Landings
Three listings on this page land in the Khumbu, and all three are helicopters. One puts down at Everest Base Camp at 5,364 metres. One lands at Kalapatthar at 5,545, which is the viewpoint every trekker climbs on their last morning. One does a sunrise flight over both. No plane lands anywhere between Kathmandu and the mountain.
Quick answer
The best-evidenced landing is $1,728 — four and a half hours, a landing at Kalapatthar at 5,545 metres, breakfast at Hotel Everest View on the way back, 30 reviews at 4.9. $1,100 lands at Base Camp itself over six hours. $2,033 is a sunrise flight over Base Camp with photographs included. Every one is five to ten times the price of a one-hour Everest flight tour, and the reason is the twenty minutes on the ground.
What twenty minutes at 5,500 metres is actually like
Half the oxygen, arrived in under an hour.
The helicopter shuts down or idles, you get out, and the first thing you notice is that walking is work. At 5,545 metres there is roughly half the oxygen there is at sea level, and you have arrived in under an hour with no acclimatisation at all. People move slowly and talk less than they expect to.
Kalapatthar. A dark rocky shoulder with Everest directly in front. This is the view every trekker walks two weeks for, and it is the reason this landing is the one we would book.
Base Camp. The glacier, the tents in season, the icefall behind. In the climbing months it is a small town on ice; out of season it is a moraine.
The cold. Well below freezing most mornings, with wind. The helicopter is warm and the ground is not, and twenty minutes is about right.
Book direct
Kalapatthar, Base Camp, the sunrise flight, and the listing where you pick plane or helicopter at booking.
★ 4.9 · 30 reviews
★ 5 · 1 review
★ 4.8 · 20 reviews
Which of the three to take
The proven one, the longest one, and the new one.
$1,728, four and a half hours, 30 reviews at 4.9. The best evidenced by a wide margin, it lands at the viewpoint rather than the camp, and it includes breakfast at Hotel Everest View on the way home. Our pick.
$1,100, six hours, 5.0 from one review. Lands at Base Camp itself and at Kalapatthar. A newer listing, and the longest day of the three.
$2,033, four hours, no reviews yet. A sunrise flight over Base Camp with photographs included. The dearest Everest flight tour on this page.
What to know before a Khumbu landing
None of them is on the listing in so many words.
No acclimatisation. Most people are fine for twenty minutes; if you have a heart or lung condition, ask a doctor first.
A helicopter at 5,500 metres has very little performance margin. Operators weigh passengers and sometimes split the group into two lifts.
Whatever the temperature was in Kathmandu. Gloves and a hat are not optional.
Everyone underestimates this. Walking twenty metres at 5,545 metres is not like walking twenty metres.
Twenty minutes is standard, and it is set by fuel and by the weather window rather than by generosity.
If the Khumbu is closed in, the pilot lands lower or not at all. That is not a failure; it is why you got home.
30 reviews at 4.9 — on the ground at Kalapatthar, where the trekkers arrive after two weeks.
Check dates for the Kalapatthar landing→In short
Kalapatthar, if you are going to land at all.
Three listings land, and the one to book is $1,728 — 30 reviews at 4.9, a landing at the trekkers’ viewpoint, and breakfast at 3,880 metres on the way home.
$1,100 lands at Base Camp itself over six hours, and $2,033 is a sunrise flight with photographs. Both are newer and thinner on evidence.
If standing in the Khumbu is not the point, every one-hour Everest flight tour on this page shows you the same peaks from the air for a tenth of the money.
Common questions
Three helicopter listings land in the Khumbu; one of them at Base Camp itself. No plane lands on this route.
5,364 metres. Kalapatthar, where one listing lands, is 5,545.
About twenty minutes, set by fuel and the weather window.
You arrive with no acclimatisation and stay briefly. Most people are fine; if you have a heart or lung condition, ask a doctor.
$1,728 with 30 reviews at 4.9.
The pilot lands lower or turns back. Operators do not fly into cloud at that altitude.
In short
Kalapatthar, if you are landing at all.
Three listings land, and the one to book is $1,728 — 30 reviews at 4.9, a landing at Kalapatthar at 5,545 metres, and breakfast at Hotel Everest View on the way home.
$1,100 lands at Base Camp itself over six hours, and $2,033 is a sunrise flight with photographs. Both are newer and thinner on evidence.
If standing in the Khumbu is not the point, every one-hour Everest flight tour on this page shows you the same peaks from higher up for a tenth of the money, and no Everest flight tour by plane lands anywhere at all.
What the three landing listings actually include
All three are helicopters; no Everest flight tour by plane lands on this route.
Four and a half hours, the trekkers’ viewpoint at 5,545 m, breakfast at Hotel Everest View, 30 reviews at 4.9.
Six hours, the glacier itself at 5,364 m, and Kalapatthar as well.
Four hours over Base Camp with photographs included, and the dearest Everest flight tour on this page.
You arrive at altitude in under an hour with no acclimatisation, and you are there for about twenty minutes.
Five questions to ask before booking a landing
A Khumbu landing is the most expensive Everest flight tour on this page; ask first.
Base Camp at 5,364 m, Kalapatthar at 5,545 m, or both. They are different places.
About twenty minutes, set by fuel and weather rather than by the price.
On $1,728 it does, at 3,880 metres on the way back.
Five, and sometimes fewer at altitude because of weight. Ask whether the group may be split into two lifts.
The pilot lands lower or turns back. No Everest flight tour operator flies into cloud at that altitude.
Go deeper
From $100 for an hour, and what the helicopter landings add.
The verdictTwelve listings, and the four worth your money.
Fly or trekOne hour against twelve days to the same mountain.
Plane or heliWhat each one can do that the other cannot.
BookingDeparture times, transfers and what sells out.
When to goOctober, November, March and April — and why.
Kathmandu: 1-Hour Mount Everest Flight with Private Transfer
★ 4.8 · 101 reviews · Free cancellation 24 h