Permits & Rules
Since April 2023, foreign trekkers must hire a licensed guide almost everywhere in Nepal — except, officially, in the Khumbu itself. Here is what the…
By Laxman Rawal · Aug 18, 2026
Yes, you need a guide to trek in Nepal in 2026 — in almost every region. Since 1 April 2023, Nepal's national rule has required every non-Nepali trekker to hire a licensed guide or porter-guide through a government-registered agency before setting out on any…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
The Nepal Tourism Board announced the guide mandate in March 2023, and it took effect two weeks later. It ended what had been decades of free independent trekking (FIT) in Nepal: walking the trails alone, arranging teahouses as you go, with no agency…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Here is the twist. Within days of the national rule taking effect, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, the local government body that actually administers the Everest trekking corridor, said publicly that hiring a guide is not mandatory on its own…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
Above trekking altitude, the rules tighten further and leave no ambiguity at all. A regulation published in the Nepal Gazette in February 2025 banned solo climbing outright on all fourteen of the world's 8,000-metre peaks, Everest included, regardless of…
Travel Himalaya Nepal · News
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