How long does the Three Passes Trek take?

Plan for 18 to 21 days from Kathmandu to Kathmandu including the Lukla flight buffer. The on-trail portion runs 14 to 17 days depending on rest days at Namche, Dingboche and Gokyo. Cutting under 17 trail days is where altitude problems start — most travellers who turn around above 5,000m did so on a 'fast' itinerary that an operator sold as ambitious. Allow at least one full buffer day in Kathmandu after your scheduled Lukla return for weather cancellations.

How difficult is the Three Passes Trek compared to Everest Base Camp?

Much harder. EBC tops out at Kala Patthar (5,545m) with mostly graded teahouse trails and one big-altitude day. Three Passes adds three pass crossings — Kongma La at 5,535m, Cho La at 5,420m and Renjo La at 5,360m — each a 9 to 10 hour day with steep terrain, glacier travel on Cho La, and minimal teahouse cover on the approach to Kongma La. Three Passes is rated Grade 5 by the Nepal Mountaineering Association; EBC sits at Grade 3. Most Kathmandu agencies will not book Three Passes as a first Nepal trek for that reason.

What's the best time for the Three Passes Trek in 2026?

Late September to mid-November (autumn) and mid-March to mid-May (spring) are the workable windows. Autumn 2026 looks best in early-to-mid October — clear post-monsoon air, stable weather, lodges open. Cho La can pick up unexpected snow by late November. Spring 2026 has the wrinkle of the Lukla–Ramechhap detour from 15 March to 15 May, which adds a 4 to 5 hour pre-dawn jeep on Day 1 and the return day. We book around 60% of our Three Passes trips for the second and third weeks of October.

Do I need a guide for the Three Passes Trek in 2026?

Yes. Since Nepal's 2023 mandatory-guide rule and the 2026 reaffirmation by the Nepal Tourism Board, every trekker on a regulated trail in the Everest region must walk with a licensed guide hired through a government-registered trekking agency. Checkposts at Monjo and Namche scan guide licences against permit numbers. Penalties for trekking without a guide on a regulated route run up to NPR 12,000 (about USD 90), with the trekker turned back to the nearest roadhead. For Three Passes specifically, a guide is also a safety call — Cho La has had three trekker deaths since 2022 from people attempting the glacier crossing in poor weather without route experience.

Should I do the Three Passes Trek clockwise or anticlockwise?

Anticlockwise — Renjo La first, Cho La second, Kongma La last — for almost everyone. The passes go from lowest to highest, so your body has built more haemoglobin by the time you face Kongma La at 5,535m. The clockwise itinerary that most operators sell puts the highest pass on Day 8, before you have adapted. The argument against anticlockwise — that the Thame side is quieter and harder to navigate — only holds if your guide does not know the line. Hire a Khumbu-experienced Sherpa, walk anticlockwise. Repeat trekkers who already acclimatised on a previous EBC trip can comfortably go clockwise.

How much does the Three Passes Trek cost in 2026?

USD 1,800 to USD 2,500 per person for a guided 18 to 21 day trip on a two-person package, including all permits, the Kathmandu–Lukla return flight (around USD 254 each way in spring 2026), licensed Sherpa guide at USD 28-30 per day, porter at USD 20-22 per day, teahouse lodging and most meals. A solo traveller pays roughly 15 to 20 percent more. A group of four drops the per-head price to about USD 1,650-1,950. Add USD 130-180 for mandatory insurance with helicopter evacuation cover up to 6,000 metres.

What's the difference between Three Passes and the EBC + Gokyo trek?

EBC Gokyo combines Everest Base Camp with the Gokyo Lakes via the Cho La pass — that's two of three high passes on the Three Passes loop, done in 16 to 18 days. Three Passes adds Kongma La (5,535m) and Renjo La (5,360m) for a full Khumbu circuit at 18 to 21 days. If you have 16 days and want the EBC view plus Gokyo Lakes, EBC Gokyo is the right call. If you have 21 days and want the full loop with three pass crossings, Three Passes.

← BLOG · ROUTES

Three Passes Trek 2026: Why We Run Everest's High Loop Anticlockwise

Kongma La, Cho La and Renjo La in reverse order, USD 1,800–2,500 budget breakdown, and what 21 days at 5,000+ metres actually feels like — from a Kathmandu team that books the route a dozen times a year.

3 MAY 202611 MIN READNEPAL NEXUS

Trekker crossing the Cho La Pass at 5,420 metres on the Everest Three Passes Trek, Khumbu region, Nepal.

The Three Passes Trek is what people walk in the Everest region when they have already done Base Camp and want the route that locals actually recommend. Three high passes — Kongma La (5,535m), Cho La (5,420m) and Renjo La (5,360m) — stitched together with Everest Base Camp, Kala Patthar (5,545m) and the Gokyo Lakes. Eighteen to twenty-one days at 4,000–5,500 metres. One trek, three valleys, and views you do not get from the standard EBC route.

Most operators sell it the same way: clockwise from Lukla, hitting Kongma La first, then Cho La, then Renjo La. We do not book it like that. The reason matters more than the brochures admit.

Here is the route as we run it from Kathmandu in 2026, what it costs, and the bits we wish more travellers asked about before signing.

The direction call most operators get backwards

Pull up ten Three Passes itineraries and at least seven will route you Lukla → Namche → Tengboche → Dingboche → Chukhung → Kongma La → Lobuche → Gorak Shep → EBC → Kala Patthar → Cho La → Gokyo → Renjo La → Thame → Lukla.

That clockwise loop sounds clean on paper. It is also the order that puts the highest pass — Kongma La at 5,535 metres — earliest in your trek, when your body has had the least time at altitude.

The anticlockwise version flips it: Lukla → Namche → Thame → Renjo La (5,360m) → Gokyo → Cho La (5,420m) → Lobuche → EBC → Kala Patthar → Kongma La (5,535m) → Chukhung → Dingboche → Lukla. The passes go lowest to highest. The body is acclimatised. The crux of the trek is no longer Day 8.

The argument against anticlockwise is that the northern Thame side has sparser teahouses and the descent from Renjo La into Gokyo crosses ground some operators do not know well. Both are true if you do not have a guide who has walked the line a dozen times. With a Khumbu-experienced Sherpa, neither is a real obstacle.

We book the anticlockwise route by default for first-time Three Passes trekkers. The clockwise version we will run for repeat travellers who already completed an EBC trek and have a clear acclimatisation profile from that earlier walk.

What it costs in 2026

A 2026 Three Passes Trek booked through a Kathmandu-registered agency lands between USD 1,800 and USD 2,500 per person for a guided 18–21 day itinerary, two-person basis, mid-tier teahouses. That includes:

All permits (about NPR 6,000 / USD 46 in 2026 fees)
Round-trip Kathmandu–Lukla flight (USD 254 one-way × 2 = USD 508 in spring 2026)
Licensed Sherpa guide at USD 28–30 per day
Porter at USD 20–22 per day (optional, but most travellers take one)
Teahouse lodging across 18–21 nights
Most meals on the trail
Kathmandu hotel for arrival and departure nights

What is not included, and where the real spend creeps in:

Travel insurance with helicopter evacuation cover up to 6,000m — mandatory, around USD 130–180 for a three-week trip
Hot showers (USD 4–8 each above Namche), wifi (USD 3–6 per device per night), charging (USD 2–4 per battery)
Snacks, chocolate, bottled water (a 1L bottle at Lobuche runs NPR 250–350)
Tip pool: USD 10–15 per day per guide, USD 7–10 per day per porter
Helicopter return option from Lukla or Pheriche if weather pins you down (USD 600–1,200 per seat)

A solo traveller pays roughly 15–20% more on the package because the guide and porter cost spreads across one person instead of two. A group of four brings the per-head price down to around USD 1,650–1,950.

Anyone quoting USD 1,100 for the full trek is paying their guide poorly, skipping the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu permit, or running an 11-day fast itinerary that gives you altitude sickness instead of memories. Walk away.

2026 permits at a glance

Sagarmatha National Park Entry Permit: NPR 3,000 (USD 23)
Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality Permit: NPR 3,000 (USD 23) — increased from NPR 2,000 in late 2024
TIMS card: No longer required as of 2026

The Sagarmatha permit is issued at the Monjo entry checkpoint. The Khumbu Pasang Lhamu permit is issued at Lukla on arrival. Your guide handles both — pay in Nepali rupees in cash.

Day-by-day, anticlockwise

This is the 19-day plan we send to most travellers. Cut a day from the Gokyo end if you are tight on holiday. Do not cut from Namche.

Day 1. Kathmandu → Ramechhap (4–5 hour pre-dawn jeep, March–May 2026) → fly to Lukla (2,860m). Walk to Phakding (2,610m). 3 hours.
Day 2. Phakding to Namche Bazaar (3,440m). 6 hours, the Hillary Suspension Bridge stretch.
Day 3. Namche acclimatisation. Hike to Everest View Hotel (3,880m), back down to sleep low. Do not skip this day.
Day 4. Namche to Thame (3,820m). 5 hours. Quieter side of the Khumbu, fewer trekkers.
Day 5. Thame to Marlung (4,210m). 4 hours. Start of the Renjo La approach.
Day 6. Marlung to Lungden (4,380m). 3 hours, short on purpose.
Day 7. Lungden to Gokyo (4,790m) via Renjo La (5,360m). 8–10 hours. First high pass. The Gokyo Lakes appear from the descent.
Day 8. Gokyo rest day. Hike Gokyo Ri (5,360m) for the panoramic of Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu — all four 8,000m peaks visible from one summit. The single best view-day on the trek.
Day 9. Gokyo to Thagnak (4,700m). 3 hours.
Day 10. Thagnak to Dzongla (4,830m) via Cho La (5,420m). 8–9 hours. Glacier crossing — fixed ropes in some seasons, microspikes recommended October–April.
Day 11. Dzongla to Lobuche (4,940m). 3 hours.
Day 12. Lobuche to Gorak Shep (5,164m), continue to Everest Base Camp (5,364m), back to Gorak Shep. 7 hours round-trip.
Day 13. Pre-dawn Kala Patthar (5,545m) for sunrise on Everest. Descend to Lobuche, continue toward Kongma La base camp on the Chukhung side. 8 hours.
Day 14. Lobuche to Chukhung (4,730m) via Kongma La (5,535m). 9–10 hours. Highest pass, longest day. Most Three Passes trekkers find this harder than Cho La.
Day 15. Chukhung to Tengboche (3,860m). 6 hours, big descent.
Day 16. Tengboche to Namche. 5 hours.
Day 17. Namche to Lukla. 7 hours.
Day 18. Fly Lukla → Ramechhap → drive Kathmandu. Buffer day if weather grounds the flight.
Day 19. Spare day in Kathmandu. Use it.

The buffer day on Day 19 is not optional. Lukla flights cancel — every operator has stories of trekkers stuck for two or three days because the cloud ceiling at Tribhuvan or Manthali drops below limits. Plan your international flight with at least 36 hours of slack after your scheduled Lukla return.

What 5,500 metres actually feels like

The numbers do not tell you what the body does up there. Most healthy adults can summit Kala Patthar at 5,545m in October. Few enjoy it.

At Lobuche (4,940m) you will wake at 3am with the cold and the dry-air headache. Eating becomes a chore. The dal bhat that fed you well at Namche tastes like cardboard at Gorak Shep, and you eat it anyway because the calorie deficit at altitude is real — most Three Passes trekkers lose 4–7 kg over the trek.

Sleep at the Lobuche, Dzongla and Chukhung teahouses runs cold even in down-bag-rated -20°C kits. Layer aggressively at night. Two pairs of socks, beanie under the hood. Teahouses do not heat the rooms — they heat the dining room from 5pm to 9pm, and then everyone goes to bed with the cold.

The Cho La crossing in mid-October usually has firm snow in the gully but minimal ice. By mid-November, it is icy enough that microspikes go from nice-to-have to use-them-or-fall. Kongma La does not have a glacier crossing but the descent into Chukhung is loose scree for two hours.

Renjo La is the easiest of the three on paper. The climb out of Lungden is six hours of switchbacks at altitude, and the descent into Gokyo gives you the lakes laid out below — one of the best reveals on any Nepal trek.

Who should book this trek

Three Passes is not a first Nepal trek. It is a Grade 5 trek by Nepal Mountaineering Association classification and the closest thing to mountaineering you can do without a peak permit.

We book it for travellers who have:

Completed at least one prior Nepal trek (EBC, ABC, Manaslu) — or equivalent multi-day high-altitude walking elsewhere
21 days of clear holiday including travel buffer
Reasonable cardiovascular fitness — three to four months of hill training before arrival
A willingness to walk 8–10 hour days carrying a 6–8 kg daypack

We do not book it for travellers who:

Are doing their first Nepal trek and want the full experience
Have less than 16 days on the ground in Nepal
Have a pre-existing cardiovascular condition without a doctor sign-off for trekking above 5,000m
Are travelling with someone whose schedule is tighter than theirs

Send your prior trekking history when you write to us. We will tell you honestly whether we would book this trek for you, or whether the EBC + Gokyo route at 13–16 days is the better call for the timeline you have.

Two questions we hear most weeks

Can I skip the rest day at Namche to save a day? No. Or rather, you can, and one in three trekkers who do start vomiting at Tengboche the following day. Acclimatisation is not elective for Three Passes — your body needs the 36-hour pause at 3,440m to start the haemoglobin adjustment that gets you over the passes intact.

Should I take a porter? Yes. Even fit travellers find that carrying 10kg over Kongma La in October at 5,500m is the single hardest hour of the trek. A porter at USD 20–22 per day costs less than a single hot shower at Lobuche multiplied across the trek and makes the difference between summit photos and a turn-around.

Booking workflow that follows the new rules

We confirm route, dates and group size, then send a written proposal within 48 hours. A 20% deposit confirms the trip and we start permits — the Department of Immigration counter is two blocks from our office. Your Sherpa guide is named and licensed against your permit number — the Monjo and Namche checkposts scan it. Insurance documents come to us a week before arrival so we have evac details on file. We meet for a Kathmandu briefing the day before the Ramechhap transfer and walk from there.

If you have read this far and want a 2026 Three Passes plan written for the dates you actually have, write to us. The proposal is free, takes a couple of days, and goes out from someone who has personally walked the route — not a sales rep with a stock template.

NEPAL NEXUS · KATHMANDU

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Quick answers

What travellers ask about this.

How long does the Three Passes Trek take?: Plan for 18 to 21 days from Kathmandu to Kathmandu including the Lukla flight buffer. The on-trail portion runs 14 to 17 days depending on rest days at Namche, Dingboche and Gokyo. Cutting under 17 trail days is where altitude problems start — most travellers who turn around above 5,000m did so on a 'fast' itinerary that an operator sold as ambitious. Allow at least one full buffer day in Kathmandu after your scheduled Lukla return for weather cancellations.
How difficult is the Three Passes Trek compared to Everest Base Camp?: Much harder. EBC tops out at Kala Patthar (5,545m) with mostly graded teahouse trails and one big-altitude day. Three Passes adds three pass crossings — Kongma La at 5,535m, Cho La at 5,420m and Renjo La at 5,360m — each a 9 to 10 hour day with steep terrain, glacier travel on Cho La, and minimal teahouse cover on the approach to Kongma La. Three Passes is rated Grade 5 by the Nepal Mountaineering Association; EBC sits at Grade 3. Most Kathmandu agencies will not book Three Passes as a first Nepal trek for that reason.
What's the best time for the Three Passes Trek in 2026?: Late September to mid-November (autumn) and mid-March to mid-May (spring) are the workable windows. Autumn 2026 looks best in early-to-mid October — clear post-monsoon air, stable weather, lodges open. Cho La can pick up unexpected snow by late November. Spring 2026 has the wrinkle of the Lukla–Ramechhap detour from 15 March to 15 May, which adds a 4 to 5 hour pre-dawn jeep on Day 1 and the return day. We book around 60% of our Three Passes trips for the second and third weeks of October.
Do I need a guide for the Three Passes Trek in 2026?: Yes. Since Nepal's 2023 mandatory-guide rule and the 2026 reaffirmation by the Nepal Tourism Board, every trekker on a regulated trail in the Everest region must walk with a licensed guide hired through a government-registered trekking agency. Checkposts at Monjo and Namche scan guide licences against permit numbers. Penalties for trekking without a guide on a regulated route run up to NPR 12,000 (about USD 90), with the trekker turned back to the nearest roadhead. For Three Passes specifically, a guide is also a safety call — Cho La has had three trekker deaths since 2022 from people attempting the glacier crossing in poor weather without route experience.
Should I do the Three Passes Trek clockwise or anticlockwise?: Anticlockwise — Renjo La first, Cho La second, Kongma La last — for almost everyone. The passes go from lowest to highest, so your body has built more haemoglobin by the time you face Kongma La at 5,535m. The clockwise itinerary that most operators sell puts the highest pass on Day 8, before you have adapted. The argument against anticlockwise — that the Thame side is quieter and harder to navigate — only holds if your guide does not know the line. Hire a Khumbu-experienced Sherpa, walk anticlockwise. Repeat trekkers who already acclimatised on a previous EBC trip can comfortably go clockwise.
How much does the Three Passes Trek cost in 2026?: USD 1,800 to USD 2,500 per person for a guided 18 to 21 day trip on a two-person package, including all permits, the Kathmandu–Lukla return flight (around USD 254 each way in spring 2026), licensed Sherpa guide at USD 28-30 per day, porter at USD 20-22 per day, teahouse lodging and most meals. A solo traveller pays roughly 15 to 20 percent more. A group of four drops the per-head price to about USD 1,650-1,950. Add USD 130-180 for mandatory insurance with helicopter evacuation cover up to 6,000 metres.
What's the difference between Three Passes and the EBC + Gokyo trek?: EBC Gokyo combines Everest Base Camp with the Gokyo Lakes via the Cho La pass — that's two of three high passes on the Three Passes loop, done in 16 to 18 days. Three Passes adds Kongma La (5,535m) and Renjo La (5,360m) for a full Khumbu circuit at 18 to 21 days. If you have 16 days and want the EBC view plus Gokyo Lakes, EBC Gokyo is the right call. If you have 21 days and want the full loop with three pass crossings, Three Passes.