Nepal to India, help please!

Hi all!

I'm planning my first trip to India this Autumn (hopefully late September/early Octotber).
I had the idea to start in Nepal (Katmandu) trek to Everest Base Camp and then make my way into India via road hopefully on the Bus to Darjeeling, I guess the border crossing would be Panitanki/Kakarbhitta.

I was wondering however if this would be possible regarding visas? I plan to stay on in India for another 4 months or so after Nepal so would I be able to get a visa at the border or would I need to sort something out before I left?

Also are there any reported problems with crossing the border here, or is it easy enough?

Last but not least if all is well then is the only bus to Darjeeling from Kathmandu or is there somewhere closer to the EBC circuit?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

http://in.vfsglobal.co.uk/

For a UK passport holder you will be able to obtain a "visa on arrival" for Nepal . there are no "visa on arrival" facilities when arriving at an Indian border . It is possible to obtain an Indian tourist visa in Kathmandu but it is strongly advised to have an Indian tourist visa in place before you leave the UK .
Hope this helps .

the link above is to the official Indian visa issuing office in the UK

Will it be alright to use the visa obtained in the UK crossing the border from Nepal to India though?
Also if the border crossing mentioned a relatively hassle free one>
Thanks

Certainly; however the visa is valid from date of issue, it starts ticking the moment you receive it. So you'd need to see if its period of validity covers your plans. I guess you could apply in Nepal, but good chance if applying abroad you'll receive a shorter one than you could at home.

I think that Darjeeling route is not renowned to be the most straightforward, but then you don't see many reports on it, so perhaps it's just not so well-known. I know Lonely Planet describes it.

lyddo, The bus services in Nepal and India used to be quite separate without a single bus or bus company taking passengers from a town in Nepal to a place in india. You can take a bus to one of several Nepali border towns, pass through Nepal passport check point, walk across the border, pass through India immigration and finally find a bus or jeep to continue into India. When I last made a crossing, five years ago, there was a cycle rickshaw to cross from Panitanki to Kakarbhitta.

There are several threads in Indiamike covering these crossings even if old. When you make your crossing you could update us all with the current situation. Note: Nepal time is or was 15 minutes different from India time.