Everest Base Camp Trek Cost From Japan: The Real All-In Numbers in Yen for 2026 and 2027

Written by Shreejan Simkhada, CEO of The Everest Holiday and third-generation Himalayan guide. TAAN Member #1586.

Last updated 8 September 2026. Package prices read from our booking system on that date; they hold for 2026 and 2027 departures. Yen figures use 1 US dollar = 156 yen, the rate in the first week of September 2026, rounded to the nearest thousand.

Japanese trekkers are the best-prepared people on the Everest trail. They arrive with the right boots, the right layers and a printed itinerary, and they have usually climbed Fuji, often several times. What they ask me, politely and precisely, is the money: what does the trek really cost, all in, in yen, and what is not in the headline price? With the yen where it is against the dollar, that question matters more than it did five years ago. This page is my answer, with the arithmetic shown so you can check it against any quote you are holding.

The short answer

A twelve-day Everest Base Camp trek costs a Japanese trekker roughly ¥490,000 to 540,000 all in on a budget package once you add your own trail meals, about ¥650,000 to 710,000 on a standard package with meals and porters, and ¥1,040,000 to 1,110,000 for the luxury version with helicopter transfers. In US dollars, which is what we quote in, that is about $3,150 to 3,450, $4,150 to 4,550 and $6,650 to 7,100. The flight from Tokyo is the second-biggest line, and the weak yen is what pushes every line up. Where the money goes, line by line, is below.

What does the trek package itself cost?

Our own prices for the twelve-day trek, per person, held for 2026 and 2027:

• Budget: US$1,399, about ¥218,000. Guide, permits, Lukla flights and lodge rooms. You carry your own bag and buy your own meals on the trail.
• Standard: US$2,499, about ¥390,000. Everything above plus all meals and one porter between two trekkers.
• Luxury: US$4,999, about ¥780,000. A porter to yourself, private rooms, and a helicopter to and from Lukla instead of the fixed-wing flight.

The route and the guide are the same on every tier; what changes is how much is carried, cooked and arranged for you. The full inclusion list is on the Everest Base Camp trek page.

If you would rather ask than read, message me on WhatsApp with your dates and how many of you there are. Kathmandu is three hours and fifteen minutes behind Japan, so a message sent from Tokyo at lunchtime reaches me at the start of my morning and you have real numbers before your evening. I reply in English; short, clear sentences work best on both sides.

Does it get cheaper as a group?

Yes, and here are the actual bands rather than a vague promise. Per person, US dollars, for the twelve-day trek:

In yen the standard tier runs from about ¥390,000 for a pair down to about ¥366,000 a head for a group of thirteen or more. Two things about how we run groups, because not everyone does it this way. Every trip is private, so we never add strangers to your trek to fill seats, and the discount comes from group size alone. Eight members of a university alpine club get the same deal as eight members of one family. Japanese clients tend to come as a pair or a small club group of four to six, and if that is you, the first or second row is your price. A solo trekker pays the same per-person rate; there is no single supplement on the trek itself.

How much are flights from Japan to Kathmandu?

Nepal Airlines is the only carrier flying Tokyo to Kathmandu nonstop, from Narita, three to four times a week, a little under eight hours westbound. Their return fares run from about US$715 to 760, which is ¥112,000 to 119,000 at today's rate, and they climb in October when Nepali families fly home for the festivals. Everyone else goes through one stop: Bangkok, Hong Kong, Guangzhou or Delhi, on Thai, Cathay Pacific, Air China or Air India, and from Kansai and Chubu a one-stop routing is the only option. One-stop fares are sometimes cheaper than the nonstop and sometimes not, so compare both; a Bangkok connection also lets you break the journey, which older trekkers appreciate. Total travel time one-stop is 12 to 16 hours. Land in Kathmandu at least a full day before the Lukla flight, and never on the same night.

Visa, permits and insurance

Nepal tourist visa for Japanese passport holders: US$50 for 30 days, about ¥7,800, paid on arrival at Kathmandu airport in cash or by card. You can fill the online arrival form up to 15 days before you fly to skip the kiosk queue. Bring one passport photo. The visa on arrival guide walks through it step by step.

Sagarmatha National Park permit: NPR 3,000, about ¥3,000. Khumbu Pasang Lhamu municipality permit: NPR 2,000, about ¥2,000. On any decent package, ours included, both permits are bought for you and sit inside the price; I list them so you can see where the money goes.

Travel insurance: this is the one item you must buy yourself and the one item not to economise on. Your Japanese health insurance reimburses overseas treatment only at Japanese rates and after the fact, and pays nothing towards a helicopter, and a helicopter from Gorak Shep to Kathmandu is billed in the thousands of US dollars. The insurance attached to a credit card is usually not enough either: read its exclusions for mountaineering and for altitude, because many of them stop at 3,000 metres or exclude trekking with equipment altogether. Buy a policy that names trekking to 6,000 metres in the wording; it has to be higher than Kala Patthar at 5,545 metres, not equal to it, because a rescue helicopter flies above you to reach you. Budget ¥15,000 to 30,000 for two to three weeks. Ask the insurer for the confirmation in writing, because the helicopter company in Kathmandu will phone them before it lifts. Send us the wording before you fly and we will tell you honestly if it has a hole in it.

What will I spend on the trail?

On a standard or luxury package with meals included, trail spending is small: hot showers (NPR 500 to 800 higher up), wifi, battery charging, snacks and a bakery stop in Namche. ¥2,500 to 4,000 a day covers it comfortably. On a budget package you buy your own meals, and prices climb with altitude because everything above Namche arrives on a porter's back or a yak. Plan on ¥5,500 to 7,500 a day for three lodge meals and tea, so roughly ¥65,000 to 85,000 across the trek.

Add two or three Kathmandu hotel nights, which are not included in trek packages, ours included. A clean tourist-class double in Thamel runs ¥11,000 to 16,000 a night; a five-star runs ¥30,000 and up. Carry the trail money in Nepali rupees from Kathmandu. Yen changes easily in Thamel at a fair rate, or use a Kathmandu ATM, but do not count on the trail: the only ATMs on the route are in Namche and they are often empty.

How much should I tip?

Tipping is not a Japanese custom and I know it can feel awkward. On the trek it is expected, nobody will be offended by the amount, and it genuinely matters to the crew, whose wages are modest. A fair guideline is about ten per cent of the trek price, pooled: for a standard trek, think ¥30,000 to 45,000 for the guide and ¥22,000 to 30,000 for the porter, adjusted for group size and how the team looked after you. Hand it over on the last trekking day, in rupees or US dollars, in an envelope if you like; the guide will understand the gesture.

The full arithmetic, from Tokyo

Standard package, one trekker sharing rooms:

The same arithmetic puts the budget route at about ¥515,000 once you add roughly ¥75,000 of trail meals and tip the guide alone, and the luxury route at about ¥1,070,000. If someone quotes you dramatically less than the bottom of that range for the same twelve days, a line has been cut somewhere, usually wages, an acclimatisation day or the safety margin. The fuller breakdown of what sits under every operator's pricing is in what Everest Base Camp really costs.

How many days off work do I need?

Fifteen is the honest answer from Japan: twelve for the trek, one travel day each way, and a spare day at the end. Lukla weather occasionally holds flights, and a buffer day turns a drama into a rest day. I know that is a hard ask against Japanese annual leave, and I will not pretend otherwise. What works in practice is Golden Week stretched with a few days on either side, which lands in the tail of the spring season, or the year-end and New Year holiday, when the trail is cold, clear and nearly empty and a Japanese trekker used to winter in the Japan Alps copes better than anyone. Silver Week in September is the end of the monsoon and I would not recommend it. If you genuinely only have ten or eleven days, tell me and I will show you honestly what fits, which is usually a shorter Everest view trek rather than a rushed Base Camp.

When should I go?

October is the most reliable month and the busiest. Know one thing most sites will not tell you: from late September to the end of November, and again from mid-March to mid-May, Lukla flights leave from Manthali airstrip, four to five hours by road from Kathmandu, with a 1 to 2am pickup. We tell every client this before they book, and it applies to a Golden Week trip. Mid-November into early December is quieter, colder and often better value. Late March into April is the warm, rhododendron alternative; by early May the views are hazier. Two recent autumns have seen the tail of a Bay of Bengal cyclone clip the last week of October, so if your dates are free, the first half of November has become my honest recommendation. The month-by-month detail is in the Everest Base Camp weather month by month guide.

What does the Ministry of Foreign Affairs say?

The Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs currently places Nepal at Level 1 of its four levels, which asks travellers to exercise caution, and its notes concern political demonstrations and the occasional general strike in the cities rather than the mountains. The high districts, including the Khumbu area of Solukhumbu where this trek runs, are listed separately and carry no danger level at all. The flash floods of late August hit Rasuwa and Nuwakot, north-west of Kathmandu, on the other side of the country from Everest; I keep a trail-by-trail status page updated at which treks are open after the Rasuwa flood. Read the ministry's overseas safety page for Nepal yourself before you fly, and register your trip on Tabi-Regi; it takes two minutes and your insurer expects it.

Which Everest trek should a Japanese trekker book?

The twelve-day trek on this page is the classic and the right first choice for most people. Three variants sell well with our Japanese clients, and each trades a little time for a lot less crowd:

• Everest Base Camp with Gokyo Lakes via Cho La, 15 days. The Gokyo side carries a fifth of the traffic of the main corridor, and the view from Gokyo Ri is the one Japanese photographers come for.
• Everest Three Passes, 17 days. The full circuit, for people who have done multi-day traverses in the Northern Alps and want the same feeling with 2,500 metres more air below them.
• Everest Base Camp by road, 15 days. No Lukla flight at all, which some people pick for the budget and some for the nerves.

How do I pay from Japan?

We quote in US dollars, so there is no exchange-rate guesswork between us, and your card issuer converts at its own rate on the day. A 10 per cent deposit confirms the booking; it goes by card through Himalayan Bank's secure gateway, and the balance is paid in Kathmandu in cash or by bank transfer. Visa and Mastercard go through without trouble; if you hold only a JCB card, tell me and we will arrange the deposit by bank transfer instead. Some Japanese issuers block a first foreign charge from Nepal, so a call to the card company before you pay saves a wasted attempt. The deposit is non-refundable, but if your plans change we move your trek to any date within a year, free, with 72 hours' notice.

Check us before you pay

Trekking scams in Nepal are real and in the news, so do not take my word for any of this. The Everest Holiday Pvt. Ltd. was registered in Kathmandu on 8 April 2016, company registration 147653/072/073, trekking licence 2090/072, Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal member 1586. Every legitimate operator holds the same paperwork and will send it without being offended that you asked. Ask me for a call before you send a deposit; I am on WhatsApp all day. If a company will not get on a call with you, walk away. Our reviews are on TripAdvisor and Google under our own name; read the critical ones as well as the kind ones.

The questions Japanese clients always ask me

Do I need to be very fit? You need to walk five to seven hours a day at altitude with a daypack. If you have climbed Fuji comfortably, or done a two-day hut walk in the Northern Alps with a full pack, you are fit enough. Base Camp is 1,600 metres higher than the summit of Fuji, and you sleep above that summit's height for five nights, which is exactly why the itinerary has two acclimatisation days and why we will not cut them. Altitude does not care how fast you are; it cares how patient you are.

Is the food a problem? Every lodge cooks dal bhat, noodles, fried rice, momos and eggs, and above Namche vegetarian is the safer choice because meat has been carried up for days. Many Japanese clients bring instant miso soup and furikake, and the lodges are happy to provide hot water; it is a good idea. Tell us in advance about any dietary need.

Can I drink the water? Not from the tap. Budget for purified refills or bring purification tablets rather than buying bottles all the way up. Refills are cheaper and the mountain does not need more plastic.

What gear is provided? With us, a down jacket and a sleeping bag rated to minus fifteen Celsius are free on every tier, so you can leave your own at home and save the baggage weight. Bring broken-in boots, proper layers and category-3 sunglasses. Full list on the trek page.

Will my phone work? Buy a Ncell or Nepal Telecom SIM at the airport for a few hundred yen; it works to Namche and patchily above. The Everest Link wifi card in Namche covers the lodges further up. Japanese carriers' overseas day passes cover Nepal but cost far more than a local SIM.

Is the lodge toilet what I fear? Lower down, mostly Western-style and clean. Above Dingboche, often a squat toilet and often outside. Carry your own paper and hand sanitiser, and the private-room tiers give you a private bathroom in most villages below Lobuche.

If you want a quote for your own dates and group size rather than an article's averages, write to me on WhatsApp and I will send the real numbers, including the unwelcome ones. That is rather the point of this page.

Shreejan Simkhada is the CEO and co-founder of The Everest Holiday, a family-run trekking company in Kathmandu, and a third-generation Himalayan guide. TAAN Member #1586. Every booking helps fund our Nagarjun Learning Center.