Everest Base Camp Trek is a fairly popular mountain base camp trek in Nepal. There are thousands of trekkers every year enjoying their holiday with this adventure mountain trip. Don’t wait to say as the time comes, but when does it come?
This beautiful mountain journey joins with a scenic adventure mountain flight to Lukla. After landing on the Lukla airport, you start your trek towards Phakding walking about 3 hours. You will issue Pasang Lhamu rural municipality entry ticket at the end of Lukla and start descending to Chheplung. Enjoying with beautiful nature, you reach Thadokoshi continually descending about 2 hrs and trek one hour more to reach Phakding where you will spend you’re the first night.
Next, you trek to Namche Bazaar walking around 6-7 hours. You will issue the Sagarmatha national park entry permit in Monjo today and keep walking to Namche Bazaar. You will have the first altitude practice rest day in this place and hike up to Everest view hotel on your rest day. Everest view hotel offers stunning mountain views of Thamserku, Amadablam, Lhotse, Nuptse and more including the Everest.
After this altitude practice, you will be ready to go further higher elevation. You will reach Tengboche after Namche Bazaar walking on a nice and clear trekking trail. Dingboche is you’re the second-day resting place from where you hike up to Nangkar-Tsang hill. Today, you are already reaching above the treeline and feel a bit difficult to breathe. Then you trek to Lobuche and Gorakshep before stepping to the base camp.
It takes 8 days to reach the base camp from Kathmandu including 2 rest days one in Namche and the next in Dingboche. These rest days are mandatory for most of the trekkers which helps a lot to reach the base camp without getting big trouble of altitude. After you reach to your goal, you will hike up to Kala Patthar for an unreal stunning mountain view and trek backwards to Lukla in another 3 days walk then fly out to Kathmandu.
What Can You Expect from Everest Base Camp Trek?
Everest Himalaya
Your main goal and dream of Everest base camp trek should be reaching the base camp and seeing beautiful Everest Himalaya including the tallest mountain.
Besides the base camp and panoramic mountains, there are more other highlights which attract visitors to this trek. Experiencing adventure flight to Lukla can be a thrilling adventure moment for you because this flight considered as one of the most dangerous flights in the world but it is safe.
You need to walk 6-7 hours per day on the trek so be prepared for this with some hiking training. Walking up and down hills with stairs might hurt your knee somehow so take knee supporter and anklet. Altitude sickness is a big enemy for the trekkers. Take some altitude medications with you and follow instruction to avoid altitude sickness and trek with enough time and rest days. Trekking in cold temperature and wind is not easy on the higher elevated lands so take warm and windproof clothing with you.
You don’t need to bring your tent for the trek. There are plenty of lodges to spend your nights. You can get a private room in each place where you stay. You will get attached bathroom in some places. If you don’t get attached bathroom, you will have indoor toilets in every place.
You can have food choosing from a food menu every place you stay and on the way for lunch. Mostly the food items are the same and the taste could be a bit different. Cooks are basic trained and even running by a family somewhere. But mostly, the food will be hygienic. You will have meat items too but staying with vegetarian food is a better idea on the trek. Meat should not be fresh every time and everywhere.
You can buy bottled water each lodge, stop and grocery during the trek. But, the price goes high as much as you ascend altitude. It may cost up to 500 rupees for a bottle of water. If you would like to minimize your budget drinking normal tap water filling in your water bottle, you can. But you must use purification tablets or sterilizer before drinking.
There cell phone reception everywhere even at the base camp. You can take a Nepalese SIM card with internet data. You can call and use the internet from everywhere during the trek. NCELL and NTC are a major service provider in Nepal. NCELL has better reception on the Everest base camp trek. You also can buy internet top-up card from Everest link. This card you only can use sitting in the lodge for the internet but not for the call.
You can charge your gadgets in the place where you stay but you need to pay for this. Taking extra camera batteries and a good power bank is highly recommended for Everest base camp trek. The battery gets down very quick in higher places with freezing temperature.
Visiting the Everest base camp is not for a great view. It is about a dream and a goal to be here. It doesn’t mean that you do not see mountains from the base camp. You can see Mt. Nuptse, Lola, Changatse, Khumhutse and Lingtren standing on the Khumbu glacier. If you would be in spring on here, you will see lots of colourful tents of the Everest summiteers and encounter with many climbers.
Kala Patthar offers one of the best stunning mountain views of the Everest Himalaya. Climbing around 2 hours from your lodge in Gorakshep, you can reach on the top of this hill. It is not an easy hike though with cold temperature and wind. Once you reach on the top of Kala Patthar, you will forget all the difficulties you had during climbing this hill. Big mountains with 360° views all around you can be seen from this hill.
Everest view hotel and Tengboche hill also the nice spots which offer panoramic mountain views of the region. Not only the mountains, but you can also see different river valleys, glacier and much more natural beauties of Everest region from these vantage viewpoints.
You might have heard about Sherpa people. There is a confusion taking Sherpa among the trekkers. They think that Sherpa is a trekking porter but not in reality. Sherpa is a tribe of Nepal and famous for climbing mountains. You will see lots of beautiful Sherpa towns along the Everest base camp trekking trail with their traditional buildings and carvings. You will have a great time to see their lifestyle and daily activities from the Everest base camp trek.
Wildlife and vegetation are the other part which decorates your Everest base camp journey. You will also see numerous Buddhist monasteries and other monuments on the trek and learn the customs and culture of the people from this trek.
Why You Should do Everest Base Camp Trek Now?
View in the morning
Mt. Everest is a popular name in the world because it is the highest mountain. You might have heard this name even if you don’t know where it is located. The Everest is located in Nepal but people can climb from Tibet too. It makes sense being at the base camp of this world’s tallest mountain and seeing it closer to your eyes rather than seeing it on a photograph. This is the first reason why you should do the Everest base camp trek. Don’t think much decide now and go for this beautiful adventure journey now.
An important thing for the Everest base camp trek needs good stamina. You might not be physically fit as now in a few years later and will be difficult to walk on high mountain lands. Cause of this, it is better to trek now.
The increasing cost of the flight ticket, lodge, food, drink, hiring guide and porter is being expensive every year. If you would like to do Everest base camp trek with a low budget, it should be the right time now.
The rural development policy of the government can change a lot. There is only the walking trail until now. Who knows, there might be road construction later like Annapurna circuit trek has now. You might not be interested in walking on the road later so think to trek the Everest base camp now.
How Can I Book Everest Base Camp Trek and How Much Does it Cost?
Trek with a guide
It is easy to book your Everest base camp trek through online. There are thousands of tour operators globally. Companies operating from oversea could be a bit expensive than local trekking company in Nepal. Booking the trek is in advance than a few years back. You would not have easy access to payment and always would come a question on you about secure of the payment.
Now, you have online payment gateways from the banks and other engines. You don’t need to be a worry with any frauding. You will have a payment receipt after you pay through the online payment gateway and claim anytime if you have doubt.
The cost of the Everest base camp trek depends on a type of service. An all-inclusive trip like food, lodge, permits, domestic flight, ground transport, one day tour in Kathmandu, guide, porter, 4 nights accommodation in Kathmandu with the airport pick up and drop costs around 1500 USD for a single person. If trekkers come with a group of more than 2 people, the cost will be cheaper than this. It means a bigger number of trekkers in a group costs low budget for the Everest base camp trek.
When is the Best Time For Everest Base Camp Trek?
Weather in autumn
You are doing Everest base camp trek for a lifetime experience. You should have unforgettable memories from the trek. For this, you need to have nice and clear weather during the trek.
September, October and November in autumn, March, April and May in spring are the best timings for the Everest base camp trek. But, early September and late May should not be the right time always. There should be some rainy days. December offers one of the best weather in the mountain but it is a cold month. There will be fewer trekkers and crowed in this month. If you are planning a trek in December, it is not a bad idea but you need to have a good quality warm trekking equipment.
Summer has rainy months like June, July and August. This is not a good season to go to the Everest base camp. And winter is not bad as summer but the temperature of the region falls very low and will be freezing which might be very hard to adjust. You can do Everest view trek during winter which is a short Everest trek and applies stunning panoramic view of the Everest Himalaya.
Similarly, Annapurna base camp trek, Gokyo lake trek, Langtang Gosaikunda trek are can be done with the same time frame as the Everest base camp trek. Ghorepani Poon hill trek, Mardi Himal trek, Langtang valley treks are short and easy trekking packages compared to the Everest base camp. These short and easy treks offer phenomenal views of the Himalaya and also can be done during the winter season.
Finally
12 Days Everest base camp trek is a regular trekking itinerary which is following by most of the Everest base camp trekkers. You should have some extra days for this trek if Lukla flight has been cancelled due to the bad weather. Also trekking on high altitude can affect by altitude sickness than if you have some extra days, it will be good for altitude practice during the trek.
Hopefully, it came to know that why you should trek now to the Everest base camp rather than waiting to next few years. Then pack your equipment and trek to this famous mountain base camp.
