How Tourists Can Use QR Payments in Nepal: A Visitor's Guide

You can now scan and pay your way from a Kathmandu café to a teahouse near Everest Base Camp — no currency exchange counter required. Here's exactly how foreign visitors set it up, where it works, and what to do when it doesn't.

QR payments now stretch from Kathmandu through Pokhara and the lower trekking routes — but cash still rules the high, remote trails.

Why Cashless Matters for Nepal's Tourism Industry

Nepal welcomed more than 1.15 million tourists in 2025, and a large share of them arrived from markets where scan-and-pay is already the default way to spend — mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and beyond. For years, those visitors landed in Nepal and hit a wall: their preferred payment apps simply weren't accepted, forcing them back onto cash and currency exchange counters even for small purchases.

That gap mattered for more than convenience. Every transaction that stayed in cash was also a transaction that stayed outside the formal economy — harder to track, harder to tax, and easier to lose to informal exchange rates. Opening Nepal's QR infrastructure to foreign payment networks was as much an economic integration move as a tourism convenience upgrade, and payment operators have been explicit that the goal is positioning Nepal as a destination that's genuinely ready for global digital payments.

What NRB's Foreign QR Guidelines Allow

Nepal Rastra Bank's QR framework is built around a single national standard called NepalQR, based on the same EMVCo specification used by India's UPI, Singapore's SGQR, and Indonesia's QRIS. Under this framework, licensed Payment System Operators — most visibly Fonepay, working through Nepal Clearing House Limited (NCHL) — have been authorized to connect Nepal's domestic QR network to international payment schemes through a "People to Merchant" (P2M) model.

In practice, this has opened the door to several major foreign payment rails scanning into Nepali merchant QR codes: UnionPay International (covering users in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Singapore), Alipay+ (through a partnership between Fonepay and Ant International), and a broader NCHL-led rollout that has extended coverage to tourists from more than ten countries across Central Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe, and Africa, including South Korea's KakaoPay and the Philippines' GCash among others.

A separate, one-directional cross-border link with India's UPI has also been live since March 2024, letting Indian visitors pay directly in Nepal by scanning local QR codes — though the reverse direction, letting Nepalis scan and pay in India, has not yet launched as of mid-2026 due to unresolved processing-fee arrangements between the two countries' payment networks.

Step-by-Step: Linking a Foreign Card or App for QR Payments

There are two main routes into Nepal's QR network as a visitor: using a payment app you already have that's directly integrated (like UnionPay, Alipay+, or KakaoPay), or setting up a dedicated tourist payment app such as Fonepay's Nepal Now, which turns any international Visa, Mastercard, or UnionPay card into a local, scannable prepaid balance.

Option A: Using an already-integrated foreign app

1. Check if your home app is supported. If you already use UnionPay, Alipay, KakaoPay, or GCash, confirm the app has an active partnership with Fonepay or NCHL before you travel — most major providers from supported markets are covered by default.
2. Keep your app updated. Ensure your app is on its latest version, since cross-border QR features are typically rolled out through app updates rather than being available in older builds.
3. Scan the merchant's NepalQR code directly. No separate linking step is usually needed — you scan the same static QR code a local customer would use, and your app recognizes it as a compatible payment.
4. Confirm the amount and currency. Your app will typically show the converted amount in your home currency before you confirm, so double-check it matches the price you were quoted in Nepali rupees.

Option B: Setting up the Nepal Now app

1. Download Nepal Now from the App Store or Google Play before or after arrival.
2. Register with your passport and tourist visa details. The app verifies your identity and visa status as part of onboarding, so have both documents ready.
3. Load funds using an international card. Top up your in-app prepaid balance using a Visa, Mastercard, or UnionPay card — no local bank account required.
4. Scan and pay at any Fonepay QR merchant. With over 1.9 million merchants on the network, this covers everything from Kathmandu cafés to teahouses along popular trekking routes.
5. Withdraw any unused balance before your trip ends, or when your visa expires, through the app's refund process.

Where QR Payments Are Widely Accepted

• Kathmandu: Restaurants, cafés, hotels, taxis, and most retail shops in tourist-heavy areas like Thamel widely display QR codes, and acceptance is close to universal in mid-range and higher-end establishments.
• Pokhara: Lakeside's dense cluster of restaurants, gear shops, and guesthouses has strong QR coverage, reflecting its role as the main gateway for Annapurna-region trekkers.
• Popular trekking regions: Lower and mid-altitude teahouses along well-trafficked routes — including parts of the Annapurna Circuit and lower Everest region trails — increasingly accept QR payments as connectivity and merchant onboarding have expanded.
• Major transport and booking services: Domestic flight bookings, tourist bus tickets, and many trekking permit or park-entry counters in larger towns now accept digital payment alongside cash.

Where Cash Is Still King

Despite rapid QR expansion, cash remains essential the further you get from Nepal's main tourist hubs. High-altitude teahouses beyond the most-trafficked trail sections, small village shops, local porters and guides paid informally, and many rural transport options still operate on cash only — often because reliable mobile data or electricity for card readers simply isn't consistent at altitude.

Spending Limits and Rules for Foreign Visitors

Foreign visitors using QR payments in Nepal operate under a few structural rules worth knowing before you rely on them heavily.

• Valid passport and visa required. Apps like Nepal Now require registration with a valid passport and tourist visa, and access is tied to that visa remaining active.
• Transaction and top-up limits apply. As with any prepaid card or wallet product, partner banks set per-transaction and daily limits in line with Nepal Rastra Bank's payment directives — these can vary by provider, so check the specific limits shown in your app rather than assuming a fixed national number.
• Unused balance is refundable. Funds loaded onto a tourist prepaid card can generally be withdrawn or refunded before departure or upon visa expiry, through the partner bank's refund process.
• Not every foreign app is covered. Coverage depends on which international schemes have an active partnership with Nepal's payment operators, so a wallet that works seamlessly in your home country may not yet be supported here.

Tips for a Smooth Cashless Trip

• Carry a mix of both. Load a modest cash reserve in Nepali rupees for tipping, remote stretches, and emergencies, and use QR for everything else.
• Set up your payment app before you fly. Registering for Nepal Now or confirming your existing app's compatibility is far easier with reliable internet than at a Kathmandu arrivals hall.
• Screenshot your payment confirmations. Keep a running log of successful transactions, especially for larger purchases like trekking permits or gear, in case of a later dispute.
• Check the merchant's QR code carefully. Only scan codes displayed at the till or counter by staff — fraudulent "qrishing" stickers placed over legitimate codes have been reported globally and are worth watching for.
• Download an offline map and note nearby ATMs. Once you're heading into higher trekking regions, know where the last reliable cash withdrawal point is before connectivity drops.

What to Do If a QR Payment Fails

1. Don't assume it didn't go through. Ask the merchant to check their side before re-scanning — many "failures" are just a delayed confirmation screen, and paying twice is a common avoidable mistake.
2. Check your app's transaction history. A pending or failed status will usually show clearly, along with whether any funds were actually deducted.
3. Wait a few minutes and retry once. Network delays are the most common cause of a stuck payment, and most resolve within minutes without needing support.
4. Contact your app's in-app support. For Nepal Now, disputes are routed to the partner bank in line with NRB grievance directives — use the in-app help section to start that process with your transaction ID ready.
5. Fall back to cash if the merchant needs to move on. If you're holding up a queue, it's reasonable to pay cash and resolve the digital transaction afterward through your app's support channel.

Frequently Asked Questions