How To Reach Kathmandu Without Taking A Flight

Trekking in a country that houses eight of the highest mountains in the world, including the Everest Base Camp and Annapurna Base Camp treks, is an exciting prospect for many of us. However, getting to this country is often an expensive affair.

Our Trek Manager, Mahipal Bhisht, recently travelled to Kathmandu. And he was travelling on a budget! He came back with some good tips to reach Kathmandu if you’re on a tight budget. 

For this, you won’t have to take a flight. You can do the entire journey by road. Take a look.

First stop: Gorakhpur

Gorakhpur is a city in Uttar Pradesh that lies close to Nepal border. It is well connected to all major cities through roads as well as railway. In fact, Gorakhpur is the headquarters of north eastern railways. By virtue of that fact, all major cities have direct trains that go to Gorakhpur.

By road, Gorakhpur is connected to major cities within the Uttar Pradesh state as well as Delhi and Mumbai.

The closest airport to Gorakhpur would be the Lal Bahadur Shastri International Airport in Varanasi, from where Gorakhpur is around 200 km away. It takes around 8-10 hours to reach Gorakhpur.

From Gorakhpur, reach the border town of Sonauli, in UP. It shares its border with Nepal.

There are two ways to go about this.

(1) Gorakpur Railway station to Sonauli: If you have gotten down at Gorakhpur railway station, you will find buses to Sonauli bus stop. The bus ticket costs Rs 112 INR. The distance between Sonauli bus stop and Gorakhpur railway station is around 96 km.

(2) Gorakhpur Bus Station to Sonauli: If you have gotten down at Gorakhpur bus station, you should find a bus to Sonauli quite easily. You could also add in a decent lunch at the Gorakhpur bus station for Rs 50 INR!

Pro Tip: Taxies are also available from both these locations. But avoid them and choose buses instead. They are much cheaper, and also get there as quickly.

From Sonauli to Kathmandu, take an overnight bus

Sonauli is a famed transit point for every traveller traversing across Indo-Nepal border.

Every hour, there is a bus that goes from Sonauli to Kathmandu. This bus ticket costs Rs 600 Nepali rupees (NPR). 

Have a quick dinner at Sonauli before boarding the bus. You should get a good meal for Rs 200.

The journey from Sonauli to Kathmandu is an 11 hour drive with a dinner break. The buses usually have an additional hour of rest time built in between the journey.

Pro tip: It is better to take the evening bus to Kathmandu rather than the afternoon one. If you take an afternoon bus, you will land up in Kathmandu in the wee hours of the night with nowhere to go/stay. The last bus leaves at 7.30 pm and reaches Kathmandu by 6.30 am.

Destination: Kathmandu

Finally, Kathmandu. It is an extremely backpacker friendly town, given that it is gateway to Nepal Himalayas for many from around the world.

From Kathmandu, you can take further buses to Pokhara or a flight to Lukla (no road journeys there!)

Pro tip: Thamel, Kathmandu’s tourist quarter as they call it, is your go to spot for last minute gear purchases, warm clothes for your trek, foreign money exchange booths and souvenirs. The taxi to Thamel costs about 200 NPR from Kathmandu.

We know Nepal is a little hard on the pocket. We do have resources of how to budget your Everest Base Camp Trek and How To Budget Your Annapurna Base Camp trek.

Do you have budget friendly tips for travelling in Nepal? Let us know in comments below.

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