Staying in someone's house, and how homestays work in Nepal
A homestay is simpler than a lodge and warmer than a hotel, and it's the side of Nepal most visitors say afterwards they wish they'd had more of.
By the Lakeshore team · 6 min read · Updated 5 October 2026
A homestay in Nepal means a bed in a family's house. You eat what they eat, at their table, on their schedule, which is a long way from a guesthouse with a friendly owner.
More than anything else we arrange, a homestay is what turns a trip people call nice into one they call the best thing they've done. It's also the arrangement most likely to go slightly wrong if nobody explains the conventions first, so this is what to expect, and what is expected of you.
What it's like
Your room is usually simple, and sometimes it's the family's own, given up for guests. The bathroom is shared and often outside. Heavy blankets on the bed, no heating.
You eat with the household: dal bhat, whatever vegetable is in the field, gundruk (fermented greens), and curd if they keep a buffalo. The food is usually excellent. There's no menu, which some people find freeing and a few find alarming.
The evenings are why you come. Children do their homework, someone is cooking, a grandmother who speaks no English feeds you anyway, and the conversation runs on about forty shared words. No one has come back and told us that part fell flat.
Where the money goes
This is the strongest argument for a homestay. In a community scheme, guests are spread across the participating households on a rota, and a share goes into a village fund, not to a single owner or an outside operator.
On the Machhapuchhre Model Trek out of Ghachok, the whole trek is built around that rota. At Sikles, staying with families is most of the tourism the village sees, and your guide usually has family there. On Mohare Danda and Khopra Ridge the villages own the lodges, and the profits have paid for schools and water schemes. We don't know a more direct way to put your trip money into households and not into a company.
The house rules
Shoes off at the door, always. Eat, give and receive with your right hand.
Then there is jutho. Once your lips have touched food or a cup, it counts as polluted for anyone else. Don't offer someone a bite from your plate or a drink from your bottle. Pour it into their hand or a separate cup.
In some households, particularly higher-caste ones, the kitchen and the hearth can be sacred space. Wait to be invited in, and don't wander through.
Ask before you photograph the house or the family, every time, and take a no cheerfully.
If you want to give something, give it to the household or a school fund, not sweets or money to the children. That encourages begging along the trails, and every guide will tell you the same.
What can go wrong
Nearly always, it's a mismatch in expectations. A homestay is not a boutique hotel, and calling it charming doesn't make the bathroom any warmer. We're deliberately blunt about the conditions before you book, because the guests who enjoy it most are the ones who arrived knowing.
Dietary needs. Vegetarian is easy, but vegan is hard in a household that cooks with ghee and curd. Tell us in advance and your guide will explain it to the family properly, so you aren't left miming it at dinner.
Privacy. There isn't much. If you need a door you can close on the world at the end of the day, book a lodge and enjoy the homestay as an evening visit instead.
Where we'd send you
Sikles, for a Gurung village on a big scale. It's one of the largest traditional settlements in the country, the trek is four gentle days, and the village itself is the reason to go.
The Machhapuchhre Model Trek out of Ghachok, for the homestay rota done on purpose, with tea gardens attached.
Mohare Danda and Khopra Ridge, for community-owned lodges instead of family homes. That's half a step toward an ordinary teahouse, with the ownership still local.
And the Tharu communities in the Chitwan buffer zone, a completely different culture and climate from the hills.
Walk it with us
Private departures on your dates, guided by the people who wrote this page.
Questions we get asked
Is a homestay cheaper than a lodge?
About the same, and often slightly more once meals are included, but a much larger share of it stays with the household. It's the one to choose for where the money lands. It won't save you money.
Will anyone speak English?
Sometimes a younger member of the family does. Often not. Your guide translates, and the twenty words of Nepali you learned will do more work in one evening here than in the rest of the trip.
Are homestays suitable for families with children?
Very, and they're usually the highlight. Village children absorb visiting ones in about four minutes.
What should I bring as a gift?
Nothing is expected. If you'd like to bring something, make it practical and shared, like tea, fruit from the market, or a photograph you post back afterwards. Not sweets for the children.
Can I do a homestay without trekking?
Yes. Sikles and the Ghachok villages are reachable by road, and a night or two there adds a lot to a Pokhara stay. Send us your dates.
Still deciding?
Tell us your dates, and we'll tell you whether Sikles Gurung Heritage Trek is right for you. If it isn't, we'll say so.
Nothing to pay online. We confirm your dates first.
Or call the office +977 61-457830