Everest Base Camp

Everest Base Camp is the most famous trek on Earth, and for once the fame is deserved. The route runs straight through the heart of Sherpa country — the cliff-perched market of Namche Bazaar, the gilded prayer halls of Tengboche, the rubble-strewn glaciers of the upper Khumbu — to the very foot of the highest mountain on the planet. Every day the peaks grow larger and the air grows thinner until Everest itself, hidden for much of the walk, finally stands clear above the icefall.

This is a teahouse trek, so nights are spent in warm mountain lodges rather than tents, with hot meals and the easy company of trekkers from across the world. But the altitude is entirely real: the high point at Kala Patthar tops 18,000 ft, and the thin air at Gorak Shep is felt in every step. We build in proper acclimatisation days at Namche and Dingboche, move at a sustainable pace, and add a buffer day in Kathmandu for the notoriously fickle Lukla flights.

We run it only in the clear, stable windows of spring and autumn, when the skies hold and the high passes shed their cloud. It asks for steady fitness and patience with altitude — not technical skill — and it returns one of the great walking journeys anywhere in the mountains.