Luxury Nepal trekking: premium lodges, helicopter transfers and what the luxury tier really includes

Last updated 4 September 2026. Prices below are our live 2026 prices, and they hold for 2027 departures too.

Most people who ask me about luxury trekking are not asking for marble bathrooms at 5,000 metres. They are asking a simpler question: can I see Everest Base Camp, or the Annapurna Sanctuary, or Lo Manthang, without sharing a cold room with a stranger, without queueing for a bucket of hot water, and without carrying my own bag? The honest answer is yes, within the limits of what exists on a mountain trail. This page explains exactly what our luxury tier includes, what it costs, and where the limits are.

Every trek we run comes in three tiers: budget, standard and luxury. The route, the villages and the mountains are the same. What changes is who carries your bag, what you eat, where you sleep, and how you get to the trailhead. Message me on WhatsApp if you want the tier explained for a specific trek and date.

What does the luxury tier actually include?

These are the inclusions written into our luxury packages, not marketing lines. I am quoting from the Everest Base Camp 12-day package, and the other luxury treks follow the same rules.

• Helicopter to Lukla and back. On the Everest routes the luxury tier flies Kathmandu to Lukla by helicopter in both directions. No Manthali drive at one in the morning, no waiting out a cancelled fixed-wing flight. This alone is the reason many people choose luxury on Everest.
• One porter per trekker. Your own porter carries up to 20 kg. You walk with a small day bag, and your guide helps with water, camera and snacks. On standard, one porter is shared between two trekkers. On budget, there is no porter at all.
• One guide for every two trekkers. A licensed, English-speaking guide, with an assistant guide added for every further two trekkers.
• All meals, with extras. Breakfast, lunch and dinner every day on the trail, with seasonal fruit, dried fruit and nuts at every meal. Tea, coffee, cold drinks, juice and mineral water whenever you want them. Only alcohol is excluded.
• Private deluxe rooms with attached bathrooms, wherever they exist. Hot showers, device charging, bed heaters and internet are paid for by us wherever the lodge offers them.
• Private luxury vehicle for airport transfers in Kathmandu.
• Free gear. Down jacket, sleeping bag rated to minus 15 degrees, and a duffel bag for your porter. These are our own kit, not rentals, and you tell us at the briefing whether you need them.
• All permits, national park fees, municipality fees and government taxes.

Two things are not included on any tier, and I would rather you hear it from me now than at the booking page. Kathmandu hotel nights before and after the trek are quoted separately, because people want very different hotels. Travel insurance that covers helicopter rescue above 5,000 metres is your responsibility, and we check it before you fly.

Budget, standard and luxury side by side

What you get	Budget	Standard	Luxury
Lukla transport	Fixed-wing flight (via Manthali in peak months)	Fixed-wing flight (via Manthali in peak months)	Helicopter, both ways, direct from Kathmandu
Porters	None, you carry your own bag	One porter per two trekkers	One porter per trekker
Meals on trek	Not included	All meals	All meals plus fruit, nuts and unlimited soft drinks
Rooms	Shared	Private	Private deluxe with attached bathroom where available
Hot showers, charging, bed heaters, internet	Pay at the lodge	Pay at the lodge	Paid by us where the lodge offers them
Sleeping bag and down jacket	Free	Free	Free
Duffel bag	Bring your own	Provided	Provided
Airport transfers	Taxi or jeep	Taxi or jeep	Private luxury vehicle

If you want the same comparison worked through in money, this page breaks down what the price difference buys on Everest specifically.

Which luxury treks do we recommend?

Everest Base Camp, 12 days, luxury tier

This is the full walk to base camp and back, with the helicopter used for the Kathmandu to Lukla leg in both directions. You still earn the Kala Patthar sunrise on foot. The helicopter removes the two things that ruin Everest trips: the Manthali drive and the weather lottery at Lukla.

Price: luxury USD 4,999 per person. Also available: budget USD 1,399, standard USD 2,499. See the itinerary and book.

Everest Base Camp with helicopter return, 10 days

You walk up through Namche, Tengboche and Dingboche, stand at base camp, climb Kala Patthar, and then fly out from Gorak Shep instead of walking three days back to Lukla. The flight down the Khumbu is the best half hour of the trip for many people. On the luxury tier you also get the helicopter into Lukla at the start, your own porter, all meals and the best rooms.

Price: luxury USD 6,499 per person. Also available: budget USD 4,499, standard USD 4,999. See the itinerary and book.

Everest Base Camp and Gokyo Lakes, 15 days

If you have the time, this is the trek I would choose on the luxury tier. Base camp, Kala Patthar, the Cho La pass, then the turquoise Gokyo lakes and Gokyo Ri, which carries about a fifth of the traffic of the main corridor. Fifteen days is long enough that a private room and someone else carrying your bag stop being a treat and become the reason you finish well.

Price: luxury USD 5,299 per person. Also available: budget USD 1,699, standard USD 2,799. See the itinerary and book.

Annapurna Base Camp, 9 days

The Annapurna Sanctuary has the most comfortable lodges of any major trek in Nepal, because the villages are lower and the road is closer. Attached bathrooms are common up to Chhomrong, and the hot springs at Jhinu Danda on the way down are a genuine reward. Above Deurali the lodges are simple whatever you pay, and I will not pretend otherwise.

Price: luxury USD 1,400 per person. Also available: budget USD 499, standard USD 799. See the itinerary and book.

Ghorepani Poon Hill, 6 days

The short luxury trek. Six days from Pokhara through Gurung villages and rhododendron forest to the Poon Hill sunrise, with Dhaulagiri and the Annapurnas lined up in front of you. The Ghorepani lodges are good, the walking is gentle, and it fits inside a one-week holiday.

Price: luxury USD 1,111 per person. Also available: budget USD 499, standard USD 749. See the itinerary and book.

Upper Mustang, 10 days

Upper Mustang is different from every other trek on this page, and it is the one closest to my heart. It was closed to foreigners until 1992, it sits in the rain shadow so you can walk it in the monsoon, and the restricted-area permit of USD 50 per person per day keeps the numbers low. Lo Manthang, the walled capital, and the monasteries around it are the reason to go. Lodges are the best each village has, which in Mustang means clean, warm and family-run rather than grand. If you want the Tiji festival, the 2027 dates are 1 to 3 June and the lodges fill a year ahead.

Price: luxury USD 3,500 per person. Also available: budget USD 1,290, standard USD 1,930. See the itinerary and book. There is a longer read on the region in my Upper Mustang guide.

What does luxury look like at altitude?

This is the part most luxury trekking pages skip. Comfort on a Himalayan trail is decided by altitude, not by how much you paid, and I would rather set your expectations properly.

Below 3,000 metres, the luxury tier feels like a good guesthouse. Attached bathrooms with hot showers, proper mattresses, a menu to choose from, reliable charging and usually wifi. Namche Bazaar, Ghorepani, Chhomrong and Kagbeni all sit in this band.

Between 3,000 and 4,500 metres, you get the best room in the lodge, which your guide books ahead. Hot showers are solar or gas heated and sometimes lukewarm. The dining room has a stove and everyone gathers around it. Attached bathrooms exist in some lodges at Dingboche and Deboche but not all, so the wording on our package is deliberate: attached bathroom where available.

Above 4,500 metres, at Lobuche and Gorak Shep, every lodge is basic. Even the best room is a plywood room. What the luxury tier buys you here is the best of what exists, hot water for washing, unlimited hot drinks, your porter and guide looking after you, and a helicopter waiting at the end of the walk. It is not a hotel. It is warm, fed and cared for, which at 5,000 metres is what luxury means.

On the Everest trail there is one real hotel at altitude, the Everest View Hotel above Namche at 3,880 metres, which most people visit for lunch on the acclimatisation day. I have written about it separately, including what it does and does not offer.

How much does a luxury trek in Nepal cost?

All prices are per person in US dollars, private group only. We never add strangers to your group, and the price is the same whether you book as a private trip or call it a group trip. Discounts depend only on how many of you there are.

Trek	Days	Budget	Standard	Luxury
Poon Hill	6	USD 499	USD 749	USD 1,111
Mardi Himal	7	USD 454	USD 849	USD 1,111
Langtang Valley	8	USD 365	USD 650	USD 1,000
Annapurna Base Camp	9	USD 499	USD 799	USD 1,400
Upper Mustang	10	USD 1,290	USD 1,930	USD 3,500
Manaslu Circuit	12	USD 799	USD 1,599	USD 2,099
Everest Base Camp	12	USD 1,399	USD 2,499	USD 4,999
Everest Base Camp with helicopter return	10	USD 4,499	USD 4,999	USD 6,499
Everest Base Camp and Gokyo Lakes	15	USD 1,699	USD 2,799	USD 5,299
Everest Three Passes	17	USD 1,649	USD 2,659	USD 4,719

Booking works the same on every tier: a 10 percent deposit online, the rest in Kathmandu. The deposit is not refundable, but you can move your dates free of charge with 72 hours' written notice, or seven days for Upper Mustang and other restricted areas. How the deposit works is explained in full there.

How does this compare with an international operator?

Foreign companies selling luxury Nepal treks commonly quote several thousand dollars per person more than the figures above for the same trail, and most of them subcontract the actual trek to a Kathmandu company. Sometimes to a company like ours. You are paying for their brochure and their margin. When you book with us you are booking the operator: our guides, our porters, our helicopter bookings, our office in Kathmandu answering the phone at midnight when a flight is cancelled. I have gone into the numbers in the luxury lodge cost guide and, for the Everest trek specifically, in the EBC cost breakdown.

Can you add a helicopter tour or a Kathmandu stay?

Yes to both. We run a one-day Everest helicopter tour for people who want the mountains without the walk, or as an extra day at the end of a trek. The current prices and how the shared seat and private charter differ are on the helicopter price guide. For Kathmandu we book the hotel you ask for and quote it separately, from heritage boutique hotels in Thamel to the Marriott, and we arrange private day tours of Bhaktapur, Patan and Boudhanath with our own guides.

What our guests say

The thing our luxury guests mention most is not the room. It is that someone was choosing the room. Laura P wrote on TripAdvisor in May 2025 after her Langtang trek that the inns and teahouses "were always selected with care and very cosy", and that her guide was "always doing his very best to make us comfortable and find solutions". That is the job, on every tier, and the luxury tier gives the guide the budget to do it fully.

Frequently asked questions

Is luxury trekking in Nepal really luxury?

Below 3,500 metres, yes, by any reasonable standard: private ensuite rooms, hot showers, good food, someone carrying your bag. Above 4,500 metres, no lodge in Nepal is luxurious, whoever you book with. What you are paying for up there is the best available room, full board, your own porter, and the helicopter that means you do not have to walk back down or drive to Manthali.

Can I get a hot shower at Everest Base Camp?

Nobody sleeps at base camp on a trek. The last lodges are at Gorak Shep, where hot water for washing is by the bucket. The last proper hot showers are at Dingboche and Pheriche, and reliably at Namche.

Is the helicopter return worth it?

If your knees, your time or your patience with the Lukla weather are limited, yes. You skip three days of descending the same trail and you see the Khumbu from above. If the walk itself is the point for you, take the 12-day trek and use the helicopter only for the Kathmandu to Lukla legs, which the luxury tier already includes.

Is wine or beer available on the trek?

Beer is sold at most lodges and wine at some in the Annapurna region and Namche. Alcohol is not included on any tier, and above 4,000 metres I would ask you not to drink it anyway, because it makes altitude sickness harder to spot.

What is the maximum group size?

Two to twenty on every trek. Solo travellers can book too. Groups of eight or more get an assistant guide on the budget and standard tiers; the luxury tier adds an assistant for every two extra trekkers.

Do you arrange luxury hotels in Kathmandu and Pokhara?

Yes. Tell us your preference at the online briefing and we quote it separately, so you are not paying for a hotel category you did not choose.

How do I book a luxury trek?

Open the trek page, choose the luxury tier and your dates, and pay the 10 percent deposit by card. Or message me on WhatsApp first and I will build the trip around your dates, your fitness and how much comfort you want. Every booking also helps fund our Nagarjun Learning Center, the school our family supports in Kathmandu.

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