Everest Base Camp Trek Cost From Saudi Arabia: The Real All-In Numbers in Riyals for 2026 and 2027

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

Last updated 13 September 2026. Package prices read from our booking system on that date; they hold for 2026 and 2027 departures. Riyal figures use the fixed peg of 1 US dollar = 3.75 Saudi riyals, rounded.

Saudi Arabia is the odd one out in our Gulf enquiries. The trek costs a Saudi resident much the same as it costs someone in Dubai, but getting to Kathmandu is genuinely harder from Riyadh or Jeddah than it is from anywhere else in the region, and most of the quotes people send me have that part quietly wrong. So I have put the flights first on this page instead of last. Then the real numbers in riyals, with the arithmetic shown, so you can hold any other quote against it. Because the riyal has been pegged to the dollar at 3.75 since 1986, none of this drifts while you decide.

The flight problem, and how to solve it

Here is the part no operator seems willing to write down. As I write this, there is exactly one nonstop flight between Saudi Arabia and Nepal, and it does not leave from the city most of you live in.

• Dammam is the only Saudi city with a nonstop. Himalaya Airlines flies King Fahd to Kathmandu in about four hours fifty minutes, three times a week, and that goes up to five a week on 16 September 2026. Nepal Airlines has also flown Kathmandu to Dammam, but that service has been disrupted repeatedly through 2026, so treat it as a bonus rather than a plan.
• Jeddah has no nonstop to Kathmandu at all. Every fare you are shown from Jeddah is a connection, whatever the booking site's layout suggests.
• Riyadh has no nonstop running at the moment. This one catches people out. A Riyadh to Kathmandu Himalaya flight number still exists in the booking engines, but the route is absent from the airline's live timetable. It is not formally cancelled and it is not operating either. If a travel agent offers you a nonstop from Riyadh, ask them to show you the actual schedule before you pay.

So in practice you have three sensible routes, and I would pick between them on connection quality rather than price alone:

From	How	Roughly
Dammam	Himalaya Airlines nonstop	4h 50m, 3 a week rising to 5
Riyadh	Domestic to Dammam, then the nonstop	Riyadh to Dammam is 1h 10m and there are well over a hundred flights a week
Jeddah	Domestic to Dammam, then the nonstop	Jeddah to Dammam is about 2h 05m, many daily
Anywhere	One stop via Doha, Sharjah or Dubai	Qatar Airways flies Doha to Kathmandu about 22 times a week in 4h 40m; Air Arabia flies Sharjah nonstop 14 times a week

If you route yourself through Dammam on a separate ticket, leave a long gap. A domestic hop and an international flight bought separately are two contracts, not one, and if the first is late the second airline owes you nothing. Either book the whole thing on one ticket or give yourself half a day.

One more honest word about Gulf airspace. Europe's aviation safety agency has a conflict-zone warning over the Persian Gulf that runs to at least 30 September 2026, and it names airspace managed by Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the UAE. Saudi airspace is not on that list, and the reroutings have largely gone south over Saudi Arabia and Egypt, which is part of why Saudi departures have held up better than most. Airports are open and the big carriers have restored between three quarters and nearly all of their schedules. I am not telling you this to worry you. I am telling you because it is the reason I ask every Gulf client to build one spare day into the trip and to avoid a forty-minute connection in Doha this season.

What does the trek itself cost?

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

• Budget: US$1,399, about SAR 5,250. 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 SAR 9,370. Everything above plus all meals and one porter between two trekkers.
• Luxury: US$4,999, about SAR 18,750. 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.

The short answer, all in

Adding flights, visa, insurance, Kathmandu hotels, trail spending and tips to the package, a Saudi-based trekker should plan on roughly:

• Budget package, all in: about SAR 12,000, or about US$3,200.
• Standard package, all in: about SAR 15,400, or about US$4,110.
• Luxury package, all in: about SAR 24,800, or about US$6,610.

The line-by-line version of the middle one is further down, and it is the one most people book.

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:

Group size	Budget	Standard	Luxury
1 to 4	$1,399	$2,499	$4,999
5 to 8	$1,299	$2,449	$4,949
9 to 12	$1,199	$2,399	$4,899
13 to 20	$999	$2,349	$4,849

In riyals the standard tier runs from about SAR 9,370 a head for a pair down to about SAR 8,810 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. Twelve colleagues from one Riyadh company get the same rate as twelve members of one family. A solo trekker pays the same per-person rate and there is no single supplement on the trek itself.

How much are the flights?

For October and November 2026 dates, published return fares from Dammam have been starting around SAR 1,570, and from Riyadh around SAR 1,860 on a one-stop routing, with Qatar Airways sitting nearer SAR 2,300 on the same dates. Plan on SAR 1,600 to 2,400 return if you book two to three months out, and more if you leave it late.

Then there is the fortnight that matters more than any fare rule. Dashain runs from 11 to 25 October 2026, with the main tika day on 21 October. There are 383,865 registered Nepalis in Saudi Arabia, and about 152,000 Nepalis took labour approval for the Kingdom in a single recent year, so when Dashain comes every seat from the Gulf to Kathmandu is spoken for and prices go where you would expect. If your dates fall in that window, book eight to ten weeks ahead, and understand that the domestic Lukla flights fill in the same crush.

Land in Kathmandu at least a full day before your Lukla flight. Never the same night.

Visa, permits and insurance

Your visa depends on your passport, not your residency, which matters here because so many of our Saudi enquiries come from expatriate residents. Saudi nationals are eligible for a visa on arrival, and so are most nationalities: US$50 for 30 days at Kathmandu airport, about SAR 188, payable in cash or by card. Indian passport holders need no visa at all. You can fill the arrival form online up to 15 days before you fly and skip the kiosk queue. Bring a passport photo. The visa on arrival guide walks through it. A handful of nationalities must apply in advance rather than on arrival, so if your passport is not Saudi, ask me before you book flights.

Sagarmatha National Park permit: NPR 3,000, about SAR 74. Khumbu Pasang Lhamu municipality permit: NPR 2,000, about SAR 49. On any decent package, ours included, both are bought for you and sit inside the price. I list them so you can see where the money goes.

Travel insurance is the one item you must buy yourself and the one item not to economise on. Your Saudi employer's medical cover almost certainly excludes adventure activity abroad and pays nothing towards a helicopter, and a helicopter from Gorak Shep to Kathmandu is billed in thousands of dollars. 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 has to fly above you to reach you. Many policies sold in the Kingdom stop at 3,000 or 4,000 metres unless you add an adventure rider, and some exclude helicopter evacuation outright, so read the exclusions page and not the brochure. Budget SAR 400 to 900 for two to three weeks. Get the confirmation in writing, because the helicopter operator in Kathmandu will telephone your insurer before it lifts. Send me the wording before you fly and I 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, wifi, battery charging, snacks and a bakery stop in Namche. SAR 65 to 95 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 SAR 140 to 190 a day for three lodge meals and tea, so roughly SAR 1,700 to 2,300 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 SAR 250 to 380 a night and a five-star runs SAR 700 and up. Carry your trail money in Nepali rupees from Kathmandu. The only cash machines on the route are in Namche and they are often empty.

How much should I tip?

Tipping matters more here than on an ordinary holiday, and it matters to a crew who very likely have a brother or a cousin working in Jubail or Riyadh and know exactly what a riyal is worth. A fair guideline is about ten per cent of the trek price, pooled. For a standard trek, think SAR 560 to 770 for the guide and SAR 410 to 560 for the porter, adjusted for group size and how well the team looked after you. Hand it over on the last trekking day, in rupees or dollars.

The full arithmetic, from Dammam

Standard package, one trekker sharing rooms:

Item	SAR	USD
Trek package, standard tier	9,371	2,499
Return flights to Kathmandu	2,000	533
Nepal visa, 30 days	188	50
Insurance with 6,000 m cover	563	150
3 Kathmandu hotel nights	920	245
Trail extras, 12 days	825	220
Tips for guide and porter	1,540	410
Total	about 15,400	about 4,110

The same arithmetic puts the budget route at about SAR 12,000 once you add roughly SAR 2,000 of trail meals and tip the guide alone, and the luxury route at about SAR 24,800. If someone quotes you well under the bottom of that range for the same twelve days, a line has been cut somewhere, and it is 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, and the UAE version of this page is worth a look if you are comparing a Dubai-routed quote.

How many days off do I need, and when?

Sixteen is the honest answer from Saudi Arabia: twelve for the trek, a travel day each way, one spare day for Lukla weather, and one more because your journey home has a connection in it. Saudi labour law gives you 21 days of paid annual leave in your first five years and 30 days after that, so this fits, but it does eat a large share of a first-year allowance.

On timing, the working week helps you less than you would hope, because a Friday and Saturday weekend does not extend a twelve-day trek meaningfully. The public holidays are the better lever, and two of the three land awkwardly. Eid al-Fitr falls around 7 to 11 March 2027, which is the very start of the spring season: cold high up, quiet, and perfectly good trekking. Eid al-Adha falls around 16 May 2027, which is late spring, hot in the low valleys and close enough to the monsoon that I would want your dates early in that window rather than late. National Day on 23 September sits just as the autumn season opens but still catches the monsoon's tail, and Founding Day on 22 February is deep winter, clear and very cold and almost empty, which some people love.

If your leave is genuinely fixed at two weeks, tell me and I will show you honestly what fits. For most people that means dropping the buffer day and holding a flexible return ticket, not shortening the trek.

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, Lukla flights leave from Manthali airstrip, four to five hours by road from Kathmandu, with a one or two in the morning pickup. We tell every client this before they book. Mid-November into early December is quieter, colder and often better value. Late March into April is the warm alternative with the rhododendrons out. 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 weather guide tells you what each one actually feels like.

One thing specific to you. Gorak Shep in November is minus ten at night, and you have come from a country where that temperature does not exist. In my experience the cold surprises Gulf clients far more than the altitude does. The down jacket and the minus-fifteen sleeping bag are free with us on every tier, so do not buy either at home.

Is Nepal safe right now?

The flash flood of 26 August on the Bhote Koshi in Rasuwa district killed more than a thousand people, left thousands more missing, and closed the main road north from Kathmandu towards the Tibet border. The figures are still provisional. That corner of the country is on the other side of Nepal from Everest, and the Everest region was not touched. I keep a trail-by-trail status page updated at which treks are open after the Rasuwa flood, and your own government's travel advice, whichever passport you hold, is worth reading before you fly.

Which Everest trek should a Saudi-based trekker book?

The twelve-day trek on this page is the classic and the right first choice for most people. Three variants come up often with Gulf clients:

• Everest Base Camp with Gokyo Lakes via Cho La, 15 days. The Gokyo side carries about a fifth of the traffic of the main corridor.
• Everest Three Passes, 17 days. The full circuit, and the one to ask about if you have already done Kilimanjaro.
• Everest Base Camp by road, 15 days. No Lukla flight at all, which some people choose for the budget and some for the nerves.

How do I pay from Saudi Arabia?

We quote in US dollars, and with the riyal pegged to the dollar there is no exchange-rate guesswork. 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. If you pay that balance by card there is a 3.5 per cent charge. Cash in Kathmandu has none, and plenty of our clients bring dollars for exactly that reason.

One local detail worth checking before you try. A domestic mada card will usually not complete an international payment unless it is co-badged with Visa or Mastercard and enabled for online use abroad, and some Saudi banks keep international e-commerce switched off by default. Check that in your banking app before you sit down to pay, rather than after a declined transaction. Approve the one-time password when it arrives. Indian-issued cards are a different story and are often declined in dollars, so if that is what you hold, tell me and we invoice in Nepali rupees instead.

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. Kathmandu is two hours and forty-five minutes ahead of Saudi Arabia, so a call is easy for both of us. If a company will not get on a call with you before a deposit, walk away.

The questions Saudi clients always ask me

How do I train when the country is flat? This is the real Saudi problem and it deserves a straight answer. Most of the Kingdom gives you no altitude at all. The exception is the Asir highlands in the south, where Jebel Sawda sits at roughly 3,000 metres and has one of the few properly maintained trails in the country, a hard day of about nine miles. If you can get there, a weekend at that height is worth more than a month in a gym. The Edge of the World outside Riyadh is a fine walk but it gives you distance, not elevation. Otherwise: stairs, a loaded pack, and the stepper. Base Camp is 5,364 metres and you sleep above 4,000 metres for five nights, which is exactly why our itinerary keeps two acclimatisation days and why we will not cut them.

Is halal food available? In Kathmandu, easily. On the trail, no: there is no halal meat above Lukla. Muslim clients go vegetarian from the first day and eat perfectly well. Dal bhat, vegetable curry, noodles, eggs and momos are on every lodge menu. Tell us in advance and the guide handles it lodge by lodge. Prayer times are yours to manage and the guide will build in the stops; a lodge dining room at dawn is a quiet place. The Malaysia page goes into the food side in more detail.

Can I bring my family? Yes, and Gulf family groups are some of our favourite bookings, but be honest about the youngest and oldest members. Children under about twelve and anyone with heart or lung conditions need a conversation with me first, not a booking form.

Can I drink the water? Not from the tap. Budget for purified refills or bring purification tablets rather than buying bottled water all the way up.

Will my phone work? Buy a Ncell or Nepal Telecom SIM at the airport. It works to Namche and patchily above, and the Everest Link wifi card covers the lodges higher up. Saudi roaming packs cover Nepal but are poor value against a local SIM.

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 you 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.