The only cheap option to travel in Nepal
Traveling in Nepal is not for the faint of heart: roads are quite undeveloped, bumpy, and dusty while flying internally is notoriously dangerous given the infamous track records of accidents (for different reasons such as the weather and the topography of the country).
Given the lack of a railway system, taking a bus in Nepal is the only possible way to move around the country if you are on a budget.
We took many buses to move around different places and in a way was quite funny and it felt like an adventure. If you don’t mind being possibly very close to other people, dusty roads, and very long journeys, you’ll be able to move around for a few bucks and interact with some curious locals. We even had a chicken as a bus companion once
Tourist and local bus
There are mainly two types of buses: Tourist and local buses. Tourist buses are the ones that most likely will be offered to you by your hostel/Hotel. They are bigger, slightly more comfortable and more expensive.
Local buses are usually smaller, they often don’t have any indication of their destination, and they are usually pretty packed. The big pro of taking a tourist bus is that they normally don't make stops between tourist destinations, and therefore it is considerably faster.
We ended up taking mostly tourist buses because it was easier and faster, deciding to spend a bit more money. We took only one local bus to get to the Manaslu trek starting point.
Below are some tourist bus average prices for tourist destinations, just to give you a reference:
- Kathmandu to Pokhara or vice versa should cost you between 5€ and 10€. You can buy the ticket or check the timetable and costs here.
- Pokhara to Bandipur costs about 5€. You need to catch the bus to Kathmandu and asked to be dropped off at the junction with Bandipur. From there it is around 1€ with the local bus up to the village. No need to worry where to find the local bus, they will find you.
- Pokhara to Chitwan costs 5€ to 6€. You can buy the ticket or check the timetable and costs here.
We ended up spending a bit more because we made the rookie mistake of having hotels book tickets for us. When possible, it is usually better to book online!
Buses are quite easy to find in Nepal.
If you are more spontaneous and you just want to take a local bus, you can just ask locals where the closest bus station is and go with the flow because there are buses that go everywhere every day so you don’t have to worry much. Moreover, buses are quite flexible and if they are not full and crowded they will stop even if you are not in the right place.
How do you pay for a bus?
You can always pay on board but if you book online with for example 12goAsia, then you will pay directly online. In the case of tourist buses, you might have to pay at your hotel/hostel beforehand if they organize it for you.
Extra Tips
- Snacks & water: Long busses will stop at a local restaurant on the way, and they can vary from good to nasty, so snacks are always a good idea. Water is normally provided on tourist buses but not on local buses.
- Mask: Roads in Nepal can be very dusty. When sitting close to an open window you'll end up breathing dust, so to minimize the sand in your nose, we recommend wearing a face mask (or a Fremen suit if you own one)
- Sunglasses: They help with the sun , but also with the dust.
