Included – both options

• Airport pickup from Tribhuvan International Airport, Kathmandu
• Accommodation throughout the programme
• Meals as set out in the itinerary – two a day in Kathmandu
• Orientation on arrival and your placement at the project
• Project costs and materials, and coordination of the work itself
• A local coordinator on the ground and 24-hour support from the team
• Comprehensive pre-departure guide
• Certificate of participation, on request

Included – one-week option

• All transfers and transport as per the programme
• Guided Kathmandu city tour, with entrance fees on the tour covered
• Traditional welcome dinner with dance performance

Included – two-week option

• Guided city tour of Kathmandu across two half-days
• Day trip to Bhaktapur and Nagarkot
• Three-day weekend trip to Pokhara, including deluxe coach transfer, hotel accommodation, breakfast during the tour and a boat ride on Phewa Lake

Not included

• International and domestic airfare
• Return trip to the airport at the end of your programme – can be arranged locally at extra cost
• Travel and medical insurance – mandatory, and available through us at a low cost if you need it
• Visa fees (payable on arrival)
• Vaccinations
• Monument and entrance fees outside the scheduled tours
• Local transport in Kathmandu, lunches, and lunch and dinner on the weekend trip
• Personal spending

The price shown already includes your application fee – there is nothing further to pay us on arrival. Programme fees can be paid in interest-free instalments, with the balance due 45 days before departure.

Airport pickup from Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM) is included. A member of the local coordinating team will meet you in the arrivals hall and take you to the volunteer house in Bafal. Pickups are scheduled between 6:00am and 10:30pm, so try to land inside that window.

If you are already in Nepal, or arriving overland from India or Tibet, you will be met at a point agreed with the team beforehand instead.

The return trip to the airport is not included in the programme fee, but the local team can arrange a taxi for you at a small cost – just let them know your flight time a day or two ahead.

You stay at the volunteer house in Bafal, a quiet residential neighbourhood roughly ten minutes' drive from Thamel – far enough to sleep, close enough to walk into the centre of things in the evening.

Rooms are shared with other volunteers, which for most people turns out to be half the point: you arrive on your own and leave with a group. The house has running water, hot showers through the winter, electricity, clean western-style toilets, high-speed Wi-Fi and a television in the common area.

A Kathmandu-based coordinator manages the house and lives locally, so there is always someone to ask about transport, a placement question or a weekend plan. If you would rather have your own room, a private room can be arranged at a nearby guest house for an additional charge – just ask when you apply.

On the two-week option, the three nights in Pokhara are spent in hotel accommodation arranged for you.

Two Nepali meals a day – breakfast and dinner – are cooked at the volunteer house and included in your fee. Breakfast is usually bread, butter, jam, eggs or a sandwich with tea. Dinner is generally dal bhat, the staple of the Nepali table: lentil soup, rice and a vegetable curry, often with chicken or another meat alongside.

Lunch is your own, and it is cheap – a plate of momos or thukpa from a local place near your placement costs very little. On the two-week trip, breakfast is provided during the Pokhara weekend; lunch and dinner there are not included.

Vegetarians are easy to look after, and Nepali cooking is well suited to it. Tell us any dietary requirement on your application form and mention it again to the local team when you arrive, and the kitchen will work around it. Bottled or filtered water is recommended and is inexpensive to buy locally.