What is Trekking Tea House Accommodation in Nepal?

Tea houses or lodges are the standard accommodation on a trek in Nepal. They offer rooms with beds, communal dining rooms, bathrooms (sometimes attached) and home cooking. At Himalayan Trails, we aim to secure the best lodge accommodation in every location. Please remember, that the location and altitude plays a big part in the style and services of accommodation available.

Depending on the location and your budget, they will be anything from a basic wooden/stone construction with the bare minimum facilities, to places with abundant hot water, electrical outlets in the room, and Wi-Fi facilities. The higher you go, the more basic the accommodation is.

All building material, from wood, to glass for windows, mattresses, blankets, cooking pots, bathroom fittings, has to be flown to the closest airport like Lukla or driven into the trailhead and then carried by porters up the trail. Satellite dishes, gas cylinders for heating water, foodstuffs, beer, soft drinks are also carried up from by porters, donkeys or yaks. This costs time and money.

What facilities to tea houses provide?

You will always get a room which has a wooden bed base (usually 2 per room), a mattress of some sort, a pillow, and a blanket or duvet. There will usually be a window, and a door, and a light fitting. Perhaps even somewhere to hang your jacket. The rooms aren’t large, as all you are doing is sleeping in there. We always recommend you bring a sleeping bag as we cannot guarantee the warmth or cleanliness of the blankets – it’s rather hard to wash and dry them in the mountains. Everyone sits in the communal dining room for meals, tea and chats. There will usually be a heater of some sort in the common area which keeps you warm and helps dry out your socks and boots.

The rooms you sleep in aren’t heated so do bring a down jacket and sleeping bag appropriate to the altitude you’re going to.

Trekkers in Tea house at Panchase Bhanjyang on the Panchase trek in Nepal
Tea house at Panchase © Mads Mathiasen

Kitchens and Food on Trek

The kitchen is usually a small affair with limited cooking points, so it is important to not order 20 different dishes and expect them to come out at the same time. This is why we usually stick to dal bhat – it’s easy, nutritious and quickly made. On main trails you’ll find other delicacies like pizza, spaghetti and even burritos!

*Travelling Sustainably*

The most sustainable way to eat on trek is to eat local food (dal bhat is a great choice) and avoid packaged food like pasta that creates waste and is imported into Nepal and then transported all the way to your tea house. 

Consider ordering the same meal as your trekking buddies to save resources. 

Hot water is always available for tea, soup, etc, and there’s usually an extra charge for this as the fuel needed to heat it, much like the building materials, is carried in. The water is often carried from a nearby stream if tank storage is not available, so please do not waste the water you have been given.

No matter the facilities in your teahouse, you will always find warm Nepali hospitality.

Tea house kitchen at Ghoretabela on the Langtang trek in Nepal
Tesa house kitchen © Dawa Sherpa

Bathrooms in Tea Houses

Bathroom facilities vary wildly, depending on where you’re trekking and the altitude.

In some areas you will find rooms with attached bathrooms (not included in your trip price) and hot showers, in other places it’s purely shared facilities that struggle to work properly when the pipes are frozen.

You will find that a daily shower is not necessary or even desirable in the higher, colder places.

Always bring your own toilet paper as it’s usually not provided. Wherever you use a western or squat style toilet be sure to place your toilet paper in the rubbish bin provided – do not flush it down the toilet as this may block the sewer system. Many bathrooms don’t have soap, so a gel sanitiser/small soap is a good thing for your day pack. Hand hygiene is really important while trekking so having your soap handy and sanitizer attached to your bag for easy access will help you remember to ALWAYS use it before eating. 

Swanta Tea House © Mohan Duwal

Electricity for Charging Devices While Trekking in Nepal

The rooms you sleep in will usually not have power outlets, and you will have to ask the lodge owner to recharge your gadgets. Most of these places use solar power, so if it hasn’t been sunny there will be very limited electricity available for lights in the lodge, and you may not be able to fully charge gadgets. There is, of course a separate charge for this service.

Power is becoming more accessible in Nepal but you’re never guaranteed to have electricity anywhere so it’s recommended that you charge where you can and consider minimising the amount of devices you bring with you. Old-school wired headphones are a great alternative to wireless earbuds. Put mobile phones on airplane mode to save energy of searching for networks that don’t exist.

Laundry Facilities while Trekking in Nepal

Laundry facilities are not available while trekking.

If you’re trekking for more than a week you may like to bring some bio-degradable washing powder with you to do some hand washing on a day that you get into camp early. The sun goes down early in the mountains so expect that your wet clothes may not dry overnight and you may need to tie them to your pack the following day to dry in the sun.

For cultural reasons, cover any underwear so that it’s not visible.

Remember, everyone is in the same situation as you, re-wearing trekking clothes is expected as they’ll only get muddy/dusty/sweaty again the following day.

Check out our trek gear list and our insider tips for managing your clothing while trekking in Nepal.