Nepal Tourist Visa
Tribhuvan International Airport is the only international airport of Nepal. Immigration Office, TIA (Tribhuvan International Airport) under Department of Immigration has been facilitating tourists flying to Nepal by providing Visa on Arrival. ‘On Arrival’ visa procedure is very quick and simple. You can expect some queues during peak Tourist season. If you wish to skip those queues, you can also consider getting Visa from Nepalese Diplomatic Missions stationed abroad prior to your arrival. Choice is yours.
If you have obtained visa from Nepalese Diplomatic Missions, then you must enter Nepal within six months from the visa issued date. Your total stay is counted starting from the day you enter into Nepal.
Visas obtained on Arrival at the Entry and Exit points are ‘Tourist Visas’. They bear multiple Re entry facility. Tourist Visa ‘On Arrival’ is the only entry visa to Nepal. If you are visiting Nepal for the purposes other than Tourism (sightseeing, tour, travel, mountaineering, trekking, visiting friends and families), you should still get ‘ Tourist Visa’ to get into the country. However, you must change the category of visa as per your purpose and length of stay in Nepal from Department of Immigration by producing required documents.
Nationals of designated countries are requested to acquire Visa prior their arrival from their nearby Diplomatic missions (Embassies/consulates) of Nepal Government.
Please follow these simple procedures for Tourist Visa on Arrival at the airport (TIA) if you have not acquired Visa prior to boarding the plane.
1st Step
-
- Fill in ‘ Arrival Card ‘
- Fill in Online ‘Tourist Visa ‘form ( you can fill it up prior to your arrival visiting our official website Department of Immigration / fill it up using Kiosk machines upon your arrival at the airport). If you fill it from the website, you will get submission Receipt with barcode, please print it out and bring it along for acquiring visa. It works for fifteen days and becomes invalid then after. If so, you will have to fill it up again.
2nd Step
-
- Make payment at the bank according to your visa requirement ( 15/30/90 Days)
- Get the receipt
While you can use different modes of payments (at visa fees collection counter), we advise you to carry some cash to be on the safe side.
On Arrival Visa Fee
15 Days – 25 USD
30 Days – 40 USD
90 Days – 100 USD
3rd Step
-
- Proceed to the Immigration Desk with your online form, payment receipts and your passport
- Hand in your documents to immigration officer for visa processing. He/she issues visa to you upon his/her satisfaction.
Gratis Visa (Visa for Free)
Gratis Visa is issued free of cost in case of following categories of Visa applicants:
- Children below 10 years
- Up to 30 days for SAARC Citizen (except Afghanistan) visiting Nepal for the first time in a given visa Year. Afghan citizen are eligible for Gratis Visa on Arrival only upon the recommendation of Department of Immigration. If you are an Afghan citizen, you can request concerned institution inviting you to Nepal for necessary paperwork with Department of Immigration to get you Gratis Visa ‘On Arrival’.
- Non Residential Nepalese(NRN) card holder ( issued by MoFA /Nepalese diplomatic missions abroad)
- Chinese Nationals
Officials from China, Brazil, Russia and Thailand do not need Entry Visa based on reciprocal visa waiver Agreement
Visas of all kinds including ‘Gratis’ issued at the Airport are Tourist Visas. Contact Department of Immigration for extending your visa or changing the category of your visa. Tourist Visa extension can be done from Immigration Office, Pokhara too. Non tourist visa extension can be done only at Department of Immigration (if eligible) for a period of maximum one year (except business visa).
Tribhuvan International Airport is the only international airport of Nepal. Immigration Office, TIA (Tribhuvan International Airport) under Department of Immigration has been facilitating tourists flying to Nepal by providing Visa on Arrival. ‘On Arrival’ visa procedure is very quick and simple. You can expect some queues during peak Tourist season. If you wish to skip those queues, you can also consider getting Visa from Nepalese Diplomatic Missions stationed abroad prior to your arrival. Choice is yours.
If you have obtained visa from Nepalese Diplomatic Missions, then you must enter Nepal within six months from the visa issued date. Your total stay is counted starting from the day you enter into Nepal.
Visas obtained on Arrival at the Entry and Exit points are ‘Tourist Visas’. They bear multiple Re entry facility. Tourist Visa ‘On Arrival’ is the only entry visa to Nepal. If you are visiting Nepal for the purposes other than Tourism (sightseeing, tour, travel, mountaineering, trekking, visiting friends and families), you should still get ‘ Tourist Visa’ to get into the country. However, you must change the category of visa as per your purpose and length of stay in Nepal from Department of Immigration by producing required documents.
Nationals of designated countries are requested to acquire Visa prior their arrival from their nearby Diplomatic missions (Embassies/consulates) of Nepal Government.
Please follow these simple procedures for Tourist Visa on Arrival at the airport (TIA) if you have not acquired Visa prior to boarding the plane.
- 1st Step
- Fill in ‘ Arrival Card ‘
- Fill in Online ‘Tourist Visa ‘form ( you can fill it up prior to your arrival visiting our official website Department of Immigration / fill it up using Kiosk machines upon your arrival at the airport). If you fill it from the website, you will get submission Receipt with barcode, please print it out and bring it along for acquiring visa. It works for fifteen days and becomes invalid then after. If so, you will have to fill it up again.
- 2nd Step
- Make payment at the bank according to your visa requirement ( 15/30/90 Days)
- Get the receipt
While you can use different modes of payments (at visa fees collection counter), we advise you to carry some cash to be on the safe side.
On Arrival Visa Fee
15 Days – 25 USD
30 Days – 40 USD
90 Days – 100 USD
3rd Step
-
- Proceed to the Immigration Desk with your online form, payment receipts and your passport
- Hand in your documents to immigration officer for visa processing. He/she issues visa to you upon his/her satisfaction.
Gratis Visa (Visa for Free)
Gratis Visa is issued free of cost in case of following categories of Visa applicants:
- Children below 10 years
- Up to 30 days for SAARC Citizen (except Afghanistan) visiting Nepal for the first time in a given visa Year. Afghan citizen are eligible for Gratis Visa on Arrival only upon the recommendation of Department of Immigration. If you are an Afghan citizen, you can request concerned institution inviting you to Nepal for necessary paperwork with Department of Immigration to get you Gratis Visa ‘On Arrival’.
- Non Residential Nepalese(NRN) card holder ( issued by MoFA /Nepalese diplomatic missions abroad)
- Chinese Nationals
Officials from China, Brazil, Russia and Thailand do not need Entry Visa based on reciprocal visa waiver Agreement
Visas of all kinds including ‘Gratis’ issued at the Airport are Tourist Visas. Contact Department of Immigration for extending your visa or changing the category of your visa. Tourist Visa extension can be done from Immigration Office, Pokhara too. Non tourist visa extension can be done only at Department of Immigration (if eligible) for a period of maximum one year (except business visa).
Hotels Accommodation in Ghandruk
One of the highlights of our trip to Ghandruk was Gurung Cottage. Hidden inside nooks and corners of little Ghandruk was Gurung Cottage. we Highly recommendation this place
Ghandruk’s Pioneer Hotelier
Motivation comes in different forms; Shankar Bahadur Gurung found his upon his encounter with a group of foreigners visiting Ghandruk. While many villagers during the 1970s were scared to bump into foreigners, Gurung, despite his inadequacy in English, wanted to talk to them and assist them. The foreigners wanted a place to stay, but there was none – no hotel, no lodge. Gurung, hoping to provide them with any type of shelter, offered them lodging at his house. With everybody gathered around the chulo (hearth), and staying together as a family, a day’s stay turned into three. A small house with one door and no windows must have appealed a lot to the guests, for many other foreigners, upon other villagers’ recommendations, began staying in Gurung’s home. The love he received from the tourists motivated him deeply, motivated him to open Ghandruk’s first hotel – Hotel Milan.
Nevertheless, the journey for Gurung wasn’t easy. Financing was the biggest hurdle, but there were so many other factors that Gurung had to deal with. Although basic things like lack of good roads, inadequate supply of materials were obvious difficulties, Gurung also had to deal with the villagers’ backbiting. They were very critical of Gurung’s – what they called “slavish” nature – they despised the fact that he washed dishes, cooked food for the Ghandruk tourists. But Gurung did not back down. He had patience and he did what he had to do.
Finally, after a great deal of effort, through loans from banks and his earnings as a teacher, Shanker Bahadur bought a house for himself with Rs. 200,000, that which is equivalent to 50 to 60 lakhs today. The one and only hotel in Ghandruk was thus born, and guests kept pouring in. His hard work paid off and his vision bloomed. Not only did the villagers start respecting him but other people too got inspired to follow his footsteps. His effort to introduce a hotel in Ghandruk paved the way for lodges like Himalayan and Hill Top.
In time, as the competition grew, Gurung had to shift his hotel towards the upper part of Ghandruk for better picturesque views, in order to attract more tourists. But what Gurung feels now is a challenge is the load shedding hours, making it very difficult for the hotel as well as his customers. Though he had to make minor changes in his interiors, his guests tell him not to make any changes with his traditional outer designs. Shankar Bahadur is content today with what he has achieved, despite his ups and downs he stays firm and wants to continue serving his guests for as long as he can.
Food in Ghandruk
Alright, we couldn’t present a list of traditional Nepali dishes without giving dal bhat an entry of its own! To call this rice and lentil dish a staple of Nepali cuisine would be an understatement – it’s so much more than just rice and lentils. When served in a restaurant or at home, the rice and lentil curry is accompanied by a variety of seasonable vegetable and meat curries (spinach, potato, mushroom, chicken, buffalo, etc), as well as a salad, pickles, papad and curd. It’s not just a dish, it’s a full meal and a tasty and satisfying one at that. It’s no wonder Nepalis are obsessed.
Temperate Paradise
Weather-wise, Ghandruk boasts a pleasant climate without extremes of heat or cold, year round. Excluding the monsoon period (July through early Sept), all months are suitable for hikes to Ghandruk, though you might encounter a temporary dusting of snow on some mid-winter days. The village has electricity (generated locally), telephone and a health post. For a comfortable stay, the lodges and inns provide all modern amenities. Some even have Internet access! For a gourmet trekker, they dish out all kinds of great food, from dal-bhat to European and Chinese cuisine. The evenings in the hub area resound to singing and traditional dancing that are arranged by the lodge-owners for their foreign guests. Should you decide to extend your hike, they can arrange trips to Ghorepani and Pun Hill, a day’s walk away, or a more arduous ascent, with necessary logistics, lasting several days into the Annapurna Sanctuary, and to the Machhapuchhre and Annapurna Base Camps.
For a short and undemanding hike, a visit to Ghandruk, set in the gentle folds of the midland mountains, in the shadow of formidable Annapurna peaks, high above the Modi river valley, in a rolling hilly countryside, provides amazing glimpses of rural life. It is (at least) a 300-year-old village in its old form, providing glimpses of time-honored ancient cultural traditions. Here, as guests of the legendary Gurungs, you’ll find a fascinating getaway, both memorable and educational.
Ref: Ravi Man Singh
