Cash or card in Nepal? Rupees, ATMs, QR codes and trek money

The rupee: notes, coins and what it is worth

Nepal's currency is the Nepalese rupee (NPR), divided into 100 paisa. The Nepal Tourism Board lists notes of Rs 1000, 500, 100, 50, 20, 10, 5, 2 and 1 and coins of Rs 5, 2 and 1.

For a sense of scale, Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank, bought US dollars at NPR 149.96, euros at NPR 167.54 and pounds at NPR 200.74 on 8 November 2026, so a dollar is worth about NPR 150, a euro about 168 and a pound about 201. Rates move every day, and the English-language dailies The Rising Nepal, The Kathmandu Post and The Himalayan Times publish them. Our Nepal trip-cost guide turns rupee prices into a full budget.

Day-to-day prices are low. At one Thamel restaurant, The Kathmandu Kitchen, a khaja set is listed at NPR 435 (NPR 400 on offer on 8 November 2026); foreign visitors pay NPR 1,000 for Kathmandu Durbar Square; and Ncell's seven-day tourist SIM costs NPR 595. Keep a fold of Rs 100 and smaller notes apart from the larger ones, ready for taxis, stalls and temple gates.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Card or cash: where a foreign card works

Credit cards such as American Express, Mastercard and Visa are accepted at major hotels, shops and restaurants, and hotels, travel agencies and airlines take payment in foreign exchange, so the big items, the room, the trek package and the domestic flight, can go on your card. Domestic airlines can charge foreigners in US dollars: Buddha Air, for one, charges its foreigner (USD) fare to everyone except Nepali and Indian citizens.

Away from the major hotels, shops and restaurants, plan to pay in rupees. Carry some euros or US dollars in cash as well as your cards, especially for travel to less populated regions: the further you go from Kathmandu, the more you will rely on cash.

Be vigilant when paying by card outside large hotels and travel agencies, because of the risk of fraud leading to unauthorised withdrawals. In the city, prefer cashless payment and carry only the cash you need for the day; keep the rest, with a second card, in a hotel safe if possible.

ATMs, bank fees and bank hours

ATMs are widely used in Kathmandu, and in the Kathmandu Valley most machines accept Visa and Mastercard. Outside the main tourist sites ATMs are not reliable, so draw what you need for a trek or a stay in the countryside before you leave Kathmandu.

Nepali banks publish their own charges for foreign cards. Everest Bank and Laxmi Sunrise Bank, for example, both list an access fee of NPR 750 for a foreign Visa or Mastercard at their ATMs, on top of whatever your own bank charges, so a few larger withdrawals cost less than many small ones.

If the ATM or a card terminal offers to bill you in your home currency, decline and choose rupees. Visa says the home-currency price includes an exchange rate and additional fees; the ATM or shop should let you choose and must not choose for you, and declining does not stop the payment or withdrawal.

Outside the Kathmandu Valley, banks open from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and until 12 p.m. on Fridays, though many private banks keep longer hours at some branches. Banks close on most national holidays; the longest is Dashain, in late September or October, so draw cash before it starts.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Changing money, and changing it back

Major banks, hotels and the exchange counters at Tribhuvan International Airport change foreign currency, and money can be changed without difficulty in all larger towns. Bring clean notes: foreign coins are not exchanged in Nepal, and torn, soiled, holed, written-on, burnt or wet notes are exchanged only under the issuing central bank's clean-note policy, and Nepal Rastra Bank is not obliged to exchange them in Nepal.

Indian rupees are a special case: only Indian rupee notes of INR 100 or smaller may be brought in, taken out and exchanged, and larger notes are usually refused. Our Nepal entry guide explains the separate rule for Nepali and Indian citizens.

Change only what you need for a few days at a time, and keep every encashment receipt, because the tourism board warns that the bank may change back only 10 percent of the total amount. Up to NPR 5,000 may leave Nepal with you; change the rest at the airport bank or exchange counter before you fly, with your receipts and your customs declaration, which the counter may ask for.

QR codes: who can pay by scanning

Nepal's shop QR codes run on networks such as NEPALPAY QR, which Nepal Clearing House operates to the NepalQR standard published by Nepal Rastra Bank, and Fonepay.

Some visitors can pay them from home. Since 8 November 2024, users of Alipay+ partner apps from ten countries and regions, the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong, Macao, Singapore, Malaysia, the Philippines, Mongolia, Thailand, South Korea and Italy, can scan NEPALPAY QR codes with their own payment app. Nepal Clearing House names Alipay, AlipayHK, MPay, Touch 'n Go eWallet, MyPB, TrueMoney, GCash, OCBC, Changi Pay, Toss Pay, Naver Pay, Hipay, BigPay, Tinaba and Bluecode (Germany and Austria) among the wallets, and puts the network at over 1.2 million merchants. The shop must have international payments switched on, so the code works at many counters, not all.

Indian visitors can pay with UPI apps such as PhonePe, Google Pay, Paytm and BHIM at merchants whose QR code comes from Fonepay; the payment is made in Indian rupees and converted to Nepali rupees for the shop. It works only with a Fonepay merchant QR code, not with a personal bank QR code of an individual.

If your home app is not on these lists, a QR code is not a way to pay: use your card where it is taken and rupees where it is not. Cryptocurrencies are not recognised in Nepal, and using a crypto wallet there is strictly forbidden.

Permits, park fees and heritage tickets

The Annapurna Conservation Area permit costs NPR 3,000 for foreigners and NPR 1,000 for SAARC nationals, tax included; children under 10 need none. Pay online by Visa or Mastercard, with an additional 2.9% payment gateway charge, and the permit arrives by email, or pay at the permit counter with no additional charge. Buy it before you walk: a permit issued at a check-post on the trail costs double. Our trekking permits guide explains which permits each route needs.

Sagarmatha National Park, on the way to Everest, charges foreigners NPR 3,000 per person per entry and SAARC nationals NPR 1,500, with children under 10 free; you pay at the Tourist Service Center in Bhrikutimandap, Kathmandu, or at the entry point. The TIMS card (NPR 2,000, or NPR 1,000 for SAARC nationals) is paid online, and only trekking agencies buy it, so your agency arranges it. On the Everest trail, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu rural municipality also issues its own Trek Card in Lukla; our trekking permits guide gives its fee.

The Kathmandu Valley's heritage sites are paid at the gate. Foreign visitors pay NPR 1,000 for Kathmandu Durbar Square with the Tribhuvan Museum, NPR 1,000 for Patan Durbar Square with the Patan Museum, US$ 18 or NPR 1,800 for Bhaktapur Durbar Square, NPR 200 at Swayambhu, NPR 400 at Boudha and NPR 1,000 per day per entry at Pashupatinath. Further afield, Lumbini costs NPR 700, and Chitwan National Park NPR 2,000 per day per entry plus 13% VAT. SAARC nationals pay less at most of these sites, and children under 10 enter most of them free.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Cash for treks, taxis and tips

On a trek, cash does the work that cards do in the city. The package can go on your card; the rupees pay for what it leaves out. As one example, Nepal Alternative Treks' own four-day Ghorepani Poon Hill package listed USD 280 per person for a group of one to four on 8 November 2026, about NPR 42,000 or USD 70 a day, with twin-share lodge rooms, all meals on the trek, a government-authorised English-speaking guide, one porter for every two trekkers, transport from and back to Pokhara, the ACAP permit and all necessary trekking permits. It leaves out tea, coffee, bottled water and other drinks, laundry, phone bills and other personal expenses, and tips for guides and porters, which it calls highly recommended; its packing list puts Nepali rupees in cash under documents and money.

Carry more than the extras alone. Mountain flights can be delayed by poor weather and cancellations are common, so carry enough money to cover delays, particularly in remote areas. At Lukla, bad weather sometimes stops flights for several days, and in October and November several thousand people may wait in a village poorly equipped for them, with hard living conditions and soaring prices. Lodge, meal and other prices on the trails appear on no official price list, so take rupees for every day of the trek plus spare days, spread across two or three pockets.

Rescue costs money too: insurance that covers mountain search, evacuation and medical repatriation is strongly recommended, and you also need the means to pay for a possible hospital stay or evacuation. Our Nepal health and safety guide covers what the policy must pay for.

In Kathmandu, taxis carry a taxi sign on the roof and a black licence plate; private taxis charge more but may be more comfortable, and major hotels can arrange a taxi at night. At the airport, a prepaid taxi service is available; no fare to Thamel is published, so agree it at the counter before you pay. Our Nepal transport guide covers getting around the country.

Taxi drivers expect no tip. Our Nepal trip-cost guide gives the tourism board's line that drivers and guides expect a tip, and that a restaurant tip is unnecessary when a service charge is already added. Trek tips come on top of the package above, and no official page sets an amount, so keep them in rupees with the rest of your trek cash. Use homestays, locally owned lodges and local guides and porters where you can, because the money spent there goes straight to local livelihoods.

Prices and times checked 8 November 2026

Theft, scams and who to call

Nepal has a low rate of serious crime, but pickpockets and bag-snatchers work at airports, on buses and in Thamel, Sanepa and Kupondol in Kathmandu, and such thefts are more frequent in the festival season from September to November. Assaults and robberies are more likely in the evening in poorly lit areas: avoid walking alone there, and do not carry large sums of cash.

Two scams aim at your money. In Thamel, a common one is an offer to export jewellery or gold for a commission; because this is illegal, tourists who accept are then blackmailed. On treks, there are isolated reports of guides who take inexperienced trekkers too high too fast and then call an expensive helicopter rescue for a cut. Be wary of trekking deals that look very cheap, and avoid agencies touting at Kathmandu's international airport and self-proclaimed guides in tourist areas.

If you are robbed, call the police on 100 or the English-speaking tourist police on 1144 (in Kathmandu also 01 5347041). Our Nepal health and safety guide covers the rest of staying safe.

Cash at the border: declarations, rupees and gold

The visa on arrival can be paid by card, but carry cash as a back-up, with US dollars the preferred currency: Nepal's immigration asks travellers to bring US dollars or euros in cash because the online payment system creates long queues. Our Nepal entry guide has the visa fees.

Nepal Rastra Bank lets you carry up to USD 5,000 in foreign cash, or the equivalent in another convertible currency, without a declaration; above that, declare it to customs on arrival (the UK Foreign Office gives the same USD 5,000 for banknotes, or USD 10,000 in notes and travellers' cheques combined). France advises declaring anything above the equivalent of USD 2,000, the cautious choice if you carry more than that, and failing to declare can bring fines and prison. Customs gives you a certified declaration: keep it for the airport exchange counter. Taking out more than USD 5,000 that you did not declare can bring heavy fines and prison.

You may carry at most NPR 5,000 per person in Nepali rupee cash into or out of Nepal. Bringing gold and silver into Nepal is strictly regulated too: you may carry gold ornaments up to 50 grams and silver ornaments up to 100 grams, and bringing in undeclared gold or silver can mean a fine equal to its value, confiscation and, depending on the value, prison of one month to five years.