Everest Heli Tour
Experience the Majestic Everest Region
Experience the Majestic Everest Region with an Unforgettable Helicopter Tour in 4 Days
The Everest Heli Tour is a 4-day trip combining trekking with a helicopter flight starting and finishing in Kathmandu. The high point is 5,545 m. We run it as a private trip on your own dates, or as a small group departure.
Sherpa Buddhist. Tengboche monastery, the Mani Rimdu festival in late autumn, and mani walls you always pass on the left. Dal bhat, Sherpa stew, potatoes in every form, and Namche's bakeries. We ask you to eat vegetarian above Namche; meat is carried up unrefrigerated.
No trekking fitness required. You are flying, and the walking is limited to short stops at the landing sites, though those stops are at altitude and you should tell us in advance about any heart or lung condition. The landings are brief but they are high, and you go from city altitude to over 3,800 m within the hour. Tell us in advance about any heart or lung condition, pregnancy, or recent surgery. Our pilots follow a strict weight and weather rule and will turn back rather than push it.
Best time to go. Late September to early December, and March to mid-May. October gives the clearest air of the year, November is colder but quieter, and April brings rhododendron colour below 4,000 m.
Permits and getting there. Sagarmatha National Park entry permit and the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality entry permit. The old TIMS card is not issued for Khumbu. Both permits are included in your trip price and we arrange them before you fly. Private or shared helicopter from Kathmandu or Pokhara, weather permitting. Flights leave at first light because the mountain valleys close in by late morning, and we hold a spare day in the plan for the days when they do not open at all.
Where you sleep. You are back in Kathmandu the same day on the short versions, so accommodation is your city hotel. On the longer combinations we use teahouse lodges on the trekking section.
Why book with us. Trekking Team is a family company in Gongabu, Kathmandu, running trips since 1991 under TAAN licence 1106. About ten thousand people have travelled with us and we hold more than 630 TripAdvisor reviews. Every departure runs with a government-licensed guide, permits arranged before you arrive, insured and equipped staff, and a fixed price. If the dates or the route do not suit you, write to us and we will rebuild the itinerary around what you want.
Trip Summary
Duration
Difficulty
Max Elevation
Start point
End point
Daily Activity
Group Size
Best Season
Included
- Hotel pick-up and drop-off in a private vehicle
- Helicopter seat with an experienced high-altitude pilot, on a shared or private basis as booked
- All landing fees and national park or municipality permits for the landing sites
- Breakfast at the mountain lodge where the itinerary includes it
- A pulse oximeter carried on board, with oxygen available on request
- All government taxes, VAT and company service charges
Not Included
- International flights, Nepal visa fee and hotel accommodation
- Travel insurance covering helicopter travel and high-altitude landings. Compulsory
- Supplementary oxygen, which is always an optional extra
- Any additional charge if your group is under the minimum weight or seat count for a shared flight
- Meals and drinks other than those listed
- Costs arising from a weather cancellation beyond the refund of the flight itself
- Tips for the ground crew
- Anything not listed under what is included
Get started on your journey
Detailed itinerary
Arrival in Kathmandu
You will be met in the arrivals hall at Tribhuvan International Airport and driven to your hotel, usually 30 to 45 minutes depending on traffic. Nepal issues visas on arrival: fill in the form at the electronic kiosks before the payment desk, and bring a passport photograph and cash in a major currency to speed it up.
Once you have settled in, your guide will come to the hotel for a full briefing: the day by day plan, the gear check, what the weather is doing, and any questions you have been saving up. This is also when we collect passport details for permits if we do not already have them.
Kathmandu sits at about 1,400 m so there is no altitude concern tonight. If you arrive early enough, the walk from Thamel down to the Durbar Square area is a good first hour in the city.
Altitude: 1,350 m | Overnight: 3-5 Stars | Meals: Breakfast
Travel duration
Elevation
Meal
Accommodation
Sightseeing in Kathmandu and Patan
Start the day with a guided tour of Kathmandu's UNESCO World Heritage Sites, including Kathmandu Durbar Square, Pashupatinath Temple, Swayambhunath (Monkey Temple), and Boudhanath Stupa. In the afternoon, visit the historic city of Patan, known for its rich cultural heritage and intricate architecture. Return to Kathmandu for an overnight stay at the hotel.
Kathmandu Durbar Square is the old royal complex of the Malla kings and later the Shah dynasty, a dense cluster of pagoda temples, courtyards and palace wings built between the twelfth and eighteenth centuries. The Kumari Ghar here houses Nepal's living goddess, a young girl selected from the Newar Shakya community who appears at her carved window most afternoons. Much of the square was damaged in the 2015 earthquake and the restoration work, done with traditional joinery and reused timber, is itself worth watching.
Pashupatinath is the most important Hindu temple in Nepal and one of the great Shiva shrines of the subcontinent, a UNESCO site on the banks of the Bagmati. Non-Hindus cannot enter the main temple but the far bank gives an open view across the ghats, where open-air cremations take place through the day. It is confronting the first time and it is also completely ordinary here, a public part of life rather than something hidden. Sadhus in ochre sit along the terraces, and the evening aarti draws a crowd.
Swayambhunath sits on a hill west of the city, reached by 365 stone steps through a forest full of rhesus macaques, which is where the nickname Monkey Temple comes from. The stupa is one of the oldest religious sites in the valley, with the Buddha's eyes painted on all four sides of the harmika and a spire of thirteen gilded rings. The terrace gives the best single view over Kathmandu, and it is at its best in the early morning when the kora is busy with local worshippers.
Boudhanath is one of the largest stupas in the world and the centre of Tibetan Buddhist life in Nepal, particularly since 1959 when refugees settled around it. The white dome is 36 m across, ringed by prayer wheels, and surrounded by more than fifty gompas belonging to different lineages. Walk the kora clockwise at dusk with the local crowd and the monks coming out of evening puja: it is the single most atmospheric hour in Kathmandu.
Altitude: 1,350 m | Overnight: 3-5 Stars | Meals: Breakfast
Travel duration
Elevation
Meal
Accommodation
Helicopter Tour to Everest Region
Early morning, embark on a thrilling helicopter tour to the Everest region. Fly over stunning landscapes and enjoy aerial views of the Himalayas, including Mount Everest. Land at Kala Patthar for a close-up view of Everest and surrounding peaks. After soaking in the breathtaking scenery, fly back to Kathmandu. Spend the rest of the day at leisure. Overnight at a hotel in Kathmandu.
Altitude: 5,545 m | Overnight: 3-5 Stars | Meals: Breakfast
Travel duration
Elevation
Meal
Accommodation
Final Departure
Transfer to the airport about three hours before your international flight. If you have a late departure we will hold a day room or arrange a final few hours in the city rather than leave you sitting in the terminal.
If you would rather not go home yet, this is the easy point to extend: a few days in Pokhara, a wildlife stay in Chitwan or Bardiya, a short Bhutan add-on, or a rest week somewhere quiet. Tell us before you travel and we will build it in at cost rather than as a late upgrade.
Altitude: 1,350 m | Meals: Breakfast
Travel duration
Elevation
Meal
Accommodation
Getting ready
No special training is needed. Comfortable shoes for uneven cobbles and stone steps at the heritage sites, and a light layer for early mornings, will cover it.
Altitude and acclimatisation
The high point on this trip is 5,545 m. The landings are brief but they are high, and you go from city altitude to over 3,800 m within the hour. Tell us in advance about any heart or lung condition, pregnancy, or recent surgery. Our pilots follow a strict weight and weather rule and will turn back rather than push it.
Rules we work to: gain no more than 400 to 500 m of sleeping altitude a day above 3,000 m, take a rest day roughly every 1,000 m, climb high and sleep low on those days, drink three to four litres daily, and skip alcohol and sleeping tablets above 3,500 m. Your guide carries a pulse oximeter and a first aid kit and records the group morning and evening.
Diamox (acetazolamide) is a legitimate aid, not a shortcut, and works best started 24 hours before you go high. Discuss it with your own doctor before you travel; we do not prescribe.
If anyone deteriorates, the answer is descent, immediately and without debate. Our guides have the authority to turn a client around and they use it.
Permits and paperwork
Sagarmatha National Park entry permit and the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality entry permit. The old TIMS card is not issued for Khumbu. Both permits are included in your trip price and we arrange them before you fly.
Nepal issues visas on arrival at Tribhuvan International Airport: 15, 30 or 90 days, payable in cash in most major currencies or by card. Bring two passport photographs and make sure your passport has at least six months validity.
Money, tipping and costs on the ground
Nepali rupees are the only currency accepted on the trail. Draw cash in Kathmandu or Pokhara before you leave; ATMs have a per-transaction limit of around NPR 35,000 and charge a fee, and above the roadhead there are no machines and no card terminals.
Budget for drinks, souvenirs and any meals not listed in the itinerary.
Tipping is customary and genuinely matters to the crew, but it is not compulsory and never demanded. As a guide to the guide: around USD 8 to 12 per day for your trekking guide and USD 6 to 8 for each porter, pooled by the group and handed over at the end.
Staying in touch
Everest Link and AirLink sell prepaid data cards that work as far as Gorak Shep. Coverage is real but slow, and it stops working in bad weather. Charging is paid by the hour above Namche.
Ncell and Nepal Telecom tourist SIM cards are sold at Kathmandu airport and take about ten minutes. Bring your passport.
Health and safety
No vaccinations are legally required for Nepal, but hepatitis A, typhoid and tetanus are sensible and a rabies course is worth discussing if you are travelling for a long time. Check with a travel clinic six to eight weeks before you fly.
Drink bottled or treated water and be sensible about street food in the first few days.
Our guides carry a comprehensive first aid kit, a pulse oximeter and, on the higher routes, supplementary oxygen. We hold a 24-hour operations line in Kathmandu throughout your trip, and we run rescue coordination ourselves rather than handing it to a third party.
Booking and cancellation
A deposit confirms your dates and the balance is due before departure. If your plans change we will move your booking to another date rather than treat it as a cancellation wherever the ground operators allow it.
Written quotes are fixed. We do not add fuel or permit surcharges after you have booked, and if a government fee rises between your booking and your departure we absorb it.
Questions before you commit are welcome and never rushed. Write to us with what you actually want and we will tell you plainly whether this trip is the right one, including when the answer is that a different route would suit you better.
Ready to start your journey?
Start planning your dream trip today. Enquire now for more information or customize this trip to tailor it to your needs and make it truly unforgettable.