12% off
Dubai
4.7(84)Dubai Desert & Skyline Weekend
A tight three-day weekend: red-dune desert camp, Burj Khalifa at sunset, old Deira souks and a dhow dinner on the creek.
3 days2 – 8 guests
From$690$780
Fourteen days to 5,364 m and back, on a conservative acclimatisation schedule with a Sherpa lead guide and a 97% completion rate.
This is the classic Lukla–Base Camp–Kala Patthar route, run on the schedule that actually gets people to the top: two acclimatisation days rather than one, at Namche and Dingboche. It costs two extra days and it is the single biggest reason our completion rate sits at 97% while the regional average is closer to 80%.
Pemba Sherpa leads. He was born in Khumjung, has run this trail 140+ times and worked nine expedition seasons in summit support. Every group carries a satellite communicator, a pulse oximeter and a comprehensive medical kit. Teahouse accommodation throughout, twin-share, with private rooms at the lower villages.
Day by day, as it actually runs.
Airport pickup and hotel check-in. Afternoon kit check with Pemba — we go through your boots, layers and sleeping bag item by item, and anything missing gets hired or bought in Thamel that evening. Trip briefing and dinner.
Early mountain flight to Tenzing–Hillary Airport at Lukla, one of the more memorable landings in aviation. An easy first walk down the Dudh Koshi valley to Phakding — deliberately short, to let your body start adjusting. 3 hrs, 2,610 m.
The valley narrows and we cross the Hillary Suspension Bridge before the long steady climb to Namche. First view of Everest through the trees near the park entrance if the sky is clear. 6 hrs, 3,440 m.
Climb high, sleep low. We walk up to the Everest View Hotel and on to Khumjung and Khunde — Pemba's home villages — visiting the Hillary school and the monastery. Back down to Namche to sleep. Rest afternoon at the Saturday market if the timing lands right.
A high traverse with Ama Dablam ahead most of the morning, then down to the river and up through rhododendron forest to Tengboche. If we arrive by late afternoon we attend the monastery puja. 5 hrs, 3,860 m.
Below the treeline for the last time. The valley opens into high alpine terrain, past Pangboche and its ancient monastery, into the Imja valley. 5 hrs, 4,410 m.
The second and more important rest day. A morning climb to Nangkartshang ridge at 5,080 m for views of Makalu, Lhotse and Island Peak, then straight back down to rest. Oxygen saturation checks in the evening for everyone.
Up the moraine to Thukla Pass and the memorial cairns for climbers lost on Everest — a quiet stretch. Then along the Khumbu Glacier's lateral moraine to Lobuche. 5 hrs, 4,940 m.
The big day. Two and a half hours over glacial moraine to Gorak Shep, drop bags and eat, then the rocky push to Base Camp at 5,364 m — prayer flags, the icefall directly above, and in spring the expedition tent city. Back to Gorak Shep before dark. 8 hrs total.
Leave at 4:30 a.m. in the dark for Kala Patthar, 5,545 m — the viewpoint that gives you Everest's full south face, which Base Camp itself does not. Sunrise at the top, then a long, easy-breathing descent to Pheriche. 7 hrs.
A long descending day back through Tengboche and down to Namche. Everything is easier now — thicker air, familiar trail, and a genuine appetite for the first time in a week. 7 hrs.
The final trail day, retracing the Dudh Koshi valley to Lukla. Celebration dinner with the guide and porter team in the evening. 7 hrs.
Morning flight back to Kathmandu, weather permitting. Hotel check-in, a hot shower that you will remember for some time, and a free afternoon in Thamel. Farewell dinner.
Free morning and airport transfer for your international flight. We build a buffer day into this trip — if Lukla flights are delayed by weather, this is the day it absorbs.
4.9
Based on 214 reviews
Sarah Nolan
2 May 2026
Ireland
Pemba turned two people in our group around at Dingboche and both later admitted he was right. That judgement is what you are paying for. Made it to Kala Patthar and I have never been so glad about a 4:30 alarm.
Lukas Brandt
14 Apr 2026
Germany
The extra acclimatisation day is the whole difference. Our entire group of eleven made Base Camp. Teahouses are basic — that is the mountain, not the operator.
Emily Carter
29 Mar 2026
Australia
Fourteen days of my life I would not trade. Organisation was flawless, porters were treated well and paid properly, which mattered to me.
Rahul Menon
2 Mar 2026
India
Superb trek and guiding. Lukla flight was delayed two days on the way back and the buffer day only covered one of them, so budget a little slack at the end of your trip.
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4.7(84)A tight three-day weekend: red-dune desert camp, Burj Khalifa at sunset, old Deira souks and a dhow dinner on the creek.
From$690$780
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$1,690
per person · 14 days