Ordering alcohol online in Kathmandu means sending a WhatsApp message to a delivery service, not checking out on a website. There is no app to install and no card to enter. You send what you want and where you are, someone replies with a total and a time, and you pay the rider at the door. You need to be 18 or older and you may be asked to prove it.
That is the whole mechanism, and it surprises people who have ordered in other cities. It is worth understanding why it works this way, because it changes what you need to have ready.
Why it is a message and not a checkout
Nepal regulates alcohol tightly, and a public web checkout that takes payment for it is a far more exposed thing than a conversation. Every service in the city that delivers at our hours works over WhatsApp or a phone call for the same reason.
The practical upside is that it is faster than an app. You do not need the exact product name, you do not need an account, and you can change the order mid-thread. “Something dark, two cold lagers, and a bottle of soda” is a perfectly orderable message.
What to have ready before you message
Your address, the way a rider would find it. Kathmandu addresses are landmarks, not street numbers. The building name, the nearest chowk, the guesthouse, the gate. Each of our area pages lists the landmarks we actually navigate by in that neighbourhood.
Roughly what you want. Browse the menu if you want to be specific — Old Durbar, Khukuri and Gorkha Strong are the things most often asked for by name — but a description works just as well.
The mixers and ice. This is the part everyone forgets and the part that runs out first. Mixers, sodas and water go on the same order.
Photo ID, if you have it to hand. See below.
The hours are the real constraint
Most retail in Kathmandu closes between 8 and 10 PM. Raksi Hour runs 10 PM to 4 AM, which is deliberately the window when nothing else is open. Outside it, online ordering in this city is not slow — it does not exist. The full picture of what is open when is in how late you can get a delivery.
The age rule is not a formality
You must be 18 or over to order alcohol or tobacco. Riders may ask for photo ID at the door, and an order gets refused if age cannot be established — the rider does not have discretion on this. What counts as ID and what happens if you have none is covered in what we check at the door.
What “online” does not get you
It does not get you a fixed published price. Stock and rates move, so we quote tonight’s price when you ask rather than printing a number that goes stale. Ask in the same message and the reply comes back with it.
It also does not get you delivery outside Kathmandu Valley. The line is the valley, every night, and it does not move.
Ordering from a specific area
Coverage and realistic run times are per-neighbourhood: Thamel, Lazimpat, Baneshwor and Koteshwor are the busiest, and every area we cover has its own page under delivery.
Our own flow, step by step, is in how ordering works.