Gokyo Everest Base Camp Trek

Kathmandu is a city full of vibrant markets, lively streets, colorful temples and imposing pagodas. Your guide will be there to meet you at the airport and take you to your hotel. The remainder of the day you will have time to familiarize yourself with the shopping areas in Thamel near to your hotel and catch up on shopping for equipment you may need on the trek. In the evening your tour guide will give you a brief introduction and provide some useful and valuable information about the trek. You will also get to meet the rest of the group at a welcome dinner at a local Nepali restaurant.

This morning you will be picked up from your hotel by our guide who will take you to the domestic terminal of Kathmandu airport. The flight from Kathmandu to Lukla takes approximately 35 minutes, giving you time to take in the magnificent views of the Himalayas. After landing at Tenzing-Hilary airport you will be met by your porter who will carry your luggage on the trek. You then begin your trek with a relatively easy walk passing a Kani (ceremonial gatehouse) before the tail descends and then takes you above Kyangma Village with its large Gompa (monastery) and school. We then head to Cheplung Village where the trail passes through a community forest close to the Dudh Koshi River. After crossing the suspension bridge you climb across the ridge to Ghat and then pass a school and several Mani walls, Chortens and prayer wheels..After a short trek from Ghat we reach Phakding. 

After breakfast the trail crosses several suspension bridges over the Dudh Kosi River before passing through the villages of Tok-Tok, Benkar, and Monjo before arriving at Sagarmatha National Park entrance gate where you will be required to purchase a permit. After following the trail on the river bed for a few hours, and after the last Hillary suspension bridge, there is a steep ascent to Namche Bazaar. Namche Bazaar has a good selection of restaurants, a cyber café, pubs, post office, ATM’s and banks.

This relaxing and peaceful town is an ideal place for trekkers to acclimatize. Health specialists strongly recommend we spend the day being active, rather than sitting around being idle. From Namche Bazaar it is possible to take a short hike up to Everest View Resort, Thame, visit Khunde or rest and explore Namche Bazaar. Namche Bazaar is the center of the Everest (Khumbu) region and has government offices, a bakery, and a colorful market each Friday evening and Saturday. A short trek of only a few hundred metres will help us to properly acclimatize. Our guides will also take us to the Tourist Visitor Center near the headquarters of the Sagarmatha National Park where we can see an collection of relics related to the first mountaineers to climb Everest, Sherpa culture and learn about the varied plant and animal life of this region.