Visa requirements
- You can easily get a visa upon arrival at the airport, the cost is 30 US$.
-
You don’t necessarily have to pay in $, Euro and pound are also
accepted. However, if you ask for the price in Euro they will also say
30 Euro while at the time of writing, the value of the euro was 8%
higher then the dollar. It is only when you object, that they will tell
you tat they’ll give you a refund of 2 US$.
- If you’re thinking
of going to Tibet or Bhutan, it used to be worth considering buying a
double entry visa. This no longer exists and was changed into a
"multiple entry visa" which costs 50 $ extra.
- Formalities to get the visa went very smoothly, there was no queue whatsoever (3/2003).
Money matters
Different sorts of money
Rupee: at the time of writing 1 Euro = 83 Rp and 1 US$ = 78 Rp
The Rupee is the official currency of Nepal. For an idea of the exchange rate, go to Oanda's currency converter. Be sure to have enough small notes with you, because often, especially in smaller places, people do not have enough change.
Cash
In
most places, they will readily accept any convertible currency,
including Euro, if you happen not to have enough Rupees on you. Even
while trekking in the Annapurna this was no problem, and in some places
there are also moneychangers. It’s really useless to first change your Euros. at home into dollars, and then converting them here into Rupees.
The rate for the Euro follows the official market.You can either change
cash in the bank or at a moneychanger. Rates tend to be the same, but
commissions may differ at bit. There’s a bank in the arrival hall at
the airport.
Traveler's cheques
Personally, I
think the use of TC's is becoming more and more obsolete with ATM's
becoming more and more popular. So personally, I don't use them too
often anymore, but that's a personal choice. By far the best and most
easily changed are American Express, although Thomas Cook, Citibank,
and Visa are usually fairly easy to change in the major cities. To
facilitate replacement in case of theft, keep a record of cheque
numbers and the original bill of sale in a safe place. Also, before
leaving, make sure you have the address of the place where you can
report the theft and have a replacement. Even with proper records,
replacement may not always be as quick as the companies promise. I read
on the LP thorn tree that India is well known for the problem of not
refunding stolen TC's. Then what's the point of having them?
In
Nepal you will find that the exchange rate for travelers' cheques is
slightly higher than for cash. At places in Thamel where they charge no
commission, the rate is the same. But you have to add a usually lower
exchange rate for the US dollar in your home country, you have to
exchange twice (once from Euro to US $ and then from US$ to Sol, unless
you're American), and thirdly you have to pay for them in advance, so
you're giving American Express a free loan for a month or so. It's also
known that some of these cheques never get cashed in anyway, so that's
another profit for the bank issuing them. So all in all, it's not such
a cheap method.
ATM
This is of course a
very handy system, which is spreading fast around the world. Most
bankcards belong to the Maestro/Cirrus system nowadays, which allows
you to withdraw money directly from your bank account. Exchange rates
are usually good, but you have to pay a certain amount of money, which
depends on your bank for each transaction. This is in the order of 2 or
3 Euros. Sometimes the local bank announces they also add some costs.
There are some ATM’s available in Katmandu f.i. in Thamel and in Pokhara. I don’t know about other places.
Credit cards
Visa
is the most accepted card, but the other 3 are also valid. In the
smaller places, they will usually add a percentage of surcharge,
usually 3,5%. In the more expensive places, this is usually included in
the price.
Where to change
- Banks are the safest place to go, but it'll take more time. The bank at the airport gives reasonable exchange rates
-
The money exchangers change money at comparable rates. The only problem
is that they don’t give you a receipt, so you cannot reconvert your
rupees into Euro when you leave home.
Transportation
By plane
1) There are numerous Nepalese
companies. Apart from the ones I’ve mentioned below, there is still
Shangrila, Skyline air, Mountain air and Flight care air. Some of them
have a website.
Note that Nepalese fly much cheaper then
foreigners. For instance the flight from KTM to Pokhara costs for them
1600 Rp, for us 5500 Rp.
Otherwise prices from the different companies are the same, except for Royal Nepal who are 15% cheaper.
Airport taxes are:
- 1100 Rp for international flights to non-SAARC countries
- 650 Rp for SAARC countries
- 165 Rp for domestic flights
2) When booking a flight, always take into account weather conditions.
This means that it is best to book a flight early in the morning, as
chances of having good weather are highest then. As soon as it starts
raining, all smaller airports are shut down since they don’t have
radars. This can sometimes take all day till the weather clears up
again.
Also take into account that crashes do occur once every
2 years or so. This is usually during monsoon season when visibility is
bad and planes fly into mountains.
Another important remark is
to never count on a flight to catch your international flight out of
KTM. Allow at the very least 1 day, but better even 2 or 3 days between
your arrival in KTM and your return flight home.
Royal Nepal Airlines
I’ve
spoken to both Nepalese and foreigners working there, and all of them
say that this is the least reliable airline of all. Their prices are
usually 15% lower and they have the biggest network. Their website is
at www.royalnepal.com
Buddha Air
This
looks like a reliable company. We flew with them once. The second time
the flight was cancelled and they readily granted us a refund (although
we had to do this through the travel agent where we bought it).
They have a decent website at www.buddhaair.com
Cosmic air
I
don’t know if this is a decent company. They flew us to Jomsom with a 2
hour delay. I’m not sure why, but there was a large group of Germans,
so maybe they overbooked. They fly to many places and have a decent
website at www.cosmicair.com
Necon
I can’t comment on this company except that they have a website at www.neconair.com and they also have some Northern Indian destinations.
Ghorka
No comment.
BUS
You either have the option of taking the Nepalese buses or the tourist buses.
As for the Nepalese, they tend to be very cheap, but also rather slow as they have frequent stops.
As
for the tourist buses like Greenline, they only do the touristic routes
to KTM, Pokhara and Chitwan. They are usually faster, but also more
expensive. Pokhara – KTM f.i. costs 8 to 10 $ depending on which
comfort you’d like. Pokhara – Chitwan is 6 to 8 $ (3/2003). They all
leave in the morning at 7 or 8 am.
Taxis
Taxis
in KTM have meters, but it’s very rare they will put them on, so you’ll
have to negotiate a price on beforehand. If they do agree to put on the
meter, make sure they don’t put in on "EXTRA" as this is the night
tariff.
You can also charter a taxi for longer distances. A trip from Pokhara to KTM will cost 4000 Rp (3/2003).
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