Everest Base Camp packing list

Pack clothes you can wear in layers, warm things for the nights, protection from the sun, boots you have already walked in and a way to treat water. It all goes in two bags: a daypack you carry and a bag the porter carries.

Check first what your trek includes before you buy anything. If this is your first trek, our guide to Everest Base Camp trek difficulty says what a beginner should expect.

Bring a warm sleeping bag: Rough Guides advises a four-season bag, one made for winter, above 4,000 m or in winter, and five nights on our plan are above that height. The highest is at Gorak Shep, 5,164 m, on day 8, and Rough Guides warns of a cold, breathless night there.

Add a liner for extra warmth, a set of warm clothes kept only for the evening and the night, base layers and a down jacket. By Rough Guides’ reckoning, the Everest treks are the coldest of Nepal’s major treks. In winter, many lodges above Tengboche close, and those that stay open are very cold; our guide to the best time for the Everest Base Camp trek has the months.

The longest walking day on our plan, day 8, ends at Gorak Shep. Our guide to Everest Base Camp trek distance and days has every day.

On the flight to Lukla, Tara Air allows 10 kg in the hold and 5 kg as hand luggage, and may charge for extra weight. Pack the porter’s bag within the hold limit and keep the day’s things in your daypack.

That is Tara Air’s rule, checked on 2 October 2026; ask us which airline your flight is with. Porters carry a limited weight, so ask us too what your share of the porter’s load can weigh. Our 2023 trip notes say one porter for every two trekkers, and we confirm it in your quote.

Our guide on how to get to Everest Base Camp covers the flight itself.

We confirm the kit we provide in your quote. Anything else that is bulky, such as a sleeping bag or a down jacket, can be rented in Kathmandu, or in Namche Bazaar on the way up.

Walk in your own boots: good ones are hard to rent, and they should be broken in at home. Rental shops ask for a deposit, so check sleeping bags and jackets for fleas and make sure the zips work.

Use the same list with a few changes: you sleep one night above 4,000 m, at Annapurna Base Camp, 4,130 m; no plastic bottles are sold past Chhomrong, so carry two bottles you can refill; and the monsoon brings rain and leeches.

Nights at Annapurna Base Camp are very cold, so bring warm layers to sleep in and a warm sleeping bag. Even with a porter, keep your boots, poles, head torch and first-aid kit with you, carry enough cash from Pokhara, and pack insect repellent for the warmer, wetter months.

There is no flight to Lukla on this trek: you reach the trail from Pokhara, by road or by air from Kathmandu, and our 2023 trip notes went by tourist bus. See the Annapurna Base Camp trek for its days and price, and Annapurna Base Camp weather for its months.