Baskadia

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 at the Lukla airport, you start your trek towards Phakding walking for about 3 hours. You will issue Pasang Lhamu rural municipality entry ticket at the end of Lukla and start descending to Chheplung. Enjoying beautiful nature, you reach Thadokoshi continually descending for about 2 hrs and trek one hour more to reach Phakding where you will spend your first night.

Next, you trek to Namche Bazaar walking for 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 Everest.

After this altitude practice, you will be ready to go further to higher elevations. You will reach Tengboche after Namche Bazaar by walking on a nice and clear trekking trail. Dingboche is your 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 into 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 into big trouble with the altitude. After you reach your goal, you will hike up to Kala Patthar for an unreal stunning mountain view and trek backward to Lukla in another 3 days walk then fly out to Kathmandu.

Because the Everest Region is Well Furnished

Your main goal and dream of the Everest base camp trek should be reaching the base camp and seeing the beautiful Everest Himalayas including the tallest mountain.

Besides the base camp and panoramic mountains, there are other highlights which attract visitors to this trek. Experiencing an adventure flight to Lukla can be a thrilling adventure moment for you because this flight is considered 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 a knee supporter and anklet. Altitude sickness is a big enemy for trekkers. Take some altitude medications with you and follow instructions to avoid altitude sickness and trek with enough time and rest days. Trekking in cold temperatures and the 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 in. You can get a private room in each place where you stay. You will get an attached bathroom in some places. If you don’t get an 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 run 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 at each lodge, stop and groceries 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 by drinking normal tap water and filling in your water bottle, you can. But you must use purification tablets or sterilizers before drinking.

There is 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 major service providers in Nepal. NCELL has better reception on the Everest base camp trek. You also can buy an internet top-up card from the 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 the Everest base camp trek. The battery gets down very quickly in higher places with freezing temperatures.

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 here, you will see lots of colorful tents of the Everest summiteers and encounter many climbers.

Kala Patthar offers one of the best stunning mountain views of the Everest Himalayas. Climbing around 2 hours from your lodge in Gorakshep, you can reach the top of this hill. It is not an easy hike though with cold temperatures and wind. Once you reach 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 are also nice spots that offer panoramic mountain views of the region. Not only the mountains, but you can also see different river valleys, glaciers and many more natural beauties of the Everest region from these vantage viewpoints.

You might have heard about Sherpa people. There is 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 is 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 seeing their lifestyle and daily activities from the Everest base camp trek.

Wildlife and vegetation are the other part that 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 to Visit Everest Base Camp?

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. Everest is located in Nepal but people can climb it from Tibet too. It makes sense to be at the base camp of this world’s tallest mountain and see it closer to your eyes rather than seeing it in a photograph. This is the first reason why you should do the Everest base camp trek. Don’t think much decide now and go on this beautiful adventure journey now.

An important thing for the Everest base camp trek needs good stamina. You might not be physically fit now 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 the 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 the 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 to Book the Base Camp Trip?

It is easy to book your Everest base camp trek online. There are thousands of tour operators globally. Companies operating from overseas could be a bit more expensive than local trekking companies 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 you about secure of the payment.

Now, you have online payment gateways from banks and other engines. You don’t need to worry about any fraud. You will have a payment receipt after you pay through the online payment gateway and claim anytime if you have doubts.

The cost of the Everest base camp trek depends on the 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 a low budget for the Everest base camp trek.

Best Time for Everest Base Camp

You are doing the 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, and March, April and May in spring are the best times 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 this month. If you are planning a trek in December, it is not a bad idea but you need to have 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 to. You can do the Everest view trek during winter which is a short Everest trek and applies a stunning panoramic view of the Everest Himalayas.

Similarly, the Annapurna base camp trek, Gokyo lake trek, and Langtang Gosaikunda trek can be done within the same time frame as the Everest base camp trek. Ghorepani Poon hill trek, Mardi Himal trek, and 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 Himalayas and also can be done during the winter season. 

Finally

12 Days Everest base camp trek is a regular trekking itinerary that is followed by most Everest base camp trekkers. You should have some extra days for this trek if Lukla's flight has been canceled due to the bad weather. Also trekking at high altitudes can affect altitude sickness if you have some extra days, it will be good for altitude practice during the trek.

Hopefully, it came to know why you should trek now to the Everest base camp rather than wait for the next few years. Then pack your equipment and trek to this famous mountain base camp.