Family Bed Room

What is Homestay? All you need to Know

Chamati Boutique Homestay
21 - Nov, 2019

Homestay is popular world-wide as one of the best ways of accommodation during travel. People love to stay overnight at star hotels and resorts while traveling. But some people are keen to taste the homestay accommodation as their best. Now, the question arises, what is homestay? 

Homestay is such type of accommodation sharing the same kitchen for the food with the service providing family. Living with family and being familiar with their culture are the most striking features of homestay. In fact, you do not really feel that you are away from your own home while staying at homestay with the local family during your travel days.

Have you any tried homestay  during your Nepal visit? Nepal along with various luxury to normal hotel accommodation offers homestay for overnight stay while trekking or undergoing a city tour. Some people consider that the homestay is only available in the country or mountain during the trekking. This is not the fact. We even can get homestay in major cities like Kahtmandu and Pokhara. Homestay in Kathmandu and homestay in Pokhara are getting its popularity in recent years with travelers.

What is homestay program?

Treating the travelers as members of their own family providing accommodation and food during their stay is known as homestay program. Homestay is a unique way of treating the travelers with a complete local taste. Homestay is  not only popular in poor and less developed countries, but it is also popular style of staying during the travel even in developed countries.

If you are keen to adventure and homestay in Nepal, you see the link: Mountain Biking with a Taste of Home Stay

Now, let’s come to the point, Why choosing homestay? Different people have different reasons to stay at homestay. But this article presents major 10 Reasons to Stay at a Homestay in Nepal.

1. To explore the particular place

We can have an extensive knowledge about the local place if you are using homestay as your accommodation. You going to a particular local place, spending the days and nights there, visiting the popular local sites and explore about it. Moreover, if you’re a student, explorer, researcher and archaeologist, staying at a homestay at local place will benefit you tremendously. You will really be blessed with the knowledge about the local place and its highlights.

2. Feel like you are at your own home/ Do not feel like an outsider

To be frank, you do not really feel that you are in the strange land. Rather, you feel as if you are at your own home with your own family members. The family with whom you are sharing your accommodation will treat you like their own family members. You will feel relaxed and free. They never treat you like an outsider. And also, they never treat you like a guest from an alien country.

3. Local organic cuisine

Experiencing the local cuisine is another striking highlight to stay at a homestay. The local organic products are used to make the food items at homestay. It will absolutely be a different taste of local cuisine to experience at homestay than in luxury hotels. Definitely, once you try local homestay cuisines, will bound to experience the same thing in your next visit.

4. To enhance the local economy

 We use local products as accommodation and food. Furthermore, we may purchase local souvenir or gifts to our family and friends. What we are contributing through these activities is supporting local economy. If your use the things at the local level, you are directly helping the local people and their local economy. Why are you making rich richer, stay at homestay and help the poor to be richer? Do not create a big gap between poor and rich while you are travelling.

5. Learning local culture

Learning local culture is one of the significant achievements of homestay in Nepal. Nepal and its diverse communities own unique cultures. The travelers and explorers lure to learn and adopt their age-old culture. One of the best ways of learning local culture is staying at a homestay. You are staying with the local family, sharing the same kitchen and sharing the lifestyle, tradition etc. It means you are learning local culture. Having cross-cultural knowledge is breaking the cultural boundaries and adopting yourself a global citizen. No culture is superior and inferior. Each culture is unique at a particular place and for particular group of people.  

6. Less Costly/ Easy to afford

Homestay stay is relatively less costly than hotel stay. Hotel treat you like an outsider and charge different additional cost for service. But Homestays in Nepal do not do so. Both accommodation and food items are less costly than at hotels. Homestays use all local products for food and accommodation, as a consequence, the cost is always less than at the hotels. Those who are keen to experience the local accommodation and cuisine at low cost, simply go with homestay in Nepal.

7. Can Exchange of ideas

Exchange of ideas and feelings make your travel a memorable and it is must. People without exchanging ideas, one can’t make ones travel fruitful. The basic guideline of travelling is exchanging ideas. The local and the travelers both exchange ideas, there is give and take of ideas and new idea emerges. This is another big achievement of traveling in ones. So, use homestay as your travel partner and exchange interesting ideas with the local people.  

8. Experience Unique hospitality

It is true that the local people are much more hospitable than the staffs serving in a hotel. You will experience a distinct hospitality from these local people while staying at homestay in Nepal. If you have undergone a trekking trip in the mountain of Nepal, you might have experience their warm and sincerest hospitality at local lodge and guesthouses. At homestays, you gonne get more authentic hospitality from the local people.

9. Special Care

You are going to get special care and attention from the local family with whom you’re staying at homestay. You are already a member of this family and you are cared as a family member during your stay. There is no discrimination the basis of profit at homestay. Every member of travel is considered as equal and special. Any kind of unexpected and sudden problem is solved with special care and in no time at homestay. So, do not hesitate to ask any kind of help from the local family if you.

10. Assistance/tips to make further trip

Local people know the local place better than the hired staffs of hotels. If you are planning further trip, you can get many fruitful tips from the family members with whom you are staying at homestay. These tips are never guided by any intentional profit, just to give you the authentic guidelines for the next trip. What to see, what will be the preparations, what to eat and what to explore about the particular place next, will be precisely and properly guided by the local people at homestay because they want a long-term relationship with you.