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Having arrived in Kathmandu, you will be staying in a good hotel and have a day to explore this fascinating and friendly city.   The holiday continues with a short mountain flight, giving you outstanding views of the vast Himalayan range before arriving in Lukla (2,800 metres), a remote mountain village.  The trek begins from here and will take you to the village of Namche Bazaar, the heart of the Sherpa community and then on to the Tengboche monastery (3,870 metres).  This is the religious centre of the whole of the Sherpa area.  From the monastery and this region there are spectacular views of the mountains including Everest, Nuptse, Ama Dablam and Thamseku.  The trek continues and you will eventually arrive at Kalapathar (5,600 metres), the best viewpoint for Everest, Everest Base Camp and the Khumbu Ice Fall.  The scenery is breathtaking and well worth the effort.

The trek reaches Tengboche in time for the Mani Rimdu festival.  By the time you arrive, the monks have already been praying non-stop for seven days.  The last three days are public and include the Lama’s blessing ceremony (the most important part for the Sherpas), masked dancers and the elaborate finale and bonfire on the final day.  The atmosphere of this occasion is quite magical with people coming together from many different villages in the Khumbu (Everest) area.  It is an honour to be with the gentle, Buddhist mountain people for their festival and to experience their culture in awesome surroundings.

From here the trek heads back to Lukla and to Kathmandu for a day to rest and relax before travelling home.