What to pack for a trek in Nepal
Pack for a temperature range of roughly +25°C in the valleys to -15°C at a high pass at dawn, in a duffel a porter can carry under the 10 kg per-trekker limit that Lukla flights and porter loads impose. Bring boots, a down jacket and a sleeping bag you trust; buy or hire almost everything else in Kathmandu or Pokhara for a fraction of the price.
The two mistakes are equally common: arriving with camping equipment you will never use because teahouses exist, and arriving without the three or four items that genuinely cannot be improvised.
The organising principle is layers and weight. You will experience a 40-degree temperature swing in a single day on a high trek, and everything you bring is carried — by you, or by a person, over a pass, for days.
The weight rules that shape everything
Two constraints bite. Flights to Lukla and other mountain strips have strict baggage limits — commonly around 10 kg checked plus 5 kg hand luggage, in small aircraft where weight genuinely matters — and excess is charged or left behind.
Separately, ethical porter loads are capped. Trekking agencies and porter-welfare organisations work to a limit of around 20–25 kg per porter, typically shared between two trekkers, which means roughly 10–12 kg of your kit in the duffel. A porter carrying 40 kg is not a strong porter; it is an exploited one.
So: one duffel of about 10 kg for the porter, one daypack of 6–8 kg you carry with water, layers, camera, documents and anything you need during the day. Leave everything else at your Kathmandu hotel, which will store it free.
Bring from home — do not compromise
These are the items where fit, reliability or sizing matter more than price, and where the Kathmandu market is genuinely risky because of counterfeits.
- Broken-in hiking boots. Never trek in new boots. Ankle support matters on Nepali stone staircases, which are relentless.
- A properly-fitted daypack, 25–35 litres, with a rain cover.
- Prescription medication in original packaging, plus a copy of the prescription, in your daypack — not the porter's duffel.
- Prescription glasses or contacts plus a spare, and category 3 or 4 sunglasses. Snow blindness at altitude is real.
- Any technical item you rely on: a genuine water filter, a headtorch you trust, a well-fitted merino base layer.
- Your insurance policy number, embassy contact and a photocopy of your passport, kept separately from the originals.
Buy or hire in Kathmandu or Pokhara
Thamel in Kathmandu and Lakeside in Pokhara are full of trekking shops. Prices are a fraction of home, and hire is cheap for the two bulkiest items — but be clear-eyed: a large share of branded gear is counterfeit. For items where failure is inconvenient rather than dangerous, that is a fine trade.
Hiring a down jacket and a sleeping bag typically costs a few hundred rupees a day each and saves both money and luggage weight. Inspect the loft, the zips and the cleanliness before you take them.
- Down jacket — hire or buy locally. This is the single most important warm item.
- Sleeping bag rated around -10°C or lower — hire or buy locally.
- Trekking poles — cheap locally and genuinely valuable on Nepal's endless stone descents, which is where knees get wrecked.
- Duffel bag for the porter, waterproof or with a liner.
- Fleece, thermal layers, trekking trousers, gloves, hat, buff, socks.
- Water purification tablets or a filter, a first-aid kit, sunscreen and lip balm at high SPF.
The layering system
Dress in three layers and adjust constantly rather than committing to one outfit. Nepali trekking days often start cold, get hot by mid-morning as you climb in sun, and turn freezing within minutes when cloud arrives in the afternoon.
- Base — merino or synthetic thermal top and bottoms. Two sets: one for walking, one kept dry for sleeping.
- Mid — fleece or light down for warmth when stopped.
- Outer — a genuinely windproof and waterproof shell jacket, plus waterproof trousers.
- Summit or high-pass layer — the big down jacket, worn only at dawn starts and in the evening.
- Extremities — a warm hat, a sun hat, liner gloves plus insulated gloves, and several pairs of good socks. Cold hands and feet ruin more days than a cold torso.
The small things that make a disproportionate difference
Experienced trekkers in Nepal converge on the same short list of unglamorous items.
- A headtorch with spare batteries — for pre-dawn starts to viewpoints and for finding the toilet at 2 a.m. in an unlit lodge.
- A power bank of 20,000 mAh or more, because lodge charging is paid, slow and unreliable, and cold kills batteries.
- Earplugs — teahouse walls are plywood and someone always coughs.
- Oral rehydration salts, loperamide and a broad-spectrum antibiotic prescribed by your travel doctor for travellers' diarrhoea.
- Blister kit: zinc oxide tape, Compeed or equivalent, and a needle. Treat a hot spot the moment you feel it, not at camp.
- A pee bottle for high-altitude nights. Unglamorous, transformative when the toilet is outside at -10°C.
- Small denomination cash. Change is genuinely hard to find at altitude.
What not to bring
A tent, a stove and cooking gear, unless you are on a genuine camping route such as Dolpo. On teahouse routes they are dead weight.
Jeans and cotton generally: cotton holds sweat, chills you, and takes days to dry in a cold lodge.
Drones, unless you have researched the current rules. Nepal restricts drone use, national parks and heritage sites require permission, and confiscation is a real outcome.
Excessive toiletries and a full-size towel. A microfibre travel towel and small decanted bottles are enough for two weeks.
Single-use plastic water bottles. Several municipalities in trekking regions have moved against them, and refilling from a filter is cheaper anyway.
Key takeaways
- ✓Plan for two bags: about 10 kg in a porter's duffel, 6–8 kg in the daypack you carry — and Lukla flights limit baggage strictly.
- ✓Bring boots, daypack, medication, glasses and anything technical from home; hire the down jacket and sleeping bag locally.
- ✓Three layers plus a big down jacket handles the +25°C to -15°C range a high trek covers.
- ✓Headtorch, power bank, ORS, blister kit and small cash matter more than any expensive item.
- ✓Ethical porter loads are around 20–25 kg shared between two trekkers — pack to that, not to what will fit.
Nepal Trekking Packing List — FAQ
What should I pack for trekking in Nepal?+
Broken-in boots, a 25–35 litre daypack, three clothing layers plus a down jacket, a sleeping bag rated to about -10°C, trekking poles, a headtorch, a power bank, water purification, sunscreen and a first-aid kit with oral rehydration salts. Bring boots, medication and glasses from home; hire the down jacket and sleeping bag in Kathmandu.
How much weight can a porter carry in Nepal?+
Ethical practice caps porter loads at around 20–25 kg, typically shared between two trekkers — so about 10–12 kg of your kit. Porter-welfare organisations campaign on this, and a heavily overloaded porter is a welfare problem, not a sign of strength.
Can I buy trekking gear in Kathmandu?+
Yes, and much cheaper than at home — Thamel in Kathmandu and Lakeside in Pokhara are full of trekking shops, with cheap hire for down jackets and sleeping bags. Be aware that a large share of branded gear is counterfeit, so bring anything safety-critical from home.
What is the baggage limit for the Lukla flight?+
Mountain flights use small aircraft with strict limits, commonly around 10 kg checked plus 5 kg hand luggage, with excess charged or offloaded. Leave everything you do not need on the trek at your Kathmandu hotel, which will normally store it free.
Do I need trekking poles in Nepal?+
They are genuinely worth it. Nepali trails are dominated by long stone staircases, and descents are where knees get damaged — poles take a substantial load off. They are cheap to buy in Kathmandu and easy to hire.
Related guides
Sources & data note
Route timings, daily distances, teahouse cost ranges and difficulty judgements in this guide are our own synthesis of the trekking dataset behind this site, park and tourism-board information, and consistent trekker reporting. They are planning estimates, not published figures, and no source guarantees them for your dates, your pace or your weather. Baggage allowances on mountain flights vary by airline and aircraft and change seasonally; confirm with your operator. Porter load limits are the figures used by trekking agencies and porter-welfare campaigns rather than a statutory cap. Guides are written from primary sources — Nepali government departments, operators, park authorities and standards bodies — and each guide lists the sources used for its own facts. Rules, fees and prices in Nepal change; treat figures as current at the review date shown on each guide and verify anything money- or visa-critical with the issuing authority before you rely on it.
- Nepal Tourism Board — official site (trekking and trekker information)Nepal Tourism Board ↗
- Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN)TAAN ↗
- High-Altitude Travel and Altitude Illness — CDC Yellow BookUS Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ↗
- Himalayan Rescue Association Nepal — altitude aid posts and adviceHimalayan Rescue Association ↗