Nepal Trekking Permits: What You Need and What They Cost

Three layers of paperwork, not one

Trekking paperwork in Nepal confuses first-time visitors because "a permit" is actually up to three separate things, issued by three different authorities, and the combination depends on the route. A trekker on the Annapurna Circuit buys a conservation area entry and a TIMS card. A trekker in the Everest region buys a national park entry, a local government card and a TIMS card. A trekker to Upper Mustang buys all of that plus a restricted-area permit that costs fifty dollars a day. None of it is optional, and none of it is expensive by international standards — the paperwork for a mainstream trek costs less than one night's lodge bill in Switzerland.

Since the rules changed in 2023, the paperwork also decides who you walk with. This guide lays out the layers, the official fees as published by the Nepal Tourism Board, and where each document is issued.

Layer one: park and conservation area entry

Every protected area in Nepal charges an entry fee, published in one table by the Nepal Tourism Board on behalf of the Department of National Parks and Wildlife Conservation. The amounts that matter to trekkers, for foreign visitors, per entry:

Sagarmatha (Everest) National Park: NPR 3,000. This covers the entire Khumbu trek from the park gate at Monjo upward, whether you turn back at Namche or stand at base camp.

Annapurna Conservation Area (ACAP): NPR 3,000. One fee covers the whole conservation area — the Circuit, Annapurna Base Camp, Poon Hill and the side valleys alike.

Langtang National Park: NPR 3,000, for the Langtang valley, Gosainkunda and the Tamang Heritage Trail.

Manaslu Conservation Area: NPR 3,000, on the Manaslu Circuit route.

Chitwan National Park: NPR 2,000 per person per day, plus 13% VAT — the per-day structure matters for safari stays.

Bardia National Park: NPR 1,500 per entry. Rara and Shey-Phoksundo: NPR 3,000 each.

Two practical notes. First, "per entry" means one visit; re-entering a park after leaving it means paying again, which occasionally catches trekkers who descend to a road town and walk back in. Second, these fees are the same whether you buy them at the Nepal Tourism Board counter in Kathmandu (Tourist Service Center, Bhrikutimandap), at park gates, or through your agency — there is no discount for buying ahead, just less queuing at 2,800 metres.

Layer two: the TIMS card, and the guide rule of 2023

The Trekkers' Information Management System card is a registration document: it records who is on which trail so that in an emergency, search and rescue knows where to look. It is issued through registered trekking agencies, costs NPR 2,000 for foreign trekkers (NPR 1,000 for SAARC nationals), and since the revised provision of 31 March 2023 it is tied to a bigger change.

The Nepal Tourism Board's current TIMS page lists, by region, the treks where a licensed guide and an agency-issued TIMS card are mandatory. The list is long and it includes the famous routes: Everest Base Camp, Gokyo and the Three Passes in the Everest region; the Annapurna Circuit, Nar Phu, Poon Hill-ABC, Khopra, Mardi Himal and Tilicho in the Annapurna region; the whole Langtang family; the Manaslu Circuit and Tsum Valley; Kanchenjunga, Makalu, Rolwaling, Upper Mustang and the Dolpo treks. For these routes, walking without a guide is not a style choice — it is against the published rule, and the TIMS card is issued to you through the agency that employs your guide.

In practice this changed solo trekking culture in Nepal: the classic image of a lone walker with a map has been replaced, on the listed routes, by trekkers travelling with guides arranged in advance. Some enforcement is checkpoint-based, some is administrative, and trekkers report varying experiences — but the rule itself is published on the NTB page, and trekking without the required guide and card risks being turned back at a checkpoint with no refund of anything.

The TIMS fee is small. The guide is the expensive part — roughly US$25-35 a day on current operator quotes — and that cost is now a structural part of Nepali trekking rather than an optional extra.

A note on what satisfies the rule: the requirement is for a licensed guide arranged through a registered trekking agency, and the TIMS card is issued through that same agency — the two documents arrive together. Walking with a travelling companion does not satisfy it, and neither does hiring an unlicensed "guide" on the trail. The agencies in Kathmandu and Pokhara that arrange treks handle the card, the park entries and the guide as one package; ask to see the guide's licence when you book, which is normal and expected. Where a route is not on the NTB's mandatory list, the card system still works the same way — it is only the guide requirement that differs.

Layer three: restricted-area permits

The third layer applies to the border regions the government keeps under special control, where trekkers must travel through a registered agency with a guide and at least the minimum group size. These permits are issued by the Department of Immigration in Kalikasthan, Kathmandu, and only an agency can apply for you. The official fee table, published on the Nepal Tourism Board's trekking permit page:

Upper Mustang: USD 50 per person per day. The classic Lo Manthang trip runs about ten days inside the restricted zone, so plan on roughly USD 500 for the permit, plus ACAP.

Manaslu Circuit: USD 100 per person per week from September to November, USD 75 per week from December to August, with daily rates beyond the first week. Add Manaslu Conservation Area entry and, for the crossing into the Annapurna region, ACAP.

Tsum Valley: USD 40 per person per week (September-November), USD 30 (December-August).

Upper Dolpa: USD 50 per person per day — the most expensive trekking permit in the country, for the most remote trek in it. Lower Dolpa: USD 20 per person per week. Humla: USD 50 per week.

Restricted-area permits are per person, per day inside the zone, and non-negotiable; the days are fixed when the agency applies, and changing the itinerary means reapplying. This is also the layer where "minimum two trekkers" rules have applied to several areas — Upper Mustang and Manaslu among them — so a genuinely solo traveller joins or forms a group; agencies assemble ad-hoc groups for exactly this purpose.

The Everest region's local card

The Khumbu adds one more document that confuses people because it is issued by nobody in Kathmandu. The Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality — the local government of the Everest valleys — charges every foreign trekker its own local entry fee, collected in cash at the checkpoint at Monjo or on arrival in Lukla. It funds local services on the trail. Current 2026 operator reporting quotes NPR 3,000; some older sources still say NPR 2,000. The amount is set locally, so verify at the checkpoint and carry rupees in small notes. Technically this sits alongside — not instead of — the Sagarmatha National Park entry and the TIMS card, which is why the Everest paperwork stack ends up as three items.

What the stack costs on the famous routes

Assembled, the paperwork for the standard treks looks like this, in the official tariff figures above plus the Khumbu local fee at its 2026 reported amount. Everest Base Camp: Sagarmatha National Park NPR 3,000, TIMS NPR 2,000, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu entry reported at NPR 3,000 — about NPR 8,000 of documents, roughly US$60 at recent exchange rates, plus the guide. Annapurna Circuit or Annapurna Base Camp: ACAP NPR 3,000 plus TIMS NPR 2,000, about NPR 5,000. Langtang, Gosainkunda or the Tamang Heritage Trail: the same NPR 5,000 shape with the national park entry in ACAP's place. Manaslu Circuit, the expensive one: the restricted-area permit at USD 100 per person per week in the September-November window or USD 75 the rest of the year, plus Manaslu Conservation Area NPR 3,000, plus ACAP NPR 3,000 for the crossing into the Annapurna region, plus TIMS.

What those sums make visible is the economics of Nepali trekking paperwork: it is never the expensive part of the trek. On Everest, the document stack costs about what two nights of teahouse food costs; the money goes to the Lukla flight and the guide instead. Budget the paperwork as a known, small, fixed item, and put the planning effort into the line items that actually move.

Four mistakes the paperwork punishes

Assuming one permit covers everything: the layers are issued by different authorities and none of them recognises another — an ACAP card does nothing at the Monjo checkpoint, and the Khumbu local fee does nothing at the ACAP boundary. Planning restricted-area dates loosely: those permits are issued for fixed dates, and changing the itinerary means reapplying through the agency, so the permit drives the schedule rather than the other way round. Counting on buying everything at the trailhead: park entries can be bought at gates, but the TIMS card and restricted-area permits come only through agencies in advance, which is one more reason to book the trek before you fly. And travelling without the originals: checkpoints between Lukla and base camp and at every conservation-area boundary check the physical documents against the guide's registration, and a photograph on a phone has satisfied no checkpoint yet.

Where and how to arrange everything

For the mainstream treks — Everest, Annapurna, Langtang — the sequence is simple: book with a registered agency (most treks now require one anyway), give them your passport details and insurance information, and let them issue the TIMS card and buy the park entries; you carry the documents and show them at checkpoints. For restricted areas, the agency does everything including the Immigration Department application, and you will need extra passport photos and a few days in Kathmandu before departure for the processing.

Independent trekkers heading for routes not on the mandatory list can still buy park entries themselves at the NTB counter in Kathmandu or at gates. The environmental fee portion of ACAP funds the trail maintenance and lodge waste management you will be quietly benefiting from.

Do the fees move?

They do, slowly, and the direction in recent years has been upward. The Khumbu local entry that operator sources now report at NPR 3,000 was quoted at NPR 2,000 in older sources, and the conservation-area fees have been revised over the years as well. The tariff layer of your trek budget deserves a small buffer rather than exact-to-the-rupee planning, and the figures that matter for your actual trip should be confirmed at the moment you book — the NTB pages for the standard fees, your agency for the restricted-area applications. What genuinely does not change: the structure. Three layers, issued by three authorities, checked at the trail — that architecture has been stable for years, and understanding it is worth more than memorising any single figure in this guide.

Fees in this guide are the official tariffs published by the Nepal Tourism Board, fetched 1 November 2026; restricted-area amounts can be revised by the Department of Immigration, so confirm the current figure with your agency before paying.

Sources: Nepal Tourism Board — park entry fees (ntb.gov.np/plan-your-trip/before-you-come/park-entry-fees), TIMS card (…/tims-card) and trekking permit (…/trekking-permit) pages, all fetched 1 November 2026; heritage and Chitwan fee detail from the NTB heritage-site entry fees page (fetched 1 November 2026).