Pokhara Lakeside is the strip along the eastern shore of Phewa Lake where nearly every visitor to Pokhara ends up staying. Hotels, restaurants, trekking shops and boat hire, packed into a few walkable streets with the lake on one side.
It is the right choice for a first visit. It is also more expensive than people expect, and there is one thing about getting there that catches everybody out.
I go to Pokhara on holiday and I stay in Lakeside. This is what it actually costs.
Quick answers
What is Lakeside? The tourist strip on the eastern shore of Phewa Lake, and the main place to stay in Pokhara.
What does a room cost? I paid NPR 1,500 a night for a hotel room on Lakeside in May 2026.
How do you get there from the bus park? Taxi from Prithvi Chowk, NPR 300 in May 2026. Read the inDrive section before you book one.
Is it walkable? Yes. That is the main reason to stay here rather than anywhere else in the valley.
Is Pokhara cheap? No. It is more expensive than Kathmandu.
| What | What I paid, May 2026 |
|---|---|
| Hotel room on Lakeside | NPR 1,500 per night |
| Taxi, Prithvi Chowk bus park to Lakeside | NPR 300 |
How do you get from the bus park to Lakeside?
By taxi, for NPR 300 when I did it in May 2026, and the booking is stranger than the ride.
Buses from Kathmandu drop you at the Prithvi Chowk bus park, which is not in Lakeside. You need a taxi for the last stretch. I use inDrive, the app where you name your own fare and drivers accept or counter it.
inDrive does not behave in Pokhara the way it does in Kathmandu. In Kathmandu you offer a price, a driver accepts, and that is the deal. In Pokhara a driver accepts your offer straight away and then phones you to start bargaining upwards. Five hundred. Six hundred. The acceptance in the app is not really an acceptance, it is the start of a negotiation.
I held at NPR 300 and got it in the end. What happened next explains the whole thing. When my driver pulled up to collect us, the other drivers waiting around the bus park started giving him grief about how cheaply he was working.
That is the mechanism. There is informal pressure among Pokhara drivers not to undercut each other, and the app price is exactly what they are pushing back against. The driver who takes your low fare has to answer for it to the others.
So three practical things. Budget around NPR 300 from Prithvi Chowk to Lakeside, which is what it cost in May 2026. Expect a phone call after the acceptance. Hold your price if you are willing to wait, because the ride does turn up.
What does it cost to stay in Lakeside?
I paid NPR 1,500 a night in May 2026 for a hotel room on Lakeside. That is a straightforward room in a normal hotel on the strip, not a resort and not a dormitory.
Lakeside covers a wide range either side of that. There are cheap guesthouses and there are lakefront places charging several times what I paid. What NPR 1,500 gets you is the thing most people actually want, which is a clean room within walking distance of the lake and dinner.
Book ahead around Dashain, Tihar and the school holidays. Nepali families fill Pokhara in volume during those weeks and the reasonable places go first.
Is Pokhara expensive?
Yes, and more expensive than Kathmandu. That is my honest read, and it surprises people who assume anywhere outside the capital must be cheaper.
Most of it is fair enough. Lakeside is a tourist town, and tourist towns cost more everywhere in the world. Restaurants, hotels and everything aimed at visitors are priced for visitors. I do not think that is unreasonable, and I would rather pay it here than pretend it should be Kathmandu prices.
inDrive is the exception. That is the one thing I would call overpriced rather than simply expensive, because the app fare gets pushed up by drivers rather than set by the market. Everything else in Pokhara is expensive in a way that makes sense for where you are.
The practical version: bring more budget than you would for the same number of days in Kathmandu, and do not be surprised when a meal on the strip costs more than the same meal in Thamel.
Should you stay in Lakeside or somewhere else?
Stay in Lakeside on a first visit. It is walkable, everything is there, and you will spend less time in taxis than anywhere else in the valley.
The trade off is that Lakeside is the most touristed strip in Nepal outside Thamel in Kathmandu. If that is not what you want, Damside to the south is quieter, and staying out near Begnas Lake puts you in a completely different and much slower version of the same valley. Both cost you convenience. Out at Begnas you need a vehicle for everything.
I have not stayed at either, so I am not going to tell you what they are like. Lakeside is what I know.
Frequently asked questions
How much is a taxi from Prithvi Chowk bus park to Lakeside?
NPR 300 in May 2026. I booked through inDrive and paid that, though the driver accepted in the app and then phoned to bargain upwards before settling at my original price.
Why do inDrive drivers in Pokhara call to renegotiate?
Because there is informal pressure among local drivers not to undercut each other. A driver who accepts a low app fare gets grief from the others at the rank, so many accept first and then try to talk the price up by phone. Holding your price usually works.
How much is a hotel room in Lakeside, Pokhara?
I paid NPR 1,500 a night in May 2026 for a normal hotel room on the strip. Cheaper guesthouses and much more expensive lakefront hotels both exist, so treat NPR 1,500 as the middle rather than the floor.
Is Pokhara more expensive than Kathmandu?
Yes. Food, rooms and transport all cost more in Pokhara than they do in Kathmandu. Most of that is normal tourist-town pricing rather than anyone taking advantage.
Is Lakeside walkable?
Yes, and that is its main advantage. Hotels, restaurants, trekking shops and the lake are all within a few streets. The rest of Pokhara’s sights are spread across the valley and need transport.
Where is Lakeside in Pokhara?
Along the eastern shore of Phewa Lake, on the western side of Pokhara city. The bus park at Prithvi Chowk is a taxi ride away, not walking distance.
Before you go
Lakeside is the easy, correct choice for a first trip to Pokhara. Budget more than you think, hold your price on the taxi, and accept that you are paying tourist-town rates for a tourist town.
Once you are settled, the things to do in Pokhara guide covers which sights are worth your time and which are a fifteen minute stop. If you have not got there yet, Kathmandu to Pokhara covers the bus, the road and what the journey actually costs. Out on the water, Phewa Lake covers boat prices and the evening aarati, and the Pokhara itinerary sets out what actually fits into two, three or five days.
If you have been recently and a price here has moved, tell me and I will update it. More about who writes this and why on the about page.