Everest View Hotel: Sleeping Above Namche at 3,880 M

The Key Figures

The table below gathers the core facts about the hotel from the sources named. Where sources disagree on a height or a detail, both figures are shown. Note that no current room rate was found in any source read, so the price line carries the package rates Nepali Times quoted in 2021 rather than a nightly tariff.

The hotel sits in the Sagarmatha National Park buffer above Namche Bazaar, which lies at 3,440 m (11,290 ft). The views run wide: Nepali Times says the rooms offer 360-degree views taking in Everest, Lhotse, Ama Dablam, Thamserku, Kongde and Khumbila. Mount Everest itself is 8,848.86 m (29,031.7 ft) high, most recently measured in 2020 through a joint survey by Nepalese and Chinese authorities.

History and the View

Takashi Miyahara was a Japanese entrepreneur who chose the Syangboche ridge for his hotel. Outdoor Japan records that he began building in 1968 and opened the hotel in 1971. No road reached Syangboche Ridge, so supplies came on a two-week trek from Lamusangu. Miyahara died in 2019 aged 84.

The hotel entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2004 as the highest hotel in the world, though Outdoor Japan notes it has since been surpassed. The height most operators and booking pages give is 3,880 m (12,730 ft). Feet figures vary slightly between sources: Alan Arnette gives 12,725 ft, Peregrine Treks 12,730 ft and Islands.com 13,000 ft.

To serve the hotel, Miyahara built his own airfield at Syangboche. Nepali Times reports that visitors once flew from Kathmandu in Pilatus Turboporters. Wikipedia describes the airport as having one unpaved 405 m runway with no scheduled services, developed to support Hotel Everest View. The airfield now receives only helicopters, according to Nepali Times.

On a clear day the terrace points straight at Everest, 8,848.86 m (29,031.7 ft) high, with Lhotse and Ama Dablam close by. The view is never guaranteed, because weather turns quickly at this height and no source can promise a clear day.

The Walk Up From Namche

Nepali Times describes the route as a two-hour hike from Namche Bazaar, which sits at 3,440 m (11,290 ft). Alan Arnette calls the same walk short but steep, passing the school and a military base on the way up. Most trekkers do it as an acclimatization day hike while based in Namche, since G Adventures runs a roughly 3-hour hike to Syangboche at 3,860 m on its Namche acclimatization day.

The hotel at 3,880 m (12,730 ft) sits well above Namche Bazaar at 3,440 m (11,290 ft). Wikipedia advises no more than 300 m of sleeping gain per day above 3,000 m, which is why the walk works best as a day visit from a Namche bed rather than as a move to a higher sleeping altitude early in a trek.

If you fly into the Syangboche airstrip instead, Islands.com says guests walk the remaining 45 minutes from the airstrip to the hotel. The airstrip and the hotel are close together on the same ridge, so the difference between the two walking times comes down to the starting point, not the distance.

Helicopter Breakfast Tours and What They Cost

Several operators sell a morning helicopter circuit from Kathmandu that lands at Kala Patthar, then stops for breakfast at the Everest View Hotel before flying home. Alpine Adventure Club describes the route as Kathmandu to Lukla for refueling, then Kala Patthar at 5,545 m, then breakfast at the hotel, then Lukla again and back to Kathmandu. It says the hotel stop lasts 50 to 60 minutes and that breakfast itself costs roughly $30 to $40 (USD 30-40) per person extra. Amazing Nepal Trek runs its version over about 3 to 4 hours with the itinerary running 06:30 to 10:30, listing a 07:30 AM Kala Patthar landing.

The table below compares the bookable trips on this site that touch the hotel or its ridge. Only the US dollar card prices shown here are prices of trips, operator website prices are not listed. Landings at Kala Patthar are subject to weather and local government permission, and no landing or view can be promised.

Oxygen in the Rooms

The sources agree the hotel carries oxygen and differ only on how it is delivered. Peregrine Treks says rooms have an oxygen supply upon request. Alan Arnette, in a post he labels a work of fiction with accurate historical references, says supplemental oxygen was made available in each room because many guests got altitude sickness. Nepali Times confirms supplementary oxygen is available. The safe reading is that oxygen exists at the hotel and you should ask for it rather than assume a cylinder stands in your room.

Helicopter day guests face the same exposure in compressed form. The Everest View Hotel Helicopter Breakfast listing carries oxygen on board, and the helicopter trips that land at Kala Patthar at 5,545 m put guests far above the hotel. Weight limits matter on those flights: Alpine Adventure Club lists a maximum of 500 kg with up to five passengers plus the captain, while Amazing Nepal Trek lists approximately 450 to 500 kg including passengers and gear.

• Wikipedia places the onset of altitude sickness above 2,500 m, with symptoms often appearing within ten hours of ascent, so the hotel at 3,880 m is firmly in the risk zone.
• AMS symptoms listed by Himalayan Hero are headache, nausea, fatigue, dizziness and poor sleep, and HACE needs immediate descent.
• Himalayan Hero advises drinking 3 to 4 litres of water daily and never ascending with worsening symptoms.

Acclimatization Before You Sleep There

The standard advice is to gain sleeping altitude slowly. Wikipedia says to ascend no more than 300 m (1,000 ft) per day to sleep above 3,000 m, and Himalayan Hero advises limiting sleeping-altitude gain to about 300 to 500 m per day above 3,000 m using climb high, sleep low. Himalayan Hero also recommends one acclimatization day for roughly every 1,000 m gained, with a separate section giving 800 to 1,000 m.

In practice that means flying to Lukla at 2,846 m (9,337 ft), trekking to Namche Bazaar at 3,440 m (11,290 ft), spending acclimatization days there, and only then sleeping at the hotel. Ian Taylor Trekking argues two standard acclimatization days are insufficient and includes three nights in Namche at 3,500 m in its own itineraries. Guests who fly straight from Kathmandu to the hotel by helicopter skip the whole acclimatization ladder, which is why the rooms carry oxygen and why a night there straight from the capital is a poor plan for most people.

For trekkers continuing higher, the Himalayan Rescue Association aid post at Pheriche is manned twice yearly during the trekking season by volunteer doctors. Wikipedia says the Pheriche HRA hospital is open only during March to May and October to December and was built with Japanese support in 1975. Anyone planning a serious ascent should also ask a doctor about acetazolamide, which Wikipedia lists at 125 mg twice daily for prevention, started about 24 hours before ascent.