Nepali Culture and Etiquette

Religion in Nepal is not something you visit; it happens on the street. In the old towns of the Kathmandu Valley such as Patan and Bhaktapur, women carry plates of rice, red powder, marigolds and incense to the neighbourhood shrine before breakfast, and touch the offering to the stone image and then their own foreheads. Bells ring at every temple you pass. Small shrines are smeared with red sindoor and splashed with milk.

Hinduism is the majority faith and gives Nepal its festivals, its sacred cows and its caste structure. Shiva is worshipped at Pashupatinath on the Bagmati River, the most important Shiva temple in the Himalaya, where cremations take place on the riverside ghats every day. Vishnu sleeps on a bed of serpents in the pond at Budhanilkantha, and the 5th-century Changu Narayan is the valley’s oldest temple, and Durga, the warrior goddess, is the focus of Dashain. You will see the red and yellow tika on people’s foreheads after a temple visit or a blessing.

Buddhism has two faces. The Newars of the valley practise an old Vajrayana Buddhism tied closely to Hindu ritual at Swayambhunath and the courtyards (bahal) of Patan. Tibetan Buddhism, followed by the Sherpa, Tamang, Gurung and refugee communities, centres on Boudhanath in Kathmandu and the monasteries of the Khumbu and Mustang. Lumbini in the Terai, the birthplace of the Buddha, is a pilgrimage site for both.

Nepal is also home to Muslims, Kirat communities in the east, and Christians, and religious freedom is protected, but proselytising (trying to convert anyone) is a crime under Nepal’s criminal code.

Namaste is the national greeting. Press your palms together in front of your chest, nod slightly and say “namaste” or, more respectfully to elders, “namaskar”. Handshakes are common between men in business and tourism, but many Nepali women do not shake hands with men, so wait for her to offer.

Respect follows age and relationship. People address each other with family terms: an older man is dai (elder brother), an older woman didi (elder sister), and younger people bhai or bahini. Calling your guide “dai” or the woman running the teahouse “didi” is friendly and correct. The polite form “hajur” is used to answer, to show you are listening, or to ask someone to repeat.

Nepalis avoid open confrontation. A direct “no” is rare, and “maybe” or a sideways head wobble often means no. Shouting or losing your temper in public causes embarrassment for everyone and rarely gets results, especially with officials and bus drivers. Patience is expected: “Nepali time” is real, and a bus that leaves “now” may leave in an hour.

Hospitality is generous. If you are invited into a home you will be offered tea and probably food, and refusing outright is impolite: accept a little. Hosts often keep refilling your plate, so say “pugyo” (enough) and cover the plate with your hand when you have had enough. Bring a small gift such as fruit or sweets; it may be set aside unopened, which is normal.

• Shoes: take them off before entering a temple, monastery, shrine room or home. Watch for shoes left at a threshold; that is your signal.
• Clothing: cover shoulders and knees at religious sites. Men should avoid going shirtless anywhere outside a beach or pool.
• Leather: many Hindu temples forbid leather belts, bags and shoes inside the inner precinct, because the cow is sacred.
• Hindus only: the inner courtyard of Pashupatinath and some other Hindu temples admit only Hindus. Non-Hindus pay NPR 1,000 (about $7) to visit the wider Pashupatinath complex and view the main shrine from across the river.
• Clockwise: walk around stupas, temples and chortens clockwise. On trekking trails, pass mani walls (stones carved with prayers) and chortens on your left so they stay on your right.
• Prayer wheels and flags: spin wheels clockwise with your right hand. Do not step on, sit on or take prayer flags, mani stones or offerings, even if they look discarded.
• Monasteries: sit with your feet tucked under you or crossed, never pointing at the altar or a lama. Ask before photographing inside; many shrine rooms forbid it.
• Cremations: at Pashupatinath and other riverside ghats, cremations are family funerals. Watch quietly from the opposite bank, and do not photograph mourners up close or fly drones.
• Sadhus: the painted holy men at Pashupatinath and Kathmandu Durbar Square expect a tip of a hundred rupees or so for photos.

The rules that surprise visitors most come from ideas of ritual purity, and they apply in homes, local restaurants and teahouses alike.

Jutho means food, drink or utensils that have touched someone’s mouth. Once jutho, they are polluted for anyone else. Never offer someone a bite from your plate or a sip from your glass, never put your fork into a shared dish after eating with it, and when drinking from a shared water bottle, pour it into your mouth without your lips touching the rim. Nepalis do this with practised skill; you will spill at first.

Eat dal bhat the local way with your right hand: mix rice with dal and vegetables using your fingertips, form a small ball and push it into your mouth with your thumb. Cutlery is always available in tourist restaurants and teahouses, and nobody minds if you use it. Wash your hands before and after; most local restaurants have a sink.

Pass money, food and gifts with the right hand, ideally with your left hand touching your right forearm or elbow, which shows respect. In traditional homes, the kitchen and hearth are sacred, so wait to be invited in. Cows wander freely through towns and must not be harmed; killing a cow is illegal, and beef is replaced by buffalo (“buff”) in momos and on menus.

Caste discrimination has been illegal since 1963, and untouchability has been a criminal offence since 2011, but caste still shapes marriage, surnames, food habits and village life. Dalit communities face real discrimination in rural areas. As a visitor you sit outside the system. Do not ask people their caste, and if a family hesitates to let you into the kitchen or to accept water you have touched, follow their lead.

Gender roles are traditional outside the cities. Women do much of the farm and household work, and in conservative households women may eat after men and guests. Menstruation still carries taboos: some families keep women out of kitchens and temples during their period. The extreme form, chhaupadi, where women are sent to sheds in parts of far-western Nepal, was criminalised in 2017. In Kathmandu and Pokhara, especially among younger people, these attitudes are fading fast.

Public behaviour is conservative. Kissing and cuddling in public cause stares; holding hands is fine for couples in the cities. Same-sex friends, especially men, often hold hands as a sign of friendship. Nepal is among the more LGBTQ-friendly countries in Asia, with a recognised third gender since 2007 and the first same-sex marriage registrations in 2023, but discretion is still sensible outside Thamel and Lakeside.

Women travellers rarely face serious harassment but should dress modestly, cover shoulders and knees, and sit next to other women on local buses and microbuses where possible.

Nepal has a festival almost every week, and many are best seen in the old Newar towns of the valley. Dates follow the lunar calendar; see our best time to visit Nepal page for 2026 and 2027 dates.

• Dashain (late September or October): the biggest festival, 15 days honouring the goddess Durga’s victory over evil. Families gather, elders give red tika and jamara (barley shoots) to younger relatives on Vijaya Dashami, kites fill the sky, villages build giant bamboo swings, and thousands of goats and buffalo are sacrificed at temples on the eighth and ninth days. Kathmandu empties as people go home, and many offices and shops close.
• Tihar (October or November): five days of lights, honouring crows, dogs, cows, the goddess Laxmi and, on Bhai Tika, the bond between brothers and sisters. Houses are lit with oil lamps and marigold garlands, and groups of young people sing deusi and bhailo door to door for small gifts.
• Holi (March): colour, water balloons and music. Kathmandu’s Basantapur and Thamel are the noisiest places, and the Terai around Janakpur plays it a day later; women travelling alone should go with a group.
• Indra Jatra (September): eight days of masked dances, the raising of the lingo pole and the chariot of the Kumari, the child living goddess, at Kathmandu Durbar Square.
• Bisket Jatra (April): the Nepali New Year in Bhaktapur, with a huge chariot pulled by rival halves of the town in a tug of war.
• Losar (January to March): Tamang, Tibetan and Sherpa New Years, celebrated with butter lamps, chanting and family feasts at Boudhanath and in the mountains. Gurungs celebrate Tamu Losar on 30 December.
• Mani Rimdu (October or November): masked dances by monks at Tengboche monastery on the Everest trail in Sagarmatha National Park.

• Newar architecture: the carved wooden windows, tiered pagoda temples and courtyards of the three Durbar Squares are the finest in the Himalaya. Patan Durbar Square and its Patan Museum explain the craft best.
• Metalwork: Patan’s lanes around the Golden Temple are where bronze and copper statues are still cast by the lost-wax method.
• Pottery and woodcarving: Bhaktapur’s Pottery Square, where clay is thrown on hand-turned wheels and dried in the sun, and its woodcarving workshops near the Peacock Window.
• Thangka and paubha painting: Tibetan and Newar religious paintings sold around Boudhanath and Bhaktapur. Real ones take weeks and cost hundreds of dollars; cheap ones are printed.
• Music and dance: Newar dhimay drum groups play at festivals, and lakhe demon dancers appear during Indra Jatra. In Pokhara and Kathmandu, cultural-show restaurants in Thamel and Lakeside run evening programmes of folk dances from different ethnic groups. In Sauraha, at the edge of Chitwan National Park, the Tharu cultural stick dance is performed most evenings.
• Monastic life: morning chanting at the monasteries around Boudhanath and at Kopan, which runs meditation courses for foreigners, and at Tengboche above Namche Bazaar.

• Tipping: many tourist restaurants add a 10% service charge plus 13% VAT, so check the bill. Elsewhere, round up. Trekking guides and porters expect a tip of roughly 10-15% of the trek cost, handed to each person at the end.
• Bargaining: expected in markets and souvenir shops in Thamel, Boudha and Lakeside, not in restaurants, supermarkets or fixed-price shops. Keep it friendly.
• Pointing: point with your whole hand or chin, not one finger, especially at people or sacred images.
• Touching sacred objects: do not touch offerings, shrines or tika powder plates, and do not climb on temples or statues for photos.
• Photographing people: ask first, especially women, monks, sadhus and anyone at a ritual. Never photograph the Kumari when she appears at her window in Kumari Ghar; it is forbidden.
• Drugs: cannabis grows wild and is offered in Thamel, but possession is illegal and carries heavy penalties.
• Drones: need permission from the Civil Aviation Authority of Nepal and the local authorities, and are banned at many heritage sites without it.
• Public displays of anger: cause loss of face and rarely work. Stay calm.

Nepali is written in Devanagari script. English is widely spoken in Thamel, Lakeside and on the main trekking routes, but a few words of Nepali earn instant smiles.