Nepal

This section explains how Nepal works - the systems, the costs, the queues and the conventions - for anyone living here. It does not assume you are a foreigner, and most of it applies equally to a Nepali reader who has just moved to a new city.

If what you need is specifically about being a non-citizen - a visa, a work permit, what you are allowed to own, what differs for you at a hospital or a bank - that is a separate section at foreigners in Nepal, and the two are deliberately kept apart.

Where to start

If you are	Start with
New to the country	Life in Nepal
Looking for somewhere to live	Living and housing
Setting up the basics	Banking and finance, then telecom and internet
Working out how to get around	Transportation
Dealing with an office	Government and administration
Worried about something medical	Healthcare and hospital
In an emergency	Emergency - 100 police, 101 fire, 102 ambulance

What this section covers

The infrastructure of living here. Housing and what rent actually buys, banking and how money moves, telecoms and the reality of connectivity, transport in and between cities, and the utilities that make a house habitable. Living and housing, banking and finance, telecom and internet, transportation and vehicle and mobility.

The institutions. How the administration is structured and why that determines which office you go to, how the courts work, what schooling looks like, and how the health system is actually organised between public, private and charitable providers. Government and administration, legal information, education and healthcare and hospital.

Earning and spending. The job market, running a business, what things cost, where to shop and what makes imported goods expensive. Jobs and career, business, shopping and restaurants and food.

Life, and the things that organise it. Family and marriage law, the festival calendar that genuinely governs the working year, entertainment, travel within the country, and the community structures that matter more here than most newcomers expect. Family and marriage, events and festivals, entertainment, tourism and travel and community.

What it costs, in shape

Nepal reads as very cheap or unexpectedly expensive depending entirely on what you buy, which is why newcomers disagree so sharply about it.

Cheap: fresh food and eating at local places, domestic transport, household help and trades, mobile data, and rent outside central Kathmandu.

Expensive: anything imported, which carries duty arriving overland - vehicles above all, then electronics, branded goods and Western groceries. Also private healthcare at the better hospitals, international schooling, and rent in the areas where foreign residents and affluent Nepalis cluster.

The practical consequence is that a household living locally spends very little and one importing its habits spends a great deal. Shopping covers why the premium exists.

The things that surprise people

• Originals, not copies. Offices want original documents and physical signatures far more than you expect, and often several photographs.
• Cash still matters. Digital payment has spread fast, but markets, small restaurants, rural travel and temple donations run on notes.
• Geography governs everything. Distances on a map mean little; the road, the season and the altitude decide the journey.
• The monsoon is a planning constraint, not weather. It affects roads, flights, construction and health.
• Power and water are more reliable than they were and still not uniform. Ask a landlord specifically.
• Festivals close the country, repeatedly and for days. Plan the working year around them.

How the year runs

Worth internalising early, because almost nothing here follows the Gregorian rhythm.

Nepal uses its own calendar, with the new year in the middle of April, and the fiscal year beginning in mid-July - which is when budgets, tax deadlines and government programmes turn over. Official dates, deadlines and notices are frequently given in that calendar.

The monsoon runs roughly June to September. The festival season follows it, through roughly September to November, and includes the two occasions that genuinely stop the country. The clear, dry months either side of the monsoon are also the trekking seasons, which is why those weeks are busy and expensive. Events and festivals covers the calendar in detail.

What we try to do differently

Three things, because most writing about Nepal is either tourist-facing or official.

Say what actually happens. Which counter, which form, which queue, how long it really takes, and what people do when the formal process stalls.

Name the numbers where we can, and flag them where we cannot. Costs in Nepal move, and figures presented without a date are worse than useless. Where a page gives indicative amounts it says so.

Admit the gaps. Where a rule has changed, where practice differs from statute, or where the honest answer is "confirm this locally", the page says that rather than inventing certainty.

Where to go next

New arrivals should read life in Nepal first. Non-citizens should also read foreigners in Nepal, which covers visas, permits and the things that work differently for you.

What is hard here, honestly

Not to discourage anybody, but because a reference that only lists how things work is half a picture.

Administration is sequential rather than slow. Each step reveals the next requirement, which means a process that would take an afternoon elsewhere takes three visits, and the only defence is starting early and keeping a document folder.

Infrastructure is improving from a low base. Power is far more reliable than it was and water in the valley still arrives by tanker. Roads in the hills are worse than their length suggests.

Air quality in the Kathmandu valley is genuinely poor in winter, and for some households that is decisive rather than inconvenient.

Prices move, so any figure needs a date against it.

What offsets all of it is the thing people actually stay for: the country is beautiful, living costs are low if you live locally, and Nepali hospitality toward someone making an effort is not a cliche.