Nar Phu permit fee

I am planning to trek Nar Phu with some friends starting late October. We already have a guide and itinerary set up. I am having some trouble with the permit, however. According to TAAN the permit should cost $90. However, the hotel that is helping to arrange the permit is saying the permit will cost a total of $125, because of "fees associated with getting the permit". Now we are also planning on adding a bit of the circuit and so will have to get TIMS and ACAP bumping us up to $165 in permit fees alone! I was just curious about other's experience with getting the permit for Nar Phu - i.e. how much did you spend in all! I'm just trying to not get ripped off. Thanks so much for the advice.

Hi Steenerb,
The special permit cost Sep to Nov the US $ 90 per person for a week and Dec to Aug $ 75, ACAP $ 20, TIMS $10. So the permits cost is $120 for single x 2 members $ 240. I do hope that you know should be 2 members to issue the special permit and valid license holder trekking guide. In the case you are alone, need another passport to apply which may take some extra charge... and the hotel may take additional charge too as a mediator (seeling your trip to an agency). I would suggest you better contact directly to trekking agency because of trekking agency would have matched some groups with your date of same route/trekking. In this case, you would not have to pay extra $120 for second permit.
Good Luck!

Usually the agencies do not add anything to the permit fee, it is part of their job to get them and the "fees associated" are included in their total amount charged from you. $35 is two days salary for an office worker and it certainly does not take 6 days to get 3 (?) permits collected. So they are just making it up, but of course it is some trouble for a HOTEL to arrange it, why not go to an agency instead?

Thanks for your advice. I'm just wondering, wouldn't I be paying just as much if not more in whatever other fees if I went through an agency?

A hotel can not get permits, they have to get them from an agency, agency gets it from the immigration office. So they are just an extra step and want something for it. Agency usually does not charge anything for getting permits, it is baked in into their margins and invisible to us.

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