The first thing that you should know before traveling to Nepal when the government officially opens the borders of the country for tourism is that Corona virus is still there as the Covid-19 situation is yet to be dealt with. As the date for the resumption of tourism in Nepal is getting nearer, the travel and tourism industry is gearing up all of its services and facilities. They have been preparing well but on the other hand the Covid-19 situation is still the same.
Kathmandu with the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Nepal since last couple of months.
Recently Nepal has crossed a mark of 2000 daily new cases and the government, Ministry of Health and Population and many other authorities are already concerned about it. On the other hand, the capital of Nepal, Kathmandu has seen higher number of Covid-19 cases for a while now. So the Ministry of Health and Population alerted people not to travel to Kathmandu unless and until there is an emergency. Now there is just a couple of weeks for the tourism to officially restart in Nepal and if the Covid-19 cases keeps om increasing then there might be a U-turn in the tourism of the nation.
You can not skip Kathmandu during your trip to Nepal.
Kathmandu has seen highest number of Covid-19 cases for months now and it is likely to be so for a while. The capital is the only place where the international airport is operated in whole Nepal as the other international airports are yet to be completed. So you cannot avoid Kathmandu while traveling to Nepal despite the highest number of Covid-19 cases in Nepal but you can definitely get away safely from there to your destination for trekking.
How to safely get away from Kathmandu to your trekking destination?
The majority of the hotel quarantine services are operated in Kathmandu as well, so you do not have to worry. When you arrive on the capital, you will be taken to a hotel quarantine facility that you have chosen for then as soon as you complete your quarantine procedure you might want to head out straight to your destination using a domestic flight. Well, it is the ultimate procedure I guess, because the domestic airlines has made it mandatory for the PCR test 72 hour prior to boarding a flight and with only negative reports you can board the flight. So if you are planning to use domestic flights for your travel inside of Nepal then you should take your PCR tests at the last couple of days of your hotel quarantine facility just making the reports qualify for boarding the flight. On the other hand, domestic flights seems to be safest way to travel as of now, the flight takes a during from 30- 45 minutes for most of the destination from the capital.
You can find up to four star hotels for the quarantine facility and find the list of the hotels in Kathmandu used for quarantine facility on the Nepal embassy website and on other official websites as well. I would suggest you to consult with your travel agent based on Nepal and pick one of the best from them. While almost every hotel quarantine facility is located in Kathmandu, two of them are located outside the Kathmandu valley, you can choose them as well. So know your hotels and their services for a quarantine facility before you travel to Nepal.
Once you are done with your quarantine procedure in Kathmandu after you arrive in Nepal, you might want to skip your activities in the capital and head on straight to the mountains where you will be heading out for the adventure. On the positive note, the mountains are safe, in fact many of the mountainous region as a whole are safe to travel. The mountain regions have very low density, with few population in a small community, so the mountains are the safest place to travel as compared to other places. As far as the services and facilities is concerned, the Nepal government seems to be prepared for it as they are heading out with all the necessary precautions to resume trekking and mountain activities in Nepal.
However, travel insurance is a must if you are traveling anywhere in the world in the time of Covid-19. Nepal government has set new protocols which makes it mandatory for international tourists to have a travel insurance before they arrive in Nepal for trekking and mountain activities starting from mid-October.
So are you ready for your trip to Nepal? Let me know in the comment down below if you are ready for the trekking adventure in Nepal.
0 Comments