Everest Base Camp trek cost from the UK: the real 2027 numbers

Last updated 7 October 2026. The fares below come from searches run on 7 October 2026 for London return trips. Pounds are converted at US$1 = £0.753 (European Central Bank, 6 October 2026); the rate moves, and dollars are what you pay us.

We are a Kathmandu company, registered in 2016, and the family behind it has guided in the Himalayas for three generations. Per person, for one to four trekkers, the 12-day Base Camp trek is US$1,399 on Budget, US$2,499 on Standard and US$4,999 on Luxury, which is roughly £1,050, £1,880 and £3,770. Those prices stand for 2027.

The package is only part of what leaves your bank account. A trekker flying from London should plan on roughly £2,230 to £2,960 on Budget, £2,930 to £3,570 on Standard travelling solo, and £4,910 to £5,590 on Luxury, from the airport at home to the last tip.

What does a British trekker really spend?

Each row is one traveller. Flights run from the cheapest to the dearest fare in the London search. The next column adds the 30-day visa, insurance, crew tips, and either trail meals (Budget) or spending money (Standard, Luxury). Kathmandu hotels are quoted separately in every tier; our own family homestay is US$15 per person per night, about £10.

On the trail, Budget trekkers should allow US$25 to US$40 a day for meals, so US$300 to US$480 over 12 days. Standard and Luxury include meals; NPR 20,000 to 30,000 (US$130 to US$195) covers showers, charging, wifi and snacks. Bring rupees from Kathmandu, because the only cash machines on the route are in Namche and they are often empty.

Tips follow the usual guide: US$15 to US$20 a day for the lead guide and US$10 to US$15 for a porter, paid at the end. On Luxury the figure includes the porter.

Which airlines fly London to Kathmandu?

None flies nonstop. In my search (economy, one checked bag, at most one change each way, out Sunday 25 October 2026, back Wednesday 11 November) every result connected once.

The cheapest was £743 from Gatwick: Air Arabia out via Sharjah and Air China home via Chengdu. Read the small print, because the Chengdu leg meant about 37 hours getting home. The same Air Arabia outbound with Air Arabia back through Sharjah cost £826 to £830. With Air India home via Delhi it was £877, and with Qatar Airways home via Doha £938.

For a shorter day, Emirates out via Dubai from Heathrow, Gatwick or Stansted, with Air Arabia home, ran £1,152 to £1,186. The 19:00 Heathrow departure reached Kathmandu at 14:00 the next afternoon, about 13 hours 15 minutes. The Gatwick Air Arabia routing took about 18 hours because of a seven-hour wait in Sharjah. So that day's range was £743 to £1,186, and fares move week to week.

Visa for British passports

You need a visa, and you can buy it on arrival at Kathmandu airport. US$30 buys 15 days, US$50 buys 30 and US$125 buys 90, according to the Department of Immigration, payable in US dollars. Thirty days is plenty for the trek. Apply online beforehand if you want to skip the queue, and print the receipt. Check your passport has about six months left. Britain is not among the 12 countries that must get a visa before travel. Our visa on arrival guide has the forms.

What UK travel insurance has to say

The NHS and the UK Global Health Insurance Card give you nothing in Nepal. Buy a travel policy in Britain before you fly; we do not recommend buying cover in Nepal.

Read the policy for these in writing: trekking to 6,000 metres (Kala Patthar is 5,545 m), helicopter rescue and evacuation, illness as well as accident, and repatriation. Standard annual policies often stop at 3,000 or 4,000 metres or class trekking as hazardous and want an add-on. Specialist adventure cover and mountaineering club memberships exist, but check the altitude cap whichever you pick. A helicopter from Base Camp to Kathmandu costs US$3,000 to US$5,000, about £2,250 to £3,750. Two to three weeks of basic trekking cover is typically US$50 to US$100 and a full travel policy US$100 to US$180. Send me the wording and I will read it. More: helicopter cover to 6,000 m.

What the three tiers mean

On Budget you carry your own bag, share rooms and buy your own meals, and fly to Lukla on a fixed-wing plane. Standard adds all meals, private rooms and a porter for every two trekkers. Luxury gives you a porter of your own, private deluxe ensuite rooms, fruit, nuts and unlimited soft drinks, and helicopters both ways. Every tier includes a licensed guide, the permits (Sagarmatha National Park NPR 3,000, the Khumbu local fee NPR 3,000, TIMS NPR 2,000), airport transfers and a borrowed down jacket and minus 15 sleeping bag. On Standard, solo, the guide carries up to 10 kg of your kit. There is no single supplement, because the guide joins you in Lukla. The 12 days include two acclimatisation days and the highest night is Gorak Shep, 5,164 m. Route: Everest Base Camp 12 days.

Is it hard, and how do you prepare?

We grade the trek strenuous: five to seven hours of walking a day, with a night as high as Gorak Shep at 5,164 m. Ben Nevis, at 1,345 m, is less than half the height of Lukla (2,860 m), so hills at home train your legs but not your lungs. Long loaded days in the Lakes, Scotland or Snowdonia are the best rehearsal, and the route builds in two acclimatisation days. Read how fit you need to be.

Prices by group size

The price is identical for a private group and a shared departure, and we never merge separate private bookings.

Fitting Nepal into a British year

Three windows suit UK diaries. October half term runs about 23 or 26 to 30 October 2026, depending on your council, which falls in good weather. The Easter break for many English councils runs 26 March to 9 April 2027, with Good Friday on 26 March and Easter Monday on 29 March, so late March into April catches the rhododendrons. The two May bank holidays in 2027, 3 May and 31 May, add useful long weekends to the trekking season. Summer holidays are the one clash: June to mid-September is the monsoon.

Nepal's own list has Dashain on 17 to 23 October 2026 and Tihar on 8 to 12 November, when offices close. Permits need 48 hours in government working days, so tell us dates early. In autumn and spring our fixed-wing flights leave from Manthali, four to five hours by road, with a pick-up between midnight and 2 am. Luxury flies by helicopter from Kathmandu instead.

From Sunday 25 October, when UK clocks go back, Nepal is 5 hours 45 minutes ahead of London; until then it is 4 hours 45 minutes. A 13 to 18 hour trip usually lands you in the morning or afternoon, so stay up until evening. Keep a spare day at the end in case the Lukla flight slips.

Paying us from the UK

Ten per cent holds your dates. The balance is due in Kathmandu in US dollars or euros, cash or card, with 3.5 per cent on card and nothing on cash; your own bank may add a foreign fee. Nepali rupees are not accepted from foreign clients. If your plans change, we reschedule free with 72 hours notice (seven days for Tibet, Kailash and restricted areas), to any date within a year. If you cancel instead, the deposit and anything else you have paid are not refunded. If we cannot run the trip, we refund what you paid less taxes, bank or card charges and money already spent on permits and flights.

If something goes wrong in Nepal

The British Embassy in Kathmandu is at Lainchaur and sees the public by appointment only. Read the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office's travel advice for Nepal before you book and again a week before you fly.

Checking us out

Our registration dates from 2016 and we are Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal member 1586. The company registrar, TAAN, the tourism licence and our forex certification are all checkable, and over 300 travellers have reviewed us on TripAdvisor, Google and Trustpilot. A licence is a floor, not a guarantee, and licensed operators have been involved in scams, so ask me anything. Part of every booking supports our Nagarjun Learning Center at Saldum.

Want numbers for your own dates and party size? message me on WhatsApp, +977 9810351300 or email [email protected]. I answer myself.

Further reading: our cost guide, permits and fees and when the helicopter pays off.

Shreejan Simkhada, CEO, The Everest Holiday (TAAN 1586). Family guiding for three generations.