Everest Base Camp Trek Cost from Spain: Euro Prices, Flights, Visa and Insurance

Last updated 1 October 2026. Trek prices are read from our own booking system. Euro figures use the European Central Bank reference rate of 30 September 2026, 1 euro = 1.1355 US dollars, so 1 US dollar is about 0.88 euro. Flight prices are a snapshot from one day, and I say so wherever they appear.

Spanish trekkers who write to me ask the same thing in the first line: how much will Everest Base Camp really cost from Madrid or Barcelona, in euros, door to door? The honest answer has three parts. The trek price I can tell you to the dollar. The flight I can only show you a snapshot of. And the euro is not the currency you pay us in, so every euro figure below is a guide that will move a little.

So let us go through it properly. If you would rather ask me directly, my WhatsApp is +977 9810351300. I answer it myself. If you want the wider picture first, our Nepal trekking from Spain page covers more than Everest.

Is there a direct flight from Madrid or Barcelona to Kathmandu?

Not that I could find. I ran a live search for Madrid and Barcelona to Kathmandu, leaving 19 October and returning 5 November 2026, sorted by price. Every result needed at least two changes of plane. That is partly because I sorted by price, and the cheapest tickets are the most tangled ones. Single-change itineraries through Doha with Qatar Airways or Istanbul with Turkish Airlines exist, and our Spain page lists them, but they did not appear in that price-sorted search, so I will not put a fare on them. I have no source for a nonstop, so I will not tell you one exists.

What did the flights actually cost on one day?

This is where travel pages invent numbers, so here is exactly what I saw on Kiwi.com on 1 October 2026, in euros, return, one adult.

From	Route and airlines	Return fare	Notes
Madrid	Budapest, Istanbul, Delhi with Wizz Air and IndiGo	EUR 717 to 727	Three changes, about 61 to 64 hours of travel in total, both ways, no checked bag
Madrid	Istanbul, Delhi with Air Europa and IndiGo	EUR 862 to 864	Two changes, about 50 to 51 hours both ways, no checked bag
Madrid	Rome, Sharjah with Iberia and Air Arabia	EUR 875	Two changes, about 49 hours both ways, no checked bag
Barcelona	Budapest, Istanbul, Delhi with Wizz Air, Ryanair and IndiGo	EUR 705 to 739	Three changes, about 52 to 55 hours both ways, no checked bag
Barcelona	Istanbul, Delhi with Turkish Airlines and IndiGo	EUR 870 to 879	Two changes, about 38 hours both ways, no checked bag

Read that table carefully. The cheapest fares are several separate tickets stitched together by a booking site, and a missed connection on the first leg is your problem, not the second airline's. Every fare above comes without a checked bag, and a trekker needs boots and a duffel, so add the bag fees from each airline's own page before you decide. I have not priced them.

What does the trek itself cost in euros?

These come straight out of our booking system. They are the same for 2026 and 2027 departures, and the same whether you go privately or in a group.

Everest Base Camp, 12 days	USD per person	EUR, approximate
Budget	US$1,399	about 1,230 euros
Standard	US$2,499	about 2,200 euros
Luxury	US$4,999	about 4,400 euros

The difference between the tiers is not marketing, and I want you to be able to check it. On Budget you carry your own bag, rooms are shared and meals are not included. On Standard you get a porter shared between two trekkers, all meals and a private room. On Luxury you get your own dedicated porter, a private deluxe ensuite room, all meals with fruit, nuts and unlimited soft drinks, and the Lukla legs by helicopter both ways instead of a fixed-wing flight.

The full day-by-day route is on the Everest Base Camp Trek 12 Days page, and our Everest Base Camp cost guide has every line of the price.

What permits do you need, and are they included?

The Khumbu is not a restricted area, so there is no special trekking permit. You need three things, and we arrange and pay for all of them in every tier:

• Sagarmatha National Park entry: NPR 3,000 for foreigners.
• Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality fee: NPR 3,000.
• TIMS card: NPR 2,000.

That is NPR 8,000 in total, about US$52 or roughly 46 euros. None of it is added to your bill. Our permits guide covers the rest.

Do Spanish citizens need a visa for Nepal?

Yes, but it is simple. Spain's foreign ministry travel advice for Nepal says you can get the visa at the Nepali embassy in Madrid, on arrival at Kathmandu airport or at land border posts, with a passport valid for at least six months and two blank pages. The fees on the Nepal Department of Immigration website, checked today, are US$30 for 15 days, US$50 for 30 days and US$125 for 90 days. That is about 26, 44 and 110 euros.

Almost every Everest trekker needs 30 days, so budget US$50. You can also fill in the online form before you fly and show the receipt at the desk, and I would carry the fee in US dollars cash. Our visa on arrival guide walks through the process.

Will your tarjeta sanitaria europea or Spanish insurance cover you in Nepal?

This is where European trekkers get caught, so I am going to be blunt.

The tarjeta sanitaria europea is the Spanish version of the European Health Insurance Card. It is for temporary stays in EU countries and a few neighbouring ones. Nepal is not among them, so it gives you nothing there. And even inside Europe, that same page says the card will not help with rescue and repatriation, and that you need separate insurance for transport home after a serious illness or accident.

Spain's foreign ministry says the same thing about Nepal in plain Spanish. It strongly recommends a wide-cover medical policy, one that includes repatriation, helicopter rescue and cover for high-altitude mountain activity, and it points out that helicopter rescues cost thousands of euros. I have not read any particular Spanish insurer's policy wording, so I cannot tell you which policy is good. That is the reason to read yours.

What I would ask for in writing before you buy: cover for trekking to at least 6,000 metres, because Kala Patthar is 5,545 metres, and helicopter evacuation for illness as well as accident. Altitude sickness is an illness, and a policy that pays only for accidents will not lift you off the mountain. Get the answer in an email from the insurer. Buy it at home, before you fly. Our insurance guide goes through what to look for.

One more practical point from the same foreign ministry page. Spain's embassy in New Delhi covers Nepal, with an honorary consul in Kathmandu, so do not count on an embassy round the corner if something goes wrong.

What will you spend on the trail?

On Budget, where meals are not included, plan about US$20 a day, so about US$240 across twelve days, or roughly 211 euros. That covers food, hot showers, charging and wifi. On Standard and Luxury your meals are already paid for, so the same money goes much further. Dal bhat is the best value on any teahouse menu and comes with refills, and our dal bhat guide explains why every guide in Nepal eats it twice a day.

Tipping is customary and is not included in any price. Budget roughly US$10 to US$15 a day for your guide and US$8 to US$10 a day for a porter, shared by the group rather than paid by each person.

What is the full cost from Spain?

One person, Budget tier, twelve days, flying from Madrid at EUR 717, the cheapest stitched-together fare I found, with no checked bag:

Item	USD	EUR, approximate
Trek, Budget tier (permits included)	US$1,399	1,232
Return flight, Madrid, cheapest snapshot, no checked bag	about US$814	717
Nepal visa, 30 days	US$50	44
On-trail spending at US$20 a day	US$240	211
Total	about US$2,500	about 2,200

Three things sit outside that total on purpose. Kathmandu hotels are not included in any trek tier and are quoted separately, though you can stay in our own family homestay at US$15 per person per night, which helps fund the learning centre my family runs. Insurance is yours to buy, for the reasons above. And a checked bag on those cheap flights is an extra I could not price.

If you choose the Air Europa and IndiGo fare of about EUR 863 instead, add roughly 146 euros to the total. If you want the same arithmetic for Standard or Luxury, ask me and I will run it for your dates.

Does it get cheaper as a group?

Yes, and only by group size. Here is the whole table from the live trek page.

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

The price is the same whether you book privately or as a group, and we never add strangers to a private booking. Four friends from the same office in Valencia pay less each than four separate travellers would, simply because you are four. Solo trekkers are welcome, and there is no single supplement on Everest Base Camp because your guide joins you from Lukla.

How many days off do you need, and what does Spanish law say?

Ask for sixteen days away from Spain. That is two travel days, twelve on the trek and two spare in Kathmandu. Those spare days are not a luxury. The Lukla flight is weather dependent and delays are routine, and a trekker with no buffer is a trekker who misses the flight home. During the peak months, March to May and October to November, fixed-wing flights to Lukla leave from Manthali rather than Kathmandu, which means a road transfer of four to six hours starting around midnight. We tell every client this before they book. Helicopters are not affected. Our domestic flights guide explains the details.

Sixteen days is less than it sounds. Article 38 of the Estatuto de los Trabajadores, published in the Boletín Oficial del Estado, says annual paid holiday can never be less than thirty natural days, and that the dates are agreed between you and your employer. It also says the company calendar must be fixed so that you know your dates at least two months before they start. So the practical advice is to ask early. A spring 2027 trek is a conversation to have this autumn, not in February.

The calendar helps a little too. The Fiesta Nacional on 12 October is a national holiday, and in 2026 it falls on a Monday. If you are thinking of 2027, Good Friday is 26 March and Easter Sunday is 28 March, which is the very start of the spring trekking season. Check how it all falls against your own employer's calendar, because regions and companies differ.

When should you go, autumn or spring?

October is the most reliable month and the busiest. Mid-November into early December is cold at night, very clear and much quieter. March and April are warmer, with the rhododendrons in flower, and are the second busiest season. June to mid-September is the monsoon and I will talk you out of it. Late October carries a real risk of cyclone tails, and we have had two autumns disrupted by them, so build a spare day into your flights home. Our month-by-month guide goes deeper.

Is Everest Base Camp hard, and how do you prepare?

If you can walk five to seven hours a day on consecutive days, you have the fitness for it. Spaniards who walk the Camino or spend weekends in the Pyrenees or the Sierra de Gredos already have the habit. What no Spanish mountain can give you is the altitude. Base Camp is 5,364 metres, so you will spend days sleeping higher than you have ever been. That is a reason to walk slowly and take the acclimatisation days seriously, not a reason to stay home.

Our guides carry an oximeter, not bottled oxygen. If you want a canister available we can arrange it at cost, and I will tell you honestly that most trekkers who walk slowly and listen to their guide never need it. Our fitness guide and the distance guide show what the days really demand.

What does Spain have to do with the Himalaya?

A great deal, and Spaniards know the story better than I do. According to Wikipedia, on 17 May 2010 Edurne Pasaban, from the Basque Country, became the first woman to climb all fourteen of the eight-thousanders, finishing on Shishapangma, and the 21st person to do so. Our Spain page tells the earlier story of the first Spanish ascent of Everest.

A Base Camp trek is a different undertaking from any of that, and I will not pretend it is the same. But it walks into the same valley, and that is reason enough for many of the Spanish trekkers I hear from.

How do you pay from Spain?

A 10 per cent deposit confirms your booking, and the balance is due when you reach Kathmandu. We bill in US dollars only, by card or cash. Card payments carry a 3.5 per cent bank charge, and cash in Kathmandu carries none. We cannot take Nepali rupees from foreign clients. Your own bank may add a currency margin when it converts from euros, so ask it before you pay.

Please be clear on the terms before you pay. The deposit is non-refundable, and if you cancel there is no refund. What we do offer is free rescheduling, with at least 72 hours' notice, to any date within one year. For restricted areas and Tibet the notice is seven days. If we are the ones who cannot run your trip, we refund what you paid, less taxes, bank and card charges and any money already spent on permits and flights.

Check us before you pay

You are sending money to a company in another country, so verify us rather than trusting a nicely written page. We are The Everest Holiday Pvt. Ltd., registered in Nepal on 8 April 2016, TAAN member number 1586. You can check any Nepali operator through the Office of the Company Registrar, TAAN, the Department of Tourism licence register and the Nepal Rastra Bank forex certification. Ask any operator for those numbers and check them yourself.

I will also say what most operators leave out. Even fully licensed companies have been involved in scams. A licence is a floor, not a guarantee. Talk to us, ask hard questions, and see whether the answers are specific.

The questions Spanish clients ask me

Is there a direct flight from Madrid? Not in my search, and I have no source for one. Every fare I found needed at least two changes.

Does my tarjeta sanitaria europea work in Nepal? No. It is for temporary stays in the EU and a few neighbouring countries, and it never covers rescue or repatriation. You need a private policy that covers trekking to altitude, in writing.

Do I need a guide? We run every Everest trek with a licensed guide, and honestly you want one. On restricted-area routes a licensed guide is mandatory.

What if the Lukla flight is cancelled? That is what your two spare days in Kathmandu are for. We rebook you, and on Luxury you are on a helicopter anyway.

Are permits included? Yes, in every tier. Sagarmatha National Park, the Khumbu municipality fee and the TIMS card, NPR 8,000 in total.

Is autumn or spring better? Autumn for weather and atmosphere, spring for cost and flowers. Both are good.

If you want the numbers run for your dates and your group size, message me on WhatsApp or email [email protected]. I will give you the real figure, including the parts that are not in our favour. You may also want our country guides for neighbouring markets, from Italy, from France and from Ireland.

About The Everest Holiday

We are a family company in Kathmandu, three generations of Himalayan guides, registered in 2016 and a member of the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal, number 1586. When you book with us you deal with the family, not a call centre, and the guide who meets you at the airport works for the same people who answered your first message.

Every booking helps fund our Nagarjun Learning Center. We fully run the centre at Saldum, where 70 children learn with a teacher I pay for personally, and we have helped build and still support other community learning centres. It is where a real part of what you pay ends up.

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