Accommodation and Food on the Everest Base Camp Trek

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Accommodation and food are two of the most important things that help you survive a multi-day hike like the Everest Base Camp Trek. Having a good night’s sleep, proper hygiene conditions and healthy food helps to make sure you are able to trek for continuous periods. This post covers what accommodation and food options at teahouses are like on the Everest Base Camp Trek.

Accommodation on the Everest Base Camp Trek

Overview

Teahouses are the primary source of accommodation for trekkers on the Everest Base Camp Trek. They are essentially a mountain hut with very basic facilities and amenities.

Protocol

We always made it to the common area as soon as we arrived in a teahouse. Here we had a hot beverage and were asked to order dinner before we got our room keys. Dinner orders were always made ahead of time to give the kitchen enough time to prepare. Breakfast orders were also placed right after dinner.

These food orders were often taken by our assistant guides. They would distribute and menus and taken down the orders in a book provided by the teahouse. Each of us had an “account” under our name. In addition to food, even things like showers, charging etc. were also written down under our account if we didn’t pay for it at time of purchase. At check-out, our guides would sum up our account and collect money for the cost.

We could go to our rooms after placing our dinner orders. Our porters would travel ahead of us and bring our bags to the floor of the teahouse our rooms were on. In the morning, we would pack our bags and bring it out of our rooms and into the corridors for the porters.

Common Area

The common area in most tearooms consist of a large room that acts as the dining room and gathering room. Most have tables along the periphery with in-built seating. Another feature of a common room is the furnace which is powered by yak dung. This is the only source of heating available. While is does heat up the room somewhat, it also emits a strong smoky smell that can aggravate a Khumbu cough (a dry cough developed by trekkers and climbers in high altitudes).

The common room generally is not open 24/7. Most close and lock up by around 9 p.m. and open back up around 6 a.m.

Bedrooms

Can’t talk about accommodation on the Everest Base Camp trek without talking about where you get to sleep. The bedrooms are rather basic at teahouses. They are a rectangular room with 2 single beds if you are sharing the room with someone else. The only person who did not share a room with someone else in our group sometimes got a double bed. At one end of the room (where the bed headboards are), is a nightstand and above the nightstand is a window. On the other end (by the door) is a set of hooks to hang your things and just enough space to keep your duffle bags.

The walls are extremely thin and you can hear every snore, cough and whisper through the walls. There were several times where I thought the person stirring on the other side of the wall to my bedroom was actually in my bed! We saw a couple of people carry up plywood on their backs. All building materials need to be carried from lower elevations. It is no wonder therefore and quite understandable, that the walls are that thin.

While bedding is provided, I do question if these ever get washed. Going by how cold it is and how long it would take to dry something like a bed sheet or a comforter, I am going to hedge my bets and say, they don’t get washed on the regular.

Key Notes and Tips on Bedrooms on the Trek

• Invest in or rent a good sleeping bag – I trekked in Novemebr and had a minus 20 C sleeping bag
• Invest in a good sleeping bag liner – this liner combined with my sleeping bag ensured I was never ever cold

Bathrooms

There are two types of bathrooms on the trek. Western toilets and a Nepali squatting toilet. While I was expecting lots of squatting toilets on the trek, I was very surprised to find that we had at least one western toilet in all of the teahouses we stayed at. From the ones we visited for tea or lunch, I found only one instance where there was no western toilet. Overall, while none of these bathrooms were to my (may I add extremely high) standards (I have a major phobia of public bathrooms) they were a lot better than I was expecting!

The worst bathrooms were in Gorakshep. It was still a western bathroom but it was terribly misused. I ended up using the Nepali toilets on the ground floor.

Types of Bathrooms

• One toilet per 2 rooms – Only one instance in Dingboche
• 1 or 2 bathrooms per floor – Most commonly found. The bathrooms were well kept if our group occupied the entire floor
• Attached bathroom – We only had this in our final teahouse in Lukla

We always stopped for a tea and lunch break during the trek, so I never had to use a bathroom along the trail and theefore cannot comment on what these were like. However, I did see several public bathrooms (especially at lower elevations along the trail). At higher elevations, our group had to find rocks when they had to use the bathroom.

Key Notes and Tips on Bathrooms on the Trek

• Expect bathrooms to be worse as you climb up
• Bring your own toilet paper or wipes as these will not be provided
  • Do not throw any of it in the toilet
• If it is too cold, there won’t be any running water
  • You will have to manually flush using a bucket or jug and water provided
• Bring hand sanitizer

If you end up using a Nepali toilet, especially higher up, make sure the ground is not frozen and iced up. Very often the water you throw to flush the toilet will freeze causing terrible accidents (I don’t want to even think about it!!!)

Facilities and Amenities

Showers

Most teahouses on the Everest Base Camp trek offer showers for a cost. These shower stalls are very basic and usually under lock and key. If you want a shower you will either have to pay for it upfront or it will get added to your “account” to be paid at check out.

Laundry

If you are planning on doing laundry at a teahouse, my advice is not to unless you are staying for more than 1 night. Even then, bigger or thicker items may not dry fully. Plus there is really no good place to hang laundered items. Our teahouse in Namche Baazar offered laundry for a very reasonable cost. We gave our items one afternoon and they came back freshly laundered by night time.

Wi-fi

The good news is that there is wi-fi available at teahouses on the Everest Base Camp trek. The bad news is that it comes at a price. Like most things, wi-fi too gets expensive as you climb up. We paid up to Rs. 800 for 24 hours of wi-fi at the higher elevations. There are essentially 2 types of wi-fi

Traditional – Here you select the network and put in the password provided by the teahouse. Sometimes you have to give your phone so that they can put in the password for you.

Everest Link/Nepal Link – This is a card that has a user name and wifi that you insert. It is unique to you and cannot be shared with others or within your own devices. The connection lasts 24 hours

Charging

Barring the teahouse we stayed in at Namche Baazar, all other teahouses charged a fee for charging electronics. Usually an external battery pack was slightly more expensive than a phone. Although slightly expensive, it may end up being more economical as you can charge either several devices with it or charge something like a phone more than once.

Another thing to note about charging is that the cost goes up as you climb higher. For example, a phone charge can cost you Rs. 250 at lower elevations and can go up to Rs. 500 at higher elevations. For this reason, it is always better to charge things like external battery packs at lower elevations when it is cheaper.

Food on the Everest Base Camp Trek

Food is somewhat basic on the Everest Base Camp Trek. Almost all the teahouses on the Everest Base Camp Trek that we spent the night at or we stopped for lunch or a tea break had more or less the exact same menu. You can expect to see a lot of carbs in the form of rice, noodles and potatoes. There is not a lot of meat on the menu, which is fine as you are advised not to eat meat. The reason for this is because meat has to be carried up the mountain and it is often not stored in any form of refrigeration when done so.

The cost of all food goes up the higher you climb. For example a Korean noodle soup was around Rs. 600 at lower elevations and a whooping Rs. 1200 at Gorekshep.

Common Lunch Items

Dhal Bhat

You can’t talk about food on the Everest Base Camp Trek without talking about dhal bhat. This rice and lentils dish is the most common items on the menu. Our crew ate it for all 3 meals a day. There is a famous saying in Nepal that says “dhal bhat power, 24 hour”. In addition to rice and lentils, dhal bhat also comes with vegetables and papadom. Our group collectively agreed that the best dhal bhat we ate was at our teahouse in Namche Baazar. If you are in Namche, stop by the Kala Patthar Lodge for the best dhal bhat around!

Fried Rice

I think I ate more friend rice that anything else. Eggs and vegetables are usually considered additional and cost slightly more.

Fried Noodles

Very similar to fried rice. You can get it with various additions.

Soups and Sherpa Stew

You get all kinds of soups including noodle soups. These are usually great for the cold weather too. A crowd favorite was Sherpa stew. A slightly thicker soup with vegetables and dumplings.

Pasta

Some places served macaroni and spaghetti. Most of these came with cheese so I avoided pasta altogether.

Momos

Momos are filled Nepali dumplings. The filling usually consists of mixed vegetables or potatoes. They are usually served with a spicy sauce and are very delicious. Although, I am pretty sure I did not feel great every time I had a momo (everyone else was fine!)

Potatoes

They serve potatoes in every form imaginable, from French fries to boiled potatoes.

Pizza

Don’t expect real pizza. It’s a round bread with some toppings.

Spring Rolls

Nothing like the type I am used to but they were good!

Common Breakfast Items

Porridge

Oat and apple porridge were always on the menu. It was a hit or miss for most in our group.

Toast

Toast is usually accompanied by either jam, honey and butter or baked beans

Pancakes

These pancakes were thicker than even American pancakes and sometimes very dry.

Local Breads

Locals breads like Tibetan bread and chapati were also widely available

Eggs

Fried, boiled, scrambled or in omelette form

Beverages

There are lots of good hot drink options available on the trek. The most common is a hot lemon, ginger and honey drink and it is absolutely delicious! You can also get it without the ginger or honey. In addition, you can also find coffee, black and green tea, hot chocolate, sodas like coke and sprite and canned juices.

Other Food Items

Teahouses will also sell snacks like chocolates and pringles. The prices of these go up significantly as you climb up. I paid Rs.850 for a can of pringles at about 4000 meters. Full sized Mars, Sneakers and Kitkat bars are also common throughout the trek.

Read my full day by day account of the Everest Base Camp Trek HERE or click below!

Everest Base Camp Trek – A Day by Day Account

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