Everest Base Camp Trek Without Flying to Lukla (Tips for Taking the Jeep)

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It is most popular to trek Everest Base Camp by flying in and out of Lukla but it is also possible to get to the EBC trek start point by road.

Traveling by road takes 2 days as first you have to take a jeep/bus from Kathmandu to Salleri (12 hours drive), then the next day you take another jeep from Salleri to Surke (9 hours drive).

The jeep travel is long and tiring but is a good option if you want to avoid the flight to Lukla. I can get very nervous when it comes to flying in Nepal, so when I trekked Everest Base Camp, I decided to take the jeep.

I found the road from Kathmandu to Salleri is pretty good considering the road conditions in Nepal – the road is concrete almost all the way. However, the drive from Salleri to Surke is more dangerous as it is on a mountainous off-road.

I was fine taking the jeep but other passengers who are not used to traveling in rural Nepal have found the jeep drive very scary. Due to the road conditions, many travelers also made plans to take the flight from Lukla to Kathmandu upon finishing the trek.

Here is how to complete the Everest Base Camp Trek without flying to Lukla!

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Everest Base Camp Trek by Road

While Lukla Airport is considered one of the most dangerous airports in the world, the jeep drive to Surke (near Lukla) is also an adventure itself. Taking the jeep is a good alternative if you are on a budget or if you feel nervous about flying in Nepal.

The first day of drive from Kathmandu to Salleri is a bit like any other drive in Nepal but it gets more dangerous once you start the drive from Salleri to Surke.

The road section between Salleri and Surke is off-road on a narrow mountain road. After arriving in Surke, most of the international passengers swore that they would never take this drive again.

Kathmandu to Salleri by Jeep/Bus (Day 1 Travel)

If you want to avoid the flight to Lukla, then the first leg of the trip is by taking a jeep or bus from Kathmandu to Salleri.

The jeeps and buses leave from Chabahil (Kathmandu) in the morning between 5-6 am and get to Salleri around 5 pm – so the journey takes pretty much the whole day.

You can buy the ticket for the buses and jeeps to Salleri at the Chabahil ticket counters. The buses and jeeps leave from here as well in the morning, however, if you book a jeep, you can get it to pick you up from your hotel/home in the morning.

As for prices, the bus ticket costs Rs. 1,500 (USD 11) and the jeep ticket is Rs. 2,000 (USD 14). Generally, you don’t have to pre-book the bus or jeep ticket well in advance, you can show up the day before you plan to start your trip and buy the ticket then.

There are many jeeps going to Salleri, so even if you buy the ticket one day before, you will get a seat. It could be worth buying the ticket 2 days ahead of travel if you want to get a better seat. I bought my ticket two days ahead and I could get the front seat in the jeep which is the most comfortable.

The road from Kathmandu to Salleri is not so bad, it is a concrete road almost all the way. However, the journey takes around 12 hours, so it gets very tiring.

Salleri to Surke by Jeep (Day 2 Travel)

You usually get to Salleri by the evening, so it means you have to stay one night in Salleri, and then start the trip to Surke the next morning.

The driver of the jeep from Kathmandu to Salleri can arrange the jeep for the next day from Salleri to Surke.

When I travelled from Kathmandu to Salleri, the jeep driver called another jeep driver that works on the Salleri-Surke route, and arranged seats for me and other passengers who were continuing their trip to Surke the next day. So if you are travelling from Salleri to Surke, just ask the driver to book the jeep for you for the next day to Surke, and you’ll be all set.

The road from Salleri to Surke is off-road, so it looks much more dangerous than the one from Kathmandu to Salleri.

I have gotten used to the roads in Nepal but if it’s your first time travelling in rural Nepal, you may find it very scary – to be honest, it is very dangerous. Other travellers I met, described their jeep drive from Salleri to Surke as “deadly”, “murderous”, and “I wouldn’t rate it 3/10”.

However, the jeep drivers on this route are used to the road conditions and are good at driving safely through narrow and muddy roads. So, just hold on.

I found that the drive was tiring as you constantly have to hold on to a handle due to all the bumps and turns on the road. It takes around 9 hours from Salleri to Surke, and there is no cell reception for NCell users.

If you are deciding between which SIM card to get for Nepal, it is better to get a SIM by Nepal Telecom. Passengers who had a Nepal Telecom SIM card, could sometimes get network connection during the jeep drive.

Everest Base Camp Trek from Surke

Surke is a very small village with only around 4-5 guesthouses. Starting the Everest Base Camp Trek from Surke is not as popular as starting it from Lukla but I was surprised that there were quiet a lot of trekkers starting from Surke.

Surke is pretty close to Lukla but the trail from Surke joins the main EBC trekking trail without you having to go to Lukla.

The trail from Surke and the trail from Lukla meets at a village called Cheplung. You can get to Cheplung in 2 hours walk from Surke, so it is pretty close and you join the EBC trail early on. If you walked to Lukla, it would add an extra 2 hours of walk for you.

I walked from Surke to Phakding via Cheplung, and didn’t go to Lukla. At this point there are no checkpoints for the permits, and you can get them later in Monjo.

Surke to Phakding Trek

When you start the trek from Surke, you don’t have to trek to Lukla. Follow the trail from Surke to Phakding, and you join the main EBC trail in Cheplung (2 hours trek from Surke).

If you arrive in Surke early, and you still have 2 hours to trek before it gets dark, then you could walk to a village called Chaurikharka. It is much more beautiful then Surke, and you get some mountain views as well. I didn’t find Surke too appealing, but I stayed there for the night as I got there pretty late and it was already getting dark.

The walk from Surke to Phakding is like a warm-up for the trek. It takes around 4-5 hours including breaks and you get to Phakding pretty early on. The good thing about arriving early in Phakding is that you can take a shower while it is sunny outside.

Even if you have energy walking further then Phakding, I recommend staying here for the night. Any extra energy you have left, keep it for the rest of the trek – you’ll need it.

Getting the Permits for EBC

You have to get two permits for the Everest Base Camp trek: the Sagarmatha National Park Permit, and the entry permit for the municipality (Khumbu Pasanglhamu Rural Municipality). Each permit costs Rs. 3,000 (USD 22).

You can get the permit either in Kathmandu or during the trek. There is a checkpoint in Monjo that you pass by early on in the trek. I reached Monjo on the second day of the trek, and bought both permits there on the spot.

Many other trekkers were getting their permits there, and it is the same as if you got the permits in Kathmandu. The process is pretty quick even in Monjo, and for me, it was easier to just get the permits there.

After you buy the permits, keep them in a safe place as there are 2-3 checkpoints throughout the trek where you’ll have to show your permits.

Flying to Lukla vs Taking the Jeep to Surke

I decided to travel by road and take the jeep to Surke (instead of flying to Lukla) as I get nervous of flying in Nepal.

While flying to Lukla is dangerous, the pilots are well-trained and the flights only take off if the weather is suitable for flying.

Many times, the flights are delayed due to bad weather. But if the weather is good, then it takes only around 30 minutes of flight to reach Lukla.

So, if you are deciding between the flight or jeep, flights are a good option for the EBC trek if you want to save time. However, it is not always possible to predict the weather. In case you get bad weather and flights are delayed, you could be stuck waiting for a flight to Lukla for days.

On the other hand, the jeeps go daily but can also be affected by weather. In case it rains a lot, the roads can get obstructed by landslides – so even travelling by road can be delayed.

Ultimately, taking the jeep to Surke is a good option if you are a nervous flyer or if you are on a budget. While taking the flight to Lukla is best if you want to save time and get to and from Lukla in a short amount of time.

Everest Base Camp Trek Without Flight to Lukla – 14 Days Itinerary

I took the jeep to and from Surke at the beginning and at the end of my EBC trek and completed the whole trip in 14 days.

If you want to save some time, one option is that you take the jeep to Surke on the way to EBC, and if you feel tired after completing the trek, you can take the flight back from Lukla to Kathmandu.

For my 14 days EBC trek, I followed a classic itinerary on the way up, including acclimatization days in Namche and Dingboche.

It is important to follow acclimatization days on the way up, and don’t go up too fast even if you have the energy to walk. There are days that you are physically energetic to keep walking, but even then, you should watch out to not go up too high too fast. It is better to save the energy you have, and at the end when you start to trek down, then you can come down faster if you still have energy.

I followed the below itinerary for my 14 days EBC trek:

• Day 1: Kathmandu to Salleri by Jeep/Bus (12 hours drive)
• Day 2: Salleri to Surke by Jeep (9 hours drive)
• Day 3: Surke to Phakding Trek (4 hours walk)
• Day 4: Phakding to Namche Bazaar (5 hours walk)
• Day 5: Namche Bazaar (Acclimatization Day)
• Day 6: Namche Bazaar to Tengboche (4.5 hours walk)
• Day 7: Tengboche to Dingboche (4 hours walk)
• Day 8: Dingboche (Acclimatization Day)
• Day 9: Dingboche to Lobuche (3 hours walk)
• Day 10: Lobuche to EBC to Lobuche (4 hours walk to EBC, 3 hours walk from EBC to Lobuche)
• Day 11: Lobuche to Kyanjuma (9 hours walk)
• Day 12: Kyanjuma to Monjo (5 hours walk)
• Day 13: Monjo to Surke (5 hours walk) + jeep to Salleri (9 hours drive)
• Day 14: Salleri to Kathmandu Jeep (12 hours drive)

Getting Back from Surke to Salleri (& Kathmandu)

If you are finishing the EBC trek in Surke, you can usually find sharing jeeps from Surke to Salleri between 7 am to 2 pm. The jeeps go as they fill up, so you can find jeep all throughout the day.

The drive takes around 9 hours, so it is better to take an earlier jeep so that you arrive in Salleri before it gets dark. The road itself is pretty dangerous, and it is even more dangerousat night when it is dark and there is limited light.

I arrived in Surke at 1:30 pm and could get on a jeep leaving at 2 pm. We only arrived in Salleri at 10 pm, the drive was long, dark and cold, but nevertheless, I was happy to have been able to get a jeep and not have to spend an extra night in Surke.

The driver from Surke to Salleri also contacted a driver for the next day to drive me and the other passengers from Salleri to Kathmandu. It was the easiest option rather than me trying to book a jeep late at night in Salleri.