EBC Budgeting

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HOW TO BUDGET FOR THE EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK?
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In this post, we have broken down all the expenses for our 15-day Everest Base camp
trek, including accommodation, food, flights and all the permits. We were able to lower
our expenses by going independently without hiring any guide or a porter.
Before our departure, we were not sure how to plan a budget for the Everest base camp
trek. Let alone if the famous Everest base camp trek can really be done on a small
budget. But after what we had read on the internet we finally decided to plan to stay
under $50 a day per person, if possible.
Definitely, among the highest costs belong the flights from Kathmandu to Lukla and all
the permits.
Read more about the Lukla airport! The honest truth that no one is talking about!
But after paying those initial expenses we were surprised that the Everest base camp
trek is not that expensive. The Everest base camp trek can surely be done on a low
budget especially if you decide not to fly to Lukla and walk to Namche Bazar instead.
But let´s have a look at the average expenses that you can expect on the Everest base
camp trek.
Note: Don´t forget to bring rupees with you on the Everest base camp trek. There are
very limited options to withdraw money along the trail. Plus all the accommodation and
food need to be paid in rupees. The only ATM that you will find on the trek are in Lukla
and Namche Bazar. It is much safer to bring cash with you.
are happy with it.
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Everest Base camp trek: the things we How to save money while trekking in
wish to know before Nepal
0.66
The budget for the Everest base camp trek for a couple
Total days spend on the Everest base camp trek: 15 day
Average daily trek costs per couple:
◾ Accommodation: $4
◾ Food: $23
◾ Miscellaneous: $3
So on average, we spend on the trek: $30 a day per couple
◾ Flights: $720 (two return tickets)
◾ Permits: $95
Total costs: $1 293
Average costs: $43 per day per person
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Accommodation on the Everest base camp trek
◾ The accommodation in teahouses along the Everest base camp trek is cheap. On
average we spent just $4 per night per couple. The prices for accommodation rises
as you get higher. With the highest prices for the night in Lobuche and Gorak Shep.
◾ You can expect to pay between 200 – 700 rupees for a room in the most teahouses.
Up to 4 000 metres, the accommodation usually cost 200 – 500 rupees per night.
Above 4 000 metres, price per room rises between 500 – 700 rupees per night.
◾ Our most expensive accommodation was in Lobuche and Gorak Shep, where night
cost $7 a night.
Note: In Lobuche and Gorak shep there is a central system for paying for accommodation.
You don´t pay for accommodation directly in the lodges. Actually, when you come to the
village you will see a checkpoint, where you are required to pay a fee. Lobuche charged
us 700 rupees, as well as Gorak Shep. But the next day someone told us that they paid
just 500 rupees in Gorak Shep, so maybe we overpaid. After paying that fee you will
obtain a ticket that gives you the option for a room. With this ticket in your hands, you
just choose a lodge, present the ticket and get a room.
◾ Most accommodation is very cheap because the owners don´t make a profit on
renting those rooms. All lodges require you to eat in the restaurant that is attached
to the lodge you stay in. Otherwise, they will charge you more on the room. After a
few nights we realized that all the rooms in the lodges look kind of the same, so
we started to choose the lodges according to their menu more than rooms. A nice
bonus was when the lodge had a normal toilet.
◾ Sometimes you will be even able to find teahouses that charge nothing for
accommodation if you eat in their attached restaurant.
◾ Most of the rooms look the same. They offer two beds or a double bed, maybe a
nightstand and a few hooks where you can hang your jackets. None of the rooms
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Food on the Everest base camp trek
◾ As you can see from our budget above we spent most money during the Everest
base camp trek on food. Before the trek, we definitely budget a little bit less to
spend on food, but we were simply hungry. Also, food was a way how to warm
ourselves after completing the trek for a day.
◾ On the other hand, we saved a lot of money on occasional snacking because we

brought our own snacks from Kathmandu. Chocolate and nuts bar are quite cheap
in Kathmandu and they don´t take a lot of space in your backpack.
◾ We were quite surprised at how cheap the food in the lodges was. Also, to our
surprise lodges offered quite an extensive menu. When we started the trek we
were mentally ready to eat just Dal Bhat for 14 days as we expected to find very
limited menu offers. But almost all lodges offer a wide variety of food, from momos
to pasta, potatoes dishes, soups and Nepali specials like Dal Bhat. Some lodges
even offer pizzas and steaks.
◾ It is wise going for vegetarian dishes, though, while being in the mountains. The
reason number one is that vegetarian dishes are usually cheaper. But the main
reason for going vegetarian is that Nepali people are not allowed to kill animals in
the mountains due to religious reasons. Therefore all animals are killed in the
valleys and the meat is carried into the mountains afterwards. So especially in high
altitudes, the meat is not that fresh as you might expect.
Water and drinks on the Everest base camp trek
◾ We saved a lot of money by not buying bottled water on the Everest base camp
trek. Instead of buying the bottled water we had purchased the water purification
tablets to clean our water. If you decide to buy bottled water during your trek,
expect to pay between 70 – 400 rupees. The prices rise as you go up. The bottle of
water cost around 80 rupees in Lukla and 400 rupees in Gorak Shep.
◾ There is no shortage of water along the trek, you can fill up your bottles in
are happy with it.
teahouses as well as in the rivers. Ok
We find that the water purification tablets
worked the best for us, but you can use Steripen or Lifestraw for cleaning your
water instead. Nonetheless, in Gorak Shep, there is no river and all water supplies
are far away. So water has to be brought to this village by sherpas. That is why
there is no chance to refill your water there. It was the only place during the whole
trek where we had to buy the bottled water.
◾ We did not spend any money on alcohol, because first, it is expensive and second, it
is not recommended to consume alcohol above 3 000 meters.
◾ Lodges usually offer few local beers as well as Heineken beer. The local beers cost
between 350 – 600 rupees. A glass of wine usually cost 500 rupees. Of course, as
you go up, the prices for alcohol skyrockets.
Miscellaneous on the Everest base camp trek
◾ We have a confession to make We did not shower for 14 days, not because we
are that cheap and did not want to pay for a shower, but because we were that
cold. After Namche Bazar, the temperature dropped significantly. For us, even the
idea of taking off our clothes was so intimidating that we just decided to wait to
shower until we are back.
◾ The prices for a hot shower varies as well as a possibility to get hot water. Lodges
usually charged around 300 to 600 rupees for a hot shower. But you are not
guaranteed to actually get a hot water. We met people who paid $10 for a shower
and got just a cold water. But is anyone surprised? Getting the hot water in the
altitude above 3 000 meters is difficult because some of the lodges get their power
just from solar panels.
◾ We spend probably $10 on the Wi-Fi during the trek. Lukla offers free wifi in
almost every lodge. But as you go higher, wifi gets more expensive. Above
Tengboche, there are two options how to get internet. First, you can purchase a
data plan for 1 Giga for 600 rupees. That plan will just work in the tea house you
bought the plan from. Or you can purchase 5 Giga plan for 2 000 rupees. With this
plan, you will receive internet inare
Pheriche,
happy with it.Dingboche, Thukla, Lobuche and Gorak
Shep. Ok
◾ We did not spend much money on recharging our devices, because we brought a
power bank with us. We just recharged our camera and phone twice during the
whole trek. Lodges usually charge around 300 rupees for fully charging your phone.
Up in Lobuche and Gorak Shep, you pay 300 rupees per hour.
Flights from Kathmandu to Lukla
◾ The flights from Kathmandu to Lukla are more than half the cost of the trek.
Flights to Lukla are well-known for being expensive, one-way ticket costs between
$160 – $180. And that is just for 30 minutes flight. So we paid $720 just for the
return flights.
◾ If you want to save money on flights, your only option is to walk. You can either
take a nine-hour bus ride from Kathmandu to Jiri or you can travel for twelve hours
by jeep from Kathmandu to Shivalaya. Then you have to walk from Jiri/Shivalaya
for 4-7 days to Lukla or Namche Bazar, where the Everest base camp trek actually
starts. As fellow travellers who did it described it, this part of the trek is probably
the most difficult from the entire trek. If you decide to walk, instead of fly, you need
to add extra 10-12 days into your trekking itinerary, plus budget for an additional
two weeks on the trail.
Permits to trek the Everest base camp trek
◾ For trekking the Everest base camp trek you will need to obtain two permits. One is
called TIMS card (trekkers information management system) and the other is a
permit to enter the Sagarmatha national park. TIMS card cost 2 000 rupees per
person and permit to enter the national park costs 3 390 rupees per person.
So in the end, we were able to stay under $50 a day per person as we had planned. In
fact, we averaged just $42 per person each day, which means that the Everest base camp
trek can definitely be done on a small budget.
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Did you do the Everest base camp trek? Do you agree with our budget? Let us know in
the comment section down below and if you like it, we would love if you could share this
post with your friends.
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27 COMMENTS
BETH
REPLY
 November 6, 2018 at 4:34 pm
This is such a cool post! I’ve never even considered the actual cost of such an
adventure. Thanks for sharing!
ONE AND HALF BACKPACKS

REPLY
Thank you, Beth We were little bit scared prior the adventure, but we
were surprised how affordable it was
RBAIANO22
REPLY
Very detailed and beautiful account! I love this post! Hope to be able to do this
some
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are happy with it.
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REPLY
Hello, thank you for your comment I hope you will be able to do it one
day
YA
REPLY
Wow, informative. I always thought about the cost of an adventure like this. Thank
you for the insight.

REPLY
Thank you, Ya It was more affordable than we thought it will be

which is great
KELLY
REPLY
This sounds like it was so much fun! I didn’t realize you could do this on a small
budget.

REPLY
Thank you, Kelly. We did not know it either we were quite surprised too
CYNDI BUCHANAN
REPLY
 November 7, 2018 at 4:36 am
The cost actually isn’t as much as I thought it would be. Very cool breakdown and
are happy with it.
tips.
Ok
REPLY
Thank you, Cyndi there are more posts to come about all the budget in
Nepal and even in Kathmandu
MARY CAROLINE
REPLY
Great post! Love the glimpses into Nepali culture, and how you did all of this on a
budget!

REPLY
Thank you, Mary We are planning to write more posts about Nepali
culture, if you are interested
MONIDIPA DUTTA
REPLY
Typically, the trek to Everest Base Camp takes 12 days to complete on a 130km
round-trip. It takes eight days to get to Base Camp and four days to get back
down, broken down overall into nine days of long trekking and three short
trekking acclimatization days. So this budget is great.

REPLY
Thank you, Monidipa You have a great knowledge about the trek
Have you been there?
LUNA S are happy with it.
REPLY
 November 7, 2018 at 6:21 pm Ok
The cost isn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be when the travel and permits
were mentioned, this seems like a trip that is quite doable with a bit of saving.
MAYSZ
REPLY
Well written! I love hiking! maybe someday I will use this idea maybe in future.
LAUREN
REPLY
I really enjoyed this post! I know nothing about this kind of adventure and it was
really neat to learn about it and was reasonable pricing! Thank you for sharing!
CAROL MITCHAO
REPLY
I love the outdoors and was addicted to climbing when I was in college, you really
have some awesome tips.
JEFERSON
REPLY
I never thought it to be this affordable….. I mean Himalayan region sounds

expensive but thanks for this guide…..
CALYMONREAL.COM
REPLY
I travel a lot and it’s always helpful to see budget posts like this! I’m so surprised
that a trip like this could be budget-friendly!
KATHRYN CARIC
REPLY
are happy with it.
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I’ve always wanted to go to base camp!
HUNNY BOHRA
REPLY
This was a really cool post. So much information about money spending & the
budget can come in so handy. Really great !
ELLEN
REPLY
Budget friendly and affordable. Nice! Thanks for sharing, gives me hope for
travelling on a budget in the future.
ADAEZEBOLTBETHEL
REPLY
I think it time to visit Everest. Thanks for sharing this post. It is enough to start
planning an inexpensive trip to the highest mountain in the world.
VAISHALI
REPLY
Good information. Though I do not think I will ever need it but great for someone
who aspires to.
SHEENA MONCATAR
REPLY
 November 12, 2018 at 11:28 pm
Thanks for sharing this very informative post. I have plans to do a base camp trek
too and I like the way you have laid out everything. This post deserves a lot of
love and support, thanks really.
are happy with it.
BLAIR VILLANUEVA Ok REPLY
Wow I didn’t know that flights almost eat up all your budget! I admire your
dedication to fulfill your goal to Everest!
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ABOUT US

HOME START HERE TRAVEL DESTINATIONS

HOW TO BUDGET FOR THE EVEREST BASE CAMP TREK?

Total days spend on the Everest base camp trek: 15 day

Average daily trek costs per couple:

So on average, we spend on the trek: $30 a day per couple

◾ Flights: $720 (two return tickets)

Total costs: $1 293

Average costs: $43 per day per person

◾ On the other hand, we saved a lot of money on occasional snacking because we

Water and drinks on the Everest base camp trek

Miscellaneous on the Everest base camp trek

Flights from Kathmandu to Lukla

Permits to trek the Everest base camp trek

YOU MAY ALSO LIKE

ONE AND HALF BACKPACKS

ONE AND HALF BACKPACKS

Thank you, Ya It was more affordable than we thought it will be

ONE AND HALF BACKPACKS

ONE AND HALF BACKPACKS

ONE AND HALF BACKPACKS

I never thought it to be this affordable….. I mean Himalayan region sounds

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The secret of how to travel to

Hi guys, welcome to One and a half

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