The ultimate guide to Everest Base Camp

Written by: Gina Lawrence - Digital Content Executive at Explore Worldwide
Published: 19 May 2025

Soaring sky-skimming peaks, long windy trails leading up through ancient forests and across dramatic swing bridges, and evenings spent playing cards and chatting over steaming cups of ginger tea or garlic soup… the hike to Everest Base Camp is the quintessential bucket list trek everyone has on their list.

Here we share everything you need to know, from the highlights of the route to how to avoid the Lukla flight.

Where is Mount Everest?
How hard is Everest Base Camp?
Everest Base Camp and altitude
Do I need a guide for Everest Base Camp?
How can I train for Everest Base Camp?
Can you get to Everest Base Camp without flying?
Best time to go
Highlights of Everest Base Camp
Everest or Annapurna?
What to pack?
Travel advice

Where is Mount Everest?

Mount Everest is the highest mountain on earth, located in the Himalaya mountains straddling the border of Nepal and Tibet. The summit is 8,849m above sea level. As for Everest Base Camp, there are two Base Camps – one in Nepal and one in Tibet – with the Nepali Base Camp being the most popular and the incredible finale to the famous trekking route. The elevation at Everest Base Camp is 5,364m above sea level.

Do I need a guide for Mount Everest?

As of 2025, it is a legal requirement of the Nepalese government that all trekkers must have a licensed guide. By joining an Explore group, you not only join a ready-made group of new hiking friends, but we also take care of the increasingly complex trekking permits and national park fees for you. Find out more about our tour leaders here.
 

How can I train for Everest Base Camp?

The best way to get in shape is to just get walking! Dedicate your weekends to long hillwalking days, and you’ll find you use all the same muscles as you will on trek, as well as ensuring all the kit you’ll be taking is just right (comfortable, broken-in walking boots are essential).

It’s also the most enjoyable way to train, as this is a walking adventure after all! Get out to your local hills and you won’t regret it. You can also combine with complimentary exercises such as weighted squats, walking lunges, or step machines – even just making an effort to always take the stairs instead of the lift will help.

Can you get to Everest Base Camp without flying?

Yes! Recent improvements to Nepal’s road network mean it is possible to reach the Everest base camp trek by road. At Explore, we choose not to fly within Nepal, which unfortunately means we are a little slower to cover the ground.
 
We have made this decision as Nepal's airlines are on the EU's air safety blacklist, and we can't justify adding an internal flight at the risk of our customers. We’ve swapped out the typical internal flight in favour of a scenic 4x4 journey. By avoiding the flight to Lukla, you get up close and personal with rural Nepali foothills that few foreigners get to see, passing farms, forests and green valleys on route, and additional trekking days to aid acclimatisation. It’s a great alternative to a Lukla flight.

Kathmandu

The start and end of most people’s Nepal journeys, Kathmandu is an incredible city. From the unmissable old town with Durbar Square and the bustling bazaar full of fruit and vegetable stalls, craftspeople making pottery, and multiple religious sites sitting cheek by jowl, it’s a busy place full of honking horns and narrow side streets. Your leader will guide you through the narrow streets before leaving you time to explore independently – the perfect bookend to your hike.

Takshindo Village

Everest Base Camp may be famous for taking you high into the mountains, but for a rarer insight into the Himalayan foothills, Takshindo Village is hard to beat. This community is infrequently visited, and overlooked entirely by most Base Camp trekkers, making it a detour well worth undertaking en-route to the highest mountain on earth. Walking in the Everest foothills means more time immersed in the whole of the Himalaya, giving you a more holistic experience that’d be the envy of any avid trekker.

Namche Bazaar

Reaching Namche Bazaar has the feel of a right of passage. It’s the spiritual heart of the Sherpa communities and a gateway to the higher mountain paths. Here you’ll find steep, narrow streets lined with mouth-watering bakeries – the smell alone will have you salivating after several days on the trail! It’s a wonderful place to relax, enjoy the mountain views and take it easy for a day. You’ll find a mix of small shops selling souvenirs and last-minute essentials for the trek. It’s a good place to pick up some what is affectionately known as 'North Fake' hiking gear.

Highly recommended is the chance to revive weary muscles with a sports massage in partnership with one of the Explore Foundation’s chosen charities, the Lehara Foundation. The foundation sponsors locals to become qualified massage therapists, who are then able to earn a stable living providing massages to trekkers passing through the town. Advance booking is recommended as it is understandably popular! Find out more about the Explore Foundation.

Tengboche monastery

Tengboche monastery is a Tibetan Buddhist monastery in the Khumbu region, a welcome flash of rich colour against the stark beauty of the mountainous backdrop. There’s something special and atmospheric about this place, the largest and most significant monastery or gompa in the Khumbu region. Inside, the monastery is richly decorated in colourful cloths and lined with long wooden benches, crowned by an ornately painted ceiling. The air is filled with the waft of burning incense and the sonorous chanting of the red-robed monks.
 

Khumbu Glacier

Crossing the Khumbu Glacier is a walk you’ll never forget. This vast expanse glacier is over 17 kilometres of icefalls, crevasses and seracs, making it one of the longest glaciers in the Himalaya. It’s a sobering reminder of climate change, as even a mammoth glacier like this one is retreating year on year. Everest Base Camp is situated at the foot of the Khumbu Glacier.

Kala Patthar

The summit of Kala Patthar, at 5,645 metres above sea level, is the perfect viewpoint on the Everest Base Camp trek. It demands you earn the reward, with a challenging ascent in the thin air before the stunning views open up over the Khumbu Glacier and some of the most iconic peaks in the Everest range, including Lhotse, Nuptse, Pumori, Ama Dablam, Cho You, and of course, Everest itself. Since the top of Everest is not visible from Base Camp, Kala Patthar is your best way to see the summit up close. 

A full packing list is available. Please note, as your main luggage will be carried by donkey porterage, there is a weight limited maximum of 15kg, and your luggage must be a soft holdall style bag. 

Travel advice

Visas

An entry visa is required by UK, New Zealand, Australian, US & Canadian citizens, and can be obtained on arrival. This currently costs $30 USD for a 15 day visa, $50 USD for a 30 day visa and $125 USD for a 90 day visa.
 
However, we recommend that you fill in the visa information no more than 15 days prior to arrival. This will produce a receipt with a reference number, which you will need to print off and produce on arrival to obtain the visa. Find out more about passport and visa information here.

Cuisine
 

Most meals on trek will be served in the Teahouses. Meals are always hearty and will provide plenty of calories to cover off the exercise. Breakfast will typically consist of porridge, eggs and bread along with tea and coffee.
 
Lunches are often picnic in style and may be sandwiches, rice dishes, noodles or potatoes and will be prepared by the trek team ahead of your arrival at the lunch spot. Dinners will be a mix of local and western dishes like chicken and vegetable curries, rice, pasta or pizza, along with soup and a dessert.
 
The water in Nepal is not safe to drink, so we recommend bringing your own reusable water bottle - our Water-to-Go bottles filter out 99.9% of all the nasties to make the water safe to drink. The best environment-friendly way to purify water on the trek will be using your own filter water bottle or carrying any simple water purification tablets. The water provided on the trek would be once-boiled water, but using purification tablets may give you further peace of mind. 

Accommodation

On the trek you’ll stay in teahouses. The Nepali teahouse is a fixture of the trekking here – some of your best memories will be resting sore muscles, playing cards, and chatting to other trekkers around the fire in the common room. Teahouses are basic accommodation, with simple rooms centred around a central common area where you’ll have meals. Rooms are unheated and don’t have electricity, so good warm clothing and a headtorch are a must.
 
You’ll be provided with a bed and mattress but must have your own 4 season sleeping bag (these are easy to hire if you don’t own one already). Discover more local stays around the world.
 

Sustainability tips

Nepal is a stunningly beautiful mountain environment, and we want to keep it that way by creating as little waste and rubbish as possible. Single use plastic is a huge issue in Nepal, which is why we do not endorse bottled water. Instead, we strongly encourage you to use other options, including a Water-to-Go reusable filtration bottle. You can save 15% on a Water-to-Go bottle when you use our discount code.