Kathmandu, Pokhara budget hotels to stay

This post is a quick review of 3 budget hotels we stayed at during our Nepal trip. Will be helpful during your trip planning.

Kathmandu- Hotel Kailash Kuti Inn near Pashupatinath temple

This was the most expensive hotel of our trip- about 2500 per night per room. We spent two nights here. Reason I selected it were as below:

• It was just about under 3 kms from Airport
• Walkable from Pashupatinath temple- don't have to spend more on taxi

Room sizes are bit small, but then most hotels in Kathmandu have same issue. Space is a luxury here and buildings are built in narrow spaces in haphazard manner, so most budget hotels try to have more rooms with less space per room. Unless you can pay more for much bigger hotels, be ready to adjust in limited space.

The restaurant in house was good and pure vegetarian. A cup of tea costs 60 Nepali rupee (40 INR or 0.5 USD), lunch about 500 Nepali rupee and other items in between. We had most of our food during first 2 days in house.

Pros:

• About 3 kms from airport
• Walkable from Pashupathinath temple
• Breakfast included (Buffet if there're enough people, on order otherwise)
• Pure Vegetarian Restaurant
• ATM and security guard available.
• Free unlimited drinking water (fill self from machine)

Cons:

• Entire hotel was empty but no free upgrade was offered. Would have been nice to use a bigger room, since there were no one else. They did give early check in though.
• Their quote for airport transfer was 1000 Rupees Nepali, which I felt too much for a 3km ride. We eventually reached hotel by bus, for under 100 INR total for 5 people.
• An elevator would have been nice given that building has 4-5 floors.

 They have some nice open area in the back side.

 Room has all basic facilities

Hotel Nirvana, Pokhara lakeside
This was the cheapest hotel of our trip, around INR 750 per room per night.
Spacious rooms with bare minimum facilities. Just 100 meters from Phewa lake, lots of restaurants nearby.

We got rooms in the ground floor right next to the garden. No free breakfast, no kettle in room, they charge 15 nepali rupees for a litre of drinking water-not complaining as we've not paid a huge amount. Has parking for 1 car.

Note that Hotel Nirvana doesn't have any view. If you want a view from your room, there're many hotels on the lakeside, some of them offering good view of Phewa lake- but I am sure lake view rooms will cost lot more.

Easy Homes Ashoka Stupa, Patan
Our last night in Kathmandu we stayed at Easy Homes-Ashoka Stupa

Locating this hotel was a challenge due to narrow lanes in the area and darkness. Eventually had to get off the cab, walk a few hundred meters to locate it and then allow hotel and cab driver coordinate on how to reach the hotel (as bags and other passengers were there in the vehicle)

We had booked the cheapest room which had no attached bathroom and costed us about 1100 INR per room per night, they were kind to upgrade us to a room with attached bathroom.

Room had kettle but no milk powder. Couldn't get it anywhere nearby so couldn't make tea/coffee.

Rooms were tastefully designed, with lots of wooden stuff used.

Nepal hotel booking tips
In summary, you can have very decent stay for about 1000 Rs a night in Nepal. However keep in mind the following
-Proximity to places you'd like to visit
-How narrow/accessible is the hotel- some of them may not have wide enough roads
-Can you manage without some things like breakfast
-Also note that most areas in Kathmandu are dusty, crowded. If you need peace better to book little away from city, but then you'll have to travel more.
-Taxi quotes arranged by hotel tend to be expensive. Get some reference of local drivers from friends who have been to Nepal, try to negotiate a deal directly with driver.

Also check: Kathmandu 10 places to visit * Nepal on extreme budget * Pokhara in a day- places to visit * Kathmandu-Pokhara: flight vs bus vs taxi *