Day 1 - Arrival Kathmandu
Namaste! Welcome to Kathmandu, Nepal! We’ll be at Tribhuvan International Airport to greet you once you've cleared customs and have collected your bags – we can’t wait to finally meet you in person! You may be tired from a long day (or two!) of travel, so we’ll get you right to your hotel room to freshen up. If you're interested later in the afternoon, join us for some easy yoga to make you feel grounded after your journey. We’ll have an early-ish dinner tonight since you may want to get to bed early. If your flight arrives after dinner, we’ll pick you up from the airport and ensure you have something good to eat before you go to bed!
Day 2 – Kathmandu Sightseeing and Welcome Dinner
We will begin the day with a morning hike to Swayambunath, also known as the Monkey Temple. Bring your pack, water and camera! Kathmandu sits at an elevation of 4,593’, so this will be a first chance to get used to a bit of elevation while seeing Kathmandu and chatting. Be ready for a climb, as there are 365 stairs leading to the temple from the main entrance. After exploring a bit, we’ll go back to the hotel, drop our packs and take some down time prior to lunch. Your first day in Kathmandu can be overwhelming, so after lunch, we’ll take a rest and then all are welcome to join me for some yoga or you can use this time to explore the surrounding area on your own. We’ll have our official welcome dinner tonight, now that everyone is here and a bit rested!
Day 3 - Kathmandu Sightseeing and Trek Prep
This morning we’ll walk to Durbar Square, a beautiful world heritage site, passing by markets and taking in the vibrant streets of Kathmandu on the way there. We’ll spend time exploring Durbar Square, nearby Freak Street, and have a chance to see the Kumari, a living goddess. We’ll have lunch here overlooking the square. Afterwards, we’ll head back to the hotel for some yoga and a rest. We’ll discuss our packing list for the trek one more time and you can get anything that you may have forgotten here in Thamel. We’ll have an early dinner since we have an early flight to catch in the morning!
Day 4 – Flight to Lukla and Trek to Phakding
The trek itself officially starts today! Get ready for a breathtaking flight to Lukla from Kathmandu! Once we land, we’ll connect with our porters and start making our way to Phakding. The hike from Lukla to Phakding isn’t long – 4.66 miles and we actually go down in elevation. Don’t be fooled though! We’re still at a high altitude – Lukla sits at 9100 ft and Phakding is at 8563 ft – and there are quite a few ups and downs on the trail. We’ll have lunch once we arrive at the Namaste Lodge and spend the afternoon relaxing and stretching with some yoga in the afternoon. We will plan on an early dinner and bedtime so that we can start early tomorrow!
Day 5 – Trek Phakding to Namche Bazaar
Good morning! We’ll have an early breakfast before hitting the trail today. We like to get an early start to give us the best chance of avoiding rain that sometimes moves into the mountains in the afternoon. Today is a fun and challenging day as we climb just over 3000 vertical feet to Namche Bazaar, which sits at 11,290’. We officially enter Sagarmatha National Park in Monjo, and soon after the real climb begins. We’ll take our time – slow and steady always wins this race! – and have a chance to glimpse Everest for the first time. We will make it to Namche Bazaar in time for a late lunch (our total walking time is about 6 hours – we’ll snack on the way!) and then can spend the afternoon taking it easy. We encourage you to take your down time seriously here! It’s important to rest your body so that you feel plenty strong for the rest of the trek. Tomorrow is an acclimatization day!
Day 6 – Acclimatize in Namche Bazaar
We’ll meet for a later breakfast than usual before our acclimatization hike. Get ready for so many amazing views – definitely bring your fully charged camera for today’s hike! We’ll climb high and then head back down to Namche for lunch before taking the afternoon to explore the relatively large village of Namche Bazaar. We may do some easy restorative yoga this afternoon and then have an early dinner so that you can get a good night's rest before we get on the trail again first thing tomorrow morning.
Day 7 – Trek to Tengboche
Today we walk from Namche Bazaar to the village of Tengboche. We climb about 1500 feet today, although there’s a big downhill stretch before we hit the huge uphill portion! Again, we’ll snack on the trail and get to Tengboche in time for lunch. This village is exceptionally beautiful and is home to Tengboche Monastery, the largest gompa in the Khumbu region. After lunch, we’ll have a chance to visit the monastery where we can observe the monks chanting. Layer up – it can be very chilly inside the monastery!
Day 8 – Trek to Pheriche
We’ll awake just in time to experience a beautiful sunrise in Tengboche – it’s a very pretty sight. On today’s hike we clear the tree line about an hour prior to arriving in Pheriche. Pheriche's elevation is a few meters shy of 14,000 feet and is home to the Himalayan Rescue Association, a non-profit volunteer-based medical and support outpost formed to prevent casualties in the Nepali Himalaya. Today’s hike is not long or difficult, but we will still take it slow and steady since we’re starting to encounter significant altitude! After we have lunch, we’ll relax, do a meditation if you would like, and then have dinner.
Day 9 – Acclimitize in Periche
Our second acclimatization day of the trek! We’ll meet for a later than usual breakfast before taking a very slow hike up the ridge above Pheriche. There are incredible views of Ama Dablam from here, so we’ll take our time looking around. In the afternoon, we’ll attend a a short presentation on altitude sickness given by the doctors at the Himalayan Rescue Association post - it’s an interesting talk, and fascinating to hear about their experiences working in the region. Again, rest is the name of the game today, so we’ll do some slow yoga before dinner and get an early to bed.
Day 10 – Upwards to Lobuce
On the road again! Today we climb slowly to Lobuche. We will take a moment to explore Chukla Lare, the haunting but beautiful memorials to those who have died on Everest. We’ll arrive in Lobuche before lunch, and will have plenty of time in the afternoon to stretch with some yoga. It starts to get pretty chilly up here, so we’ll layer up and drink lots of tea to keep ourselves warm this evening!
Day 11 – The Big Day - Trek to Gorak Shep, Everest Base Camp and Sunset at Kala Pathar
Guess what?!? We’re going to Everest Base Camp today! We’ll arrive in Gorak Shep in time for an early lunch. At an altitude of 16,942’, this is the highest elevation at which we’ll be sleeping. After we get some warm food in our bellies, we’ll push on to EBC, carefully walking over the Khumbu glacier. We’ll take our time once we get there so that we can celebrate the accomplishment of making it to base camp. We’ll return to Gorak Shep for some tea and a bit of rest. For those of you who are feeling extra adventurous, we’ll climb Kala Patthar to see the sunset light up Mt. Everest. We’ll return to Gorak Shep in the dark, so please bring your headlamp! Dinner and sleep are both well-earned this evening!
Day 12 – Return to Pheriche
After breakfast we’ll head back to Pheriche. It’s amazing how wonderful Pheriche will feel after spending a couple of nights at higher altitudes! We’ll all sleep well tonight!
Day 13 – Back to Namche Bazaar
Today we make our way down to Namche Bazaar - the contrast between Pheriche and Namche is incredible! We’ll stop for lunch in Tengboche before we finish our hike to Namche. After having been above the treeline for the last few days, it’s always nice to return to lower altitude and warmer temperatures!
Day 14 – Namche Bazaar to Phakding
A steep downhill greets us first thing today, but we’ll take it slowly. As it turns out, the downhill parts are a bit tricky also! We’ll have lunch once we arrive in tropical Phakding – it’s amazing how much warmer it is there!
Day 15 - Return to Lukla
This isn’t a terribly long walk, but it ends in a pretty big uphill! (By now you are learning that “downhill” in the Himalayas actually means a little up and a little down!) We’ll get to Lukla in plenty of time to eat lunch and to confirm our flights back to Kathmandu the next day. Congratulations on a successful trek!
Day 16 – Flight to Kathmandu and Farewell Dinner
Today we catch an early morning flight from Lukla to Kathmandu. One last chance to glimpse at the beautiful mountains that we’ve called home for the past couple of weeks as we fly amongst the clouds back to Kathmandu. We will stay in Lalitpur tonight so that you can see a different part of the Kathmandu Valley. We’ll spend the afternoon exploring Patan Durbar Square. Tonight we have our farewell dinner where we’ll celebrate all that we’ve accomplished and the friendships that have been built.
Day 17 – Departure Kathmandu
Today we all go our separate ways…for now! Time to start planning our next great adventure!
