Everest Base Camp Trek — Guided, 9 to 14 Days from Kathmandu

The Everest Base Camp trek follows the Khumbu Valley from Lukla to the foot of the world’s highest mountain, climbing from around 2,800 meters to the Base Camp itself at 5,364 meters over the course of nine to fourteen days. It is the single most famous trekking route in Nepal, and for good reason: no technical climbing skill is required, yet it delivers close-up views of Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, and Ama Dablam that most people only ever see in photographs. Roughly 30,000-40,000 trekkers attempt the route each year, drawn by the same combination of accessible adventure and genuinely spectacular scenery.

The route itself starts with a short, dramatic flight from Kathmandu to Lukla’s Tenzing-Hillary Airport, regularly cited as one of the world’s most extreme airstrips — a single sloped runway wedged into a mountainside at 2,860 meters. From there, the trail follows the Dudh Koshi river through pine forest and rhododendron groves to Namche Bazaar, the unofficial capital of the Sherpa homeland and the last real town before the high country. Beyond Namche, the trek climbs through Tengboche — home to the region’s most important monastery — and on to Dingboche, Lobuche, and finally Gorak Shep, the last settlement before Base Camp. Most itineraries also add a pre-dawn side trip up Kala Patthar, a 5,545-meter viewpoint that gives a far better look at Everest’s actual summit than Base Camp does, since the peak itself is hidden behind the shoulder of Nuptse when viewed from the glacier below.

Altitude, not distance, is what makes this trek hard. The walking itself rarely exceeds five to eight hours a day on well-established trails, and porters are widely available to carry the heavy gear. What separates a good trip from a miserable one is how deliberately the itinerary handles acclimatization. Every well-built itinerary includes at least two full rest days — typically at Namche Bazaar (3,440m) and Dingboche (4,410m) — where trekkers stay an extra night without climbing further, giving the body time to adjust to thinning air. Altitude sickness, not fitness, is the most common reason trekkers turn back before reaching Base Camp, and it affects seasoned athletes as often as first-timers. A guide trained to recognize early symptoms, combined with a schedule that doesn’t rush the altitude gain, is the single biggest factor in actually finishing the trek.

Nepal now requires every trekker on this route to hire a licensed guide — solo trekking was banned nationwide in 2023 following a series of safety incidents, so this is no longer optional regardless of how experienced you are. In practice this simplifies planning rather than complicating it: every guided package on this site already includes a licensed guide, along with the two permits actually required for the route — the Sagarmatha National Park entry permit and the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality permit (the older TIMS card was phased out and folded into the municipality permit). You won’t need to source these separately.

Accommodation along the way is in teahouses — simple family-run guesthouses in every village on the route, offering a private room (often with shared bathrooms at higher elevations), a hot dining hall, and basic but hearty meals built around dal bhat, the Nepali staple of rice, lentils, and vegetables that most guides recommend eating daily for sustained energy at altitude. Nights above 4,000 meters regularly drop below freezing even in the best trekking months, so a warm sleeping bag and layered clothing matter as much as physical fitness.

Spring (March to May) and autumn (September to November) are the two trekking seasons, and the choice between them comes down to what you’d rather see: spring brings milder temperatures and blooming rhododendron forests lower down the valley, while autumn — arriving right after the monsoon clears the air — usually delivers the sharpest, most reliable mountain views. Winter trekking is possible but brutally cold above 4,000 meters, and the monsoon months of June through August bring low cloud, leeches on the lower trails, and a real risk of the Lukla flight being grounded for days at a time. See our month-by-month breakdown for the full picture.

Guided package prices vary more than you might expect, from budget itineraries around $389-450 per person up to the full 14-day Kala Patthar itinerary above $1,200, with the difference usually coming down to trip length, group size, and how much buffer time is built in around the notoriously weather-dependent Lukla flights. A longer, better-buffered itinerary is not a luxury upgrade so much as insurance against the single most common reason trips go sideways: getting stuck in Lukla waiting for a flight window that never quite arrives. For travelers who want the views without the multi-day commitment, a single-day helicopter tour flies directly over Base Camp and lands near Kala Patthar — a genuinely different experience, and one worth understanding before you choose between them.

Below, you can compare every guided Everest Base Camp itinerary and the helicopter alternative side by side — duration, price, what’s included, and real guest reviews — to find the trek that actually fits your fitness, budget, and the number of days you have to spend in the Khumbu.