Fly or trek
There are exactly two ways to see Mount Everest with your own eyes, and they are not close to each other. The trek to Base Camp is twelve to fourteen days on foot with a permit, a guide and 5,364 metres of altitude at the end. An Everest flight tour is one hour from Kathmandu and you are back before breakfast. This page is honest about both.
Quick answer
The Everest Base Camp trek is twelve to fourteen days round trip; an Everest flight tour is one hour. The trek gives you the Khumbu at walking pace, Namche Bazaar, the monasteries and the altitude. The flight gives you seven named peaks at eye level in fifty minutes and the whole of the rest of your week. Three listings here split the difference by helicopter, landing in the Khumbu from $1,100.
Every trip, current fare
Flights only. The trek is not sold here and does not belong in a price table — it is a fortnight, not a fare.
| Flight | Length | Price | How | Cost per hour | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kathmandu: 1-Hour Mount Everest Flight with Private TransferOne hour, private transfer both ways | 1 h | $185 | By plane | $185.00 | 4.8 · 101 |
| Kathmandu: Mount Everest Scenic Tour by Plane with TransfersThe cheapest way to see Everest, with transfers | 2 h | $100 | By plane | $50.00 | 4.6 · 268 |
| Kathmandu: Everest Flight or Everest Helicopter Landing TourPlane or helicopter landing — you choose at booking | 2.5–4 h | $100 | With a landing | $33.33 | 4.8 · 20 |
| Kathmandu: 1-Hour Scenic Flight Over Mount EverestOne hour over Everest, Lhotse and Makalu | 1 h | $160 | By plane | $160.00 | 4.8 · 74 |
| Kathmandu: Mount Everest Scenic Flight with Airport TransferA window seat guaranteed, airport transfer included | 1 h | $180 | By plane | $180.00 | 5 · 7 |
| From Kathmandu: 1-Hour Panoramic Everest FlightEye-level with the highest peaks, 202 reviews | 1 h | $340 | By plane | $340.00 | 4.5 · 202 |
| Kathmandu: Mt Everest Scenic Flight by plane (window seat)Three hours door to door, window seat stated | 3 h | $410 | By plane | $136.67 | 5 · 7 |
| From Kathmandu: Helicopter Flight to LuklaHelicopter to Lukla, the gateway to the Khumbu | 1 h | $542 | By helicopter | $542.00 | New |
| 1 Day Pokhara Tour from Kathmandu by flightA whole day, and a different range | 1 day | $610 | By plane | $61.00 | 5 · 1 |
| Helicopter Landing at Everest Base Camp, KalapatherLands at Base Camp and Kalapatthar | 6 h | $1,100 | With a landing | $183.33 | 5 · 1 |
| Everest Base Camp Helicopter Tour with Kalapatthar Landing.Lands at Kalapatthar, with breakfast at Hotel Everest View | 4h 30m | $1,728 | With a landing | $384.00 | 4.9 · 30 |
| Kathmandu: Mt. Everest Scenic Helicopter Flight with PhotosA sunrise helicopter flight over Base Camp | 4 h | $2,033 | By helicopter | $508.25 | New |
What the trek gives you that no flight can
Two weeks of the Khumbu, at walking pace.
The Khumbu at walking pace. Namche Bazaar, Tengboche monastery, the suspension bridges, the yak trains, the villages. None of that is visible in any useful way from 25,000 feet.
Altitude earned rather than delivered. Two weeks of acclimatising changes what the mountain means when you finally see it. People who have walked there talk about the arrival differently.
The people. The lodges, the other walkers, the guides. A trek is a social fortnight and a flight is an hour with strangers.
We say all of this plainly because an Everest flight tour is not a substitute for the trek, and any page that pretends otherwise is selling you something.
What the flight gives you that the trek cannot
The whole range at eye level, in one morning.
The whole range in one view. From the trail you see the mountain in front of you. From an Everest flight tour at 25,000 feet you see Langtang, Gaurishankar, Cho Oyu, Nuptse, Lhotse, Everest and Makalu in fifty minutes, in order, with the crew naming them.
Eye level with the summits. The trek looks up at Everest from 5,364 metres. The flight looks across at it from about 7,600. That is a genuinely different picture of the same mountain.
Thirteen days. Which is the real product. Most visitors to Nepal have a week, not a fortnight, and one hour in the air is what makes the mountain possible inside that week.
No altitude, no permit, no fitness. The cabin is pressurised. You are not climbing anything.
Book direct
The two one-hour flights first, then the two helicopters that put you on the ground.
★ 4.6 · 268 reviews
★ 4.8 · 101 reviews
★ 4.9 · 30 reviews
★ 5 · 1 review
If you only have a week in Nepal
Four questions, in this order.
If yes, and you are fit, walk. Nothing on this page replaces it.
Then book an Everest flight tour and stop reading comparisons. It is one hour.
Then a helicopter from $1,100. It is expensive and it is the only way.
The flight is pressurised and nothing about it requires fitness. The helicopter landings put you at over 5,000 metres for twenty minutes, which is a different question.
In short
A fortnight, an hour, or a helicopter in between.
A trek is a fortnight of the Khumbu on foot. An Everest flight tour is one hour at eye level with the summits. They answer different questions and most people can only do one.
If you have two weeks and the legs, walk. If you have a morning, take the Everest flight tour at $100 and get on with your week.
And if you want the Khumbu without the fortnight, the helicopter listings from $1,100 are the only Everest flight tour on this page that puts you on the ground where the trekkers arrive.
Common questions
Twelve to fourteen days round trip on foot, with a permit and a guide.
One hour in the air, about three hours door to door with the transfer and check-in.
The one-hour flights do not land at all. Three helicopter listings land in the Khumbu, from $1,100.
No, and we would not claim it. It is a different experience of the same mountain.
No. The cabin is pressurised and you sit down for an hour.
Not for the flight. The trek needs permits; a domestic sightseeing flight does not.
What the flight does not replace
We would rather say this plainly than sell an Everest flight tour as something it is not.
The town the whole Khumbu revolves around. Invisible from 25,000 feet.
And the sound of it at six in the morning. No aircraft delivers that.
Two weeks of it changes what the mountain means when you finally stand under it.
A trek is a social fortnight. An Everest flight tour is an hour with strangers and a very good view.
In short
A fortnight, or an hour.
Two weeks on foot, or one hour in the air. They are not competitors, and most people can only do one of them.
If you have the fortnight and the legs, walk. If you have a morning, book the cheapest listing at $100 and get on with your week.
Go deeper
From $100 for an hour, and what the helicopter landings add.
The verdictTwelve listings, and the four worth your money.
Plane or heliWhat each one can do that the other cannot.
LandingsBase Camp, Kalapatthar and what standing there is like.
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