Everest Base Camp with Gokyo Valley Trekking Itinerary

A representative from our company will receive you once you arrive in Tribhuwan International Airport in Kathmandu and takes you to your pre-arranged place of accommodation.

This early-morning flight to Lukla lasts for around half an hour. The views outside the window sufficiently capture the attention of all on board – cameras, mobiles, photographs. Our walk to Phakding starts after breakfast in Lukla. Mostly on a flat trail all the way, it’s the Sherpa settlements, the huge prayer stones, monasteries and the distant mountains that seem to attract everyone’s attention on this first walk. Phakding is where we stop for the night today.  

Along the banks of the Dudhkoshi River and over a number of suspension bridges, the route enters and leaves Monjo Village on the way and heads for Jorsalle, where we stop for lunch. After lunch in this only settlement until Namche Bazaar, we move on. The pine forest, perhaps, is the only relief in those final two hours of the steep demanding climb just before the arrival of Namche. This headquarters of the Khumbu

The region is where we stop for the night. 

The day today is for acclimatization. Once in higher altitudes, it is important that we allow the body the opportunity to adapt since the amount of oxygen in the air now becomes less and less. This process requires us to walk higher up but come down for the night. As a part of this process, we first visit the Sagarmatha National Park Museum, where those of us interested get to know about the landscape, wildlife and people for whom the Everest Region is a home. After this visit, we go further up to Everest View Hotel. This is a location that offers a spectacular view of the Himalayas in its proximity including Mt Everest, Mt Lhotse, and the awesome Mt Ama Dablam. The Khumjung Valley, along with its famous Monastery, is yet another sight most find intriguing. After we return, a walk around the bazaar keeps many travelers engaged in one or the other acts of personal interest. 

Our stop for lunch today is PhortseThanga, a small settlement, around three hours away. With pines and rhododendrons thick in the area and the raging Dudhkoshi somewhere close, a lunch here in PhunkeTenga is something of an experience. On a sharp ascent and still through forests, Tengboche is yet another three hours from here on. With its highly revered Monastery, the biggest in the area, along with a breathtaking view of Mt Ama Dablam, the village is certain to inspire many upon arrival. Tengboche is where we spend the night. 

Pangboche, our stopover for lunch today, is around three hours away. Downhill to Deboche then up a gentle prolonged incline, from end to end of patches of forests along the way and crossing a suspension bridge, we arrive in Pangboche. After a decent lunch, it’s three hours to Dingboche in the presence of the majestic Mt Ama Dablam. Dingboche, with around forty households, is home to approximately two hundred locals. This is where we stop for the night. 

Like in Namche, this acclimatization day built into this programme also requires all to go up a sharp ascent towards NangkarTshang (5,616). Atop this vantage point, the wonder can only be rightfully explained by those who have made it there. 

Before that demanding ascent to Dugla, we pass a chorten and some memorials on the way. After a steep uphill to ChukpoLari, the trail arrives in Lobuché with the walk for the last twenty minutes or so gentle on the legs. Lobuche, where we stop for the night, is a very small settlement with only two or three constructions. Mt Nuptse close by, however, sufficiently keeps everyone engaged. 

Up a three-hour climb with winds blowing at uncomfortable speeds, the trek arrives in Gorakshep, where we check-in. After lunch, the next to follow is a two-hour walk up a gradual but exhausting uphill, owing much to the thinning of the air at higher altitudes. Everest Base Camp (EBC) sits right on the Khumbu Glacier. Once in the Base Camp of the highest mountain on earth, it’s a time for celebration for many, our actions highlighting the emotions – smiling, taking photographs and hugging one another. We walk back to Gorakshep for the night.

Today’s early morning is for that two-hour climb to Kala Patthar almost four hundred meters up. The famous vantage point is famous for a good reason: surrounded by all those gigantic elevations including two of those that have risen more than 8000 meters, Mt Everest and Mt Lhotse. Back in Gorakshep for lunch and we head off to Dzongla. We retrace our footsteps towards Lobuche before choosing to travel on a new route that leads to Dzongla. On the foothills of Mt AkramTse, this village is where we stop for the night. 

Early morning is our time to start the walk to Chola Pass; crossing passes at that altitude in the afternoons is considered life-threatening given not only a rise in wind speeds but also the possibility of the melting of the ice then. Up a rocky steep incline for about five hours and we come to the Pass. Walking carefully behind a guide, we cross the small pond before descending a sharp downhill on a slope covered in the screen. Stopping for lunch in Thaknak in about an hour’s time, we walk the next two and a half hours to Gokyo Village, located very close to the largest lake in the area, DudhPokahari. This is where we stop for the night. 

Early morning is the time for our walk today since sunrise from Gokyo-Ri on a clear day is not something to miss out on. After a demanding almost six-hundred-meter climb, we arrive at the vantage point: massive elevations in more than a couple of dozens with four of them above 8000 meters – Mt Everest, Mt Choyu, Mt Lhotse and Mt Makalu. A walk back to Gokyo Village for lunch and we head for Machharmo, where we stop not just for lunch but also for the night.

With mighty elevations – Mt Thamserku, Mt Khangtega, Mt Tawachéand Mt Cholaste – still in close proximity, the trail, past waterfalls, and pastures, comes to PhortseTenga. This sharp descent lasts for around four hours. We stop for lunch here. From here on, Khumjung Village is about an hour and a half away on a gentle path with a short climb before entering the village. This typical Sherpa village in the valley is famous for its Khumjung Monastery on a hilltop and the Hilary School, an establishment initiated by Sir Edmund Hilary. 

Our walk to Namche Bazaar via an airstrip in Syangboche lasts for approximately an hour and a quarter on a sharp descent after the airstrip at the highest altitude. After leaving Namche behind, we reach Monjo Village, where we stop for lunch, in about two and a half hours. From here on, Phakding is about an hour and a half away. This is where we stop for the night. 

The walk to Lukla after breakfast takes about four hours for most and a little more for some. Lukla is where stop for the night. 

Weather willing, the flight back to Kathmandu should bring most of us for lunch on time. With the day still young, many people choose to spend the afternoon walking around Thamel. 

Depending largely on your travel fixture, you will be leaving for Tribhuvan International Airport for your departure from Nepal either in the morning or in the afternoon or in the evening.