Can Everest base camp trek be done on a budget? That is the question. And the answer is…..
It depends.
Everest base camp trek can´t be done on a budget unless everything goes absolutely smoothly and according to your plan.
Let me explain why.
Picture perfect scenario. You booked your international flights, planned a few days in Kathmandu and book flights to Lukla. You are ready to get started, you are pumped.
But HEY.
Something goes wrong.
If everything goes according to your plan than Everest base camp trek can be done on a budget. But Everest base camp trek, as well as Lukla airport, are as unpredictable as the weather.
As you might already guess it correctly, most of the problems come from the airport Lukla.
The standard plan of the Everest base camp trek includes flights from Kathmandu to Lukla. And Lukla can cause a great number of problems and you need to be prepared for it.
As you know, flights to Lukla are often cancelled due to the bad weather. Which might cause plenty of troubles if you are not prepared for it. So, if you decide to fly to Lukla, trust me, work on your plan B.
Also, would you like to learn more about travel planning? Check our Reverse Travel Planning Strategy to learn more…
Why should you have a plan B?
As flights to Lukla are often cancelled due to the bad weather, you might get stuck at the airport, as it happened to us. We were prepared to fly to Lukla on Monday morning. We arrived at the airport just to find out that all the flights to Lukla were delayed. We had waited for seven hours at the airport, hoping that the Lukla airport would open for flights. However, it didn´t happen. So now what?
Read more about this topic HERE.
Not only we had to rebook our flight tickets, but we faced the situation that we are not leaving and we had to go back to Kathmandu. With all that comes additional expenses that you might not budget for. Even though flight rebooking was for free, additional hundred people tried to rebook their flights as well. After a while, we managed to reschedule our flights on Thursday morning. And that was the first available date. That means that we were stuck in Kathmandu for four additional days! Not only it hassled with our plans, but it meant extra nonplanned costs.
First of all, we did not have any accommodation. We had to find the accommodation on the last minute, which in the main season doesn´t have to be easy nor cheap. We had to pay for another taxi ride from Kathmandu airport back to Thamel.
When we came back to the airport on Thursday morning, do you know what we had found out? Yes you guess it, Lukla was closed again. So we faced five options:
1) Wait again and reschedule the tickets, again! That means additional costs for accommodation, taxis and all other expenses. It also requires you to have a lot of spare time to just sit in Kathmandu and wait for another flight.
2) Pay for a helicopter ride from Kathmandu to Lukla! A very, very expensive option. On average renting the helicopter costs between $1 600 to $3 500 per helicopter. As helicopter accommodates 6 people, you pay between $260 to $580 per seat. If you are lucky!
3) Cancel the whole trip and go home. Probably not the best option but we saw a lot of people that ran out of time and were forced to go home.
4) Cancel the flights, get refund, take bus to Jiri and walk to Lukla instead of flying. Probably the cheapest option, but it requires you to have a lot of additional spare days.
5) Do another trek. While we were waiting at the airport we saw a lot of people just changing the plans altogether. Some travellers were waiting at the airport for several days. After their patience ran out they just cancelled flights to Lukla, got a refund and fly to Pokhara and do Annapurna trek instead.
It doesn´t matter which option you choose, it always means the disruption of your plans and your budget.
But it doesn’t have to be just Lukla. Everest base camp trek is unpredictable. You might come to the village just to find out that all cheap lodges are booked out. That you need to book a more expensive one. Then you might realize that you can´t carry your backpack. But you are already on a trek, so porters are getting more expensive higher you get. And so on…
What is plan B?
- Plan to have enough spare days. From what we had seen and experienced we would recommend at least 5-10 days. Otherwise, you will be forced to take a helicopter, pay extra or change plans.
- We would recommend having some sort of emergency account. You might not need it, but it is definitely good to have money ready that you can use if you need it.
- Be mentally ready to change the plans. We were not, and our stubbornness cost us additional money. We were so fixated on doing the Everest Base camp trek, that the idea of changing plans wasn´t an option.
- Research the walking option from Jiri to Lukla, just in case.
- Research other options and have a back up plan ready. If you are unlucky with Lukla, you can always change plans and go to Annapurna or a different trek.
Why we did not change the plan?
The answer is simple. We did not have a plan B. We honestly did not expect to stay in Kathmandu for several days, as well as we did not expect to pay for a helicopter at the end.
We didn´t want to change plans. We spent 6 months studying Everest base camp trek and we knew nothing about other treks. We had a lot of spare days, but we didn´t know anything about the walk from Jiri to Lukla.
How much did it cost us to not have plan B?
Due to closed Lukla airport, we had to take the additional costs. It consists of costs for taxi rides, booking a hotel for the last minute and an unplanned helicopter ride. The detailed breakdown of costs:
- We had to make additional 3 taxi rides from Thamel to the airport and back. That cost around 2 100 rupees, which is $19.
- The last-minute hotel booking for an additional 3 nights was $45.
- At the end, we had to take a helicopter ride to be able to get to Lukla for $414.
So in total, we had to pay almost $500 extra. Of course, we did not have to take a helicopter ride. But we had already waisted 5 days by waiting in Kathmandu, so we decided to take the loss. On the bright side, it was quite an experience. Flying the helicopter for the first time above the Himalayas is not bad after all.
So yes, Everest base camp trek can be certainly done on a budget if everything goes according to your plans. But it is always wise to have a plan B ready in case Lukla decides to interrupt your perfect plans. As well as have a plan B budget ready in case you need to stay in Kathmandu for a few more days.
Did you do Everest base camp trek? Let us know in the comment section down below, we would love to hear from you.
