Sleeping at Everest Base Camp
Many trekkers on their Everest Base Camp Trek get curious about one thing; Can they experience overnight sleeping at Everest Base Camp while on the trek? Well, the answer is “Yes”. Trekkers can now sleep at the base camp of Mt. Everest after accessing some base camp overnight camping permits. Furthermore, it requires a lot of trek preparation, logistics, and fearlessness to sleep overnight at Everest Base Camp, at 5,364 meters.
Embarking on a 12-day-long junket to Everest Base Camp is challenging for most trekkers. On top, sleeping at 5,365 meters is unimaginable for many. However, if you reach the base camp and stay overnight in tented camps at the base camp of Mt. Everest, it becomes nothing less than a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
Our Sleeping at Everest Base Camp Trek Package will give you all the useful insights, tips, and more about this trek manner. Also, in this package, you’ll get ideas on preparations to make, the permits you must have, and tips on why choosing NepTrek can make your dream of sleeping at Everest Base Camp come true in 2024.
Sleeping at Everest Base Camp- Highlights
- Overnight sleep at Everest Base Camp, surrounded by panoramic mountains like Lhotse, Nuptse, Changatse, Pumori, and more.
- Trek to Kala Patthar View Point for the better-angled view of Mt. Everest, Lhotse, and Nuptse during sunset.
- Adventurous walk through beautiful pine and juniper forests, crossing high suspension bridges and Sherpa villages.
- Luxurious overnight at popular places like Lukla and Namche.
- Visit Hotel Everest View, the world’s highest-altitude seated hotel at 3,880 meters.
- Expedition-style logistics, 100% safety, handpicked itinerary, and experienced trekking guide.
- Fixed departure dates are available for the Spring 2024 season at the most affordable rates.
In this package, we’ll discuss everything you need to know for sleeping at Everest Base Camp, on the south side, of Nepal.
Maiden Everest Base Camp Trek and its history
The 12th of April in 1953 saw a group of remarkable climbers, the Icefall Party, successfully trek to the southern base camp of Everest. This group is also known as the 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition.
Furthermore, the two legendary and first Everest summiteers, Tenzing Norgay and Edmund Hillary, were
among the members of this expedition.
This 1953 British Everest Expedition team had 400 men, including expedition porters, Sherpa guides, and expedition leaders. It was the first time humans attempted to sleep at Everest Base Camp for acclimatization and climbing preparations.
Ultimately, they slept at the base camp and successfully scaled Mt. Everest, the world’s highest mountain, for the first time in human history.
Can you sleep at Everest Base Camp?
One word, “Yes”. You can sleep overnight at Everest Base Camp with ease.
A few years ago, only climbers were the ones who used to sleep at the base camp of Mt. Everest. However, in recent years, overnight sleeping at Everest Base Camp has been a current trend.
Now, most trekkers want to experience overnight sleeping at EBC. They want to hear the crackling of glaciers ,feel the cold breeze, want to sleep adjacent to the world’s highest mountain. And most importantly, they want to embrace this once-in-a-lifetime wholesome experience.
You’ll get well-organized tents with warm drinks and nutritious meals. You’ll get a -40˚C sleeping bag, sleeping mats, solar-powered lights, and everything to make the overnight comfortable. Moreover, you’ll get supplemental oxygen if necessary.
But to sleep at EBC, you need proper acclimatization and physical fitness. Therefore, adequate acclimatization is a must before reaching to the base camp.
Overnight Sleeping at Everest Base Camp – Detailed Trek Itinerary
Day 2: Flight from Kathmandu to Lukla. Trek to Phakding (2,600 meters, 4 hours)
Your trek starts with a morning flight from Kathmandu to Lukla airport. However, during peak trekking and expedition season, all flights to Lukla operate from Ramechhap Airport. Hence, you'll have to take a 4-hour drive from Kathmandu to Manthali airport. For this, you'll get a private vehicle, precisely a Scorpio or car, based on the number of trekkers in the group.
Either way, the flight time to Lukla is 25-30 minutes. You'll see beautiful hills, valleys, and picturesque mountain ranges throughout.
With lunch at Lukla, you'll trek for 4 hours to Phakding, where you'll settle for overnight accommodation.
Day 3: Trek from Phakding to Namche Bazaar (3,440 meters, 6 hours)
Upon leaving Phakding after breakfast, you'll trek along beautiful hamlets like TokTok, Benker, and Monjo. The rustling pine forest and cascading Dudh Koshi River keep you serene throughout the day.
You'll stop at the trekker's checkpost at Jorsale for Everest Region Trek Permit checks.
Jorsale will be the place you'll stop for lunch.
After lunch, you'll trek to Namche Bazaar from Jorsale via Hilary Bridge for three more hours.
Overnight at the tea house in Namche Bazaar.
Day 4: Rest day at Namche Bazaar. Acclimatization hike to Hotel Everest View (3,880 meters, 4 hours)
You'll stop for a day at Namche for better adaptation to the altitude. As a part of acclimatization, you'll hike up to Hotel Everest View, the world's highest-altitude seated hotel.
You'll get the first glimpse of Ama Dablam, Thamserku, Everest, Lhotse, Nuptse, and other panoramic mountains of the region from the courtyard of the Hotel Everest View.
You'll visit the National Park area, Sherpa Museum, and Sagarmatha Next during a 4-hour acclimatization hike.
Breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be at the tea house in Namche.
Day 5: Trek from Namche Bazaar to Deboche (3,820 meters, 5 hours)
After leaving Namche, you'll trek to Sanasa, Pungi Thenka, and climb to Tengboche before walking 30 minutes further to Deboche.
The first section of the day's trek, till Pungi Thenka, is almost a flat trail. From here, after lunch, you'll climb to Tengboche monastery for two hours. Past Tengboche, the route descends and remains almost flat till Deboche.
You'll get a beautiful glimpse of Kongde, Nuptse, Lhotse, and Ama Dablam from Deboche.
Overnight at the tea house in Deboche.
Day 6: Trek from Deboche to Dingboche (4,410 meters, 5 hours)
6th day on your Overnight Sleeping at Everest Base Camp Trek starts getting panoramic once you leave Deboche. You'll get a picturesque glimpse of Mt. Ama Dablam while trekking to Pangboche village. Also, this day is among the easiest and shortest days of the entire trek.
You'll trek three comfortable hours from Deboche to Somare and stop for lunch.
After lunch, you'll trek on an almost flat trail to the Imja River. From here, after crossing a mini bridge over this stream, you'll climb for 30 minutes to Dingboche.
Overnight at the best available tea house in Dingboche.
Day 7: Rest day at Dingboche. Acclimatization hike to Nangkartshang Peak (5,083 meters, 4 hours)
Acclimatization at Dingboche is a must, so we'll stop for a day for an acclimatization hike. The best viewpoint and the highest point at this place is Nangkartshang Peak. From here, you'll get a beautiful glimpse of Mt. Ama Dablam, Island Peak, Mt. Makalu, Cholatse, and even green lakes on Ama Dablam Base Camp and below Dzongla. If you're lucky, you'll even see a few mountain goats, called Himalayan Tahr, the endangered mountain species.
The completion of the acclimatization hike takes four hours. You'll start your day with breakfast before preparing for the walk. You'll return by lunchtime and rest well for the entire day. Meanwhile, there are several cafes in Dingboche where you can visit for your favourite cup of coffee and brownie.
Overnight at the tea house in Dingboche.
Day 8: Trek from Dingboche to Lobuche (4,940 meters, 5 hours)
Trek from Dingboche to Lobuche is an easy to challenging grade walk.
After leaving Dingboche, you'll trek till Thugla, where you'll stop for lunch. Till Thugla, the trail is easy, almost flat, and scenic, progressing adjacent to Cholatse. However, the route is steep past Thugla to Thugla Pass or Lobuche Memorial. Most trekkers experience difficulty walking in this section as they often run out of breath.
From Thugla Pass, you'll trek for one more hour to Lobuche and settle in for overnight accommodation at a tea house.
Day 9: Trek from Lobuche to Gorak Shep. Trek to Kala Patthar. Overnight at Gorak Shep (5,140 meters)
Leaving Lobuche, you trek over flat terrain for one hour. You'll then climb a vertical region past which Khumbu Glacier moraine awaits you. The trail past this section is arduous, as you'll have to trek through a glacial moraine. You'll often hear ice cracking and stones falling.
You'll reach Gorak Shep after 3 hours of leaving Lobuche. You'll stop for lunch at a tea house here.
Your trek guide will take you to Kala Patthar during the evening for a beautiful sunset. Also, evenings at Kala Patthar are warmer than waking up at 4 am to hike here. Hence, after the sun sets, you'll return to your tea house in Gorak Shep, have dinner, and settle in for overnight sleep.
Note: Sleeping at Gorak Shep acclimates your body well before you trek to Everest Base Camp and prepare for overnight sleep at the tented camps.
Day 10: Trek to Everest Base Camp from Gorak Shep. Overnight at Everest Base Camp (5,364 meters, 3 hours)
As Everest's base camp is just 3 km away from Gorak Shep, you can start the trek a bit late, around 10 am, after early lunch.
From Gorak Shep, you'll trek for three hours to reach Everest Base Camp. For ease, our field staff will set up tented camps before you get to the base camp.
Congratulations on making it to the base camp. Now, the overnight sleeping at Everest's base camp experience awaits you!!
Overnight at the tented camps at the base camp of Mt. Everest.
Day 11: Trek from Everest Base Camp to Pheriche (4,371 meters, 7 hours)
On this day, you'll trek from Everest Base Camp to Pheriche, covering an almost 13 km trail. You'll have breakfast at the base camp and lunch at Lobuche/Thugla.
You can trek down slow-paced. And even stop at a few places for photography opportunities.
Pheriche is a beautiful Sherpa hamlet that sits in front of Mt. Ama Dablam and adjacent to Cholatse.
Overnight at a tea house in Pheriche.
Day 12: Trek to Namche Bazaar (7-8 hours)
You'll trek through beautiful hamlets like Somare, Pangboche, Deboche, and Tengboche on this day. Also, you'll wave bye to most of the mountains of the Everest region.
You'll have lunch at Pangboche or Tengboche.
Visiting Tengboche Monastery while returning can be a cherry on top of your Everest adventure.
You'll trek for another four hours from Tengboche to Namche.
Overnight at a tea house in Namche.
Day 13: Trek to Lukla (2,680 meters, 8 hours)
The Namche to Lukla return trek is a long day's walk, but the joy of returning home keeps you motivated throughout.
You'll cross Hilary Bridge, trek to Jorsale, check out at the trekker's check post at Monjo, and walk to Phakding, Ghat, Chaurikharka, and Lukla.
With a few drinks, you can celebrate the success of your adventure with a trek guide and trek porter.
Overnight at a tea house in Lukla.
Day 14: Return flight from Lukla to Kathmandu/Ramechhap
Depending on the flight schedule, you'll take the Lukla-Kathmandu or Lukla-Ramechhap flight in the morning from Lukla airport.
If you land at Ramechhap airport, you'll get a private vehicle transfer to Kathmandu and your hotel.
However, upon landing in Kathmandu, our representative will provide you with a hotel transfer.
Also, with this, your 15-day overnight sleeping at Everest Base Camp Trek ends.
Day 15: Departure
We see you off at the airport on this day.
You'll get complimentary hotel-airport transfer service in a private vehicle. We recommend you check your travel documents well before leaving for the airport.
Thank you for letting us be at your service. We look forward to wholesome adventures in the coming future.
Essential Trek Information
Acclimatization: Without it, you can’t sleep at Everest’s base camp!
The most crucial element determining whether you’ll sleep at the base camp is how well you acclimate before reaching Gorak Shep. Before stepping on the base camp, you’ll get two acclimatization stops at Namche Bazaar and Dingboche. With two rest days, almost every trekker adapts well to the altitude.
Acclimatization days are for more than just the rest at the tea house. It’s a hike-up sleep-low practice that lasts 4-5 hours upon starting after breakfast. At Namche, you’ll hike to Hotel Everest View and Khumjung; both places are over 3,800 meters. Furthermore, you’ll hike to Nangkartshang Peak at Dingboche, a site above 5,000 meters.
These two rest days allow your body to adapt significantly. However, it doesn’t guarantee that you’ll not get altitude sickness during the trek. Hence, if you want to take additional rest days, you must inform our trek manager beforehand.
Physical and mental fitness
Sleeping at Everest Base Camp Package is a 14-day trek. It involves trekking for 5-6 hours daily on rugged high-altitude terrain. Your legs get tired, you experience body fatigue, dry skin, and blisters, you’ll miss your home, and more happens in between. To cope with all these, you must be in ideal shape, physically and mentally.
Physical fitness helps you better deal with the fatigue from longer walking days. Also, with a less tired body, you’ll get proper sleep, rest, and a better trek experience. Moreover, being physically fit, you can trek constantly, keep up with other trekkers, and guide in a group.
You’ll miss home for 14 days, trek with different people, and deal with different situations throughout the tour.
In the meantime, you’ve got to be mentally strong, not get scared of altitude sickness, not get over-excited seeing beautiful mountains, and more. Sometimes, you may feel down for whatever reasons on the trek.
Hence, you must be mentally and physically prepared to deal with every situation.
Best time to sleep at Everest Base Camp
As March remains cold with occasional snowfall, the later two months get warmer. Thus, April and May are the best months in Spring when you can sleep at Everest Base Camp. These two months are more generous, and the weather remains very stable.
Another great time favors sleeping at Everest Base Camp is late September, October, and early November. The temperature past November starts getting colder during the winter months. The ideal weather conditions, picturesque viewing pleasure, and rainfree days in October and November make these months best for this trek.
Please note that it can rain throughout September, even at the base camp. As a result, you may experience fleeting snowfall at the base camp. However, you’ll get warm overnight with proper accommodation gear at tented camps in base camp.
Accommodation and meals during the trek
You’ll get 13 breakfasts, 13 lunches, and 12 dinners with us while sleeping at Everest Base Camp Trek. Here’s a brief breakdown of what you’ll get on each meal—more details on our Meals and Accommodation during Everest Base Camp Trek Blog.
Accommodation
Except at the tented camps on the base camp of Everest, during the trek till Gorak Shep, you’ll get twin sharing rooms. You’ll get individual beds, washed blankets, a tidy pillow, and a good space. However, you may only have options for attached bathrooms at some tea houses you’ll stay in during the trek. You may have to adjust to shared bathrooms, which often get busy but will be clean.
You’ll get running water taps, commode toilets, hand-wash soaps, etc. However, if you want to take a hot water shower, you must pay Rs. 500-700 to the tea house owner. Your package fee excludes additional amenities like a hot water shower, hot drinking water, wifi cards, etc.
Meals
Breakfast: Muesli, oats, yak milk, chapati, veg curry, Sherpa bread, toast, omelette, mashed potato, honey, butter, jam, noodle soup, and more. Hot drinks include milk tea, black tea, coffee, ginger lemon honey tea, and lukewarm water.
Lunch & Dinner: These two courses offer similar meal options. However, you can still choose from a broader range of options. Dal Bhat with cooked vegetables, Thukpa, Thenduk, Chapati with vegetables, steak, pizza, burgers, sandwiches with fries, porridge, fried rice with omelette, dumplings, and more.
Please note that you’ll get one hot drink from us during breakfast and dinner. You must pay for every hot drink you purchase during the day trek.
Trek safety and safety measures at the base camp
Trekking with us ensures your utmost safety throughout the trek. We employ experienced trekking guides who possess wilderness first aid training. Moreover, our trekking guides come with multiple occasions of guiding on the Everest region.
Trek safety includes personal health safety during altitude sickness, theft, and protection during unforeseen hazards. We’ll send you a helicopter for evacuation during health emergencies. You’ll get first aid treatment on the spot whenever required. Also, you’ll get services like horse rides, additional trek porters, and more.
Since you’ll sleep at the base camp, we make everything safe and suitable. We’ll set the tented camps at more flat-like and safest spots close to the base camp, free from avalanches. Sleeping bags, mats, solar-powered lights, bottled oxygen, drinking water, and more will be available at the base camp.
Sleeping at Everest Base Camp difficulty
For experienced trekkers, trekking to Everest Base Camp and sleeping overnight at the base camp is like a walk in the park. Also, sleeping at Everest Base Camp is achievable even if you’re a novice trekker.
But it won’t be a walk in the park for you. You need to do a lot of preparations before and while on the trek, from the first day you start planning the trek to the first step you put on Lukla.
Everest Base Camp Trek is a moderate-grade trek with easy, moderate, and some strenuous sections. Most sections are manageable if you take the route from Lukla to Dingboche, except for the ascent to Tengboche from Pungi Thanka. From Dingboche to Lobuche, you’ll feel more like walking over the moderately complex route; Thugla Pass is one to look at. You’ll trek over Khumbu Glacier Moraine and the glacier, from Lobuche to Gorak Shep and the base camp. Here, you’ll find the route challenging.
Apart from route difficulty, altitude sickness is another factor that adds up to the trek difficulty. If your body fails to adapt to gradually increasing altitude, you will get altitude sickness signs at Dingboche. And as you reach Lobuche, you’ll get seriously ill and even require a helicopter evacuation.
However, if your body adapts quickly, like most trekkers, you’ll reach Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar safely and sound.
Fatigue and cramps often hinder you from keeping up the pace. To overcome this, you must train in the gym, do mini hikes, cardio exercises, etc., for two months before you leave for this trek.
Altitude sickness and its prevention
Altitude sickness is a common issue among trekkers who trekked over 4,000 meters. As the altitude of Everest Base Camp is 5,364 meters, half of the trekkers who reach here experience some signs of altitude sickness. Few experience faint, few experience mild, and very few experience severe symptoms. Having said this, some trekkers don’t experience any mountain sickness symptoms. And you could be the one in this category.
It happens primarily due to a lack of oxygen. Lack of oxygen means your body failed to adapt to the altitude and thin oxygen level over 4,000 meters.
With less oxygen in your body, you’ll experience headaches, nausea, vomiting, and lack of appetite. These are the early signs of altitude sickness that are curable and preventable. However, if you ignore these symptoms, you’ll start developing severe issues like HAPE and HACE that affect the brain and lungs.
Prevention
Adequate acclimatization and rehydration are crucial things that keep you from altitude sickness during the trek to Everest Base Camp. Your body adapts to the altitude and thin oxygen levels with proper acclimatisation. With rehydration, your body fluid levels remain ideal, maintain salt ion concentration, and prevent you from getting altitude sickness. Other prevention measures include avoidance of smoking, alcohol, and caffeinated drinks throughout the trek.
Diamox (Acetazolamide) is a drug that helps you to stay away from altitude sickness. However, the more you consume it, the more your body becomes drug dependent. We suggest you consult with your doctor before considering taking this medicine.
Proof of valid International Travel Insurance
Once you purchase the overnight sleeping at EBC Package with us, you must submit proof of your travel insurance policy to us. Suppose you get sick during the trek or need medical emergency evacuation from high altitudes with your travel insurance policy in hand. In that case, it becomes possible for us to send help or a helicopter on time. Hence, if you fail to provide us with the travel insurance policy, we may not consider your trek booking.
Adventure on high-altitude terrain is always associated with risk. Hence, travel insurance keeps you safe throughout the trek. Instances like altitude sickness, food poisoning, illness and injuries, fractures, avalanches, etc can happen anytime during your Everest Trek. Hence, helicopter evacuation is only the quickest and safest option to save your life.
To get a helicopter on time, you must hold valid travel insurance that covers the helicopter evacuation cost.
Also, your insurance compensates for the hospitalization cost, medication bills, and other associated expenses. Hence, travel insurance lets you trek without worrying about emergencies.
Please note that we neither don’t purchase travel insurance for you nor do the package fee you pay us include the insurance.
Essential Everest Base Camp Trek Permits
Sleeping at Everest Base Camp requires extra permits other than Everest Base Camp Trek Permits. If you were to trek to the base camp only, Sagarmatha National Park Permit and Khumbu Pasang Rural Municipality Permit are the two must permits. However, to sleep overnight at the base camp, you must have a special permit to set up tented camps.
All essential trek permits are included in the package cost you pay us. However, you need to submit us a copy of your passport page, a few passport-sized photos, and contact details so that we can issue the essential permits for you right on time.
Why NepTrek for Sleeping at Everest Base Camp?
Our Experienced Team
Foremost, our trek guides are highly experienced individuals with multiple occasions of guiding to different places in the Everest region. Furthermore, our guides are wilderness first aid responders. Our guides are friendly, good Sherpa folktellers, companions, and professional on the field who’ll take your utmost care.
Our trek porters are robust Sherpas from the Everest region. They’ll carry your backpacks throughout the trek and accompany you throughout. We employ our trek porters from Lukla to adhere to our motto, “Support the local community”.
Our porters and guide will set up the tents at the base camp for your cosy overnight sleep at Everest Base Camp.
Proper fitness routine suggestion
Physical and mental fitness is a must to conquer Everest Base Camp and spend overnight sleeping there. Our experienced team will suggest an appropriate physical fitness routine that helps you develop endurance and avoid altitude sickness. Precisely, we provide tailored physical fitness routines based on individual. Also, our trek guide will feed a positive mindset to you throughout the trek.
Amenities at the base camp
Till Gorak Shep, you’ll be accommodated in tea houses. However, your accommodation at the base camp will be on tented camps.
We do everything to ensure you won’t get a cold breeze while sleeping. Our well-set tented camps provide your utmost comfort overnight. You’ll get plenty of hot drinks, healthy meals, and an expedition-style overnight experience.