the couch surfer/gap year traveler.

This is the $1 bed I found by the airport. Scary!

What if you want to stay in the Kathmandu Valley for awhile during your time in Nepal? I wasted a great deal of money by staying in guest houses for a few months. It was quite expensive, considering I was paying 15,000 NRs. or more for the room and then 30,000 NRs. on eating out.

I didn’t know where I wanted to settle and had a Nepali helper that wasn’t helping. Knowing what I know now, I surely would have opted for a short term, furnished apartment, such as the two listed below. My former landlord also has a furnished apartment for short or long term stays, as do many local families.

Although I cannot vouch for either of these properties listed here, I have them here for you to see as a guideline for how much you need to spend and to let you know there are many of these throughout the Kathmandu Valley and in rural Nepal.

There are several websites that allow regular people to rent out their spare rooms or the entire home. Such arrangements can enrich your time in Nepal and save you money. Eating in tourist-friendly restaurants will cost around 1,000 NRs. per day unless you go to local, scary restaurants. Picking a few things up from the market to prepare is usually much less expensive and much healthier. However, aside from budget issues, staying with a local family can be a more enriching experience. As you can see from the postings below, one of the men also has a trekking company. Often the local, Nepali will use such hosting services to get trekking business. Be very careful, as some have been known to price gouge. Just keep it in the back of your mind that he would like more of your money-- somehow.

Here are two posts from a local networking group. Also check AirBnB.com, Bedycasa.com, and a host of other sites. Here are my landlord's and mine:

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/985761?s=630b

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/1823445?s=630b

https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/499638?s=630b

Dear Groups,

As you know, I don't have photo shop and photos are difficult for downloading. So, We have three storied house with flat system between Australian Embassy and Bhatbhateni Super Market Maharajgunj. opposite of Shusil Koirala's house. Every flat have three bed rooms, one living and one kitchen. Every flat have one common toilet and one attach toilet. The House is semi furnished. We have water supply good, car parking and many motorbike parking. Area of land is 10 aana. Every flat rental rate is 25000 rupee per month. No landlord will stay there. Location is peace and nearby market and ring road also. The rental period will be only long term. This house is good for NGO, INGO, any offices too. If you will need the whole house then the rental rate will 70000 rupee. If anyone want to buy the house, price is 3 crore Nrs. Thanks to reading the information.

Regards
Gopi Ram- 9841227317www.travelingtonepal.com

Hello group,

A beautiful house in Bakhundol, Lalitpur in a quite atmosphere has 5 full furnished rooms, some with attach bathroom is available for rent now. (10 minutes walk to the UN office/ closer to Norwegian Embassy and Hotel Grenwich)

The house has one common kitchen and open terrace and some room has
beautiful balcony.

24/7 electricity back-up, hot/ cold water, tv network, internet wifi full equipped common kitchen open terrace/ rooftop/ balcony cleaning service twice a week (extra $20 monthly)

room rents:
single bed: $55 weekly - $175 monthly
double bed: $65 weekly - $215 monthly
double bed attached bath: $75 weekly - $250 monthly

anyone interested could reply on this email <bhouse1905@gmail.com> and book the room or contact Saroj directly 9851147776

I hope this helps many tourists who are coming to Nepal. I will be writing an article for a contest that will require people to comment. Please do comment on the next post I put up. I really appreciate any feedback I can get, but especially with the contest, it will be even better to read your comments.

Did you know I wrote an eBook filled with tips on getting the most out of your visit to Nepal?

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