Everest Base Camp: Tibet or Nepal Side? Which Is Better from Singapore

In short

Everest has two base camps. In Tibet, on the north side, you drive: a road trip from Lhasa that reaches the mountain on day five, and you look straight up at the whole North Face from the valley. In Nepal, on the south side, you trek: eleven days on the trail from Lukla and back, through Sherpa villages, to stand at the climbers' camp itself at 5,364 metres, beside the Khumbu Icefall. Choose Tibet if you want the view without the walking and have about eight days. Choose Nepal if the walk is the point and you have two weeks and good fitness. The Tibet side is easier on your legs but harder on your body, because the road gains height faster than you can acclimatise.

We run trips to both sides from Singapore, so we have no reason to push you to one. This guide sets out what each side is really like: where you stand, what you see, how hard it is, and what Singaporeans need for each.

Tibet or Nepal: the two sides compared

Heights and times from our own itineraries for the Everest Base Camp Tibet Tour and the Everest Base Camp Trek, checked 30 October 2026.

Where you actually stand on each side

This is the question most guides skip, and it matters, because on the Tibet side the answer changed in 2019.

Tibet: the visitor area near Rongbuk

Since early 2019, ordinary tourists have not been allowed beyond the area around Rongbuk Monastery, at about 5,000 metres, while the slopes above were cleaned up, Yicai reported, citing Xinhua. The climbers' camp further up the glacier is for expedition teams only. What visitors reach today is a visitor area in the Rongbuk valley, with a tent village and the stone markers you see in photos, and the North Face rising at the head of the valley. You go no further than this on any tour, ours included.

Nepal: the climbers' base camp itself

In Nepal you walk all the way to Everest Base Camp, the working foot of the mountain where expeditions set up each spring, at 5,364 metres on the edge of the Khumbu Icefall. It is a field of rubble and ice marked by a painted boulder and prayer flags, and in April and May it fills with climbers' tents. The catch is that you cannot see Everest's summit from here: Nuptse and Everest's West Shoulder stand in the way. That is why almost every trek, ours included, climbs Kala Patthar at about 5,545 metres before dawn the next morning, for sunrise on Everest, Nuptse, Lhotse and Pumori.

Which side has the better view of Everest?

For the mountain itself, Tibet wins. From the Rongbuk valley the North Face fills the head of the valley with nothing in front of it, and you can watch it change colour at sunset from outside your tent. On the Nepal side you see Everest in glimpses on the way up, from a bend on the climb to Namche onwards, and properly only from Kala Patthar.

For everything around the mountain, Nepal wins. The trek passes through Namche Bazaar, the Sherpa market town at 3,440 metres, and Tengboche Monastery at 3,867 metres, with Ama Dablam over the trail for days. In Tibet the drive crosses a high, bare plateau, with Yamdrok Lake, the Kumbum stupa at Gyantse and Tashilhunpo monastery in Shigatse on the way.

Altitude: easier on the legs, harder on the body

Altitude sickness depends on how high you sleep and how fast you get there, not on how fit you are. The CDC Yellow Book advises that above 3,000 metres you should not raise your sleeping height by more than 500 metres a day, and should take a rest day every three to four days. That rule is where the two sides differ most.

• Tibet: you land in Lhasa at about 3,650 metres and spend three nights there, then sleep in Shigatse at 3,840 metres. The next day the road climbs over Gyatso La at 5,248 metres to the visitor area at about 5,000 metres, a jump of more than 1,100 metres in one night. You stay only one night up there and drive down the next morning, which helps, but expect headaches and poor sleep.
• Nepal: you start lower, at Lukla, 2,860 metres, and climb on foot over eight days, with rest days at Namche Bazaar and Dingboche built in. The gain is gradual, but you spend more nights above 4,000 metres in total, and the cold and effort add up.

On both sides, tell your guide early if you have a headache with nausea or dizziness, and ask your doctor in Singapore about altitude medicine before you go. Neither side suits anyone with serious heart or lung conditions without medical advice.

Days, effort and comfort

Tibet: eight days, mostly in a vehicle

Our Everest Base Camp Tibet Tour is eight days from Lhasa: two days in the city for the Potala Palace and the old temples, then a drive of about 360 km to Shigatse, and a long day of about 340 km and eight hours to the Everest visitor area. The walking is short and easy, but the days on the road are long, and the night near Everest is cold, well below freezing for most of the year. Hotels in Lhasa and Shigatse are comfortable; the tent guesthouse is simple and warm.

Nepal: fifteen days, eleven of them on the trail

Our Everest Base Camp Trek is fifteen days from Kathmandu. After the flight to Lukla you are on the trail for eleven days, walking three to eight hours a day, on rough mountain paths with long climbs, and sleep in teahouses with simple rooms and shared toilets. You need to be fit enough to walk for six hours with a day pack, day after day. If you want an even bigger challenge, our 19-day Everest Three Passes Trek reaches base camp on a loop over three high passes. For gentler options, see our list of the best treks in Nepal.

Getting there from Singapore

To the Tibet side

Every flight from Singapore to Lhasa stops on the way, usually in a Chinese city such as Chengdu or Chongqing, or you can fly in from Kathmandu, where the flight to Lhasa takes about 1 hour 20 minutes. Our Singapore to Lhasa guide compares the routes, flight days and fares.

To the Nepal side

Fly from Changi to Kathmandu; our guide to Singapore Airlines flights to Kathmandu has the schedule. From Kathmandu, the flight to Lukla takes about 35 minutes. In the busy spring and autumn seasons, Lukla flights leave from Ramechhap instead, after a road transfer of four to five hours before dawn. Mountain flights depend on the weather, so our trek keeps a spare day at the end. Read our Lukla airport guide for what the landing is like, and our Nepal airports guide for Kathmandu's airport.

Visas and permits for Singaporeans

Tibet

Singapore passport holders can enter China without a visa for up to 30 days, under the mutual visa exemption that ICA announced in January 2024; check MFA's China page before you fly. Tibet itself needs a Tibet Travel Permit, which only a licensed travel agency can obtain, and you must travel with a licensed guide; the Everest area needs further permits on top. We arrange all of them, so book at least a month ahead. Rules for entering Tibet from Kathmandu are different and agencies disagree on them, so our Singapore to Lhasa guide explains that route separately.

Nepal

Singaporeans get a tourist visa on arrival at Kathmandu airport. On the trail you need two permits, one for Sagarmatha National Park and one for the Khumbu Pasang Lhamu Rural Municipality, and both are bought on the way in, at Lukla and at Monjo, not in Kathmandu. Our guide collects them for you.

Best time to go

• Tibet side: April to May and September to October, when the road is open and the tent village runs. From June to August cloud often hides the North Face. In winter it is bitterly cold and some services close; Tibet can also close to foreign visitors at short notice, so we confirm before you book flights.
• Nepal side: March to May and September to November. Spring brings climbers' tents to base camp and rhododendrons lower down; autumn has the clearest skies. The monsoon, June to August, brings rain, leeches lower down and cancelled Lukla flights.

Can you see both sides in one trip?

Yes. Our 12-day Tibet & Nepal Grand Journey starts in Kathmandu with the city's temples, flies to Lhasa, and drives to the Everest visitor area in Tibet before flying back. You see Everest from the north without trekking, and Kathmandu as well. If you want to stand at both base camps, you can do the Everest Base Camp Trek in Nepal and a Tibet trip on another visit, or in spring or autumn of the same year.

So which side should you choose?

• Choose Tibet if you want the best view of Everest itself, prefer not to trek, have about eight days, or are travelling with older parents who can manage altitude but not long walks.
• Choose Nepal if the walk matters as much as the mountain, you have two weeks and good fitness, and you want to stand where the climbers start.

Still unsure? See all our trips in Tibet and Nepal, or the Khumbu region page.