Namaste! Welcome to Kathmandu, the colourful capital of Nepal where ornately carved balconies mingle with beautiful shrines and temples. Your adventure begins with a welcome meeting at 2 pm today. Tonight, enjoy an included welcome dinner and Nepalese cultural performance. If you arrive with time to spare, maybe check out the storied stupas and pagodas of Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple) or take a walk around Durbar Square. If you’ve got limited time in the city, you might also like to consider an Urban Adventure.
ALTERNATIVE ITINERARY IN THE CASE OF FLIGHT CANCELLATIONS
Weather conditions in the Himalayas can change rapidly, leading to flight cancellations and varied on-ground conditions. This means you need to be prepared for possible changes to your itinerary while you’re travelling. Flights between Kathmandu/Ramechhap and Lukla are particularly prone to delays.
If bad weather prevents fixed-wing aircraft flights from Kathmandu/Ramechhap to Lukla, the itinerary will be as follows:
Day 2 – We will attempt to fly as planned. If this flight is cancelled, we will return to our hotel in Kathmandu/Ramechhap for an additional night.
Day 3 – We will again attempt to fly, but if this flight is cancelled, we will endeavour to charter a helicopter for the group to fly to Lukla. This is reliant on availability of safety audited helicopter operators and that the weather conditions don’t prevent helicopters taking off as well.
You will need to use your emergency funds to cover the cost of the chartered helicopter. The exact cost will depend on how many travellers are in your group and could be up to USD 500 per person. It is common practice for helicopter companies to charge varying prices, so you may pay different amounts to others on the flight.
If we reach Lukla on Day 3, we will pick up the planned itinerary to Everest Base Camp, but take one less day to descend so that we can fly from Lukla to Kathmandu/Ramechhap on Day 14.
Day 4 – If both fixed-wing planes and helicopters are unable to reach Lukla on the morning of Day 3, then on Day 4 we will drive back to Kathmandu. From there we will trek to Annapurna Basecamp. While this trek doesn’t reach Everest Base Camp, our travellers have found it a highly enjoyable trek, with scenery of glaciers, mountain pastures and the Himalayas.