Everest Base Camp cost per person when two, three or four share a guide

A budget-style foreign trekker pays about NPR 170,000 to 190,000 (USD 1,270 to 1,420) for Everest Base Camp alone with a guide and one porter, and about NPR 145,000 to 166,000 (USD 1,080 to 1,240) when two share them, as of October 2026 in our cost data. Three or four sharing bring it to about NPR 133,000 to 158,000. The guide is the line that shrinks: about NPR 44,550 for 11 trail days, so each of two pays about half. Flights to Lukla, rooms, food and park fees do not fall, and because the calculator hires one porter per two trekkers, a third person adds a porter and the saving flattens. The figures include a 10 percent contingency and exclude international flights, insurance, gear and tips. They are estimates from published operator ranges, not quotes, and nobody here holds your money. Our free site helps you find partners and run the same split in the cost calculator.

How were these figures worked out?

We ran the calculator's own functions, not a spreadsheet: defaultCostPlan, splitCosts and estimateRange from lib/costs.ts, fed with the Everest region costs and permits from our content pack (checked 21 October 2026 for the region file, 18 October for the permit fees). The inputs:

• Trail days. 11, matching the route's 11 guide and porter days and its 5 mid-altitude and 6 high-altitude nights.
• Guide. NPR 4,050 a day, the rounded midpoint of NPR 3,400 to 4,700, so NPR 44,550 for 11 days. The range comes from operator guides such as Himalayan Partner (10 February 2026).
• Porter. NPR 2,750 a day, the rounded midpoint of NPR 2,100 to 3,400, one porter per two trekkers rounded up (so one for 1 or 2 people, two for 3 or 4).
• Rooms and food. Per night for the mid-altitude and high bands from the region file. Budget style is NPR 4,200 to 5,900, mid style NPR 5,300 to 7,600, applied to all 11 nights (the low end for the "low" column, the high end for "high"). The sources are PriceNepal (14 May 2026) and Third Rock Adventures (9 May 2026), both operator guides.
• Flights. Kathmandu to Lukla and back, NPR 25,500 to 32,200 each way, so a return midpoint of NPR 57,700 per person (Nepal Hiking, 8 June 2026; USD 190 to 240 one way at NPR 134).
• Permits. Sagarmatha National Park NPR 3,000 and the Khumbu trek card NPR 3,000 per foreigner, NPR 6,000 together (Nepal Tourism Board; the municipality page was down on 18 October so the card fee is from its archived copy).
• Contingency. 10 percent of the subtotal, the calculator's default.
• Exchange rate. NPR 134 per USD.

Foreign nationality only. Nepali and SAARC trekkers pay different permit and local rates; see Everest Base Camp trek cost for Nepali citizens.

What does one person pay line by line?

For a budget-style foreigner at the low end, with a guide and no porter, each person pays:

Flights plus rooms and food make NPR 103,900, constant in every row. Only the guide share and the contingency on it move. That is why sharing helps less than people expect: the biggest cost, getting to and from Lukla, is yours alone. The Everest Base Camp cost breakdown explains each line, and Lukla flight costs cover the flight.

What does one to four sharers pay per person, with ranges?

These ranges come from estimateRange, which swaps the room-and-food line between the low and high per-night figures and rounds to the nearest NPR 1,000. USD is NPR divided by 134, rounded to the nearest 10.

Guide only, no porter

Guide and porter (one porter per two trekkers, rounded up)

All rows include the 10 percent contingency. Mid style costs about NPR 13,000 to 21,000 more than budget per person, nearly all of it rooms and food. Comfort style is not tabled here; the cost calculator has it.

Where does sharing stop paying?

The saving shrinks with each person. In the budget, guide-only case:

• One to two trekkers: about NPR 24,500 less each, 14 percent.
• Two to three: about NPR 8,200 less each, 6 percent.
• Three to four: about NPR 4,100 less each, 3 percent.

So the first partner is worth the most. A third and fourth help the budget modestly and add logistics: more beds to find on full nights (teahouses full in peak season), more opinions on pace and more flights to coordinate. Our group of five post shows the same flattening on a shorter trek.

The porter step at three

With porters, three people cost about the same as two. The porter line is NPR 30,250 each alone, NPR 15,125 each for two, NPR 20,167 each for three (two porters) and NPR 15,125 each for four. So the budget guide-and-porter total is NPR 162,030 for two and NPR 159,409 for three, a gap of only about NPR 2,600. If three of you can carry your own bags or agree one porter between you, the saving returns; that is your agreement to make, and we do not tell you how much weight a porter should carry. See splitting guide and porter costs fairly.

What is missing from the tables?

These are estimates for the trail only. They omit:

• International flights and the visa.
• Travel insurance with helicopter evacuation cover (insurance guide).
• Kathmandu hotels and meals before and after (pre-trek costs).
• Gear, tips, hot showers, battery charging, wifi cards and bottled or filtered water (extras on the trail).
• Extra nights when flights are delayed.

Add them before you decide your budget. The Nepal trekking cost guide covers the whole picture, and high season versus low season prices shows how season changes lodging.

How do you split it fairly?

The fair split follows the line type. Group-wide lines (guide, shared porter, any private vehicle) divide by the number of people who use them. Individual lines (flights, rooms, food, permits, insurance) are each person's own. Our cost-sharing guide explains the rule, the split calculator how-to walks through an example, and the cost calculator lets you change group size, style and dates. Agree in writing before you book what happens if one of you turns back, because the guide is paid by the day. See what if your partner cannot continue. To find the people to split with, read finding a trekking partner for Everest Base Camp.

Where sources conflict or are silent

• Guide rate. Operator ranges differ; we use NPR 3,400 to 4,700 a day, with a midpoint of NPR 4,050. No current official minimum wage for Everest guides was found on an official page, so we state none. An undated press report cites much lower figures and is unverified.
• Flight fares. Operators quote USD 190 to 240 one way and fares rose on 1 March 2026. They change by airport, season and operator, and Ramechhap versus Kathmandu departures vary.
• Rooms and food. The per-night band comes from operator guides that have a commercial interest. They are not lodge price lists.
• Khumbu trek card fee. The municipality page was unavailable on 18 October 2026, so we use its archived copy; confirm in Lukla.
• Guide rule. The written rule asks for a guide in national parks but is reported not to be checked in Khumbu according to 2026 reports; the guide rule page has the dated position. These tables assume a guide. Without one, drop the guide share (NPR 44,550 for a lone trekker).
• Porter ratio. One porter per two trekkers is the calculator's default, not a rule. Some trekkers carry their own bags.

Run your own numbers

Open the cost calculator, pick Everest, set your group size and start date, and compare. If you want partners to share with, browse open trips or read our trekking partner page. The Everest region and route page hold the itinerary. We are a matching platform, not an agency, and we do not handle money or book guides.