Homestays: 5 Reasons to Make a Homestay Your Next Home Away from Home

Relaxing with Masala Chai Tea at a homestay nearby Muktinath, Lower Mustang, Nepal.

If you're a budget backpacker like me, hotels and many Airbnb's will not be in your best interest money wise. Heck, you may be in places where accommodations like these don't even exist. Enter the homestay. What is a homestay? A homestay is staying at someone's home, and many times, becoming a part of their ohana (family) for the few days you're with them. While you may not have the complete privacy that comes from a hotel, there are so many benefits to staying at these humble abodes that it should be a part of your nomadic journey. Here are some reasons to consider making a homestay your next home away from home.

A beautiful sunset overlooking Phewa Lake from my homestay's deck in Pokhara, Nepal

1. Budget Friendly - Homestays can be very affordable, almost as much if not less than, a hostel. As I traveled to Sapa, in Northern Vietnam, my friends am I did a cursory search on booking.com. We ended up choosing Dzay house homestay. If you were to do that search, you'd see the stark price difference between a hotel and a homestay. What was great about that homestay was they allowed us to experience cooking some local dishes, eat with the family, and for an extra fee, the owner took us trekking through the famed rice terraces and to a beautiful waterfall. An added bonus was the view. Imagine peering over the green rice fields as a fog gently settles over the valley. So serene!

This is Sidhane, a Gurung village above Pokhara, Nepal with a great view of the Himalayas. My visit helped support a local tour guide and owners of this homestay who shared with me local Raksi (distilled alcohol) and buffalo milk! 

2. Support Locals Directly - The money you use to stay at a homestay most of the time 100% goes directly to the owner. While you may find these places via booking.com, agoda.com, or the like, you can also call them directly. If they're willing to, you can eschew the sites and apps which often take a cut of their profit, and the money will go directly to the family. After you spend some time with the family, you will be grateful that you gave all you could. I've met many a humble, generous, and kind soul through homestays... not to mention great cooks of local cuisine and willing to share some local knowledge of the area. Lots of wins!

Breakfast with a view! Having an egg and chapati with honey. Homecooked food at a homestay from the Annapurna Basecamp Trek!

3. The Food - Many times when we think of our favorite food, we think of something homecooked, made with love by your mother, father, or family member that dabbles in epicurean jaunts. When you're at a homestay, oftentimes you have the homecooked feel, just in a foreign setting. At your homestay you'll experience the drool-inducing smells that waft from the kitchen, the upbeat din of meal prep, the sight of many hands of the family or community as they orchestrate a meal to enjoy together, the smiles and feels from the generational bond created from this creative process... and finally, the satisfaction from eating food made with the utmost love. You may not get this all the time, but I've experienced it enough to say that for this nomad, I prefer this experience 100x more than what you'd get from a hotel restaurant.

Nepali New Year in Pokhara. Some dancing with my homestay family.

4. A Slice of Life - When I travel, I want to experience what a day in the life of a local is like. Whether it's the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the conversations they share, the places they live... I want a cultural immersion. When you stay at a homestay, you can get all of this. I've stayed at a homestay at Pokhara, Nepal where I was able to join in their morning puja (Hindi worship ritual), help prepare chapati for breakfast, sit on the balcony with a nice cup of masala chai watching the sun go down and airplanes fly by, and shoot the breeze with my host and his family. It's an indelible memory and I'm so grateful to have shared that with them. Which leads me to the last point.

I got to trek to Muktinath, in lower Mustang, Nepal with my friends from a homestay. 

5. Relationships - You never know how a chance encounter will impact your life. Perhaps you meet a person and then they're gone for the rest of your life. Or, you'll develop a lifelong friendship that is nurtured over the years. It's the latter that can nourish your soul and validate why you travel and your choice to opt for a homestay. With every meal I helped with, each sunset witnessed, travel tale shared, the bond I had with my homestay hosts grew. 

These are, I feel, very compelling reasons to get away from your average hotel, stretch yourself a bit, and get to know locals via a homestay. Have you stayed at a homestay before? What was your experience like? Let me know in the comments below. Light and aloha!