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COSTS, MONEY AND
BANKS |
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Your money goes a long way in Nepal. Off the tourist routes, it can
actually be hard to spend US$5/£3 a day, however willing you might be to
pay more. On the other hand, Kathmandu and some of the other tourist
traps can burn a hole in your pocket rather faster than you might have
expected in the Third World. The cost of seeing Nepal, then, depends in
large part on the proportion of time you spend on and off the beaten
track.
While even in the capital it's still possible for a budget traveller to
keep to US$8/£5 a day, the figure can effortlessly balloon to $20/£13 or
more simply by trading up to slightly nicer hotels and restaurants. If
you like to travel in greater luxury, you should expect to spend $40 or
more per day, depending mainly on standard of accommodation
Typical costs
The price of accommodation varies considerably, depending on where you
stay and when. Really basic rooms (ie, the kind Nepalis stay in) can
almost always be found for $1.50/£1 or less. Prices aren't automatically
higher in tourist areas, but most travellers take up the option of
paying more for a few creature comforts: figure on $4-15/£2.50-10 for a
budget double room in the high season. Off-season rates can plummet by
50 percent or more, but it's up to you to bargain. Prices for single
rooms are usually lower, and dorm beds are often available, but you'll
generally save money by doubling up. Better hotels usually cost $30 or
more - a lot more, if you want international-standard features.
Food , cheap as it is, tends to be the biggest daily expense for budget
travellers. Normally, a tourist dinner will run to $2-4/£1.50-2.50 per
person, rising to $8/£5 or more in a really posh place. (But put that in
perspective - that's about what you'd leave for a tip in a comparable
restaurant back home.) Daal bhaat, the all-you-can-eat national meal of
rice, lentils and curried vegetables, costs less than $1/70p just about
anywhere, and you can fill up on road snacks for just pennies.
If you stick to buses, the cost of transport is trifling. An all-day
journey on a tourist bus will cost $4-10/£2.50-6, half that on a local
bus. In any case, there are only a handful of tourist bus routes to
spend your money on, and the local buses are so uncomfortable that you
probably won't be using many of them either. On a per-person basis, a
hired private vehicle isn't much more expensive than a tourist bus if
you have enough people to fill it. However, the stakes go up
dramatically if you fly (one-way fares are generally in the region of
$50-100/£30-60).
A value-added tax ( VAT ) of 10 percent is built into the prices of most
goods, but many hotels and restaurants (particularly the more expensive
ones) quote their prices exclusive of it. An additional two-percent
tourism service fee is applicable to room and meal charges in tourist
hotels, but the cheaper places roll it into their prices.
No matter how tight your budget, it would be foolish not to splurge now
and then on some of the things that make Nepal unique: trekking on your
own is quite cheap, but you might prefer to hire a porter or guide for
$5-10/£3-6 a day, or even pay upwards of $20/£13 a day for a fully
catered trek. Rafting , biking and wildlife trips also work out to be
relatively expensive, but well worth it. And few visitors will be able
to resist buying at least something from Nepal's rich range of
handicrafts .
You'll inevitably pay over the odds for things at first, but don't think
of it as being ripped off. So what if you pay Rs100 too much for your
first night's lodging? It's all part of the process of learning the
going rate of things, which you can't be expected to know right away.
A final point : some travellers make a wild show of pinching pennies,
which Nepalis find pathetic - they know how much an air ticket to
Kathmandu costs. Others throw money around too freely, which proves they
deserve to be parted from it. Bargain where appropriate, but don't
begrudge a few rupees to someone who's worked hard for them, and try to
spend your money where it will do most good.
Nepalese money
Nepal's unit of currency is the rupee , which is divided into 100 paisa.
At the time of writing, the exchange rate was Rs68 to the US$
(£1=Rs110). The Nepalese rupee floats freely against most other
currencies but is generally pegged to a fixed rate against the Indian
rupee, which at the time of writing was 160 Nepalese rupees to 100
Indian rupees. (Where confusion might arise, it's common practice to
refer to the two currencies as NC and IC respectively.)
Almost all Nepali money is paper: notes come in denominations of Rs1, 2,
5 10, 20, 25, 50, 100, 250, 500 and 1000. Coins are 25 and 50 paisa and
1, 2, 5 and 10 rupees. The smaller, aluminium coins are used mainly for
almsgiving.
One minor annoyance of travelling in Nepal is getting change . Even in
tourist areas, business people will hem and haw about breaking a large
note - "You have smaller money?" they'll ask, peering into your wallet.
Trying to pass even a Rs100 note to a village merchant or a riksha
driver is sure to invite delays, since few Nepalis can afford to keep
much spare change lying around. It gets to be a game of bluff between
buyer and seller, both hoarding a wad of small notes for occasions when
exact change is vital.
Travellers' cheques and credit cards
Travellers' cheques are of course more secure than cash, and in Nepal
they bring a slightly higher official exchange rate, just about
offsetting the one-percent commission you pay when buying them. Any
major brand will do. US dollar cheques are most widely accepted, though
cheques denominated in other currencies are easy enough to change in
tourist areas. Make sure to keep the purchase agreement and a record of
cheque serial numbers safe and separate from the cheques themselves. In
the event that cheques are lost or stolen, the issuing company will
expect you to report the loss immediately to their office in Kathmandu.
Most companies claim to replace lost or stolen cheques within 24 hours.
Some hard-currency cash may also come in handy - again, US dollars are
best. Bring a selection of small and medium denominations, and make sure
the bills are relatively new.
Travel agents, luxury hotels and some of the midrange guest houses
accept major credit cards , but budget outfits don't. An increasing
number of retailers take plastic, but they typically add a three- to
five-percent processing fee onto the amount - a practice that's illegal
in developed countries, but Nepal is not a developed country. You should
be able to use the fee as a bargaining chip. Manual transactions (ie,
those not submitted by an electronic swipe device) may take months to
appear on your bill. Be wary if a proprietor insists on taking your card
out of sight for processing: a con artist can add an extra zero to the
amount, or make duplicate impressions to bill fictitious transactions
against your account.
A credit card is also worth having in case you need a cash advance
Banks and moneychangers
Using banks in Nepal is, by South Asian standards, surprisingly hassle-free.
Numerous private banks and two quasi-government ones (Nepal Bank and
Rastriya Banijya Bank) all vie for tourists' business, as do a horde of
government-registered moneychangers . The government banks give slightly
better rates and/or charge less commission than the private ones. The
private banks and moneychangers offer very similar rates once you've
factored in commissions, which vary considerably, but some work out
better for large transactions, others for small ones.
Moneychangers can be found wherever there are significant numbers of
tourists. Private bank branches are located mainly in larger cities,
with government banks typically providing the only service in smaller,
untouristed places. Hours for foreign exchange vary: at least one
Kathmandu airport branch operates around the clock, Nepal Bank's central
Kathmandu (New Road) branch stays open seven days a week and some
private banks keep extended hours, but lesser branches generally change
money only Sunday to Thursday 10am-2pm, Friday 10am-noon. Specific
timings are given in the guide where they're notable. Moneychangers,
confined to tourist areas, keep generous hours - usually 8am-8pm, seven
days a week.
Hold onto all exchange receipts, as you'll need them for changing money
back when you leave. Some private banks in Kathmandu will buy rupees
back, as will banks at the Kathmandu airport and at official border
crossings. However, they may have trouble giving the exact change
equivalent in foreign currency, and they may be able to give it only in
US dollars. If you're entering India, changing NC into IC is no problem.
Nepal's currency black market has been all but killed off by the
government's move to make the rupee fully convertible and its lifting of
a ban on Nepalese citizens taking hard currency out of the country. All
that's left of the black market now is a few touts offering no better
than the official rate, and usually a bit worse. The only reason to
change unofficially would be if all official outlets were closed. If you
do it, haggle hard (make sure you know the official rate) and be on your
guard for sleight-of-hand tricks.
Getting more money
If you run low on funds in Nepal, by far the best way to replenish them
is with a credit card cash advance . Some private banks (notably Nepal
Grindlays) issue cash advances against Visa/Mastercard, and they
typically charge no commission if you take the money in rupees. You'll
still end up paying interest on the advance to your credit card company,
of course. American Express cardholders can similarly draw money at the
Amex office in Kathmandu.
Having money wired from home is never cheap or convenient, and should be
considered a last resort. Funds can be sent via Western Union (tel
1800/649 565 in Australia; tel 0800/833 833 in the UK; tel 800/543-4080
in the US or Canada; tel 09/302 0143 in New Zealand), and can be
collected at Annapurna Travels & Tours on Durbar Marg in Kathmandu. It's
also possible to have money wired directly from a bank in your home
country to a bank in Nepal, although this is somewhat less reliable
because it involves two separate institutions. If you go this route, the
person wiring the funds to you will need to know the fax or telex number
of the bank the funds are being wired to.
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