Flying to Nepal

Nepal has always been on my mind as one of the countries that I must visit in Asia. Finally had the opportunity to go there last month. I almost did not go because flights to Nepal from the Philippines are expensive considering that it is only 6 hours away from Manila.

There are no direct flights from Manila to Kathmandu, capital of Nepal. So one has to fly to either Bangkok, Singapore or Hongkong to go to Kathmandu. Cheapest option is to fly via Bangkok, either by Thai Airways or Nepali Airlines. The former charges around US$580 for a round trip ticket Bangkok-Kathmandu-Bangkok. The latter charges US$100 less but the schedules are erratic.

Other options include flying to Delhi in India, and then taking the budget flights from there to Kathmandu. But flying to Delhi from Manila is expensive and there are no direct flights. Philippine Airlines can also bring you to Bangkok and then transfer you to Kathmandu via Nepali Airlines. Cost is about US$540.

I opted to take Thai Airways to Kathmandu, and flew promo fare on Cebu Pacific to Bangkok. Total cost of my ticket from Manila is US$680 which is almost the cost of the ticket to fly to the US and more expensive than airline ticket to Australia.

So I was not quite sure if the high cost of airline ticket is worth the trip to Nepal. But I was glad I did it. Nepal is charmingly exotic and the people are lovely and sincerely nice.