A return ticket on the Chandragiri cable car costs roughly NPR 800 to NPR 900 for Nepali citizens and around USD 22 to USD 23 for foreign nationals, and the line normally runs from about 9am to 7pm every day of the week. The ride covers 2.4 km from the base station at Thankot to the summit ridge at 2,551 m and takes nine to twelve minutes, depending on wind and how often the cabins are held at the towers.
Fares are revised from time to time and are quoted in different currencies for different nationalities, so treat every figure on this page as a working range and confirm the current rate at the counter or with the operator before you travel. The categories in use are Nepali, SAARC, Chinese and other foreign nationals, with reduced child and senior rates on the Nepali scale.
What you get for the money is altitude you would otherwise have to walk for. The base station sits at around 1,450 m to 1,500 m on the valley rim, and the top station puts you on a ridge more than a kilometre higher, with Bhaleshwor Mahadev temple a five minute walk away and, between October and February, a clear line of sight along the Himalaya to the north.
How much is a Chandragiri cable car ticket?
Prices are set per nationality band rather than per person, which catches a lot of visitors out. The figures below were compiled in August 2026 from the operator's published rates and from Nepali travel agency listings that resell the same tickets. Treat them as a range, not a quotation.
| Visitor category | One way (approx.) | Return (approx.) |
|---|
| Nepali citizen, adult | NPR 450 to 500 | NPR 800 to 900 |
| Nepali child, roughly 3 to 12 | NPR 250 to 300 | NPR 450 to 500 |
| Nepali senior citizen | NPR 200 to 250 | NPR 375 to 425 |
| SAARC national | around NPR 790 | around NPR 1,320 |
| Chinese national | around USD 9 | around USD 16 |
| Other foreign national | around USD 13 | around USD 22 to 23 |
Foreign rates are advertised in US dollars but paid in rupees at the counter's own conversion, so the rupee figure moves with the exchange rate. Nepali citizens are asked for citizenship identification to get the local rate, and students sometimes get a further concession on weekdays. Card payment is usually accepted at the base station, but carrying cash removes the risk of a machine being offline.
Confirm before you go. Fares change, festival-season surcharges appear, and package rates that bundle the ride with a buffet lunch are sold separately. The operator publishes current rates on its own site and at the base station counter.
What time does the cable car open and close?
The published running window is roughly 9am to 7pm daily, with some sources describing a pause around the middle of the day and others reporting continuous running. In practice the last cabin up leaves well before the advertised closing time, because the operator has to clear everyone off the ridge before dark. If you want to be certain of getting down, plan to be back at the top station at least an hour before closing.
When the queue is worst
Saturday is the Nepali weekend, and Saturday between about 10am and 1pm is the busiest window of the week at the base station. Public holidays, the Swasthani month of Magh and the days around Shivaratri all add pilgrim traffic on top of the sightseeing traffic. A weekday morning at opening is the quietest realistic slot, and it is also the clearest: haze builds through the day from late spring onwards.
Weather holds
Ropeways stop for high wind and for lightning risk. During the monsoon, from roughly June to September, an afternoon storm can suspend running for an hour or more at no notice. That is another argument for going early.
What the ride is actually like
Cabins are enclosed gondolas seating around eight people, and they load on the move at a walking pace, so there is a moment of shuffling before the doors close. The line runs 2.4 km with several towers, and the cabin bumps gently as it passes each one. The steepest part of the climb comes in the middle third, where the ground falls away under thick pine and rhododendron forest.
Photography through the glass works better than most people expect if you hold the lens close to the pane to kill reflections. Facing backwards down the valley gives you the widening view of Kathmandu; facing forwards gives you the ridge line and, on the way down in the late afternoon, the light on the valley floor.
If heights bother you, sit in the middle of the bench and look along the wire rather than straight down. The ride is short, and the cabins are stable except in gusty conditions.
