Everest Base Camp is the most popular long trek in Nepal, and popularity has not spoiled it. You still walk for two weeks through Sherpa country to stand at 5,364 metres beneath the Khumbu Icefall, and the last few days still feel like an achievement rather than a queue.
This is what the fourteen days involve, and the parts people underestimate.
Day 1: Fly Kathmandu to Lukla, then walk to Phakding. The Lukla flight is short, spectacular and frequently delayed.
Day 2: Phakding to Namche Bazaar. A long climb up to 3,440 metres and the hardest day of the first week.
Day 3: Acclimatisation day at Namche. You walk up and sleep low, which is the whole principle.
Days 4 to 5: Tengboche, with its monastery and the view of Ama Dablam, then Dingboche at 4,410 metres.
Day 6: Second acclimatisation day at Dingboche.
Days 7 to 8: Lobuche, then Gorak Shep and Base Camp itself. Most people walk to Base Camp and back to Gorak Shep in the same day.
Day 9: Kala Patthar at dawn, 5,545 metres, which is where the classic view of Everest is from. Base Camp itself does not have a view of the summit; Kala Patthar does.
Days 10 to 13: Descend to Pheriche, Namche and Lukla.
Day 14: Fly back to Kathmandu.
Weather cancels it regularly, sometimes for days. Build one or two spare days into your schedule before your international flight home. Trekkers who book a tight connection out of Kathmandu are the ones who end up paying for a helicopter.
Fitness does not protect you from altitude sickness. Fit young trekkers get it as often as anyone. The two acclimatisation days are not padding, and skipping them to save time is the single most common serious mistake on this trail.
Gorak Shep at night in the trekking season is well below freezing. Teahouses are unheated apart from a stove in the dining room. A proper sleeping bag matters more than most of your gear.
Four days of downhill wrecks knees. Poles are worth carrying for the way down more than the way up.
You need to be able to walk five to seven hours a day, on consecutive days, uphill, for two weeks. There is no technical climbing. If you can comfortably do long hill walks at home on back-to-back days, you have the base fitness. Three months of preparation makes a real difference.
On our Everest Base Camp Trek, the price includes teahouse accommodation on trek, all meals during the trek, your licensed guide, porter support, and the Sagarmatha National Park and Khumbu permits.
The Kathmandu to Lukla flights are quoted separately, currently in the region of 440 US dollars return, because they are weather-dependent and we would rather show you the real cost than bury it. Kathmandu hotels, insurance, tips and personal equipment are also excluded.
Travel insurance covering helicopter evacuation above 5,000 metres is not optional on this trek. We will ask to see it.
Physically demanding but not technical. The altitude is the real difficulty, not the terrain.
5,364 metres. Kala Patthar, the viewpoint most trekkers climb the following morning, is 5,545 metres.
Not the summit. It is hidden behind Nuptse. The classic view is from Kala Patthar.
Nepal now requires a licensed guide for trekkers in national park areas. Beyond the rule, the guide is who notices your altitude symptoms before you do.
Tell us your dates and we will build the trek with the spare days the Lukla flight demands.
