At the entrance to Sagarmatha National Park, just past the village of Monjo, there is a stone building with a blue tin roof where a man in a green uniform sits behind a wooden desk surrounded by stamp pads and rubber bands and stacks of paper that have seen better days. He will ask for your permits. All of them. And if any one of them is missing, incomplete, or carries the wrong date, he will shake his head gently and tell you — with genuine sympathy — that you cannot pass.
This moment arrives on every trekking route in Nepal. At park gates, at conservation area checkpoints, at military posts along restricted borders. The permits system is not complicated, but it is absolute. No permit, no trekking. No exceptions. No negotiating your way through with a smile and a story about how the office was closed when you tried to get it.
The good news: if you book with a registered trekking company, they handle everything. You hand over a passport copy and two photos. They do the rest. But understanding what you are carrying and why it matters — that is worth ten minutes of reading.
The Two Permits Every Trekker Needs
TIMS — The Trekkers' Information Management System
Think of TIMS as Nepal's way of knowing where you are. The card records your name, nationality, trek route, guide details, and emergency contact. If something goes wrong on the trail — if you are reported missing, injured, or caught in a natural disaster — the TIMS database is the first place authorities search.
Since 2023, Nepal has been transitioning to an electronic version called e-TIMS. The concept is the same; the paper has been replaced by a QR code. The fee for group trekkers through a registered company is two thousand Nepali rupees — roughly fifteen US dollars. Individual trekkers pay three thousand rupees, about twenty-three dollars, though in practice individual trekking without a company is no longer permitted for foreign nationals on most routes.
Processing takes a few hours if arranged through a company. The Nepal Tourism Board offices in Kathmandu and Pokhara handle applications. Your trekking company submits the paperwork on your behalf — you sign the form, they do the queuing.
National Park or Conservation Area Entry Permit
Nepal's trekking regions are managed as national parks or conservation areas, each with its own entry permit. The cost is standardised at three thousand Nepali rupees — about twenty-three dollars — for foreign nationals at most parks. The permit is checked at the park gate on entry and sometimes at additional checkpoints along the trail.
Everest sits within Sagarmatha National Park. Annapurna falls under the Annapurna Conservation Area Project. Langtang has its own national park. Manaslu and the restricted regions have separate conservation areas with additional permits layered on top.
Which Permits for Which Trek
The specifics matter. Arriving at a checkpoint with the wrong permit for the region you are entering is the same as arriving with no permit at all.
Everest Base Camp: TIMS card plus Sagarmatha National Park entry permit plus — and this catches people out — the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality permit, introduced in 2023, which costs an additional two thousand rupees and is checked at Monjo just before Namche Bazaar. Three permits total.
Annapurna Circuit and Annapurna Base Camp: TIMS card plus ACAP entry permit. Two permits. Simpler than Everest.
Langtang Valley: TIMS card plus Langtang National Park entry permit. Two permits.
Manaslu Circuit: TIMS card plus Manaslu Conservation Area permit plus a restricted area permit that costs one hundred dollars per week during peak season — September through November — and seventy-five dollars per week the rest of the year. A minimum of two trekkers is required and the trek must be arranged through a registered agency. Three permits.
Upper Mustang: TIMS card plus ACAP permit plus a restricted area permit of fifty US dollars per day. Again, minimum two trekkers through a registered agency. Three permits, and the most expensive of any standard trek in Nepal.
Poon Hill: TIMS card plus ACAP permit. Two permits. The simplest permit requirement of any popular trek.
Restricted Area Permits — A Different Category
Certain regions of Nepal — those near the Tibetan border or in areas of cultural or military sensitivity — require an additional restricted area permit on top of the standard TIMS and park fees. These regions include Upper Mustang, Manaslu, Lower and Upper Dolpo, Nar Phu Valley, Tsum Valley, and parts of Kanchenjunga.
The fees are substantial. Upper Mustang at fifty US dollars per day. Manaslu at one hundred dollars per week in peak season. Dolpo at fifty US dollars per day. These fees exist partly to limit visitor numbers and partly to fund conservation and community development in remote areas.
Restricted area permits cannot be obtained individually. They must be arranged through a registered trekking company, which submits the application to the Department of Immigration in Kathmandu two to four weeks before the trek date. A minimum group size of two trekkers is usually required, though in practice a solo trekker can pair with another solo trekker through their company.
These regions are restricted precisely because they are extraordinary. Upper Mustang's medieval kingdom of Lo. Tsum Valley's living Tibetan Buddhist culture. Dolpo's landscapes that inspired Peter Matthiessen's "The Snow Leopard." The permit cost buys you access to places that mass tourism has not reached — and hopefully never will.
The e-TIMS Transition
Nepal has been moving towards a fully electronic trekking management system. The e-TIMS replaces the physical card with a digital QR code linked to your passport number and trek details. Checkpoints scan the code rather than examining a laminated card.
The transition has been gradual and not entirely smooth. Some checkpoints still check physical permits. Some accept only e-TIMS. A few accept both. Your trekking company navigates this for you — they know which checkpoints require what format on which route, because it has changed several times and may change again.
If you are arranging through a company — which is now required for all foreign trekkers — you do not need to worry about which system is in use. Your company generates whichever format is currently accepted and your guide carries it.
What You Need to Provide
Two passport-size photographs. A scan or photocopy of your passport information page. Your emergency contact details. Your planned trek route and dates. Your trekking company's registration number.
That is it. The company handles everything else — the applications, the queuing, the stamps, the payments. Your permits are ready before you arrive in Kathmandu.
What Happens If You Do Not Have Permits
You are turned back. There is no grey area, no paying a fine and continuing, no explaining that you tried but the office was closed. The checkpoint staff are polite but immovable. No permit, no passage.
On the Everest route, permits are checked at Monjo (entering Sagarmatha National Park), at Namche Bazaar, and at several points along the trail. On the Annapurna Circuit, there is a checkpoint at Chame and another at Manang. On Manaslu, checkpoints are frequent because the restricted area permit is verified at every major settlement.
In the extremely rare event that a permit is lost on the trail, your guide contacts the company office in Kathmandu who can arrange a replacement — but this takes time and creates stress that is entirely avoidable by keeping your documents in a waterproof bag inside your daypack.
The Cost Summary
For the most popular treks, total permit costs range from roughly thirty-eight dollars on an Annapurna or Langtang trek to over five hundred and fifty dollars for Upper Mustang. When you book a package with a registered company, these costs are typically included in the package price — you do not pay them separately at the checkpoint.
Understanding what you carry and why gives you context for the trail. Every checkpoint exists for a reason — safety, conservation, cultural preservation, revenue for remote communities. The permits fund the park rangers who maintain trails, the rescue teams who respond to emergencies, and the local governments that provide services in some of the most remote inhabited places on earth.
Your few dollars at each checkpoint keep the Himalayas open, maintained, and — as much as a landscape this wild can be — safe.
