Transportation

A foreign driving licence is accepted in Nepal only for a short initial period, and an International Driving Permit does not extend that indefinitely. If you are staying beyond a visit, you need a Nepali licence - and because the rules on duration and conversion are revised periodically, confirm the current position at a Transport Management Office rather than relying on any article, this one included.

For how the transport system works generally - ride apps, buses, flights, journey times - transportation covers it. This page covers what is different for a non-citizen.

Using the apps

Ride-hailing is the simplest option for a new arrival and needs almost nothing: a Nepali phone number and the app. Pathao and InDrive both handle motorbike and car rides, fares are agreed in the app rather than negotiated, and a bike is roughly half the price of a car and much faster in traffic.

Payment is by cash or wallet. Setting up a wallet needs a local bank account or at least a local number - see banking and finance and SIM and internet.

For most foreign residents who do not own a vehicle, apps plus the occasional negotiated taxi cover everything.

Your own licence

Short visits are generally covered by a foreign licence, often alongside an International Driving Permit, for a limited initial period. Rental companies vary in what they will accept and some will rent to a foreign licence holder who is not strictly entitled to drive on it - what a rental shop accepts and what the law permits are not the same test, and the difference surfaces at a police check or an insurance claim.

If you are here for months rather than weeks, get the Nepali licence.

Converting to a Nepali licence

Conversion is handled by the Transport Management Office. The shape of the process:

Step	Notes
Application	Online registration, then an appointment
Documents	Passport, valid visa, foreign licence, often a verified translation
Verification	Of the foreign licence, which can take time
Test	May be reduced or waived depending on the licence held
Issue	Smart card, with a wait after approval

The requirements differ by the country that issued your licence and by your visa category, and they change. Ask at the office, bring more documents than the list suggests, and allow more than one visit. Legal and government covers dealing with offices generally.

If you have no existing licence, you take the full Nepali test - including the motorcycle figure-of-eight that fails most first-time candidates. Vehicle and mobility describes it, and the driving licence guide walks through the booking and the test.

Renting a scooter or motorbike

Common in Kathmandu and Pokhara, cheap by the day or the month, and the practical choice for anyone staying a few months. Before you take one:

• Check what the rental actually includes - insurance cover is often minimal or absent
• Inspect and photograph the bike before leaving, including existing damage
• Confirm the paperwork is in the vehicle, because police checks are routine
• Wear a helmet. Mandatory, enforced, and the obvious precaution regardless

Owning a vehicle

Possible for foreign residents, with the registration in your name requiring a valid long-term visa. Given the import duties that make cars cost a multiple of their origin price, and given that most foreign residents are here for a defined period, renting or buying a second-hand motorbike and reselling is usually the better arithmetic.

If you do buy, the bluebook checks in vehicle and mobility apply equally - unpaid vehicle tax transfers with the vehicle.

Insurance and accidents

Third-party insurance is compulsory. For a foreign resident the thing to verify is whether your personal travel or health insurance covers you riding a motorcycle at all - many policies exclude it outright, or exclude it unless you hold a licence valid for that category in the country you are riding in. That exclusion is exactly where an unconverted foreign licence becomes expensive.

After any accident involving another party, get a police report. Settling at the roadside means no claim later. Emergency covers what to do and who to call.

Where this goes wrong

• Riding on a foreign licence for months. It expires as a valid basis long before you notice.
• Assuming the rental shop's acceptance means you are covered. It does not.
• Riding a motorbike on a policy that excludes it. Check the wording before you ride, not after.
• Leaving the conversion until the licence matters. Verification of a foreign licence is the slow step.

Where to go next

Moving to Nepal sets the arrival order, and travel covers getting around the country rather than the city, including trekking insurance.

Getting around day to day

What foreign residents actually settle on, in rough order.

Ride-hailing apps for most journeys in the cities, which removes the fare negotiation entirely and is the single biggest practical improvement of recent years.

Taxis, agreeing the fare or insisting on the meter before getting in rather than after.

A scooter or motorbike, which is the fastest way around a Nepali city and the most dangerous, and which most long-stay residents end up using anyway. Wear a proper helmet, not a token one.

Walking, which is pleasant in the old cities and unpleasant on main roads.

Buses and microbuses, cheap and crowded and hard to navigate without Nepali.