Gokyo Lakes

Elevation profile

Your trip, day by day — all 12 days, travel included

Every day of the 12-day trip in the order it happens, including the flights, drives and rest days that have no walking stage. These are trip day numbers. The next section numbers walking days instead, starting again at 1, so a day number here and a walking day number there are not the same day.

1. Day 1 of 12

   Fly to Lukla — Trek to Phakding (2,610m)

   The flight from Kathmandu lands at Lukla (2,840m); the trail then drops through pine forest along the Dudh Kosi to Phakding for the first night — a net descent, though the trail itself rises and falls along the way.

2. Day 2 of 12

   Phakding to Namche Bazaar (3,440m)

   The trail climbs steadily above the confluence of the Dudh Kosi and Bhote Kosi rivers to Namche Bazaar, the Khumbu's trading hub, built into a natural amphitheater on the hillside — an 830m gain over the day.

3. Day 3 of 12

   Acclimatization Day in Namche Bazaar

   A rest day before the trail leaves the main Everest corridor. The optional add-on is a side trip to Khumjung, a Sherpa village on the ridge above Namche, before a second night back in Namche.

4. Day 4 of 12

   Namche Bazaar to Ḍole (4,038m)

   The trail forks away from the main Everest Base Camp route here, leaving the Khumbu's busiest corridor for the quieter Gokyo (Dudh Kosi) valley. Forest gives way to open, wind-scoured slopes as the trail gains height toward Ḍole.

5. Day 5 of 12

   Ḍole to Macchermo (4,470m)

   The valley opens further as the trail climbs above the treeline, following the Dudh Kosi toward its glacial source. Macchermo sits just below the terminal moraine of the Ngozumpa Glacier, in bare, rocky terrain typical of the upper Gokyo valley.

6. Day 6 of 12

   Macchermo to Gokyo (4,750m) — Climb Gokyo Ri (5,357m)

   A short walk up the valley along the edge of the Ngozumpa Glacier reaches Gokyo, strung along the shore of Dudh Pokhari, the third of the Gokyo lakes. In the afternoon, the climb up Gokyo Ri rewards with a view across four 8,000m peaks — Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu — before the descent back to Gokyo for the night.

7. Day 7 of 12

   Morning at the Fourth Lake — Descend to Macchermo (4,470m)

   A morning walk visits the fourth of the Gokyo lakes before the trail turns back down the valley, retracing the previous days' route to Macchermo.

8. Day 8 of 12

   Macchermo to Namche Bazaar (3,440m)

   The return route retraces the Gokyo valley down through Dole and Phortse Tenga before rejoining the main Everest trail back into Namche Bazaar.

9. Day 9 of 12

   Namche Bazaar to Lukla (2,840m)

   The final trekking day descends back through forest to Lukla, closing the loop at the same airstrip the trip began from nine days earlier.

10. Day 10 of 12

    First Reserve Day for the Return Flight

    Lukla flights are delayed often enough that this itinerary holds two days in reserve rather than one. Day 10 is the earliest the return flight might go.

11. Day 11 of 12

    Second Reserve Day

    Used only if day 10's flight did not go. Otherwise this is unclaimed time, either still in Lukla or already back in Kathmandu.

12. Day 12 of 12

    Departure

    By the second reserve day the flight has gone out, whichever day it landed on, and day 12 is departure from Kathmandu.

Walking days on the mapped route — 9 days of sourced altitudes

Numbered by walking day: walking day 1 is the first day with a mapped stage. Every altitude below is a waypoint from this route's own sources, listed at the foot of the page.

The remaining 3 days of this 12-day trip cover travel to and from the trailhead, and buffer time for delays en route — the specifics vary by route.

When to go

Month-by-month fit for Gokyo Lakes, based on this route's own best-months window.

• Jan avoid
• Feb shoulder
• Mar best
• Apr best
• May best
• Jun shoulder
• Jul avoid
• Aug avoid
• Sep shoulder
• Oct best
• Nov best
• Dec shoulder