A message from Ace the Himalaya’s CEO to travelers [LAST UPDATED September 28, 2022]

Dear Valued Clients,

NEPAL IS OPEN!

Now you can easily enter Nepal, get on-arrival visa, no quarantine whatsoever, immediately start your activities and experience what Nepal has to offer.

Since the reopening of Nepal in October 2021, hundreds of trekkers have traveled with Ace safely and enjoyed their trip. They mainly trekked in major trekking regions such as Everest, Annapurna, Manaslu, Langtang, etc. Now it is your turn to explore Nepal. You are heartily welcome here in the land of Himalayas!

Here are the new entry rules, which are easy to follow and hassle free to the travelers:

• Visitors should have a proof of receiving their last dose of Covid-19 vaccine at least 14 full days prior to entering Nepal.
• Negative RT-PCR test results not older than 72 hours are required for un-vaccinated and partially vaccinated tourists.
• PCR isn’t mandatory. However, check with your airlines and transit country if it’s a requirement at their end.
• Quarantine upon arrival is not mandatory.
• Masks are not mandatory for the fully vaccinated visitors. You can freely travel around and visit all places without masks. But, if you still want to wear masks, that is your choice and you are free to do so.
• CCMC form is no longer required for visiting tourists.

Once you have provided the necessary documents and followed the required steps, you will be issued an on-arrival Nepal entry visa after paying the fees (USD 30 for 15 days, USD 50 for 30 days and USD 125 for 90 days).

PCR isn’t mandatory. However, check with your airlines and transit country if it’s a requirement at their end. We can help you arrange this test with the approved hospital. We can either call the test team at your hotel or you can visit the hospital (Both test and transportation costs are yours to bear). Your test will be available within next 24 hours.

For a bit more detailed description of the entry rules, please check out the travel advisory at Department of Immigration: https://www.immigration.gov.np/post/travel-advisory

Current Status of Vaccination in Nepal

Our country Nepal has made a tremendous progress in vaccination. The vaccination campaign is advancing at a great speed. Nepal is a small country and soon all the eligible population will be fully vaccinated.

So far, Nepal has used the following vaccines:

• AstraZeneca
• Vero Cell
• Johnson & Johnson (Janssen)
• Pfizer
• Moderna

The Nepal government prioritized the tourism industry for vaccination early on and kept the tourism professionals in a target group back in March 2021. As a result, by now, most of the tourism workers (guides, porters, cooks, drivers, staff of airlines, hotels & guesthouses) have already received both their doses. The vaccination rate is almost 100% in major trekking regions such as Everest, Annapurna, Manang, etc. This is quite important as most of the travelers who come to Nepal for their adventure will be in areas with high vaccination.

Our internal office and field staff (guides, porters, etc) were eager to get the vaccines, protect themselves, and prepare themselves to provide a safe space and trip for the clients. Therefore, as soon as they were eligible to get the vaccines, they went and received both doses. Today we are proud to inform that all our employees are fully vaccinated.

We encourage you to reconfirm your new dates or keep your trip postponed instead of cancelling it completely.

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic and border closures, we made it easier for you to postpone the trip. We normally charge a fee of USD 200 per person to postpone/reschedule a trip and we extend the validity of deposits/full prices to the end of the next year only. However, seeing the never-before-faced worldwide issue like this pandemic, we decided to make the postponement free and extend the validity of your deposits/full prices until 2025. This kind of option is something we do not normally do and we are probably the only company in Nepal to implement it.

If you are fully vaccinated and do not have any restrictions in your country for travel, we encourage you to confirm the new dates for your trip. You can come now or the next year, whenever you feel like is the suitable time for you.

But, if you have restrictions in your country or you feel like you aren’t ready to travel again so soon, you still have until 2025 to do your trip with us. The price for your trip will still be the same until 2025. You might have seen the price increase in our website for your trip but that is for new bookings. For old bookings like yours, the price will stay same and will not increase.

Keeping you informed about our refund policy

As we have informed before, the refund of any size and kind is not possible. All our trips are non-refundable from the moment the booking is confirmed. Since our trips are non-refundable, we allowed a free postponement for all our trips and also extended the validity of your deposits/trip prices until the end of 2025, which provides enough time to do your trip in the future.

The Covid-19 pandemic is not fully over yet. Therefore, if you need to postpone your trip again, you can do it freely and the price will stay the same until 2025. No postponement fee will be applied. But the refund for your trip is not possible.

Last but not least

My thoughts are with our clients. The Covid-19 pandemic has affected every one of us. It has influenced everyone’s financial as well as mental wellbeing. Even the pandemic has slowed down, its effects can still be seen. I understand not everyone is immediately ready to travel again so soon as you might have many things to deal. Please take your time and get back to us in the future. Your trip will still be with us when you are ready to travel.

But, if you are eager to come to Nepal and waiting for easy and quick entry to Nepal, now is the right time. We are open and waiting to show you the beauty of Nepal.

I hope to see you in the land of the Himalayas.

Best wishes and Namaste,

Prem K Khatry
MD/CEO
Ace the Himalaya