Overview
Like other treks in the Everest Region, the Gokyo Valley Trek starts with the amazing short flight between Kathmandu and Lukla. You also get to visit Namche Bazaar, synonymous with Sherpa people and Everest mountaineers, including the pioneer, Sir Edmund Hillary. This is a vibrant market town where you can still hear people swapping trekking and mountaineering stories, old and new. This 10-day trek has a mix of short walking days and days when the walking could be 6 or 7 hours. A good level of fitness would make your trip more enjoyable.
Gokyo Valley Trek is a little off the usual Everest trails, taking trekkers into the Gokyo Valley to the world’s highest freshwater lake system. With religious significance to both Hindus and Buddhists, the lakes are also of global importance and have been designated as Ramsar sites (wetlands of international importance). The lake system is made up of 6 main lakes and is as spectacular as they are icy cold! Being that the valley is also in Sagarmatha National Park, the landscape and wildlife of this area is significant. The lakes are reached by crossing Gokyo Ri (5,357m), when Everest, Cho Oyu, Lhotse, and Makalu will be clear in all their snow-capped beauty. We also see Ngozumpa glacier, the largest in the country. On route to Gokyo Ri, we might spot pheasants, mountain goats, and musk deer, and perhaps even the very elusive snow leopard!
Highlights of Gokyo Valley Trek
- Visit the Ramsar site of Gokyo Valley
- Glacier lakes of crystal beauty
- Stunning mountain views, including Mount Everest
- Crossing the Gokyo Ri and visit the Gokyo lakes
- Visit Namche Bazaar and meet the legendary Sherpa people while on Gokyo Valley Trek
- Culture and lifestyle of Sherpa people
- Adventure and peaceful walks
- Khumbu region with business hub Namche Bazaar
The Cost Includes
- An Experienced and informative guide during the trek including his salary, food, accommodation, and insurance
- A porter during the trek including his salary, food, accommodation, and insurance
- Sagarmatha national park entry permit
- Solukhumbu Rural municipal tax
- Kathmandu-Lukla-Kathmandu both way flight ticket
- Domestic airport drop and pick up
- Three times meal in a day; Breakfast Lunch and dinner
- Accommodation in basic tea houses during the trek
- All the government vat and taxes
- -20' sleeping bag during the trek
- Basic first aid kits
- NEST branded water bottle with purification tablet
- A pulse oximeter to check your SPO2 and BPM in the high altitude
The Cost Excludes
- Food and accommodation in Kathmandu
- Personal expenses; WiFi, Hot shower, battery charging
- Insurance
- Tip and donation
Itinerary
Early in the morning at 3:30, we will take 3 to 4 hours drive to Ramechhap from Kathmandu and after, a short flight to Lukla. Lukla Airport is one of the most dangerous airports across the globe, which is the gateway to Everest Base Camp. The short trip to Lukla will take you to the land of the highest peak in the world “Mt Everest”. Reaching upon the vicinity known for The Land of Sherpa, you will be amazed by nature around you. There are bunches of hotels in Lukla offering flavorful breakfast and lunch. We will eat and rest for quite a while and head towards Phakding, a little delightful town for around 2 to 3 hours. Stay overnight in Phakding.
After having breakfast in the morning at Phakding, we will head towards Namche(3440m). Namche Bazar is frequently well known as the capital of Khumbu and a market of whole Everest region Trekking. We can discover hotels, lodges, resort, bar, snooker, bread kitchen, trekking stores and the retail establishment and fundamental items in Namche. It takes around 5 hours to reach Namche from Phakding with the steep path at the last part of the trek. However, it is said that hard work pays off, so after those precarious walk, you will arrive at the Everest View Point middle of the uphill towards Namche. From the perspective, the scene of Everest can be seen obviously. Decrease your pace, drink enough water and proceed gradually to Namche in light of the fact that toward the finish of the story "slow and steady always wins the race".
Another small yet beautiful part of this trek is passing through the bank of Gokyo lakes, i.e. Gokyo First Lake and Gokyo Second Lake. Precisely before Gokyo Third Lake, there is a settlement of individuals in type of teahouses and hotels as nobody remain there for day by day reason for living, every one of them is for business. But, individuals are incredibly decent, you will appreciate the stay in Gokyo with a clear perspective of emerald green Gokyo third Lake directly before your dining window and if fortunate enough even from your room.
Early morning for sunrise over top of the world we will climb up to top of Gokyo RI, which is one of most vantage point for the view as one can see four different 8,000-meter high mountain and lakes. With this sunrise over Mount Everest, we will descend to Gokyo for breakfast and head back to the Dole, which will be all the more quickly and more straightforward as we lose elevation rather than gaining it like starting from Lukla and heading toward Gokyo Lakes.
After crossing several suspension bridges over the roaring Dudh Koshi River and its tributaries and enjoying the package of local cultures, customs and traditions we come down to Lukla. We remain at Lukla for spending the night.
After enjoying and celebrating and praising the goodbye at EBC with porter, we will fly back to Kathmandu and return to the hotel in Thamel. Refreshing ourselves, we will give some unwind to our body. At night, we will have farewell dinner along with feedback with entire NEST ADVENTURE groups and the cultural show during dinner.
Frequently asked Question
Expand/CloseYes, it is true. Due to possible runway maintenance in Kathmandu airport onwards, it seems that there won’t be a direct flight from Kathmandu to Lukla so we should drive from Kathmandu to Ramechhap.
Ramachhep lies in the east of Kathmandu. There are two different options to go to Rammechhap from Kathmandu either sharing transportation or private transport. It is about 75 km far from Kathmandu. Generally, it takes 4 hours to get Ramechhap.
Normally, you don’t need to stay overnight in Ramechhap but in the case of flight canceled due to the bad weather, at that time you should wait for the next day flight by staying overnight in Ramechhap.
It takes about 25 min from Ramechhap to Lukla flight
As per the airline's rules and regulation you can take 10 kilos of luggage and 5-kilos hand carries so that would be a total of 15 kilos baggage allowance. If you want to take more than 15 kilos, you have to pay an extra USD 1 per kilo.
It depends on the weather. Normally in the peak season like; March to May and Sept to Nov usually there is a regular flight on time but sometimes it might be delayed or canceled due to the bad weather. If the flight gets canceled, you will have two option; fly to Lukla via helicopter or stay overnight in Ramechhap and wait for next days.
It is not necessary to fly in a helicopter but if the flight canceled and you have only limited time then you can fly to Lukla via helicopter. Roughly it cost would be USD 450 to 500.
Regarding the food and accommodation, you don’t expect anything like the city area but every tea house will have a menu for the food and accommodation will be clean and comfortable. They don’t provide you with enough blankets so you should carry a sleeping bag with you.
During the trekking, almost tea houses have wifi in the Khumbu region. You can pay and use internet unlimited. They will charge you about $5 to 10 per person for the wifi.
There are no public toilets along the way. If you are nearby the village, in this case, you can go to the tea house otherwise you will go to the separate place nearby you.
Yes, you can charge your all the gadget in tea house but you have to pay roughly $5
Yes, you can take a hot shower at the tea house during the trek. 1st 3 days in Lukla Phakding and Namche you can have a room with an attached bathroom and electric shower but after the Namche, you can get a hot bucket shower.
Basic hiking gears are enough for the Everest trek. You can read the equipment checklist on our website.
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