Everest Base Camp Permits and Fees 2026/27: What You Pay and Who Buys It

Last updated 4 October 2026. Fees were read from the Nepal Tourism Board pages on 4 October 2026 and from what our guides pay at the counters this autumn. Dollar figures use 1 US dollar = NPR 154.20 (open.er-api.com, 3 October 2026), so they are a snapshot and will move a little. The rupee figures are the ones that matter.

Every year I answer the same message from someone about to book Everest Base Camp: "Another page says the permits cost something different. Which one is right?" It is a fair question. The permit story for this trek is simple, but pages copy each other, rates get converted at old exchange rates, and one local fee changed not long ago. So this page does one job. It lists the three permits you need for Everest Base Camp, what each costs in rupees and in dollars, who buys it, where it is checked, and why you may have seen other totals elsewhere.

I am writing as the person who signs off our permit budget, so where I know something from a source I name the source, and where I only know it from what our guides do on the trail I say that too. Where I could not find a published source I say so instead of guessing.

How much do the Everest Base Camp permits cost in 2026/27?

Here are the three fees side by side. "Per person" means each trekker pays once for the trek. The dollar column is the rupee figure divided by 154.20.

Permit	Who sets it	Foreigner (NPR)	About US$	SAARC (NPR)	Source
Sagarmatha National Park entry	National park rules, listed by the Nepal Tourism Board	3,000	19.50	1,500	Nepal Tourism Board park entry fees page, read 4 October 2026
Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality fee	The local government of the Khumbu	3,000	19.50	3,000 (our figure, see below)	What we pay at the counter at Lukla or Monjo; I found no page published by the municipality
TIMS card	Nepal Tourism Board with the Trekking Agencies' Association of Nepal (TAAN)	2,000	13	1,000	Nepal Tourism Board TIMS page, read 4 October 2026
Total		8,000	52	5,500	Sum of the three lines

Two honest notes on that table. First, the park fee. The Nepal Tourism Board page lists Sagarmatha National Park at NPR 3,000 for foreigners and NPR 1,500 for SAARC nationals, per person per entry, and the page says nothing about extra tax. I am quoting that figure as published. Second, the Khumbu fee. I could not open a page from the municipality itself, so the NPR 3,000 comes from what our guides hand over at the counter this autumn. If the municipality publishes a different table, I will change this page. For SAARC nationals I have no official table that splits the Khumbu fee, and on our own treks we pay NPR 3,000 for everyone, so I show 3,000 and mark it as our figure rather than a published one.

These three are all you need for the standard trek to Base Camp and back. Everest Base Camp is not a restricted area, so there is no separate restricted-area permit. If you want the same information for every other trek in Nepal, our all-Nepal permits guide covers it. This page goes deeper on one trek.

What does each of the three permits actually do?

The Sagarmatha National Park permit pays for entering the national park, which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. You enter at Monjo, the village on the trail a couple of hours after you leave Phakding. Our guide to Sagarmatha National Park explains what the park protects and where the fee goes.

The Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality fee is a local government fee. The Khumbu is run as a rural municipality, and this is the municipality's charge for trekkers coming through its area. It is a separate payment from the park fee, even though both are checked in the same stretch of trail, which is why trekkers often think one of them is a duplicate. It is not.

The TIMS card is the Trekkers' Information Management System card. TAAN's own page says the system came into effect on 1 January 2008 "to ensure safety and security of trekkers and to control illegal trekking operations". Your agency enters your passport details, nationality, contact details and route into a database. That record is what lets people work out who is in an area after an accident or a natural disaster. Our longer TIMS card guide goes through how it works. We take it on every trek for the safety of the people who walk with us and of our own staff, who are entered on the same record.

Is the TIMS card really still needed for Everest Base Camp?

Yes. This is the point where the most pages disagree, so I will give you the sources rather than my opinion. Some pages say TIMS is "not needed" for the Everest region because the Khumbu municipality fee replaced it. I cannot find a source for that.

The Nepal Tourism Board TIMS page says that under the revised TIMS provision, effective 31 March 2023, specific protected areas "need trekker to be accompanied by licensed trekking guide and carry a trekking agency issued TIMS Card". It then lists the routes. In the Everest region the list includes the Everest Base Camp trek, the Gokyo trek, the Chho La Pass trek, the Gokyo Renjo La Pass trek, the Three Passes trek, the Everest View trek, Mera Peak and the Amphu Labtsha pass. TAAN's page separately says that the TIMS card applies in all trekking areas of the country, including restricted areas, under an agreement between the Nepal Tourism Board and TAAN.

So the two bodies that run TIMS both say it applies. The Khumbu fee and TIMS are different things, and you carry both.

Where are the permits bought, and who buys them?

This is how it works on our treks. I list it by permit because the three are bought in different places.

Permit	Bought by	Where	When
TIMS card	Us, as your agency	Online, through the agency registration form, paid through Nepali payment services; an eCard with a QR code is generated for each trekker	In Kathmandu, before you fly to Lukla
Sagarmatha National Park entry	Us, through your package	Through the trekking company, or at the Nepal Tourism Board office in Kathmandu	Before the trek, or at the park entrance
Khumbu Pasang Lhamu fee	Your guide	On the trail at Lukla or Monjo	On the first days of the trek

One thing from that table is a rule, not a habit of ours. The Nepal Tourism Board says the TIMS card is issued by government-registered trekking agencies, and that trekkers must contact such an agency to get one. For a route on the list above, including Everest Base Camp, you cannot walk into an office and buy it yourself. The agency fills in a form with the details of the trekkers, the guides and the route, pays online, and the system issues the card. The Nepal Tourism Board adds that the system is generally available all the time.

In practice, you do very little. You send us the details in the checklist further down, we handle Kathmandu, and your guide handles the trail.

What does it look like at the checkpoint?

This part comes from our own trail text and from our guides, not from a government page. On day 2 of our 12-day itinerary you walk from Phakding towards Namche Bazaar. About two hours in you reach the park entrance at Monjo. The itinerary says your guide handles the permits while you sit on a bench with a cup of tea. Namche Bazaar is also where the park headquarters stands, so some trekkers are checked again there, and our guides say TIMS can be checked further along the trail as well, for example at Jorsalle.

The check is short. An official looks at your documents, records your details and lets you through. During the busy weeks of October and November there can be a queue of ten to twenty minutes in front of you, which is the main reason to let your guide deal with it and not stand in it yourself.

I cannot cite an official fine schedule for trekking without the right papers, and I will not invent one. What I can say, from our own permits guide, is that our guides treat the rule as simple: no permit, no passage, and a missing paper is a problem to avoid and not one to negotiate. It is another reason the permits are best left to the agency.

A permit receipt cheat-sheet: what to keep and what it is for

Almost no page tells you which paper is which. Here is the set that exists for this trek, and what to do with each.

Paper	What it proves	Who carries it	What I suggest
TIMS eCard (QR code)	You and your guide are registered for this route	Your guide, with a copy on your phone	Ask for a photo of it in Kathmandu
Sagarmatha National Park permit	You paid to enter the park	Your guide	Photograph it at Monjo
Khumbu Pasang Lhamu fee receipt	You paid the municipality's fee	Your guide	Photograph the receipt the day it is issued
Your passport	Your identity for every record above	You	Keep it in a waterproof bag in your daypack
Your guide's licence	The person with you is a licensed guide, which the TIMS rule asks for on this route	Your guide	Ask to see it in Kathmandu

Photographs on your own phone cost nothing and are useful if a paper is ever lost.

What is included in our Everest Base Camp price?

On the 12-day Everest Base Camp trek, the "Permits and Expenses" section of the includes list is the same in the Budget, Standard and Luxury tiers. It reads: the Sagarmatha National Park permit, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality fees, the TIMS card fee, and all government taxes and official expenses. So the full NPR 8,000 is already inside the trek price in every tier, and nothing is due at the checkpoint.

What is not in the permit line, because they are not permits: your Nepal visa, your travel insurance, hotels in Kathmandu (those are not part of any trek tier, we quote them separately) and tips for your guide and porters. Our page on travel insurance for Everest Base Camp explains what cover to look for. For the full budget around the permits, see our Everest Base Camp trek cost page.

If you are comparing agencies, here are the questions I would ask each one in writing:

• Are the park fee, the Khumbu municipality fee and the TIMS card all included, and in which tiers?
• Is the TIMS card issued by a registered agency, as the Nepal Tourism Board says it must be?
• Is the guide licensed, and will you see the licence?
• Is any government tax or bank charge added on top of the quoted price?

Get the answers in writing, with the rupee totals, so that you can compare like with like.

Do SAARC citizens and children pay less?

SAARC citizens do, on two of the three. The Nepal Tourism Board lists the Sagarmatha National Park fee for SAARC nationals as NPR 1,500, and the TIMS card for SAARC applicants as NPR 1,000. That is NPR 2,500 on those two. With the Khumbu fee at NPR 3,000 as we pay it, the total is NPR 5,500, about US$36. If you hold a SAARC passport, tell us when you book.

Children are a narrower question. The Nepal Tourism Board park fee page lists the children's column for Sagarmatha National Park as "Below 10 yrs free". The TIMS page says nothing about children. I have no source for how the Khumbu municipality treats young children, so I will not guess. Our own rule on children is separate and stricter: we do not take children under 14 on this trek, because of the altitude. If you are thinking of bringing a young family, read our age limit guide first.

How long are the permits valid?

The park fee page describes the fee as per person per entry. A single walk in to Base Camp and back is one trek, and that is how we plan it. I found no published validity period for the TIMS card or for the Khumbu fee, and I will not make one up. If your plans are unusual, for example leaving the park and coming back in again later, or combining Base Camp with a longer route, ask us before you book.

Is a guide compulsory for Everest Base Camp?

Read the Nepal Tourism Board's wording above. The revised TIMS provision from 31 March 2023 says that on the listed routes the trekker must be accompanied by a licensed trekking guide and carry an agency-issued TIMS card, and the Everest Base Camp trek is on the list. I am quoting that page and nothing more. I am not claiming anything beyond what it says, and I would check any page, including this one, against it.

For us it is a moot point, because every trek we run has a licensed guide, in every tier. The longer discussion, with the solo-trekking question, is on our page on trekking to Base Camp without a guide.

Why do other pages quote different totals?

You will see several figures for the same trek. These are the reasons I can document, and I will not name the pages.

• The Khumbu fee has been quoted at NPR 2,000. We understand the fee was raised from NPR 2,000 to NPR 3,000 in September 2024, and some pages still carry the old number. Some also split it by length of stay, with a higher rate after four weeks. We do not charge by length of stay on a standard trek. We pay NPR 3,000, and I say above that I have no municipality page to point to.
• "TIMS is not needed in Everest." The Nepal Tourism Board lists the Everest Base Camp trek among the routes that need it, and TAAN says it applies across the country. That is the answer I trust.
• Older TIMS figures. TAAN's own TIMS page still shows an older structure: Rs 1,000 for group trekkers on a blue card and Rs 2,000 for individual trekkers on a green card, with Rs 300 and Rs 600 for the SAARC equivalents. The Nepal Tourism Board's current page shows NPR 2,000 for others and NPR 1,000 for SAARC applicants, and that is the table I use. A trekker who adds up the TAAN page and the Nepal Tourism Board page will get two different totals from two official sites.
• Old exchange rates. A rupee fee converted at a rate from years ago gives a dollar total that is too high. Today NPR 8,000 is about US$52.
• Different treks, one headline. Gokyo, the Three Passes and the peaks have their own extra charges. A page that lumps them together will quote a bigger number than Base Camp needs.

If a number you have seen does not match this page, send it to me. I would rather correct this page than have you carry the wrong number into a budget.

What changes for Gokyo, the Three Passes, Island Peak and Mera Peak?

The same three Everest-region permits apply to the walking routes, and the Nepal Tourism Board's TIMS list includes Gokyo, the Gokyo Renjo La pass, Chho La, the Three Passes and Mera Peak. Beyond that I would rather send you to the page for each trip than quote a figure I have not checked against a source for that route. Our Gokyo Lakes trek cost and Three Passes trek cost pages cover those.

For climbing peaks there is an extra charge that Base Camp trekkers do not pay. The Nepal Mountaineering Association lists a royalty for Mera Peak of US$350 in spring and US$175 in autumn, winter and summer, per person. That is on top of the trekking permits. For the full picture on climbs, see our Mera Peak cost and permits guide and our Island Peak cost guide.

What paperwork do I need to send you?

The list is short, and it is the same list we ask every trekker for.

• A scan or photo of the photo page of your passport.
• Two passport-size photographs, which you can bring with you to Kathmandu.
• Your emergency contact details.
• Your trek dates and route.
• Your travel insurance details, because I always check that the policy covers trekking at altitude and helicopter evacuation. This is our own rule and not a permit requirement.

The earlier we have the passport page and the dates, the earlier the TIMS card can be filled in, because the form records the trekker, the guide and the route together.

Who does what between your booking and Lukla?

Step	Who	What happens
After you book	You	Send the passport page, dates, emergency contact and insurance details
Before you fly to Lukla	Us	We complete the TIMS registration with your details and your guide's, pay it online, and keep the eCard
Before the trek or at the park entrance	Us and your guide	The Sagarmatha National Park entry permit is arranged through the company
Day 1 or 2 on the trail	Your guide	Pays the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu fee at Lukla or Monjo
Day 2, Monjo	Your guide	Hands over the documents at the park entrance while you rest

That is the whole process. Nothing on the list asks you to queue, pay cash or fill in a government form.

Do Dashain and Tihar change anything for permits?

The Nepal government holiday notice for 2026 closes government offices from 17 to 23 October for Dashain and from 8 to 12 November for Tihar. For a standard Everest Base Camp trek, the permits are handled by us and the TIMS system is, in the Nepal Tourism Board's words, generally available all the time, so the holiday is not the main risk. The bigger problem in those weeks is flights and crowded trails. Our pages on Dashain 2026 and Tihar 2026 have the dates and what to build in. If you are trekking during either festival, please send your passport details as early as you can.

The one place where the closures really bite is climbing and restricted-area permits, which need 48 hours counted in government working days. That does not apply to the standard trek to Base Camp.

Will the fees change for 2027?

I do not predict fees, and I have not seen an official notice of a change. What I know is that the Khumbu fee has changed within the last few years, and that Nepal's permit rules have moved more than once in 2026. So please treat every figure on this page as the position on 4 October 2026. We watch the Nepal Tourism Board pages and the counters, and we update this page when an official source changes.

What should I do next?

If you are comparing prices, check that every quote includes all three permits and says so in writing. If you want to see exactly what our 12-day trek includes, read the Everest Base Camp trek page and the day-by-day itinerary. If you want to ask me anything about the permits, my WhatsApp is +977 9810351300. I answer it myself.

About The Everest Holiday

We are a family company in Kathmandu, three generations of family 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 family guide. TAAN Member #1586.