Everest Base Camp Trek

1. Day 1: Arrive in Kathmandu

   Tribhuvan International Airport to your hotel

   • Welcome dinner
   • Stay in Kathmandu
   Day 1 details

   Welcome to Nepal. We meet you at Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu and drive you to your hotel, your base for the first two nights. Kathmandu sits at about 1,400 metres, low enough that you will sleep well tonight. In the early evening your See Sight Tours guide hosts a welcome dinner for the group and walks you through the trek: how the days run, what goes in your duffel and what stays in the hotel storeroom, how we watch for altitude sickness and what happens if the Lukla flights are held by weather. Bring your boots, layers and anything you are unsure about, and we start the gear check tonight so tomorrow is unhurried. If your flight lands late, your guide repeats the briefing over breakfast.

   Included

   • Pick-up at Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM)
   • Welcome dinner and trek briefing
   • First gear check

   Free time: Afternoon free until the welcome dinner

2. Day 2: Kathmandu: temples and a calm gear check

   Swayambhunath and Pashupatinath, or the drive to Ramechhap

   • Breakfast
   • Stay in Kathmandu
   Day 2 details

   A gentle day to get over the flight and settle every detail before the mountains. We start early at Swayambhunath, the hilltop stupa west of the city, while monks and the first pilgrims are turning the prayer wheels and the light is soft across the valley. Then on to Pashupatinath on the Bagmati River, Nepal's most important Hindu temple. Only Hindus may enter the main temple, so we watch the riverside cremation ghats from the east bank while a local guide explains the rites. The afternoon is for the gear check with your guide: your duffel, the sleeping bag and down jacket we lend you, and anything you still need to rent or buy in Thamel. In the busiest months, when Lukla flights leave from Ramechhap instead of Kathmandu, today changes: we drive after breakfast to Manthali and sleep near the airport, so you are not on the road in the middle of the night.

   Included

   • Swayambhunath
   • Pashupatinath with a local guide
   • Gear check, duffel, sleeping bag and down jacket to borrow

   Free time: Afternoon free after the gear check

   Activity: When flights leave from Ramechhap, the day is the road transfer to Manthali instead: about 130 km, normally 5 to 6 hours and longer while the road is under repair, and the night is near the airport.

3. Day 3: Fly to Lukla, walk to Phakding

   Kathmandu or Ramechhap to Lukla by plane, then on foot to Phakding

   • By plane
   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Phakding
   Day 3 details

   An early start for the flight to Lukla, about 35 minutes over the foothills from Kathmandu or about 20 minutes from Ramechhap, with the snow peaks along the left side of the plane on a clear morning. Lukla's Tenzing-Hillary Airport has a short runway that slopes uphill into the mountain, and planes only fly in good visibility, which is why we book the first morning departures. On the ground you meet the porters, who carry your duffel from here on, and we set off down the valley. The first walk is short and mostly downhill: about 8 kilometres and 3 to 4 hours through Chheplung and small farms to Phakding, beside the Dudh Koshi river. Pass the carved mani stones on their left, as the Sherpa do. Sleeping at 2,610 metres, a little lower than Lukla, makes a good first night for your body.

   Included

   • Flight to Lukla
   • Sagarmatha National Park and Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality permits
   • Porters from Lukla

   Activity: About 8 km and 3 to 4 hours on foot, mostly downhill.

4. Day 4: Up to Namche Bazaar

   Phakding to Namche Bazaar over the Hillary Suspension Bridge

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Namche Bazaar
   Day 4 details

   We leave Phakding early so we reach the suspension bridges before the main stream of groups. The trail follows the Dudh Koshi upstream through pine forest, crossing the milky river several times on swaying bridges strung with prayer flags, past Benkar and its waterfall to Monjo, where rangers check your permit at the Sagarmatha National Park gate. After lunch at Jorsale the real climb begins. The high Hillary Suspension Bridge spans the gorge where the Bhote Koshi meets the Dudh Koshi, and from there the path zigzags about 600 metres up through the forest. On a clear day a viewpoint partway up gives your first look at the summit of Everest, far off above the Nuptse and Lhotse ridge. About 10 kilometres and 6 hours in all, ending in Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa trading town built into a horseshoe-shaped bowl at 3,440 metres.

   Included

   • Sagarmatha National Park gate at Monjo
   • Hillary Suspension Bridge

   Activity: About 10 km and 6 hours on foot, with a climb of about 800 m over the day.

   

5. Day 5: Namche: climb high, sleep low

   Sunrise ridge, Hotel Everest View and Khumjung

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Namche Bazaar
   Day 5 details

   A rest day that is not spent resting: climbing high and sleeping low is the best way to acclimatise. Before breakfast we walk up to the ridge above town by the national park visitor centre, where first light reaches Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam and Thamserku while Namche is still in shadow. After breakfast we climb past the Syangboche airstrip to the terrace of the Hotel Everest View, at about 3,880 metres, for tea with one of the classic views of the range, then drop down to Khumjung, a farming village of stone houses where Sir Edmund Hillary opened his first school in 1961. Back in Namche by early afternoon, the rest of the day is yours for the bakeries, the Sherpa Culture Museum or a hot shower. On Saturday mornings porters and traders from the lower valleys fill the weekly market.

   Included

   • Sunrise walk to the ridge above Namche
   • Acclimatisation hike to the Hotel Everest View terrace and Khumjung

   Easier option: Stop at the sunrise ridge and spend the rest of the day in Namche.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Namche

   Activity: About 4 to 5 hours on foot, up to about 3,880 m and back to 3,440 m.

   

6. Day 6: To Tengboche, for the evening light

   Namche Bazaar to Tengboche via Kyangjuma and Phunki Thenga

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Tengboche
   Day 6 details

   From Namche a contour path swings around the hillside to Kyangjuma with Ama Dablam ahead for most of the morning. Watch the slopes for Himalayan tahr and, in the forest, the Himalayan monal, Nepal's national bird, with its rainbow feathers. The trail then drops to the river at Phunki Thenga for lunch before a steady climb of about 600 metres through pine and rhododendron to Tengboche, at 3,860 metres; in April the rhododendrons flower here. Many groups stop at Tengboche for an hour. We stay the night, because the reason to come is the light. Tengboche Monastery, the largest in the Khumbu, was rebuilt after a fire in 1989, and when the doors are open you can sit quietly at the back during prayers. In the last hour of sun, Ama Dablam and the top of Everest turn gold from the monastery grounds, and you see them again at dawn. About 10 kilometres, 5 to 6 hours.

   Included

   • Tengboche Monastery
   • Golden-hour and first-light views of Ama Dablam and Everest

   Your choice: Via Tengboche / Via Phortse Included in the price.

   Activity: About 10 km and 5 to 6 hours on foot.

   

7. Day 7: Above the trees to Dingboche

   Tengboche to Dingboche via Deboche and Pangboche

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Dingboche
   Day 7 details

   Wake for first light on Ama Dablam, which rises above the monastery, before breakfast. The trail drops through forest to Deboche, crosses the Imja Khola on a bridge above a narrow gorge and climbs to Pangboche, a Sherpa village whose small gompa is often called the oldest in the Khumbu. The trees thin out above here. We walk up the open Imja valley, past yak pastures and stone walls, with Ama Dablam now on our right and Island Peak and Lhotse ahead, to Dingboche at 4,410 metres. The village is a patchwork of fields walled with stone to keep the wind and the yaks off the barley and potatoes. About 11 kilometres and 5 to 6 hours. From tonight your guide checks everyone's oxygen level and pulse each evening with a pulse oximeter, so small changes are noticed early and talked about openly.

   Included

   • Pangboche and its gompa
   • Evening pulse oximeter checks from here on

   Activity: About 11 km and 5 to 6 hours on foot.

   

8. Day 8: Dingboche: the Nangkartshang ridge

   Acclimatisation hike above Dingboche

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Dingboche
   Day 8 details

   A second night at the same height is part of a safe plan, and the best morning view of the week is right behind the lodge. After breakfast we climb the Nangkartshang ridge above the village, slowly, at the pace of the slowest walker. Even the first chorten gives a view down the valley to Ama Dablam. Higher up, at 4,700 to about 5,000 metres depending on how the group feels, Makalu, the fifth-highest mountain in the world, appears to the east, with the south face of Lhotse, Island Peak and the Imja valley close by. We are back in Dingboche for lunch. The afternoon is free to rest, read, sort your kit and charge your batteries, and to keep drinking water. If anyone prefers an easier morning, the second guide stays lower with them at the chorten while the others carry on.

   Included

   • Acclimatisation hike on the Nangkartshang ridge

   Easier option: Walk to the first chorten above the village with the second guide, about 2 hours.

   Free time: Afternoon free in Dingboche

   Activity: About 4 to 5 hours on foot, up to between 4,700 and 5,000 m and back to 4,410 m.

   

9. Day 9: Thukla Pass to Lobuche

   Dingboche to Lobuche via Dughla and the Thukla Pass

   • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
   • Stay in Lobuche
   Day 9 details

   A short day by distance, walked slowly because of the height. The trail climbs above Dingboche onto the open shelf over the Pheriche valley, with wide views back to Ama Dablam and Taboche, then drops a little to Dughla, also called Thukla, for an early lunch beside the stream that flows out of the Khumbu Glacier. After lunch comes a steep climb of about 200 metres up the glacier's end moraine to the Thukla Pass, where rows of stone memorials and prayer flags remember climbers and Sherpas who died on Everest, among them Scott Fischer and Babu Chiri Sherpa. It is a quiet place and we take our time. Lobuche, at 4,940 metres, is a short walk on beside the glacier. About 8 kilometres and 5 hours. The afternoon is for rest, a warm drink and an early dinner.

   Included

   • Thukla Pass memorials

   Free time: Afternoon free to rest

   Activity: About 8 km and 5 hours on foot.

10. Day 10: Gorak Shep and Everest Base Camp

    Lobuche to Gorak Shep, then Everest Base Camp and back

    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Gorak Shep
    Day 10 details

    The big day, timed to get the best of it. We leave Lobuche early and follow the side moraine of the Khumbu Glacier, over rocky ground with Pumori ahead, to Gorak Shep, a frozen sand flat at 5,164 metres where the last lodges stand: about 2 to 3 hours. We leave everything but water, layers and cameras at the lodge, eat an early lunch and walk on along the moraine and onto the glacier to Everest Base Camp, at about 5,364 metres, arriving around the middle of the day as the morning crowd heads back. Know this before you go: you cannot see the summit of Everest from base camp, because Nuptse is in the way. What you see is the Khumbu Icefall spilling down between the peaks and, in April and May, the yellow tents of the climbing expeditions. The walk there and back takes 4 to 5 hours. Tonight is the highest and coldest night of the trip.

    Included

    • Everest Base Camp

    Your choice: Sunrise on day 11 / Late afternoon on day 10 Included in the price.

    Activity: About 12 km and 7 to 8 hours on foot in all, at 4,940 to 5,364 m.

    

11. Day 11: Kala Patthar at sunrise, down to Pheriche

    Kala Patthar, then Gorak Shep to Pheriche

    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Pheriche
    Day 11 details

    Head torches on at about 4:30 am. The climb up Kala Patthar, the brown hill above Gorak Shep at about 5,550 metres, takes 1.5 to 2 hours, slowly, in the cold. This is where you see Everest properly: the dark summit pyramid above the Nuptse ridge, the Khumbu Icefall and the glacier below, and Pumori rising straight behind you. The sun comes up behind Everest, so the first light lands on Pumori and Nuptse while Everest stands in silhouette, and then the whole basin fills with light. Keep spare camera batteries in an inside pocket, because the cold drains them fast. We aim to leave 30 to 45 minutes ahead of the main crowd. Back at Gorak Shep for a late breakfast, then down past Lobuche and Dughla to Pheriche, at about 4,370 metres, where the air feels thick again. In season, the Himalayan Rescue Association aid post here gives an afternoon talk on altitude.

    Included

    • Kala Patthar at sunrise

    Easier option: Skip Kala Patthar, sleep in and start down after breakfast with the second guide.

    Activity: A long day of 7 to 8 hours on foot: about 2 hours up Kala Patthar, then about 12 km, almost all downhill.

12. Day 12: Back down to Namche

    Pheriche to Namche Bazaar via Pangboche and Tengboche

    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Namche Bazaar
    Day 12 details

    An easier rhythm now that the air is richer. We walk down the Pheriche valley to Pangboche and through the forest to Tengboche, where we stop for lunch and a last look at the monastery with Ama Dablam behind it. From Tengboche the trail drops steeply to Phunki Thenga on the river, climbs back up through the forest below Kyangjuma and contours around to Namche, on slopes that now feel familiar. Many trekkers notice how much easier this ground feels than it did on the way up. It is a long day, about 19 kilometres and 6 to 7 hours, but mostly downhill, with the one climb above the river after lunch. Back in Namche, the bakeries, a hot shower and a bed at 3,440 metres feel very good, and the evening is free.

    Included

    • Lunch stop at Tengboche

    Free time: Evening free in Namche

    Activity: About 19 km and 6 to 7 hours on foot, mostly downhill.

13. Day 13: The last walk, to Lukla

    Namche Bazaar to Lukla along the Dudh Koshi

    • Breakfast, lunch and dinner
    • Stay in Lukla
    Day 13 details

    The last day on foot. From Namche the trail drops down the long hill to the Hillary Suspension Bridge and follows the Dudh Koshi back through Jorsale, Monjo and Phakding, past the same mani stones and waterfalls, now seen in the opposite light. The final hour climbs back up to Lukla, slow and steady at the end of a long day: about 19 kilometres and 6 to 7 hours. In the evening we sit down to dinner with the porters and the trek crew, the people who carried your duffel over every kilometre, and this is the moment for their tips, which we explain in the pre-trip notes so you can plan the amount. Your guide confirms tomorrow's early flight and the time to be at the airport, and checks the forecast with the airline.

    Included

    • Dinner with the porters and trek crew

    Activity: About 19 km and 6 to 7 hours on foot, with a climb of about 300 m at the end.

14. Day 14: Fly to Kathmandu, Boudhanath at dusk

    Lukla to Kathmandu or Ramechhap by plane, then Boudhanath

    • By plane
    • Breakfast and dinner
    • Stay in Kathmandu
    Day 14 details

    We take the first flights of the morning back to Kathmandu, when the skies are usually clearest. This is the day the trip is built to protect. If cloud holds the planes in Lukla, we wait together and fly as soon as they run; if planes stay grounded but helicopters can fly, we move you by shared helicopter at our cost, so a weather day does not cost you money or your flight home. If the flight lands at Ramechhap, we drive back to Kathmandu and the afternoon becomes the drive. Otherwise the afternoon is free for a long shower and a rest. At dusk we walk around Boudhanath, one of the largest stupas in the world, with Tibetan pilgrims turning the prayer wheels and butter lamps lit around its base. The trip ends with a farewell dinner together.

    Included

    • Flight from Lukla
    • Boudhanath at dusk
    • Farewell dinner
    • Shared helicopter if planes are grounded and helicopters can fly

    Free time: Afternoon free

    

15. Day 15: Depart Kathmandu

    Your hotel to Tribhuvan International Airport

    • Breakfast
    Day 15 details

    A free morning in Kathmandu after a slow breakfast. Walk to a café in Thamel, buy the singing bowl or pashmina you looked at on day 2, or take a taxi to Patan Durbar Square, the old royal square of temples and courtyards south of the river. We drop you at Tribhuvan International Airport in time for your flight home. Because Lukla flights depend on the weather, we ask you to book your flight home for the afternoon or evening of day 15 or later, ideally on a ticket you can change. If weather held your return from Lukla, this is the day that absorbs it. If you would like more time in Nepal, we can add hotel nights before or after the trek, or a few days in Pokhara or Chitwan National Park.

    Included

    • Drop-off at Tribhuvan International Airport (KTM)

    Free time: Morning free

Wildlife and weather: October and November usually bring the clearest skies; spring is warmer, with rhododendrons in flower below Tengboche and expedition tents at base camp. Mountain weather changes fast in every season, which is why the plan keeps a spare day.

• Kathmandu2 nights
• Phakding1 night
• Namche Bazaar2 nights
• Tengboche1 night
• Dingboche2 nights
• Lobuche1 night
• Gorak Shep1 night
• Pheriche1 night
• Namche Bazaar1 night
• Lukla1 night
• Kathmandu1 night