Kathmandu Tribhuvan KTM: the complete layover guide

Tribhuvan sits about 6 km east of central Kathmandu, wedged into the valley with a single runway and two passenger buildings. The international terminal handles every flight in and out of Nepal from abroad; the domestic terminal, roughly 500 metres north, handles the mountain network to Lukla, Pokhara, Bharatpur and the rest of the country.

The two buildings are not connected inside. Moving between them means exiting onto the landside road and either walking, which takes around 10 minutes with bags, or catching the shuttle bus that has run between the terminals free of charge; its current schedule is to be confirmed, so budget for the walk. This single fact shapes every connection at KTM. There is no airside transfer, no transit corridor, and no skipping the queues at the second building.

Arriving from abroad, the sequence is fixed: visa on arrival if you need one, immigration, baggage, customs, exit. The visa on arrival counters sit before immigration and the queue length swings wildly with the season. Tourist visa fees as of this review are US$30 for 15 days, US$50 for 30 days and US$125 for 90 days, paid at a bank counter that strongly prefers clean US dollar cash; cards are unreliable here. Filling the online arrival form before you fly saves real time. Not every nationality qualifies, so verify before travel.

The morning is the hard part of the day. Domestic mountain flights leave at first light to beat the afternoon winds and cloud, international departures bank through the same hours, and the night construction closures have squeezed the whole schedule into a shorter operating day. The result is that 6 to 10 am puts a queue at every checkpoint: the terminal entrance, check in, immigration and security. Land in that window, or fly out in it, and you should add a full hour to whatever plan you had.

Getting to the city is cheap and quick by big airport standards. The prepaid taxi counter in international arrivals charged around 900 Nepali rupees to Thamel in early 2026, roughly 6 US dollars, with a small surcharge after 9 pm. The ride covers about 6 km and takes 15 to 20 minutes in light traffic; daytime congestion can stretch that well past half an hour. Many Thamel hotels will also arrange a pickup if you ask ahead, which removes the arrivals scrum entirely and often costs little more than the counter rate.

The airport is mid rebuild. A parallel taxiway project, the reason for the night closures, is due to finish around the end of 2026 and should let the single runway handle far more movements per hour. Beyond that, plans call for a new international terminal building sized for around 10 million passengers a year, with the current international terminal converted to domestic use under the master plan. Timelines for the new building are to be confirmed, so expect hoardings, detours and noise for a while yet.