12 Days Everest Base Camp Trek

Your day will start with an adventurous flight to Tenzing-Hillary Airport at Lukla for around 45 minutes. During the flight, you will get a pretty good understanding of what lies ahead. This is where the trail starts and the porters join our team.

We begin our first day of the trek with the descent to Phakding village. Starting here, you will get to witness the Himalayan ways of living as we follow the curves of the milky white Dudhkoshi River and pass through the mountain villages of Chheplung, Thado Koshi, and Nachipang. Tonight, you will stay at your first guesthouse for the trek.

It’s a long day ahead today. You start in the early morning from Phakding finding yourself sometimes left and sometimes right of the Dudhkoshi river. You will pass through several high steel cable suspension bridges. You will often find yourself face to face with yaks, FedEx of the mountains. Make sure to make way for them. Most of today’s trek is moderate. You will find gentle inclines and declines while you pass through pine and rhododendron forests and villages like Thulo Gumela, TokTok, and Benkar. You will enter Sagarmatha National Park from Jorsalle. It is home to endangered species like red panda and snow leopard. The next milestone in our route is the Hillary Bridge, named after Edmund Hillary. From here, you will start a steep ascent to Namche Bazaar (11286 ft./3440 m.) which will take you around 2 to 3 hours. Tonight, you will stay in the biggest town in the Everest region.

Today, you will spend the whole day relaxing and acclimatizing your body, even if you feel you don’t have to. After breakfast, you will hike to the Everest View Hotel for tea via the Syangboche airstrip. Along the way, you will enjoy a 360-degree view of the Himalayas. It is a perfect time to bust out your cameras and capture the majestic views of Mt. Everest, Mt. Lhotse, Mt. Nuptse, Mt. Pumori, Mt. Thamserku, Taboche, Khumbila, and more. Later, you will drop down to Namche Bazaar and spend the remainder of the day taking in the local culture. Visit the Sherpa Culture Museum and Sagarmatha National Park Museum to learn about the history of the local people, trekking, and mountaineering in the area. Namche Bazaar is essentially the last stop to stock up on supplies for the trek. Also be sure to charge your phones, power banks, and all your devices as you have to pay for charging from here onwards. You will find the last ATM if you need to withdraw money.

You'll be prepared to resume traveling after taking a day and a half to recover in Namche. The trail today starts with a steep climb followed by a somewhat moderate trek for a while. For the initial part of the trek, the views are stunning. As you move towards Phungithanga through Sanasa, you will find several Sherpa communities quietly going about their everyday lives. The nice trail abruptly changes into a harder ascent once you pass Phungithanga. The trail continues steeply through the dense rhododendron woodland and after 2.5 hours of climbing, you will reach the beautiful Tengboche monastery. Tenzing Norgay, the first person to reach the summit, was born nearby and served as a monk in the Tengboche monastery. The monastery and the surrounding locality are worth exploring.

The sunrise from Tengboche monastery is stunning, so we'll try our best to wake up early to witness it. After breakfast, we descend following a lovely rhododendron forest to Deboche (3,320 m). The trail further crosses Imja Khol and ascends to Pangboche village (3,930 m). One of the notable summits in the area is Ama Dablam, which is just across from Pangboche. At Pangboche, you will find the oldest monastery in the region. You’ll find a unique relic inside the monastery, considered by the locals to be the scalp and hand of a Yeti. From here, we cross another bridge and trek through small settlements like Shomare (4,010 m) and Orsho (4,190 m). Walking along Imja Khola, we ascend to Dingboche village.

Since you have descended to over 4400 meters/14400 ft., it’s a good time to take a rest and acclimatize. We'll begin the day leisurely and hike to a nearby hill called Nagarjuna to acclimatize and witness the surreal mountain landscape. Later, you can explore Dingboche village and spend the remaining day relaxing.

You’ve had acclimatization and rest day and only a small hike yesterday, so, you are ready to push further today. You will head up the main path in the wide valley under the Cholatse and Tawache peaks. The terrain will get much icy and the settlements are few and far between. You will ascend following a steep uphill route and reach Dusa (4,503 m). Following this trail, you will reach Dughla (4620 m.) in about two hours. You will find yourself at the foot of the Khumbu Glacier, the highest glacier in the world. This is where the steep climb starts along the glacial path to the top of the Dughla Pass (4830 m.) Continue on the steep path paying respects to the shrines created in honor of the fallen mountaineers like Rob Hall and Scott Fischer to reach Lobuche village. The landscape changes drastically in this part of the trail. Lobuche is a small settlement consisting of a few tea houses and lodges.

Today is the day. Your dream of seeing the base camp of Mount Everest is finally going to manifest. Leaving Lobuche, we start a rocky ascent along the Khumbu glacier passing the International Pyramid Laboratory Observatory. Further walking along, you reach Gorakshep, a small settlement in relatively flat terrain.

You continue aside the glacier for two more hours on a rocky, downhill, and uphill trail to reach Everest base camp. It’s time to celebrate. Stop and admire the beauty of Mount Everest, listen to the story of the climbers who are on their way to the top of the world, take pictures, and prepare to head back to Gorak Shep for the night.

We wake up super early and hike to Kala Patthar to witness a heavenly sunrise from this viewpoint over Mt. Everest. The hike is steep and rocky. Take a moment to realize that except for the scientists in the International Space Station and a few thousand mountaineers that are currently on expeditions on different peaks, all of humanity is below you. After enjoying the jaw-dropping mountain views from Kala Patthar, descend to Gorak Shep and retrace the path back to Lobuche. The trail crosses Dughla pass and drops down to Pheriche.

We'll have a heavy breakfast and begin trekking toward Namche Bazar. Even though it’s a long walk today, it is comparatively easy as the elevation will drop as you go. The trail follows the same path back to Pangboche (3,930 m) and crosses multiple suspension bridges. We walk past lush forests and beautiful villages, before reaching Namche Bazaar. It’s a good chance to visit some Himalayan shops and buy souvenirs.

From Namche Bazaar, descend along a steep trail through lush forests. Trek through remote villages, crossing multiple bridges and streams. We return to Monjo and retrace the trail to Lukla via Phakding village.

As your last feat of adventure, take the daring flight back from Lukla. Enjoying the last views of the Himalayas, we descend to Kathmandu airport and drive to the hotel. The remaining day is free. You can do whatever you want and shop. In the evening, we will meet up again and provide you with the Trip Achievement Certificate, which marks the souvenir.