Costs

Our tiers do not scale amenities. They scale how much friction we absorb on your behalf. Safety is identical across all three tiers pulse oximeter monitoring, the Two-Tier Altitude Protocol, supplemental oxygen, satellite phone above 4,000m, and pre-arranged helicopter evacuation are the same whether you pay $1,450 or $6,000.

The Trail ($1,450). A fixed-date departure with up to 7 other trekkers on a group departure date that we publish in advance. Clean teahouses selected for hygiene and location. Full safety protocol, full Kathmandu Pre-Trek Session, Silent Hiking and co-practice, ethical porter support at a 1:4 ratio. You join our schedule; we handle the rest.

The Journey ($2,250). A private departure on the dates you choose with only your own group of 1–8. Upgraded lodges below 4,000m where infrastructure permits attached bathrooms, heated rooms, varied menus. Flex days explicitly built in for acclimatization or exploration. A post-trek Traditional Nepali Recovery Massage in Kathmandu. Cultural access at confirmed relationship waypoints. This is the recommended product for most travelers.

The Transformation (from $3,800 custom). Every element is designed in consultation. Private group only. Premium lodges where infrastructure permits. Optional dedicated altitude specialist who accompanies the group. Optional dedicated trek photographer so you can stay off your phone. Deeper cultural access. Optional helicopter return from Lukla. Every Transformation begins with a conversation there is no single price because there is no single package.

The question to ask yourself: "How much friction do I want LHJ to absorb?" If you want logistics and safety handled and you are comfortable walking at a group pace on a group schedule, The Trail is right for you. If you want your own schedule, upgraded sleep, flex days, and a proper bookend to the experience, The Journey is right for you. If you want the experience fully designed around what will make the trip yours, The Transformation is right for you.

Every LHJ trek, every tier, includes: Kathmandu airport pickup and drop-off in a private vehicle; the LHJ Welcome Kit (trail map, local SIM with data, reusable water bottle, Himalayan Altitude Kit); the half-day Kathmandu Pre-Trek Altitude Preparation Session; all lodge accommodation on the trek; all meals on the trek (breakfast, lunch, dinner, with hot drinks); licensed Government of Nepal trekking guide; ethical porter support (1:4 ratio on Trail and Journey, 1:2 on Transformation); a professionally cleaned -20°C sleeping bag with silk liner; the full safety kit (pulse oximeter, supplemental oxygen, comprehensive first aid kit); satellite phone and live GPS above 4,000m; pre-arranged helicopter evacuation protocol; all trekking permits; government taxes and VAT.

What you pay for separately: international flights to and from Kathmandu; Nepal visa fee (typically $30–$50 on arrival); travel insurance with helicopter evacuation coverage (hard requirement); lunch and dinner in Kathmandu before and after the trek; personal trekking gear (boots, layers, jacket, poles); hot showers at lodges ($2–$5 per shower, cash); device charging ($2–$5 per charge); Wi-Fi at lodges where available ($3–$6 per session); bottled drinks, snacks, alcohol; tips for guide and porters (customary); any itinerary extension, helicopter return, or add-on service.

The full inclusions/exclusions list is on every trek page.

Tipping is customary in Nepal trekking, though not technically mandatory. The wages we pay (above the industry average) cover the guide and porters as employees. Tips are a recognition of exceptional service and a meaningful portion of the team's income.

Honest guidance from twenty years of industry experience: head guide $10–$15 per day per trekker. Assistant guide (if present) $5–$10 per day per trekker. Porters $5–$8 per day per porter, paid directly to each porter at the end of the trek.

On private departures (The Journey and The Transformation), tips tend toward the higher end of these ranges because the guide-to-client ratio is more personal.

Tips are paid in USD or NPR at the end of the trek. The guide can help coordinate a group pool to make the math simple. LHJ does not take a cut, and we do not include tips in the trek price we want them to be a genuine recognition, not a hidden markup. If you want to budget roughly, add about 10% of the trek price for tips.

No hidden costs. But there are visible costs we do not include in the trek price because they are personal or variable.

International flights to Kathmandu $800–$2,500 depending on your departure city and season. Nepal visa $30 for 15 days, $50 for 30 days, $125 for 90 days. Travel insurance with helicopter evacuation $100–$300 depending on duration and coverage. Personal trekking gear if you do not already own it, budget $500–$1,500 for boots, layers, insulated jacket, gloves, hat, trekking poles, headlamp, daypack. Lunch and dinner in Kathmandu $5–$15 per meal at a decent restaurant. Hot showers and phone charging at lodges roughly $30–$60 total for a 12-day trek. Tips 10% of trek price approximately. Alcohol and bottled drinks on the trail bottled water is $1 at lower altitudes, up to $4 at Gorak Shep.

Budget roughly 20–25% on top of the trek price for all non-included costs, excluding your international flights.

On The Trail (fixed-date departures), room sharing is the default. If you are a solo traveler on a fixed-date departure and you request a private room where lodges permit, we add a single supplement of roughly $15–$25 per night depending on the lodge in practice about $180–$300 on a 12-day trek. At the highest altitudes (Gorak Shep, Lobuche, Larkya La Dharamsala), private rooms are often not available at any price because lodges have limited single rooms, so the single supplement does not apply there.

On The Journey and The Transformation (private departures), you are the only trekker in your group unless you bring companions, so the room question is different solo travelers on The Journey have single rooms by default below 4,000m where lodges offer them, and the trek price reflects the reality that fixed logistical costs are not shared with other trekkers.

The single-supplement amount for your specific trek and date is quoted in the booking conversation, not buried in a footnote.

The standard payment structure is 25% deposit on booking confirmation (to hold the trek and start the pre-trek documentation flow) and the remaining 75% due 14 days before the trek start date.

For The Transformation tier, which is custom-quoted, the payment structure is negotiated in the booking conversation. For bookings more than 6 months out, we can sometimes accommodate a 25% / 25% / 50% three-stage structure ask in the booking conversation.

We accept credit cards and debit cards via Stripe. Bank wires are possible for larger bookings but take 3–5 business days to clear. We do not accept cryptocurrency, PayPal, or Western Union not because of ideology, but because the reconciliation overhead for a six-person team is not worth the marginal convenience.

If paying the balance 14 days before departure creates a genuine hardship, write to the CEO. We have accommodated individual circumstances before and will tell you honestly whether we can for yours.

The anchor prices we publish ($1,450 / $2,250 / from $3,800) apply to the peak trekking seasons spring (March–May) and autumn (September–November). These are the seasons when weather is most reliable, views are clearest, and lodges are fully operational.

Winter (December–February): reduced availability on many routes. Some high-altitude passes (Thorong La, Larkya La) are closed due to snow. The treks we run in winter (mostly Everest Base Camp with extra buffer days, Mardi Himal, lower Langtang) are priced at roughly 85–90% of the peak rate but the honest answer is we often recommend against winter trekking unless you have specific cold-weather experience.

Monsoon (June–August): most routes are closed due to leeches, slippery trails, and obscured views. The one trek we strongly recommend during monsoon is Upper Mustang, which sits in Nepal's rain shadow and is largely unaffected by the monsoon. Upper Mustang is priced slightly lower in monsoon (~5–10%) because the Kathmandu-to-Jomsom flight is less contested but the permit cost ($500 for the first 10 days) does not change.

If you are flexible on dates and are looking for the lowest price on a specific trek, ask us we will tell you the cheapest honest option, not the most profitable one.

Bring more cash than you think, in Nepali rupees, and get it in Kathmandu.

Everything you pay for on the trail is cash. Hot showers at $2 to $5, device charging at $2 to $5, Wi-Fi at $3 to $6 a session, boiled or bottled water, snacks, and anything you buy in a village. Across a 12-day trek, showers and charging alone come to roughly $30 to $60, and most trekkers spend somewhat more than that once drinks and snacks are counted.

Then there are tips, which are the larger number. Roughly 10% of the trek price is a reasonable budget, paid in USD or NPR at the end of the trek. Your guide can help organise a group pool so the arithmetic is simple.

ATMs exist in Kathmandu and Pokhara, and in a small number of larger trail towns, Namche being the usual example. Do not plan around them. They run out of cash, they go offline with the power, and withdrawal limits are low. Treat a trail ATM as luck rather than infrastructure.

Bring your rupees in a mix of denominations. Nobody at 4,900m can change a 1,000-rupee note for a $3 charge.

The daily rate we pay, in Nepali rupees, is published on every trek page alongside the regional average for the same work. We publish the number rather than the adjective, because "fair wages" is a claim every operator makes and almost none quantify.

Beyond the rate, the parts that matter operationally: porter support is included on every tier, at a 1:4 porter-to-trekker ratio on The Trail and The Journey and 1:2 on The Transformation, which is what actually controls load; porters are employed rather than day-hired at the trailhead; and they are equipped for the altitude they are being asked to work at.

Tips are separate from wages and go directly to each porter at the end of the trek, typically $5 to $8 per day per porter. LHJ takes no cut of tips and does not build them into the trek price, because a tip folded into a package price is a markup wearing a costume.

The reason any of this sits on a public page is that porter welfare in Nepal has a genuinely bad history, and the difference between an operator who manages loads and one who does not is invisible to a client at the time. It only becomes visible later, in the porter's back.

Because the cheapest trek is a real price for a real trek, and the difference is in what has been removed to reach it.

Group size. Ours caps at 8 on every tier. A budget operator gets there partly by putting fourteen or sixteen people behind one guide, which is roughly the number at which individual altitude monitoring stops meaningfully happening.

Safety equipment. Twice-daily pulse oximeter readings above 3,500m, supplemental oxygen carried on the trek, a satellite phone above 4,000m, and a pre-arranged helicopter evacuation protocol are all carried weight and standing cost. They are also the entire difference on the day something goes wrong.

Wages. We pay above the regional average and publish the figure. That is a direct, visible line in the price.

Buffer. Our Everest itineraries include buffer days for Lukla weather. A tighter itinerary is cheaper to sell and much worse at absorbing a two-day cancellation.

Guides. Ten to fifteen years of route experience, a current Government of Nepal licence, and a current Wilderness First Responder certification cost more than a new guide on a first season.

What is identical across our own three tiers is the safety protocol. What scales between them is how much friction we absorb. If your budget genuinely is the cheapest option, book it with your eyes open rather than assuming the two products are the same thing at different prices.