I’m travelling to Kathmandu via rail and road from India and would like to connect with individuals who are doing the same (or at least as the final leg). This may be out of cost concerns, or (for non-residents) because you’re also visiting India.
There are a few connected airports in India close enough to to Kathmandu that a bus trip will take around 12 hours: Gorakhpur, Darbhanga and Bagdogra (this one may be a far stretch). I’m myself taking a train passing through Darbhanga and ending at the border town of Jaynagar, from where I plan to cross into Janakpur in Nepal, and then find a bus from there. A more common crossing is via another border crossing Raxaul–Birgunj. If there are enough of us, we may be able to hire a van for ourselves.
A couple of notes of caution.
The viability of this route may depend on visa situation. On the Indian side, I have heard that foreigners with e-visas can exit via any border, but when entering must come by one of few ports that support e-visas. This may cause issues on the reverse trip. I’m completely unaware of visa-on-arrival or e-visa facility for land crossings into Nepal.
While I am floating the idea of hiring a van for ourselves, I will not be able to coordinate it myself.
@ajinkya, thank you for sharing all of this! I am sure it will be helpful to many.
If it turns out that there is a group who will be traveling via the same route and it makes sense to hire a van, I could reach out to our local partners in Kathmandu to see if they have any resources or know of any contacts in the area who may be able to help. Just keep me posted and I am happy to try!
Hi @ajinkya , Thanks for sharing the details, I am travelling from Kerala and this information is helpful as I didn’t choose a travel method yet. I will also keep updated.
Thanks @jamaica . Hopefully we do get to deal with this problem.
@salmanfarisvp looking forward to seeing you again, and possibly joining in some part of the trip. Highly unlikely, but in case you’re planning on taking a train all the way, the dates have just opened for reservation, and we’re already in waiting lists.
Interesting!
We have an opportunity to also present the upcoming GOSH at indiaFOSS in Bengaluru, a week before our event in Kathmandu. I am personally planning to be there to host the booth.
A trip like this would be great, but i should be up in Kathmandu a few days before the gathering, as i am part of the orga workgroup…
My train arrives in Jaynagar @ ~02:00 on 1st October. I pass through Varanasi and Darbhanga. @dusjagr how soon do you need to be there and are you exploring taking a train all the way (you’d be looking at 45+ hours of travel with long possible delays)?
A little more update on the visa front. On the Indian side, Raxaul is an admissible entry point with e-visas [1]. On the Nepali side, Birgunj is an admissible entry point with e-visas and has visa-on-arrival facility [2].
Thus, it seems the Raxaul-Birgunj border is the only [3] option if we want to travel together with people who need visas. My original plan for Jaynagar-Janakpur might not work in this case. On the positive side, this allows for a return trip to be possible as well.
My plan is relatively flexible since I can get off the train earlier and make my way to Raxaul separately. Or if everyone in the group can make the journey, Jaynagar-Janakpur is currently the only (passenger?) rail in Nepal.
If anyone is planning on taking this route (or even if flying in), it may save you time to get an e-visa for Nepal as well instead of going for visa-on-arrival. This is based on experience with another country.
If your return plans involve a train in India, you should look into buying tickets now (i.e. 60 days before). This applies only for those trying to get a regular ticket; the foreign tourist tickets work differently.
Also, something I just learned: if you’re an Indian citizen flying directly from Nepal to a third country, it seems you need to obtain prior written permission from the Indian embassy. So either do that (which may be hard within the timeline of your stay for the event) or travel into India first.
I’m planning to cross borders on 02/10 morning, stay the day at Janakpur and take a bus on 03/10 morning to catch the views.
Let me know anyone has the same route and timeline, if the group is big enough we can plan Janakpur to Kathmandu together and maybe hire a van if it is cheaper. Helps with timing and views
Missing you by a day. I’m taking the train arriving on 01/10 and plan to take the bus on 02/10 or even 01/10 night. If there are enough people I’m open to staying in Janakpur for longer but my airbnb dates will need adjustment.
I’m also looking into leaving on 26/09 for Barhni (U.P.). That train takes only 28 hours as opposed to 38 for the one to Jaynagar.
P.S. Please check the delay possibility of your train on 29/09. I have seen trains on that track be 12+ hours late even when it’s not monsoon.
I should reach Panvel at 02:25 AM on 30th, gonna take a local train to LTT immediately. The train from LTT is at 11:30 ( still on WL71/WL29, with 98% CNF probability ), which should reach Jaynagar at 02:10 on 2nd October.
Good luck, but it is very possible to fail this. Additionally, the confirmation can come in the form of RAC, which in a 38 hour train is pain.
If you are open to options, consider the Panvel-Barhni train 15066, or try Tatkal. That train is notorious for starting 7-8 hours late in the first place, but as an advantage drops you later in the morning. Barhni to KTM is approximately the same distance as from Jaynagar. It also currently has RAC instead of WL so you start with a more favorable position. I’d have myself chosen this if I knew earlier.
I’ve booked 11061 from ixigo with the 3x guarantee thing. My plan is either board the train or take a flight from BOM to KTM using the refund. Not sure how things are gonna go, so I’m pretty open to pivots. I’ll keep the 15066 option in mind tho when I checked now it has already crossed into WL, and I was thinking of getting the border crossing in train experience, but yea let’s see.
I’d like to know their business model if they can guarantee with a 3x refund. Although even if you’re taking first class the refund won’t cover your flight.
Indeed border crossing via rail is cool, and I don’t want to discourage you from that, but I’m now weighing its value over other factors. There are other crossings with more comfortable/interesting journeys in South-East Asia (think sleeping in one country and almost waking in other, or going through 2 hours of immigration for 5 minutes of train). Ideally I’d like a case where the immigration happens in train, but that happens nowhere in the world now.
