Long stay
Long stay in Nepal: visa, monthly rentals, budget
For those staying one to five months: spending the winter in Pokhara, working remotely from Kathmandu, doing a meditation retreat or Nepali lessons. What changes compared with a normal trip: the visa, monthly housing, the monthly budget and everyday life. Rents and prices: ranges noted in September 2026 from listings and recent guides, to be taken as orders of magnitude.
How long can you stay?
- The tourist visa is issued on arrival for 15, 30 or 90 days (30, 50 or 125 USD (≈ €27, €45 or €110)), then extended locally at the immigration office in Kathmandu or Pokhara: 3 USD (≈ €3) per day, 15 days minimum.
- The limit is 150 days per calendar year on a tourist visa. Beyond that, you must leave the country or obtain another type of visa (study, work, residence for retirees…), which requires a Nepali sponsor: see other visas on Visa Nepal.
- The cheapest combination for your length of stay and the whole extension procedure: Visa Nepal, extension.
Where to live?
Patan (Lalitpur)
Jhamsikhel, Sanepa, Pulchowk
The expat and NGO district: quiet, cafés and restaurants, minimarkets, coworking spaces, 15 min from Patan Durbar Square. The easiest choice for a first long stay. See Patan.
Kathmandu
Boudha
Around the great stupa: Tibetan atmosphere, monasteries, meditation and Buddhism courses, neighbourhood life. Further from the centre and the work cafés.
Kathmandu
Lazimpat, Baluwatar, Thamel
Lazimpat and Baluwatar, smarter embassy districts; Thamel, convenient for everything but noisy and very touristy: fine for a month, tiring for three.
Kathmandu, greener
Budhanilkantha
At the foot of the hills in the north of the valley: cleaner air, houses with gardens, fewer people. You need a scooter or taxis for everything.
Pokhara
Lakeside and North Lakeside
The choice of many digital nomads: lake, mountains, clean air, milder winters than Kathmandu, coworkings and cafés. North Lakeside is quieter and cheaper. See Pokhara.
Quieter
Bhaktapur, Dhulikhel
To live in a Newar town or on the rim of the valley, away from the expats. Fewer furnished rentals, few coworkings. See Bhaktapur and Nagarkot and Dhulikhel.
Renting by the month
The rents below match what a foreign traveller usually looks for: a clean place with hot water and a kitchen, in a pleasant area. Furnished housing for foreigners is often priced in dollars. Ranges noted in September 2026 from real listings and the Nepali press.
| Type of housing | Indicative monthly rent |
|---|---|
| Furnished room with private bathroom, in a family home or residence | ≈ 17,000 to 25,000 NPR (≈ €98 to €145) |
| Guesthouse room by the month (Thamel, Boudha, Lakeside), often with wifi and cleaning | ≈ 20,000 to 45,000 NPR (≈ €115 to €260) (130 to 300 USD (≈ €115 to €270)) |
| Decent, well-located unfurnished 1 or 2-bedroom (to furnish yourself) | ≈ 20,000 to 35,000 NPR (≈ €115 to €200) |
| Furnished 1 or 2-bedroom, expat areas (Jhamsikhel, Sanepa, Lazimpat, Boudha) | ≈ 30,000 to 65,000 NPR (≈ €175 to €375) |
| Pokhara: furnished apartment in Lakeside / unfurnished outside Lakeside | ≈ 30,000 to 45,000 / 18,000 to 22,000 NPR (≈ €105 to €125) |
| Upmarket apartment for foreigners, often priced in dollars | ≈ 900 to 1,100 USD (≈ €805 to €980) |
Utilities are almost never included: metered electricity (≈ 1,500 to 3,000 NPR (≈ €9 to €17) a month), water (≈ 300 to 800), fibre (≈ 1,000 to 2,500), gas. Usual deposit of 1 to 3 months (often 2), plus the first month; legal notice of 35 days; a written contract is compulsory above 20,000 NPR (≈ €115) a month. Brokers (“room finders”) charge about 2,000 to 4,000 NPR (≈ €12 to €23) once you've found a place. Foreigners are often quoted a higher price than Nepalis: having a Nepali friend search or negotiate helps a lot.
- Where to look: Hamrobazaar and other Nepali listing sites, Facebook rental groups for Kathmandu and Pokhara, “To-Let” signs in the neighbourhood, word of mouth in cafés, agencies and brokers. GharKhoji, a rental listings site for Nepal (same publisher as this guide), lists rooms and apartments in Kathmandu, Lalitpur, Bhaktapur and Pokhara.
- Start with a week or two in a guesthouse, then view places in person: photos don't show the noise, the light or the steepness of the lane.
- Check before signing: hot water (solar or gas heater), water pressure and storage (pump, tank), fibre already installed, an inverter for power cuts, heating in winter, the floor (ground floors are damp in the monsoon), street and dog noise at night.
- A written contract, even a simple one: rent, deposit, what's included, notice. Pay against a receipt.
Monthly budget
Frugal
≈ 400 to 650 USD (≈ €355 to €580) / month
A furnished room or small unfurnished flat (≈ 130 to 200 USD (≈ €115 to €180)), home cooking and canteens, buses and walking, a local SIM. Easier in Pokhara than in Kathmandu.
Comfortable
≈ 700 to 1,200 USD (≈ €625 to €1,070) / month
A furnished apartment in a good area (200 to 400 USD (≈ €180 to €355)), restaurants and cafés regularly, coworking, taxis and ride-hailing, a short trek or excursion each month.
Generous
1,500 USD (≈ €1,340) and up / month
Upmarket housing, eating out every day, a car with driver, domestic flights, paid retreats.
Excluding visa, insurance and plane tickets. Pokhara generally works out 15 to 25% cheaper than Kathmandu. Everyday prices are on the Budget page.
Internet and remote work
- Home fibre: several providers (Worldlink, Vianet…) offer 30 to 100 Mbps for about 15 to 25 USD (≈ €13 to €22) a month; many furnished apartments already have it. Ask for a speed test when you visit.
- Coworking spaces: in Patan, Thamel and Lakeside, by the day (a few dollars) or by the month (≈ 30 to 70 USD (≈ €27 to €62) depending on the city and the space).
- Backup: a SIM with a large data pack (Ncell or Nepal Telecom) for tethering, and an inverter or battery for the router. See SIM & internet.
- Time difference: Nepal is on UTC+5:45, i.e. 4 h 45 ahead of London in summer and 5 h 45 in winter: video calls with Europe fall in the late afternoon or evening.
Things to do over time
- Learning Nepali: private language schools in Kathmandu and Pokhara, private tutors, and Tribhuvan University's language campus in Kathmandu for a longer course.
- Meditation and Buddhism: introductory courses at the Boudha and Kopan monasteries, ten-day donation-based vipassana retreats in the valley, and many yoga centres, especially in Pokhara.
- Walking: a long stay lets you pick the best weather window for a trek. See Trek Nepal.
- Volunteering: a tourist visa does not allow it, and orphanages are best avoided. What remains possible and other ways to help: Volunteering.
Practical life
- Banking and mobile payments: opening a bank account is generally not possible on a tourist visa. Nepali e-wallets (eSewa, Khalti), accepted by almost every shop via QR code, list the passport among accepted IDs, but the conditions for foreigners (verification, how to top up without a Nepali account) vary: check with the operator. Otherwise, live with a card that has no foreign fees and withdraw the maximum each time: see Money.
- Drinking water: 20-litre jars delivered to your door, for a few dozen to a hundred rupees; tap water is not drinkable.
- Gas and electricity: gas cylinders for cooking and sometimes hot water, swapped at neighbourhood dealers; metered electricity, cuts rare but possible.
- Health: travel clinics in Kathmandu and Pokhara, decent private hospitals in Kathmandu. Long-stay health insurance (also covering evacuation) is essential. See Health & safety.
- Winter: houses are neither insulated nor heated; in Kathmandu, December–January nights approach 0 °C. Get a heater, a good duvet, or spend the winter in Pokhara.
- Pollution: from December to April, the Kathmandu Valley's air is often bad; an air purifier in the bedroom makes a real difference on a long stay.
You get your visa on arrival, at Kathmandu airport or at the border: form, fees and pitfalls to avoid on our dedicated site.
Visa Nepal →Fancy a few days of walking? Poon Hill, Mardi Himal, Langtang… permits, guides, transport and day-by-day itineraries on our trekking site.
Trek Nepal →Comments
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