Lobuche Village, Nepal: Altitude, Accommodation & EBC Trek Tips

Lobuche Village Information

Altitude

Lobuche is at 4,910 m (16,109 ft) altitude. At this point, it starts to get really tough due to the altitude, even if you have done all the acclimatization hikes. I didn’t feel unwell due to altitude, but got tired more easily.

The section between Lobuche, Gorakshep, and EBC is where I saw more people struggling with altitude sickness. I saw a few people on the trail who felt so unwell that they could barely walk anymore. So, I really recommend following an itinerary that includes acclimatization hikes in Dingboche and Namche.

Best Time to Trek

The best time to go on the Everest Base Camp trek is in autumn (October-November) and spring (March-May). These times are peak trekking seasons, and it can get crowded on the trail. If you prefer to go during a quieter time, the end of November/beginning of December is a good time to go.

Permits

You have to get two permits for the Everest Base Camp trek, the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Municipality permit, and the Sagarmatha National Park permit. You can get them at the Tourism Board in Kathmandu or in Monjo during the trek.

They check the permits maybe two times during the trek, but there is no checkpoint right before Lobuche.

Cell Service

There is no cell service in Lobuche at all. The two major Nepali mobile companies are Nepal Telecom and NCell, but neither works at this altitude. You can get wifi cards at the teahouses to connect to wifi.

Still, when you are deciding which SIM to get, I recommend getting one from Nepal Telecom. It has better coverage than NCell on the EBC trek. I went with an NCell SIM card, and there were a few villages on the trek where I had no network, but fellow trekkers with a Nepal Telecom SIM did.

Location

When you get to Lobuche, it really hits you that you have almost made it to Everest Base Camp! Lobuche is one of the last villages before Everest Base Camp. From here, you can walk to Gorakshep (the actual last village before EBC), and then to EBC in a few hours.

Things to Do in Lobuche

Lobuche is small and high up in altitude, so the best thing to do is rest. You really start to feel the effects of high altitude at this point. I didn’t have any symptoms of altitude sickness, but I was feeling more tired and had less energy than at lower elevations.

Even though I got to Lobuche in around three hours from Dingboche, I was still pretty tired by the time I got there, and I just felt like relaxing in the afternoon. I found a small shop in the village where I stocked up on some water and snacks, but otherwise, I just tried to gather my energy for the next day.

Lobuche is also the base for climbers who are going to Lobuche East and West. I met a couple who were trekking EBC independently, and after they got to Lobuche, they decided on the spot to find a guide to climb Lobuche. The good thing is that there are options in case you decide at the last minute to climb to Lobuche East or West, but in my opinion, it’s better to decide while you are still in Kathmandu, so you can prepare better and find a well-experienced guide for the climb.

Trekking from Lobuche to Gorakshep to Everest Base Camp

After Lobuche, you go to Everest Base Camp the next morning. The route passes by Gorakshep (the last village before EBC), and then it’s on to EBC!

The trail from Lobuche to Gorakshep is 4.6 km (2.8 miles) and it took me around two hours to walk. I had a quick tea and snacks in Gorakshep, and then I continued on to EBC. From Gorakshep to EBC, it’s 3.4 km (2 miles) and it took me around two hours to get there.

Most people go from Lobuche to Gorakshep, find accommodation, and have lunch before continuing to EBC. While I was trekking EBC, I decided that I would not stay in Gorakshep for the night, but instead go from Lobuche to EBC and then back to Lobuche. So, I only stopped in Gorakshep for a quick break.

The trail from Lobuche to EBC was one of the most challenging sections of my trek. There was a snow storm a few weeks before my trek, and the trail was still full of snow and ice. Some of the sections of the trail were very steep and slippery, so I had to use crampons. The crampons and my trekking poles gave me enough stability to make sure I wouldn’t slip.

Planning your Everest Base Camp trek? If you’d rather have the itinerary, accommodation and logistics organized for you, you can join our guided Everest Base Camp trek.

Teahouses

The teahouses in Lobuche are just like the ones in all the other villages along the trek. The rooms are mostly twin rooms, with a few single rooms available. Even if you take a twin room as a solo trekker, you don’t have to share it with other people.

Lobuche is smaller than Dingboche, but there are still around 8-10 teahouses to choose from. Each teahouse has a large capacity with lots of rooms to accommodate trekkers.

Where I stayed

I stayed at the Hotel New EBC and it was like all the other teahouses. I came across it by accident, it just happened to be the first place where I stopped to ask for a room. Later, I found out from other trekkers that, apparently, it is supposed to be one of the popular teahouses in Lobuche.

The teahouse is run by a family and they were super nice and friendly. The teahouse was full of so many trekkers, but still, the owners were supportive and helpful with everyone. I would stay here again.

The rooms were cold due to the altitude, and the only place to warm up was by the fire in the dining hall. This is typical in Nepali teahouses because the rooms are not heated, but you can warm up in the dining hall.

Electricity

Electricity is very limited in Lobuche, and most of the teahouses only have electricity through solar panels. It’s pretty much the same in every teahouse once you get to Dingboche village on the EBC trek, and from Dingboche upwards (Lobuche, Gorakshep), the electricity remains limited.

With limited electricity, there are no plugs in the rooms to charge your phone. If you want to charge your phone and power bank, you have to pay extra. There is a charging station in the dining hall where they can charge your electronics.

By the time I reached Lobuche, my phone’s battery was low, and my power bank’s battery was also low, so I decided to pay extra for charging my devices. I was starting to feel pretty tired from the trek, and felt like the only comfort I could give myself was having my phone and power bank charged. So, even though, the extra fees for charging increased my daily spending, I felt like it was totally worth it.

Wifi

Just as electricity is limited, so is wifi and cell network. There is absolutely no cell network in Lobuche, so if you want to access the internet, you have to buy wifi cards to connect to the wifi.

In the lower altitude on the trek (Phakding, Namche Bazaar, Tengboche), there is still access to a cell network, so accessing wifi is also easier. It starts to get more limited in Dingboche, and then, once you reach Lobuche, your only option for wifi is a wifi card.

The wifi cards have a validity of 24h and 48h. They are available at the teahouses. Once you have the card, it works like a scratch card. You scratch off the code, and then you can connect to the wifi at the teahouse. It only works within the premises of the teahouse, so once you go out of the teahouse, you have no access to wifi.

I got the wifi card because I was trekking solo, and I wanted to keep my friends and family updated. In my teahouse, the wifi worked the best in the dining hall, and when I was in my room, it was far from the wifi connection, and couldn’t connect to the wifi.

Food

The menu is pretty much the same as all throughout the EBC trek. You get both Nepali and international dishes.

When I arrived in Lobuche, I had dal bhat, the most popular Nepali dish. It’s made with rice, lentil soup, and vegetable curry. It’s the go-to dish if you are super hungry, and man, I was hungry when I got to Lobuche.

For dinner, I had a cheese toast. I didn’t feel that hungry, and just went with what my body felt like it wanted to have. Actually, the cheese toast was better than expected. They put lots of cheese on it, so I was happy with it

Other food you could have includes omelette, porridge, chapati, pasta, momo, noodles, soup, fried rice, and snacks. It’s not recommended to have meat at high altitude because there is no proper place where teahouses can store meat.

Shower

The teahouses have hot water showers available, so it’s possible to take a shower, but I don’t recommend it. If you can rough it out for a few days without a shower, then it’s better to skip it.

Even though the water is warm (teahouses have a gas geyser), the temperature is super cold in the teahouse. Once you take a hot water shower, you’ll feel very cold due to the cold temperature.

I once took a shower on a trek around 4,000 m (13,120 ft), and it was one of my trekking mistakes I don’t want to repeat. The water in the shower was warm, but even in the shower cabin itself, it was so cold. Thank god I didn’t catch a cold, but it’s definitely become my no-go. It’s better just to use baby wipes and survive without taking a shower for a few days than risk catching a cold.

Toilets

Most of the teahouses in Lobuche have Western-style toilets, but it can get really messy because there are many people using the shared toilets, and the flush doesn’t work.

I was feeling optimistic when I arrived in Lobuche, so I got a room with a shared toilet. Looking back, I should have got a room with a private toilet. There was only one toilet on my floor and it got so dirty. Having a room with a private toilet can make your stay much more comfortable, so it’s worth paying extra for it.

Should I Book Ahead?

It may be worth considering booking a teahouse room ahead for Lobuche. I didn’t book a teahouse before arriving in Lobuche, and I could still get a room, but I got there faster than a lot of the other trekkers.

Just before you arrive in Lobuche, the classic EBC trail joins the trail with the Three Passes Trek. Because trekkers doing the Three Passes Trek join the main EBC trail around this point, the teahouses in Lobuche can get pretty busy.

I arrived in Lobuche around noon, but most of the independent trekkers arrived later, around 3 pm. It was around that time that the availability of rooms became more limited. By 4 pm, there were no free rooms in my teahouse. You can always walk around the village to find a place, but it’s better to try to arrive a bit earlier if you are trekking solo.

Still, I am not saying you should rush the trek, but if you feel well, then start the trek to Lobuche by 8 am at the latest, and you should get there well before a lot of the other trekkers arrive.

Another option is to talk to your teahouse owner in Dingboche (the day before leaving for Lobuche), and ask them to call ahead and book a room for you. I met other trekkers who did that, and it worked out for them.

People who trek with a guide or book through a trekking agency have their places pre-booked to guarantee their accommodation. If you have a guide then you won’t have to worry about not getting a teahouse. Usually, every guide and agency has its go-to teahouses along the trek, and accommodates their trekkers there.

Prices

During my whole trek, I had the highest daily average spending in Lobuche. The prices get higher as you go higher on the trek, but what made my costs higher was that I bought the wifi cards, and charged my phone and power bank.

The EBC prices would have been fine, if I didn’t pay extra for wifi and charging, but I really wanted to stay connected and update my family, so my spending increased by a lot.

I paid the following prices in Lobuche: 

• Room: Rs. 1,000 (USD 6.50) per night for a single room with a shared toilet. Rs. 3,000 (USD 20) for a room with a private toilet
• Food: Dal bhat for Rs. 1,300 (USD 8.50), cheese toast for Rs. 1,000 (USD 6.50), an omelette with toast for Rs. 1,100 (USD 7), and a cup of tea for Rs. 250.
• Bottled water: Rs. 250 per bottle (There is a small shop in Lobuche where you can buy bottled water cheaper than in the teahouses. It’s a small saving but I was on a budget).
• Charging: Phone charging for Rs. 500 (USD 3) for one full charge, power bank 10,000 mAh for Rs. 900 (USD 6), power bank 20,000 mAh for Rs. 1,500 (USD 10)
• Wifi: 24h wifi card for Rs. 1,200 (USD 8), 48h wifi card for Rs. 1,500 (USD 10)
• Hot water bag: Rs. 500 (USD 3)
• Shower: Rs. 300 (USD 2) but it is too cold to take one.