Everest Base Camp Trekking

We will start our journey with an adventurous flight to Lukla from Tribhuvan International Airport in Kathmandu. The Lukla Airport is situated between towering mountains and one needs to enter the airstrip with a sharp descent from the top of nearby peaks. However, the pilots and crews of Nepali Airlines have hundreds of hours of experience of flying in the tough terrain of Nepal and they make sure that this flight brings your extreme level of adventure and mountain view without any alarms whatsoever.

We will rest for a few minutes at Lukla airport while collecting our luggage and then start our trek towards the beautiful village of Phakding. The trek to Phakding takes about 3 hours and takes us through the sporadic settlements of the Sherpa people. The path is full of mani walls, prayer flags, and monasteries. The last part of the trek is a downhill ascent to the river, by which the village of Phakding is situated. We will stay overnight at a guesthouse in Phakding.

We will start our trek with an easy stroll among the green forests of pine and fir. We will cross the Dudh Koshi River (One of the tributaries of the largest river in Nepal – Sapta Koshi) via a suspension bridge and head towards the beautiful village of Monjo. Once we cross Monjo, we will reach the entrance of the Sagarmatha National Park. We will have to submit our permits for checking at this point and then we will walk ahead along the beautiful valley situated on the banks of the Dudh Koshi River.

We will reach the amazingly vibrant town of Namche Bazaar after a few hours of an arduous walk along the Dudh Koshi River on the latter part of the day. Namche Bazaar will welcome us with a stunning view of the sunset in the backdrop of the mountains. We will stay at a guest house in Namche Bazaar for the night and shed our pain from a day of a long walks.

We will stay in Namche Bazaar today to acclimatize and prepare ourselves for the trek to come. Namche Bazaar was once a trade town on the ancient trading route between Nepal and Tibet. Its transformation into a bustling tourist town has been swift since Tenzing Norgay Sherpa and Edmund Hillary first scaled the top of Everest in 1953.

There are a number of options to spend your time while in Namche Bazaar. You can visit the Sherpa Museum which houses the traditional and cultural monuments, relics, and landmarks associated with the culture of the Sherpa people. You can also trek to the beautiful village of Khumjung. If you are an early bird then you can trek a short while from Namche Bazaar to get a stunning view of the sunrise against gigantic peaks like Thamserku, Amadablam, Nuptse, etc.

We will start our trek early today because our target is to reach the acclaimed Tengboche Monastery by 3 pm. A sacred Buddhist Worship ritual is observed at Tengboche Monastery at 3 pm. The Monastery does not open before this time hence we need to time our walk perfectly to make it to the Monastery at this time.

We will walk along with the beautiful forests of Rhododendron and Pine after moving forward from Namche Bazaar. The hilltops on the way provide stunning views of Everest, Tabuchi, Thamserku, and Amadablam peaks. The last part of the trek up to Tengboche village is slightly difficult. The Tengboche Monastery is the largest monastery in the Everest region. We will explore the monastery and surrounding regions and stay at a guest house for the night.

This part of the trek will take you inside the second river valley of the Sagarmatha National Park – the Imja River Valley. We will walk downhill through lush green forests of rhododendron and pine and reach Debuche, which lies on the base of the Imja river valley. We will cross the Imja River from Debuche and reach Pangboche, which houses the beautiful Pangboche Monastery.

We will continue our journey through grazing pastures and agricultural lands before reaching the village of Dingboche. The raging Lobuche river also lies on our way. Dingboche is famous for its Yak grazing pastures and Yak-based dairy products. You will get a stunning view of mountains like Lhotse, Amadablam, and Taboche from Dingboche.

We will stay at a guest house in Dingboche for the night. The guesthouses offer an exquisite local organic meals. You can also taste roasted Yak meat and local brew if you are interested.

We will start our trek after having breakfast at the guest house. You can also taste Tibetan bread if you are willing to include it in your breakfast.

The trail is uphill today and we will mostly walk through grasslands during the first part of the trail.  We will cross a suspension bridge at Thukla and continue on the uphill trail until we reach Lobuche pass. There is a cemetery near Lobuche pass which houses the dead body of hundreds of climbers who died while on their way to Everest.

The lower part of the Khumbu Glacier, the largest glacier in Nepal, lies near Lobuche. The view into the moraine containing the Khumbu Glacier is breathtaking. Lobuche offers spectacular views of mountains like Pumori, Nuptse, and Lingren. We will stay at a guest house in Lobuche for the night.

While the walk to Everest Base Camp from Lobuche is not that uphill compared to previous days it is still relatively more challenging. The main reason is that we need to walk along the Khumbu glacier and the path leading towards the top is often slippery with crevasses. However, careful walking with equipment is enough to cross the glacial path.

The Everest Base Camp is full of trekkers and climbing during Spring and Autumn. Since the Everest Base Camp is the route highlight for trekkers from other routes like Gokyo Ri Trek and Everest High Passes Trek too, you will meet trekkers from all over the Khumbu region there and hear their stories.

We will get a stunning view of mountains like Everest, Nuptse, Pumori, and Khumbutse from Everest Base Camp. We will return back to Gorakshep from Everest Base Camp and spend our night in a guest house there.

We will start our trek towards Kala Patthar after having early morning breakfast. Kala Patthar is not only the highest altitude destination in our trek but it also offers the best view of the mountains. You will get an alternate angle view of Everest and a panoramic 360-degree view of all mountains in the Khumbu region from Kala Patthar.

Kala Patthar also offers a stunning view of the Khumbu Glacier. The literal translation of Kala Patthar is Black (Kala) Stone (Patthar). This place is characterized by large Black rocks. After spending some time at Kala Patthar, we will descend down towards Pherbuche. We will stay at a guest house in Pherbuche and relieve ourselves from the pain of a few days of uphill trekking.

We will be walking downhill today. Our path leads us between dense green forests of Rhododendron and pine. If we are traveling during spring, the entire forest is turned red by the blooming Rhododendron, which is the national flower of Nepal.

This part of the trek offers us the possibility to spot many endangered varieties of birds and animals. Animals like Musk Deer, Himalayan Tahr, Mountain Fox, Jharal, Snow Leopard, and Asiatic Black Bear are found in these forests. We will cross the Dudh Koshi river once again and head towards Namche Bazaar.

The road leading to Namche Bazaar is full of prayer flags, mani walls, and Chortens. We will rest at a guest house in Namche Bazaar. You can take a tour of the town in the evening if you are interested.

We will start the last day of the trek after an early breakfast at our guesthouse in Namche Bazaar. Our destination is Lukla, the starting point of our trek and home of the famous Lukla airstrip.

We will walk downhill along the Dudh Koshi river. We will cross the river a number of times during the trek via suspension bridges. The temperature starts to get slightly warmer as we move further along the bank of the Dudh Koshi river. There are many beautiful villages on our way to Lukla and these villages are characterized by adjacent monasteries and prayer walls. We will take a full rest tonight at a guest house in Lukla.

You will board a plane from Lukla to the Capital city of Kathmandu. You will check back into your hotel after reaching Kathmandu and unpack your luggage.

You can take a short relaxing tour of the city in the evening. You can visit the tourist town of Thamel or visit the nearby Basantapur Durbar Square. A walk to Basanta Durbar square takes you back to thousands of years of history. The walk is not long and you will see many old palaces, temples, and monuments which hold interesting stories from various periods of Nepal.