Everest Base Camp Trek with Helicopter Return – 9 Days

The quest of Everest Base Camp Trek begins with a scenic flight to Lukla. It will be 40 beautiful minutes of your life when you see the entire Himalayas belt. Then the airplane will lower at Lukla Airstrip. You’ll land in the Everest region. Next, you’ll do everything to put your feet to work. It will be a forested walk of around 3 hours to reach Phakding. You will move right along the Dudh Koshi River to find Phakding. Overnight in Phakding.

The next morning, you’ll start another beautiful trekking day to reach Namche Bazaar. It will be done by running through the banks of Dudh Koshi Rivers and crossing several suspension bridges. After some hours of trek, you’ll enter Sagarmatha National Park in Monjo village.

Now, you’ll spend some hours walking the deep forest of the UNESCO-listed national park. When you get out of the woods, you’ll catch the first sights of Mt Everest. The mighty mountain may not look clear, but you’ll love the first vision.

You have to finish the day in Namche Bazaar, so you’ll follow the paved ways and several more suspension bridges. And after 6-7 hours of scenic trek, you’ll reach Namche Bazaar, a Himalayan town. Overnight in Namche Bazaar.

You’ll open your eyes to see a majestic view of the town. After the picture and breakfast in Namche Bazaar, it is time to leave the city's busy life. It is time to do a slight uphill climb from the town. In a while, you’ll reach the trail that is easy to trek and goes straight. You’ll start to see fascinating views of mountains along the route.

After enough of the views, the trail will go deep into a dense forest. You might see some animals while moving via this trail. You’ll drop until you find another suspension bridge. Crossing the bridge, you’ll begin to walk an uphill hike that takes you close to Tengboche. The trail is a little rocky and sandy, so you’ll walk slowly.

En route to Tengboche from that bridge, you’ll do several uphills and downhills. You will already view Tengboche Monastery arriving shortly. That will keep you going. The last trekking part of the day is an uphill one. You’ll complete that slight ascent to be in the stop at Tengboche Monastery. The monastery will welcome you with warm blessings. Overnight in Tengboche.

After a blissful night in Tengboche, you’ll get off your bed for another trekking day. The day will start with a brief exploration of the shrine and early morning prayers. Once you get the blessings from the monastery, you’ll take breakfast and start trekking towards Dingboche.

You will start the walk with a gentle descent into the forest of Rhododendron. Moving ahead, you’ll pass by a Sherpa village called Deboche. After Deboche, you have to do an uphill section where you will gain some elevation. As you move ahead, you’ll start viewing Ama Dablam more and more clearly. Take some time to grasp the beauty of one of the iconic mountains in the world.

Now, it is time to head to another side of the valley. On this site, you’ll find mountains quite easily. But the trail will get more uphill as you tap on the stone staircases.

Although the climb is not that hard, you’ll take some time to do this part. Enjoying the most fabulous mountains, you’ll find yourself in Shomare village, which comes just before Dingboche. After the town, the trail is pretty straightforward. One final crossing of a river, and you’ll be in Dingboche. Overnight in Dingboche.

You'll have just one acclimatization day on this Everest Base Camp Trek with Helicopter Return. And that will be in Dingboche. The place is just an ideal one for proper acclimatization before reaching Everest Base Camp. Located at an altitude of 4,410m, Dingboche is a scenic spot to spend a free day.

The day in Dingboche will have something special to do. It will have a conditioning hike to Nagkartshang Peak. After eating breakfast and keeping your belongings at Dingboche’s teahouse, you'll leave for the peak. Thus it will be a more comfortable hiking day to the top. You’ll just push your body to the top of Nangkartshang Peak. Altogether, this hike will be around 5 hours long.

Climbing it slowly and reaching the top, you’ll catch magnificent views of Mt Cho Oyu, Ama Dablam, Lhotse, Makalu, etc. And you’ll simply be impressed by the landscapes as well. Experiencing all of the good views and cool breeze at the top, you’ll descend back to Dingboche. The downhill has some slippery sections. So you have to watch out for your steps. You’ll settle in Dingboche’s teahouses for the night.

Now it is time to leave Dingboche and approach Lobuche. The trek will continue on the route that goes straight through the valley. It will be a walk deep in the valley towards Pheriche, one of the famous villages of the region. From Pheriche, you’ll take a trail that goes further deep in the valley. This time you’ll start to gain some elevation.

After a while, you’ll reach the top of Thukla, also known as Dugla. It is a small stop with several teahouses. You’ll stop here for a break and a meal. Make sure you eat a good meal. The path ahead will be a bit demanding and uphill. For one straight hour, you will be doing a serpentine trek. The walk will lead you to the top of Thukla Pass, a place of memorials of souls lost on Mt Everest.

You will pause there to experience the emotional landmark. Following that, you will have a comfortable hike to reach Lobuche village. The mountains will keep you surrounded from all directions, and you’ll love that view. After several miles of trekking, you will reach Lobuche. Overnight in Lobuche.

One of the biggest days of the Everest Base Camp Trek with Helicopter return is here. The day when your feet get to kiss Everest Base Camp. So you will start the day with great joy and excitement. Before you reach the base camp, you have to come to Gorakshep, where you stay for the night.

So you will leave Lobuche behind by walking on the terminal moraine of the Khumbu Glacier. The glorious mountain views of Nuptse, Lhotse, and others will keep you hooked. Do not get lost in the mountains. The road is rough and rocky; you might hurt yourself. It will take you 3 hours to reach Gorakshep if you keep moving without watching much of the mountains.

Once you reach Gorakshep’s teahouse, you'll check in and eat lunch. You will be in a hurry as you have to reach Everest Base Camp. Following the quick meal, you will leave Gorakshep and follow the trail to the mountains. The course will go side by side with Khumbu Glacier and its rocky moraine. After some hours, you will reach Everest Base Camp.

You will witness the most fantastic mountain from its base camp and more. All of the strenuous treks will come together and become fruitful here. You will enjoy a legendary view of the base camp until you get enough of it. Once that is done, you will return to Gorak Shep for the night.

The trek is not yet done. You still have a popular landmark to reach. The famous viewpoint of Mt Everest and other peaks, Kala Patthar(5,550m), will await you in the morning. So you’ll feed your tummy and leave Gorakshep for Kala Patthar. While walking towards the viewpoint, you’ll be excited as you see the surrounding peaks.

The hike from Gorakshep to Kala Patthar progresses through a rocky uphill trail. It will be a hike of around 2 hours. As you reach Kala Patthar, you’ll realize why Kala Patthar is the best viewpoint of Mt Everest. This landmark provides heavenly visions of Mt Everest and other peaks. You can’t get the full view of Mt Everest from EBC. Thus, every EBC trekker has to reach Kala Patthar for a complete vision.

You will witness the most beautiful pictures of Mt Everest at Kala Patthar. While you enjoy the view, your ready helicopter will call you. As this is a helicopter return EBC trek, you will make the rest of the journey on a helicopter. After enough show, you’ll get into the aircraft for scenic air time. You will fly across the Everest Region like a bird towards Lukla. The flight will give you a complete view of the region. It will take the helicopter around 20 minutes to drop you in Lukla. Upon reaching Lukla, you’ll celebrate the success of the trek.

This is the last day of Everest Base Camp Trek with Helicopter Return 9 days. On this day, you’ll say goodbye to the Everest Region. With lots of good memories of the trip, you will join a flight back to Kathmandu from Lukla Airport. The following 35 minutes will be in the air of Nepal, which will be pretty scenic. After that, you’ll land at Kathmandu airport. Then you’ll head to your hotel for the rest and success celebration of the exciting trek.