Believe it or not, the AdventureFaktory team did Everest Base Camp without a guide or a porter. Can you or can you not do this trek without a guide? We now have all the information you need to prepare for your journey. Down below is all the questions we asked ourselves before we began our research and will be a great guide for you and your plans, no matter which way you want to experience this magnificent journey.
Can you hike Everest Base Camp by yourself?
The simple answer is yes. The more complicated answer is that it will just take you a little more organization to do so but definitely possible. Also a thing to note is that you can pretty much only do it yourself during low season. We will tell you why along the way…
Do I need a Guide or Porter for Everest Base Camp?
Absolutely not, you do not need a one porter at all. We trekked the whole way without a porter. As for the guide, we did get on the wrong track twice, which would’ve saved at least 2 hours of extra trekking. However without them, you will need to source accommodation yourself and carry your own things. Of course, we are speaking as people that are considerably fit enough. We would say that if you were less fit than Thuymi, you would start struggling after the first day trekking with 1/4 of your weight. Note that if you are going during high season which is anytime not in November to January, you will need to book via a guide in (way) advance because accommodation is very restricted and guides do have priority and have their contacts to reserve spots, so you will most likely have to camp if you’re thinking of doing this by yourself without a guide during high season.
Is trekking Everest Base Camp by yourself hard?
We are in reasonably good shape and although there were a few tough days, in general this is a doable difficult trek for all ages. The hardest thing about the trek we found was dealing with altitude (which involves plenty of common sense) and staying hydrated. Doing those 2 things makes it a lot easier.
Is the Everest Base Camp Trek marked out well?
The trek itself is not marked out very well. This is done on purpose as they want you to use Sherpas and guides instead of going solo. The trek is not very difficult (in the sense it is not a mystery trail) and as long as you know what town you are heading to next, you will be ok. There are always people on the trek so you can follow a group or just ask locals on your way. Also, if you download Maps.Me app, it will point you in the right direction as well. Although, from after Gorak Shep, this is where this start to be more complicated if you go without a guide.
Where to stay on the Everest Base Camp Trek?
You have two options here, you can bring your tent and camp in the villages or, and the most common way, is to stay at the TeaHouses in every village. They have the bare minimum (beds, blankets, bathrooms) but the higher you go, the more basic they become. When we hiked during low season (December), we just walked into each village and asked around. During the busy season, April and September, you will need to book weeks/months in advance. To book Accommodation, send us an email and we can help with that 🙂
How many days does Everest Base Camp take?
This will be entirely up to you but we took 10 days. This include two acclimatization/rest days and they were just after we climbed a great altitude the day before. Some groups we spoke to did it in 9 and some took 11/12. It will be up to you and going at a speed you are comfortable. There is flexibility in your return flight so do not panic about getting up and down quickly. 2/3 Acclimatization days will be plenty. 14 days for us total.
How much does it cost for Everest Base Camp?
Here is a cost breakdown for what we spent with Base Camp. It worked out to approximately 30$US a day on the mountain. Our biggest costs were the internal flights (they do not vary too much) and the food. Internal flights from Kathmandu to Lukla were about 250$US return and you need to get these. Food was more expensive the higher up we went so we made sure we didn’t over eat. We ate 2 big meals a day each which cost us about 8-10 dollars a meal. The accommodation can be only 2-3 dollars a day during low season.
The visa to get into Nepal was 40$US and the pass to get into the National parks were 30$US and 30$US for each park you trek through.
Wifi is free in the first few days but then you have to pay approximately 6$US for 200MB cards which isn a ripoff and goes so quickly! Not worth it at all!
What do I need to bring for Everest Base Camp?
We created a full article with everything you need to know on what to pack and also depending on when you are going on The Ultimate Packing List for Base Camp!
Are there any more questions that you need answers for? Leave us a comment below and we will do our best to get you the answers you are looking for! If you still want to go with a guide, we know a very good friend there who does great deals on tours and speaks perfect English, email us for more details.
We would’ve not been able to do this trip without our partners
Organizing this trip can be very costly, most importantly for the gear during our trek to stay warm. We would like to thank the Marmot team from the Middle East (ZSI Trading) to kit us up with a lot of layers to keep warm. Special thanks also to the Columbia Middle East team for providing us very good hiking shoes on top of some missing gear we needed to stay even warmer! The GearMeUp and Adventurati Outdoors team also made sure to provide us with neck warmers, delicious Picky Bars and very much needed Nalgene bottles. Belkin was kind enough to provide us with technology to stay charged. The Souq.com team was also very helpful in providing us a shopping spree which we made sure to get beef jerky (for meat cravings during the hike), climbing poles, UV sunglasses, creams, wipes, etc. Sephora was very helpful by throwing in our bags packs of wet wipes (so useful considering showers are a luxury during the treks) and lip balms! To wrap up, we have to thank the FlyDubai team for sending us from Dubai to Kathmandu. To all partners, this trip would’ve not been possible without your kind support! You can read more about our packing list here.
- Have you ever been to Nepal before?
- Would you try and do a hike like this? You can read more about the Everest Base Camp here too.
- Don’t forget to book your travel insurance before travelling.
- If you don’t have your flights, check out ways to book the cheapest fares here, but if planning and booking your trip is a hassle, let us help! Contact us now.
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