Langtang permits and costs: what to plan for

Langtang lies inside Langtang National Park, so every foreign trekker needs a park permit. It is checked at the park entrance near Dhunche and again on the trail. The Tamang Heritage Trail also passes through the park's buffer area, so the same permit covers it.

Most trekkers also carry a TIMS card. Rules on TIMS have changed in recent years, and in Langtang the checkpoints still ask for it, so we include it.

• Langtang National Park permit: needed for every foreign trekker

• TIMS card: carried where checkpoints ask for it

• Licensed guide: required for foreign trekkers in Nepal's main trekking areas

Fees are set by the government and change from time to time, so we confirm the current amounts when you book and include them in your price.

Since 2023, foreign trekkers in Nepal's main trekking areas, including Langtang, must walk with a licensed guide arranged through a registered agency. Checkpoints can turn back trekkers who arrive without one.

For us this is good news: it means a local person who knows the valley is with you every day, checking the weather, the trail and how you feel at altitude. All our Langtang guides come from the valley or the villages around it.

Our price covers your guide, porters, permits, transport and teahouse rooms. What you pay on the trail is mostly food and small extras. Prices rise a little as you climb, because everything is carried up.

Bring enough Nepali rupees in cash from Kathmandu. There are no ATMs on the trail, and very few lodges take cards.

The first check is on the road into the park near Dhunche, on the drive from Kathmandu to Syabrubesi. Your guide shows the permits and the officers note your names. There are further checks on the trail, and the park office in Kyanjin Gompa may ask to see them again.

Keep the permits in a plastic sleeve in your daypack, not in your duffel bag with the porter. If you separate from your guide for a few minutes at a checkpoint, you will still have them.

We keep the price simple, so you know exactly what you pay on the trail.

• Included: licensed guide, porters, permits, ground transport to and from Syabrubesi, teahouse rooms on the trek and hotel nights in Kathmandu

• Not included: meals on the trek, drinks, hot showers, charging, Wi-Fi, tips, travel insurance and your international flights

We leave meals out on purpose. You order what you like from the teahouse menu, and the lodge keeps its income from food, which is how room prices stay low.

Tips are not required, but they are a normal and much-appreciated part of trekking in Nepal. Most groups give them at the end of the trek, at a small dinner in Syabrubesi or Kathmandu.

Give tips directly to each person, not all through the guide, and in rupees. If you are unsure how much, ask us before you leave: we are happy to suggest a range for your group size and trek length.

Every trekker on our Langtang treks needs travel insurance that covers trekking to the altitude you will reach (Kyanjin Ri is 4,773 m, Tserko Ri 4,984 m) and emergency helicopter evacuation.

Read the small print for an altitude limit and for an 'organised trek with a licensed guide' condition. Send us your policy number and the insurer's emergency phone number before you fly, so our Kathmandu office can act quickly if it is ever needed.