Everest Base Camp Gokyo Lakes Trekking: An adventure exploration of pristine Himalayan lakes and vistas

Trekking to Everest base camp becomes even more interesting when you can explore pristine Himalayan lakes perched amidst the gigantic mountain peaks. Everest Base Camp Gokyo Lakes Trekking brings you such a chance to explore and indulge in the charm of Himalayan lakes and views. The trip goes on an amazing detour from the Everest base camp trekking route towards Gokyo region where you can enjoy the mystical view of the lakes.
There are five beautiful lakes in the Gokyo region peacefully perched amidst the mountain peaks. Apart from enjoying the lakes and view, you can also hike to beautiful view points of Gokyo Ri and Kalapatthar. Crossing Cho la pass at the elevation of 5,420 meters above sea level along the trekking route to Everest base camp from Gokyo is another highlight of the trip. 
This trip is ideal for the trekkers who love to seek a little more thrill and higher level of challenge. Embark on the once-in-life-time Everest base camp Gokyo lakes trekking and enjoy the serenity, magnificence and abundant energy of the mountains and cultures.

 

Highlights

  • To trek on the legendary trail to the Mt. Everest base camp
  • To explore the beauty of Gokyo lakes
  • To hike to Gokyo Ri and trek over Cho la pass
  • To challenge the adventurer in you in the rough and rugged mountain trail
  • To experience Sherpa culture and life
  • To enjoy breathtaking Himalayan views
  • To breathe fresh air and mountain peace
  • To be wonderstruck by the exceptionally close up view Mt. Everest
  • To enjoy the moments of joy 
  • To indulge in the cultural exploration of Kathmandu valley

Itinerary

Detail Itinerary Outline Itinerary

Day

You arrive to Kathmandu today. You will be received at the airport and then transferred to hotel. Try to manage your arrival time by the afternoon so that we can meet for an important trip briefing session in the evening. We will leave you with information about the trip briefing timing upon your arrival. Briefing will be at the hotel itself. Until the briefing, take your time to refresh and relax.

  • Meals: Breakfast
  • Accommodation: 3 Star Hotel
  • Altitude: 1,350m

 Before heading to the mountains, you have a full day in Kathmandu to acclimatize for the higher elevation of the mountains. While in Kathmandu, you will be at the elevation of 1,350 meters above sea level. We are taking you for a full day exploration of the Kathmandu valley. Kathmandu valley is a rich place in cultural heritage wonders and we are going to show you around some of them. You will visit four of the heritage sites today - Swoyambhunath, Patan Durbar Square, Pashupatinath and Boudhanath. These sites are of historical, cultural and spiritual importance that will project the general overview of Kathmandu valley. 

Enjoy the day with our expert city tour guide who will be accompanying and showing you around the sites. Learn about these places from our local insider guide.  

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: 3 Star Hotel
  • Place: Swoyambhunath, Patan Durbar Square, Pashupatinath and Boudhanath.
  • Altitude: 1,350m

This will be the first day in the mountains. Entering into the Everest region and getting into the mountain atmosphere is getting us excited. We drive to the airport for early morning flight to Lukla airstrip. This spectacular, small plane flight takes us to the beautiful Everest region that we will be enjoying for the next few days.

After getting into Lukla and meeting our whole trekking crew, our trekking adventure for the day begins. We embark on the first day of trekking towards Phakding that beautifully lies on the Dudh Koshi River bank. The trail will bring us to several incredible Buddhist prayer walls and prayer wheels along with beautiful view and landscape. The walk for the day will be of about four hours. After checking into the guest house, we can take some time out to explore the surroundings and enjoy the sounds of water in the river. 

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 2,610m

Famous village Namche, also known as Namche Bazar, is our overnight place for today. We embark on the trek towards the destination after breakfast. The walk today involves crossing and re-crossing of River Dudh Koshi several times along the trail. Our walk goes past Jorsalle and Monjo where we can stop for lunch break. We enter Sagarmatha National Park from Monjo onwards and the walk becomes more difficult as the steep ascent to Namche begins here.

The trail, despite its difficulty, brings several wonderful places and views. Crossing of suspension bridges over the river is truly exciting and walking through forested part is a peaceful walking adventure. We eventually emerge at Namche Bazar and the whole village is seen perched on the beautiful mountain slope. This Sherpa capital is also the last place on the trek where you can use your ATM; buy trekking gear you want and enjoy a little bit of happening. 

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 3,440m

Namche Bazar is our first acclimatization stop in the mountains before we go further higher on our trek. Acclimatization is really important at the higher elevation of the mountains so we are taking a day here at Namche for the same. 

We will go for a hiking exploration of the surroundings that will help us adjust with the elevation and also enjoy magnificent views of the mountains. We hike up to the Everest view point from where we can see the first ever glace of Mt. Everest if the weather is clear. Later, we descend back down to Namche bazar and go for an exploration of the place. We enjoy walking the Namche bazar streets; talking to people and enjoying the whole lot of things going on at this beautiful mountain town.

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 3,440m

From today onwards, we are going to take a detour on the Everest base camp trekking route. We take the trail towards Dole as our destination for the day. As it’s a detour, we will find this route fairly peaceful than the regular base camp trail. We will meet fewer people along the trail as we advance towards Dole to spend our overnight. Dole is a beautiful village and the first stopover towards Gokyo lakes from Namche bazar.

Amazing landscapes unfold their mysterious wonders to us as we traverse the trail towards our destination. Once we reach Dole and check into a guest teahouse, we can wander around to explore the surroundings. 

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 4,084m

Our adventure is getting closer to the Gokyo lakes as we trek to Machhermo to stay overnight today. But we are still a day walk away from the Gokyo lakes from Machhermo. The day will bring us beautiful sights of mountains and wonderful landscapes and surroundings. The walk to Machhermo provides the view of beautiful mountain peaks like Kangtga, Cho Oyu, Thamserku etc. Although a short walk, it feels a little challenging as the effect of increasing elevation.

We settle in a teahouse and explore around the place. 

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 4,410m.

We reach Gokyo today. It’s short and steep walking day to the destination. The walk passes through moraine filled trail with the view of Ngozumpa glacier along the trail. We walk past two of the Gokyo lakes along the trail before reaching the third lake to spend our overnight. View of the mountain peaks from along the trail makes our walk even more wonderful.

We are going to stay on the shore of peaceful third lake in Gokyo. We enjoy the serene and magnificent power of the lake that completely enchants us. 

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 4,750m

This is a pretty challenging yet a worth-going-for day. We set off early morning on a hike to Gokyo Ri that takes us at the elevation of 5,483 meters above sea level. From the top of the Ri, we can enjoy the breathtaking vista of Himalayan peaks. The third lake is seen peacefully perched far down below. We hike back down and spend rest of the day at leisure wandering around the lake. 

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 5,483m

We are now aiming towards Cho La pass as another big adventure but we definitely enjoy the views and wonders in between. Our short walk of about 4 hours takes us to Thagnag for overnight stay. Once we reach the destination, we check into a teahouse and wander around the place and explore the surroundings.

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 4,690m

Another big adventure of the trip comes today on our route to Dzongla. Trekking over 5,420 meters high Cho La pass is definitely a highlight of the trip. The very first part of the day takes us high up towards the pass from Thagnag. The pass is challenging yet no technical knowledge is required to climb it. Once we reach the top, we will be dumbfounded by the view that we see. After enjoying the view and moment at the top of pass, we descend all the way down to Dzongla to stay overnight.

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 5,420m

Our walk on the 12th day of Everest Base Camp Gokyo trekking adventure takes us to Lobuche. The trail provides some awesome views of the mountains as we trek to Lobuche. When we reach Lobuche, we meet the regular Everest base camp tripe. Once we check in to the guest house, might be able to go around and explore the place.

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House

It is the most important and highlight day of the trip as we are going to trek all the way to Everest base camp. After starting from Lobuche, we head towards Gorakhsep that is our sleeping place for tonight. We reach Gorakshep that is perched amidst the mountains just below Kalapatthar. We check into guesthouse and wait for the lunch.

Later, after lunch, we get ready to hike to Everest base camp. We again follow the moraine filled trail with boulders on a gradual slope up towards the base of the world’s highest mountain. We will soon find ourselves standing at the foot of Mt. Everest at the elevation of 5,364 meters above sea level. We will be mesmerized by the view and the feeling of being at the Everest base camp. We make the most out of our moment in the base camp to carry back good memories.

After the awesome time at the base camp, we return back to Gorakshep to stay overnight.

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 5,364m

We will have to wake up early morning today to hike up to Kalapatthar. This early morning hike takes us to the elevation of 5,445 meters above sea level that is the highest on the trip. The early morning wake up and struggle up the mountain is worth doing as the view point brings breathtaking close up and panoramic view of the mountains including Mt. Everest. To add to our mountain excitement, a spectacular sunrise makes our moment there even more incredible.

Later, we hike down to Gorakshep and enjoy our breakfast. Now, it’s the time to traverse the trail back down. We check out the guest house and embark on the trek for the day back down to Pheriche.

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 4,370m.

This day of return trip on our adventure takes us to Khumjung as our destination for the day. The will be probably the longest one in terms of the distance coverage. Although we are going lower in elevation, we will have to walk a lot of uphill climbs as well.

Once we arrive at Khumjung, we can explore the wonders of the village. This village is one of the largest villages in the region. This beautiful Sherpa village has a Buddhist monastery that has a yeti skull. We enjoy the view and wonders of the village. 

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 3,790m

We are going to exit Sagarmatha National park today. Our trek for the day takes us to Monjo to stay overnight. As we embark on the adventure walk down towards the destination, we come to Namche bazar where we will stop for lunch break. We can explore the Sherpa once again if we like. After the lunch, our trek begins down towards Monjo.

Once we check out of the national park and reach Monjo, we settle into a guesthouse and spend leisurely time. We can wander around in the surroundings to immerse more into the atmosphere. The Dudh Koshi River valley has a special charm to spread peaceful ambience.

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: Tea House
  • Altitude: 2,835m

We have come to the end of trekking part of this trip. Today is the last day that we can enjoy walking through the mountain trail on this trip. The walk along Dudh Koshi River valley via Phakding takes to Lukla to stay overnight.

Our Everest base camp trekking adventure has brought us so many amazing wonders – from Sherpa cultural experience to breathtaking views of mountains. We celebrate the mountain wonders and the trek to Gokyo lakes and Everest base camp at Lukla. We thank all the amazing crew members for making it happen. We spend the relaxing night at Lukla.

  • Meals: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner
  • Accommodation: 3 Star Hotel
  • Altitude: 2,860m

We are flying back to Kathmandu today. Another wonderful flight takes us to Kathmandu. Once we reach Kathmandu, we will have time at leisure. Take some time to wander around the streets of Kathmandu. You can go for some souvenir shopping; find restaurant to dine; take some relaxing trekkers’ massage or just wander around.

  • Meals: Breakfast
  • Accommodation: 3 Star Hotel
  • Altitude: 1,350m

All the services on the trip conclude today unless extended. If you are departing home or other destinations, we will transfer you to airport.

  • Meals: Breakfast

What to Expect

  • Airport pickup and drop off service on your arrival and departure
  • 3-star level hotel accommodation on twin sharing basis in Kathmandu
  • Simple lodge accommodation on the trekking
  • All breakfasts for the trip; all meals during the trek
  • Kathmandu – Lukla – Kathmandu flight ticket
  • All necessary permits for trekking
  • A professional trekking guide for the trip
  • Necessary number of porters for the trek
  • First aid kit
  • Guided Kathmandu sightseeing tour
  • International flight ticket and travel insurance
  • Nepal visa fees
  • Lunches and dinners in Kathmandu; any kind of drinks
  • Gratuities 
  • All other expenses of personal nature and not mentioned in the “Includes” section

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