Sort out how you are getting home before you need to. That is the entire advice, and it is the part of a night out that most reliably goes wrong, because it is the only decision made at the end rather than the beginning.
We deliver so that people do not have to drive anywhere at one in the morning. It would be strange to leave the rest of it unsaid.
Do not ride or drive
Nepal enforces drink-driving hard, the penalties are serious, and the roads after midnight are genuinely worse than they are in daylight — less light, more potholes visible later, fewer people around if something happens. A motorbike is worse again.
This is not a lecture. It is the one thing on this page with consequences that cannot be undone.
What actually works
Ride apps. Pathao and inDrive both operate late in Kathmandu. Coverage thins after midnight and surge pricing is real, so check before you are standing on a street.
Taxis. Widely available around Thamel and the main junctions; scarce in residential areas after midnight. Agree the fare before you get in. Meters are rarely used late, and the number doubles if it is negotiated on arrival.
Book the return at the start. If you are going out, know how you are getting back before the first drink. It costs nothing to decide early and it is almost impossible to decide well at 2 AM.
Stay put. If getting home has become complicated, the floor of somewhere safe beats a bad ride. This is not a failure.
Walking
Fine over short distances in areas you know. Thamel, Jhamsikhel and the busier strips are populated late. Quieter residential streets — much of Baluwatar, the Lalitpur side after midnight — are dark, uneven and empty, and a phone torch is worth more than it sounds.
Walk with someone if you can.
Looking after each other
The person who has had the most is the one least able to judge any of the above. Somebody should be making the getting-home decision for them, and it should be decided before it is needed.
If someone cannot be woken properly, is breathing strangely, or has hit their head — that is a hospital, not a night’s sleep. Ambulance: 102. Nepal Police: 100.
Water
A litre before bed does more than anything else on the list. When you order, order water. It is on the menu with everything else and it is the cheapest thing in the bag.