Everest Base Camp 3-day itinerary

The adventure begins with the flight from Kathmandu to Tenzing-Hillary Airport in Lukla (2,860m) — one of the world's most dramatic airstrips, perched on a Himalayan cliff face. Flights depart at dawn and take 40 minutes. From Lukla begin trekking north through rhododendron forest to Phakding (2,610m), crossing suspension bridges strung with prayer flags above the Dudh Kosi river gorge. This first 2.5-hour stretch is gentle and gives your lungs time to adjust.

The 3.5-hour climb from Phakding to Namche Bazaar (3,440m) is the first serious ascent of the EBC trek — gaining 600m through pine forest with a steep final push into the hillside town. Just before Namche, look back at the first view of Everest (8,849m) appearing behind the Lhotse-Nuptse ridge — the moment most trekkers photograph. Namche is the largest town in the Khumbu and the commercial hub of the Sherpa community, with a Saturday market and surprisingly good bakeries.

Namche Bazaar is the critical acclimatisation stop on the EBC trail — most guides recommend spending two nights here to let your body adjust to 3,440m before ascending further. The town's bakeries and café-bars serve excellent apple pie, hot chocolate, and yak cheese pizza that taste extraordinary at altitude. The Namche Museum (small donation) explains Sherpa culture and Everest climbing history with first-ascent artefacts. An early bed at 8pm is the wisest choice.

On your second morning in Namche, take the classic acclimatisation hike up to the Everest View Hotel (3,962m) — a 2-hour climb above town that gives the finest panoramic view of Everest, Lhotse, Amadablam, and a dozen other Himalayan giants from a single viewpoint. The "climb high, sleep low" principle is the foundation of altitude acclimatisation: your red blood cell count increases when you ascend, helping the body adapt for future higher camps.

Leave Namche after breakfast on day 3 and trek 5 hours to Tengboche — a Buddhist monastery village perched on a forested ridge at 3,860m with the most extraordinary Himalayan panorama of the entire trek: Ama Dablam's shark-fin peak to the southeast, Everest's dark pyramid directly ahead, and Lhotse's wall filling the horizon. Tengboche Monastery, rebuilt after a 1989 fire, is the spiritual heart of the Khumbu and holds puja ceremonies at dawn and dusk.

Attend the evening puja (prayer ceremony) at Tengboche Monastery — monks in burgundy robes beat drums and blow long Tibetan horns as the light fades and the peaks above turn pink. Photography is permitted from the courtyard (remove boots before entering the gompa interior). The tea houses at Tengboche serve dal bhat — a plate of rice, lentil soup, and vegetable curry for around NPR 700–900 — the staple high-energy meal of every EBC trekker.

From Tengboche, continue through Dingboche (4,410m) where a second acclimatisation day is essential. Take the morning hike up the Chhukung valley to Island Peak base camp (5,090m) — a 4-hour return walk with close-up views of the Lhotse south face and the Imja Glacier. The landscape above 4,000m transitions from juniper scrub to bare moraine and rock — the oxygen-thin air makes every step feel heavier than the gradient suggests it should.

Trek from Dingboche through the barren Khumbu valley to Lobuche (4,910m) — a 5-hour walk along the lateral moraine of the Khumbu Glacier, past the Thukla memorial cairns where stone chortens mark the deaths of climbers on Everest and Lhotse. The memorial is affecting: small plaques and prayer flags for dozens of mountaineers who died on the mountain visible above. Lobuche tea houses are basic and cold — sleeping bag liners are essential above this altitude.

Continue to Gorak Shep (5,164m) in the afternoon, drop your bags, and if energy allows, walk 1.5 hours to Everest Base Camp (5,364m) itself — a sea of coloured tents on the glacial moraine, the icefall above. The summit of Everest is not visible from base camp. For the best Everest view, the 1.5-hour pre-dawn climb to Kala Patthar (5,644m) at 5am rewards with the definitive panorama — Everest's black pyramid, the Hillary Step, and the South Col lit by a rising sun with no clouds between you and the highest point on earth.