Everest Base Camp Trek

Fifteen days, eleven of them on foot. You will go from Lukla at 2,840 metres to Kala Patthar at 5,545, gaining height slowly, with two full acclimatisation days built in because they are not…

Length: 15 days, 14 nights
From: ₹3,25,000 per person
Pace: Active
Stops: 8
Best months: March to May, October to November

The route

8 stops over 15 days

Kathmandu
Lukla
Phakding
Namche Bazaar
Tengboche
Dingboche
Lobuche
Gorak Shep

Kala Patthar at 5,545 metres for sunrise on Everest
Two full acclimatisation days, at Namche and at Dingboche
Ama Dablam from the Tengboche monastery courtyard
Crossing the Hillary suspension bridge above the Dudh Koshi
Khumbu Glacier’s ice pinnacles on the walk to Base Camp

Day by day

What actually happens

Length: 15 days
Stops: 8
Pace: Active
From: ₹3,25,000

1D

Kathmandu

Arrival and Altitude Briefing

Met at Tribhuvan International and transferred to Thamel, at 1,400 metres. Afternoon free. At six our trek leader runs through the route profile, the acclimatisation rule of no more than 400 metres of sleeping altitude gained per day above 3,000, and the symptoms that mean you turn back. Kit check follows. Dinner at the hotel.

Night: Dwarika’s Hotel, Kathmandu
2B

Kathmandu

Valley Day, Final Preparations

Swayambhunath in the morning, then Boudhanath, useful context since half the Khumbu’s monasteries follow the same Nyingma lineage. Afternoon in Thamel for anything missing: a down jacket, a four-season bag, spare batteries, which drain fast in the cold. Permits are processed today. Pack a duffel of 12kg for the porters and a daypack for yourself.

Night: Dwarika’s Hotel, Kathmandu
3B L D

Phakding

Fly to Lukla, Walk to Phakding

A 2am departure for Manthali in Ramechhap, four hours by road, because Kathmandu’s morning slots are given to jets in season. The flight to Lukla takes fifteen minutes and lands uphill at 2,840 metres. Walk three hours down the Dudh Koshi to Phakding, 2,610 metres, through Ghat’s mani walls. Net descent, deliberately.

Night: Sherpa Guide Lodge, Phakding
4B L D

Namche Bazaar

Up to Namche, 3,440m

Six hours and 830 metres of gain. The trail crosses the Dudh Koshi five times before the Hillary Bridge, strung 125 metres above the confluence and swaying under yak trains. Then the Namche hill: two and a half hours of switchbacks through blue pine, with the first sight of Everest over the Lhotse-Nuptse wall near the top.

Night: Yeti Mountain Home, Namche Bazaar
5B L D

Namche Bazaar

Acclimatisation at Namche

Rest day, which does not mean lying down. Climb to the Everest View Hotel at 3,880 metres, an hour up, and you sleep 440 metres lower, which is the whole point. Ama Dablam, Lhotse and Everest from the terrace over milk tea. Afternoon at the Sherpa Culture Museum, or the Saturday haat if the day falls right.

Night: Yeti Mountain Home, Namche Bazaar
6B L D

Tengboche

Namche to Tengboche, 3,860m

A level traverse to Kyangjuma, then a steep drop to the river at Phunki Tenga and 600 metres straight back up through rhododendron. Five to six hours. Tengboche’s monastery, rebuilt after the 1989 fire, sits in a meadow with Ama Dablam directly behind it. Attend the 3pm puja: horns, cymbals, and a great deal of cold stone.

Night: Tashi Delek Lodge, Tengboche
7B L D

Dingboche

Tengboche to Dingboche, 4,410m

Through Deboche’s birch, over the Imja Khola at Pangboche, and up past the tree line. The last juniper is around 4,200 metres. Five hours, 550 metres of gain. Dingboche sits in a windbreak of stone walls at the head of the Imja valley. Island Peak and Lhotse’s south face close the view east. Cold after four.

Night: Snow Lion Lodge, Dingboche
8B L D

Dingboche

Second Acclimatisation Day

The second built-in rest day, and the harder of the two. Climb the Nangkartshang ridge to about 5,080 metres, three hours up, ninety minutes down, and you sleep back at 4,410. Makalu appears to the east, the world’s fifth-highest. Drink four litres today. If your headache does not clear by evening, we descend rather than continue.

Night: Snow Lion Lodge, Dingboche
9B L D

Lobuche

Dingboche to Lobuche, 4,940m

Up the shoulder to Dughla, then the moraine wall, forty-five hard minutes to the Thukla Pass at 4,830, where cairns and plaques mark climbers who did not come back, Scott Fischer and Babu Chiri Sherpa among them. It is a sobering place to stop. An hour more along the Khumbu Glacier’s lateral moraine to Lobuche. Five hours.

Night: Mother Earth Lodge, Lobuche
10B L D

Gorak Shep

Base Camp, 5,364m

The longest day: seven to eight hours in thin air. Three hours over glacial rubble to Gorak Shep at 5,164, drop bags, eat, then two hours out along the moraine to Base Camp at 5,364, a scatter of yellow tents in season, the Khumbu Icefall groaning above it. Back to Gorak Shep by dark.

Night: Buddha Lodge, Gorak Shep
11B L D

Pheriche

Kala Patthar, then Down

Leave at 4.30 in head torches for Kala Patthar, 5,545 metres, two hours of slow, gasping switchbacks for the finest view of Everest’s south-west face anywhere. Minus fifteen at the top; wear everything. Down for breakfast, then a long descent to Pheriche at 4,240, where the air feels almost thick. Nine hours in total.

Night: Himalayan Hotel, Pheriche
12B L D

Namche Bazaar

Back Down to Namche

A long descent, 1,200 metres over six or seven hours, retracing Pangboche and Tengboche and then the traverse to Kyangjuma. Knees complain more than lungs today. Everything smells different below the tree line: pine resin, woodsmoke, wet earth. Namche’s bakeries do apple pie and real coffee, and after nine days you will want both.

Night: Yeti Mountain Home, Namche Bazaar
13B L D

Lukla

Namche to Lukla

The last walking day, and not a short one: seven hours down the Namche hill, back across the suspension bridges, through Monjo and the Sagarmatha park gate, then the sting of a final climb into Lukla. Settle the porters’ accounts, eat dal bhat with the crew, and sleep at 2,840 metres with the door open.

Night: Everest Summit Lodge, Lukla
14B D

Kathmandu

Flight Out of Lukla

Lukla flies early or not at all, so we are at the strip by six. Fifteen minutes to Ramechhap, four hours by road to Kathmandu, and a hot shower that will feel disproportionate. Delays here are common and we plan for them, holding a helicopter option in reserve. Dinner in a Durbar Marg courtyard: whatever you have been thinking about for a fortnight.

Night: Dwarika’s Hotel, Kathmandu
15B

Kathmandu

Departure

Breakfast, and a morning that is entirely yours. A massage in Lazimpat is a sensible use of it. Transfer to Tribhuvan International three hours before departure, with assistance through check-in. Certificates and the trek photographs are handed over at the hotel. Your legs will still be complaining in a week; most people book something else within a month.

Night: No overnight — departure day

What the price covers

Fourteen nights: three in Kathmandu hotels, eleven in trekking lodges
All meals on trek from Day 3 to Day 13; breakfast in Kathmandu
Ramechhap-Lukla and Lukla-Ramechhap flights, with the road transfers
Sagarmatha National Park permit and Khumbu Rural Municipality fee
English-speaking trek leader and one porter for every two guests
Pulse oximeter monitoring twice daily and a portable altitude chamber
Duffel bag, sleeping bag and down jacket on loan for the trek
Helicopter evacuation coordination and 24-hour operations support

What it does not

International flights and the Nepal visa fee
Trekking insurance with helicopter rescue cover to 6,000 metres, which is mandatory
Personal trekking gear, boots and technical clothing
Hot showers, device charging, wifi and bottled drinks at the lodges
Tips for the guide, porters and kitchen crew
Extra nights caused by flight delays or an early descent

Prices are per person on twin share and are a guide only — the final figure depends on your dates, your party size and the properties you choose.