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Driving in Nepal
The rules of the road as our desk recorded them, native unit first.
Driving side
Left
Speed limits
40 / 60 / 80 km/h · 25 / 37 / 50 mph
urban / rural / motorway
International permit (IDP)
Required · Both accepted
Self-drive rental is rare; most visitors hire a car with a driver, which is inexpensive and far safer on mountain roads.
Blood alcohol limit
0.00% - zero tolerance, enforced with regular checkpoints
Tolls
Minor tolls on some highway sections.
Headlights
Not required by day.
Child seats
No effective requirement or rental stock.
Mountain highways are narrow, landslide-prone and shared with overloaded buses. Night driving between cities is a bad idea. Motorbiking the Annapurna and Mustang roads is popular but the surfaces are rough and rescue is slow.