Trekking holiday to Everest base camp

country:	Nepal
location:	Everest region, Everest Base Camp
trip type:	High altitude trekking holidays
departures:	2008: 1 Dec 2009: 14 Feb, 22 Feb, 15 Mar, 5 Apr, 26 Apr, 17 May, 1 Jun, 14 Jun, 12 Jul, 9 Aug, 30 Aug, 19 Sep, 20 Sep, 11 Oct, 1 Nov, 22 Nov
price:	From £595 - £615 (18 days) including flights as per itinerary + local payment £120. From £625 - £670 for private group departures + local payment £120. Price includes accommodation, transport, including transfers and most meals

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the amazing things you'll be doing

With many of the world's highest mountains within its borders, most treks in Nepal feature spectacular mountain vistas and none more so than this classic trek through the Sagarmatha National Park up to Everest Base Camp. You pass through friendly Sherpa villages, experience a great variety of natural habitats, cultures and traditions, as well as enjoying the incredible scenery. But best of all you get to see Mount Everest up close and personal!

The tour starts in Kathmandu with a city tour before we fly to Lukla where this lodge-based trek starts. The walk from Lukla takes you first up the Dudh Kosi river valley past many small, picturesque Sherpa villages and through lush forests of rhododendron, magnolia and giant firs.

On arrival in Namche Bazaar, an historical Sherpa trading centre and now a busy town, you settle in to acclimatise to the high altitude. From Namche Bazaar you make a short ascent to Tenchboche, where the views of Nuptse, Lhotse, Ama Dablam and Everest are truly fantastic. You can also take time to visit the Buddhist monastery here.

You are now trekking through the Sagarmatha National Park area and snow-capped mountains close around as you follow the Khumbu Glacier up towards Gorak Shep (5,288m), and ascend Kala Pattar (5,545m). The view of Nuptse, Ama Dablam and Everest, from the summit of Kala Pattar, is truly breathtaking. The following morning, you trek to the Everest Base Camp area, from where so many expeditions have begun (these last two days may be reversed depending on local weather). From base camp you retrace your steps back to Lukla, on the way down appreciating views of the peaks from angles you may have missed on the way up.

It’s then a flight back to Kathmandu where we leave a whole day free to allow for any delays to the flight back from Lukla and to relax and explore Kathmandu. Extensions are available to Chitwan or Bardia National Parks, to trek further into the Gokyo Lakes region, or to try some white-water rafting.

day-by-day itinerary

Day 1:	Arrive in Kathmandu - Transfer from airport to hotel.
Day 2:	Kathmandu - city tour (B).
Day 3:	Kathmandu to Lukla flight. Start trekking to Phakding (B,L,D).
Day 4:	Phakding to Namche Bazaar (B,L,D).
Day 5:	Namche Bazaar - acclimatisation day (B,L,D).
Day 6:	Namche Bazaar to Khumjung (B,L,D).
Day 7:	Khumjung to Thengboche (B,L,D).
Day 8:	Thengboche to Dingboche (B,L,D).
Day 9:	Dingboche - acclimatisation day (B,L,D).
Day 10:	Dingboche to Lobuche (B,L,D).
Day 11:	Lobuche to Gorak Shep / Kalar Pattar (B,L,D).
Day 12:	Everest Base Camp, to Lobuche (B,L,D).
Day 13:	Lobuche to Devoche (B,L,D).
Day 14:	Devoche to Namche Bazaar (B,L,D).
Day 15:	Namche Bazaar to Lukla, finish trekking (B,L,D).
Day 16:	Lukla to Kathmandu flight (B).
Day 17:	Kathmandu - free day (various options available) (B).
Day 18:	Kathmandu – Free time. Transfer to airport for flight (B).

how this holiday makes a difference

This tour is designed to take our travellers right into the heart of Nepal, introducing them to its people, cultures and spectacular scenery, and not cocooning them from it. This is helped by spending little time in Kathmandu and most of it trekking in the countryside, by keeping our group sizes small (max 12, normally 5-8) and also running the tour privately for families, couples or groups of friends.

We take responsible travel very seriously, and have given some details below of how this is implemented on this tour.

Local people:

Our local operations in Nepal are run by a former employee whom we have supported over the years as we have worked and grown together, and who now has his own professional family run agency.
We use fully-trained local Nepalis as our trekking guides and reps, rather than flying in Western leaders whose knowledge and love of the country will never be as full or passionate. We’re proud that the friendly family-run nature of our Nepalese tours really comes across to our travellers.
We use locally family owned and operated hotels and lodges wherever possible, and one of the highlights of the tour is finding and enjoying a wide range of small local restaurants and traditional Nepalese food.
We support and follow the guidelines set up by the IPPG (International Porter Protection Group) for all our trekking porters.
We give information and advice to our travellers on how to respect local customs and religious practices, giving them a greater understanding of the local people and culture.

Environment:

While we do include internal flights in and out of the Everest region, almost the whole of the rest of the tour is done on foot, reducing pollution and energy use.
Explanations are given while trekking of how to conserve scarce fuel resources, as well as reducing litter & waste production (for example by not ordering numerous different items from trekking lodge menus, and by treating water rather than buying numerous mineral water bottles).
We have a recycling policy in our UK and local offices and re-use or recycle the information booklets we provide to every client on arrival wherever possible.
We do not produce a glossy brochure, concentrating on a comprehensive website, and providing as much information to our travellers as possible electronically, reducing the use of paper and inks.

Local projects & charity support:

We donate £2 for every person travelling on this tour towards local projects – one supporting a small school in rural Nepal, as well as supporting the International Porter Protection Group, the Kathmandu Environmental Protection Project, and the Himalayan Rescue Association.
Our travellers are welcome to visit these projects and support them personally if they wish.
The company also supports further projects and charities internationally.

Responsible tourism: We send all our travellers a copy of our responsible tourism policy before their holiday, and encourage them to read it and join us in following the ideas and suggestions contained within it.

Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people.

We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel.

'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays.

We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism.

This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards.