Three Passes Trek Map & Distance

The Everest Three Passes Trek is a loop through four valleys of the Khumbu, linking Kongma La → Cho La → Renjo La with Everest Base Camp, Kala Patthar and the Gokyo Lakes. On the current Places Nepal 17-day itinerary it covers approximately 170 km / 105 miles on foot, walked over 16 trekking days between two Lukla flights.

The circuit runs anti-clockwise and passes through Namche Bazaar, Tengboche, Dingboche, Chhukung, Lobuche, Gorak Shep, Dzongla, Thagnak, Gokyo, Marulung and Thame before closing back at Namche and returning to Lukla.

Typical trekking days cover 5–14 km. The longest single day is 20 km — and it isn't a pass day. The three pass crossings are 11 km, 11 km and 14 km, which sounds modest until you see the walking times attached to them.

That gap between distance and effort is the thing this page exists to explain.

Three Passes Distance at a Glance

At altitude, kilometres are only part of the workload. Three separate days on this route cover exactly 11 km. They take 4–5 hours, 6–8 hours and 7–9 hours respectively. Distance alone will mislead you on this trek more than on almost any other route in Nepal.

Everest Three Passes Trek Route Map

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Read the map anti-clockwise from Lukla. The route heads north up the Dudh Koshi to Namche, continues northeast into the Imja Valley as far as Chhukung, then turns west and crosses the ridgeline three times — once at Kongma La, once at Cho La, once at Renjo La — each crossing dropping into a different valley system. The final pass puts you in the Bhote Koshi Valley, which runs south back to Namche. That's what closes the loop.

How Many Kilometres Is the Three Passes Trek?

Approximately 170 km / 105 miles, on the current Places Nepal 17-day itinerary.

That figure is worth unpacking rather than taking on trust, because it's the number every Three Passes page on the internet quotes differently.

Here's where it comes from. Places Nepal publishes a distance for every trekking day on the 17-day itinerary except one — the Day 3 acclimatization hike at Namche, which is listed without a kilometre figure because the hike is optional and the exact loop varies.

Add up every daily figure and you get 163 km. The Namche acclimatization hike to Hotel Everest View typically runs 4–6 km round trip. Add that and the total lands at 167–169 km — which rounds to the approximately 170 km.

So the headline figure checks out against the daily numbers underneath it. That's not something you can assume with trek distances, and it's the reason this page can give you a day-by-day breakdown that actually adds up.

What that 170 km includes:

• All 16 trekking days from Lukla back to Lukla
• The Everest Base Camp side trip from Gorak Shep
• The Kala Patthar climb
• The Gokyo Ri hike
• Both descents through the Dudh Koshi valley

What it does not include:

• The Kathmandu/Manthali–Lukla flights at either end
• Chhukung Ri, which is optional & not part of this itinerary
• Any optional extension around Khumjung, Khunde or Mong La

Why Three Passes Distance Figures Differ

Search for this trek and you'll find totals ranging from roughly 148 km to over 170 km. None of them are necessarily wrong. They're measuring different things.

Distances vary because of:

The single biggest source of variation is side trips. A route calculation that only measures village-to-village transfers — Lobuche to Gorak Shep, Gorak Shep to Dzongla — will come out roughly 20 km shorter than one that counts the walk out to Everest Base Camp and back, the Kala Patthar climb, and the Gokyo Ri hike. All three are walked. Whether they're counted depends entirely on who's doing the counting.

So treat any Three Passes distance as approximate, and check what route and which side trips it includes before comparing it to another.

Total Route Distance vs Actual Walking Distance

"17-day trek" reads as 17 days of walking. It isn't.

That gives 16 days on foot, bookended by two short mountain flights. The trek begins the moment you land at Lukla and ends the moment you fly out of Lukla.

The flight distance between Kathmandu and Lukla — roughly 135 km as the aircraft flies — is not trekking distance and should never be added to the total. Some route summaries make this mistake, which is one reason you'll occasionally see inflated figures.

Within the 170 km, everything is walked. There are no road transfers, no jeep sections, and no mechanised assistance anywhere on the circuit.

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Three Passes Trek Route in Order

Lukla → Phakding → Namche Bazaar → Tengboche → Dingboche → Chhukung → Kongma La → Lobuche → Gorak Shep → Everest Base Camp → Kala Patthar → Dzongla → Cho La → Thagnak → Gokyo → Gokyo Ri → Renjo La → Marulung → Thame → Namche Bazaar → Phakding → Lukla

That's the full sequence on the current Places Nepal route, in the order you walk it.

The passes are crossed in the order Kongma La (Day 7) → Cho La (Day 10) → Renjo La (Day 13). For why that direction is used and what changes if you reverse it, see Three Passes Trek: Clockwise or Anticlockwise.

Three Passes Trek Route Explained, Stage by Stage

Stage 1 — Lukla to Namche Bazaar (Days 1–3)

~24 km including the acclimatization hike. The lower Khumbu approach. The trail descends from Lukla to Phakding, then follows the Dudh Koshi north through Monjo and Jorsalle, crosses the Hillary Suspension Bridge, and climbs steeply to Namche at 3,440 m. Two nights at Namche with a climb-high-sleep-low hike between them.

Stage 2 — Namche to Chhukung (Days 4–6)

~30 km. The route follows the standard Everest Base Camp trail: the high traverse to Tengboche, past Pangboche and above the treeline to Dingboche, then a short day up the Imja Valley to Chhukung at 4,730 m. Chhukung is where the Three Passes route leaves the EBC trail for the first time.

Stage 3 — Kongma La (Day 7)

11 km. The first pass, and the highest. Chhukung climbs steeply over rock and moraine to Kongma La at 5,535 m, then drops onto the lateral moraine of the Khumbu Glacier and rejoins the main EBC trail near Thukla before reaching Lobuche.

Stage 4 — Lobuche, Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar (Days 8–9)

29 km across two days. The route rejoins the EBC trail through Gorak Shep, out to Everest Base Camp at 5,364 m and back, then a pre-dawn climb to Kala Patthar at 5,545 m — the highest point of the entire trek — before cutting west off the main trail to Dzongla.

Stage 5 — Cho La (Day 10)

11 km. The second pass. Dzongla climbs to Cho La at 5,420 m across a glaciated upper section, then descends into the Gokyo Valley to Thagnak. This is the crossing that links the Khumbu side of the route to the Gokyo side.

Stage 6 — Gokyo and Gokyo Ri (Days 11–12)

11 km across two days. A short walk along the Ngozumpa Glacier from Thagnak to Gokyo, then a second night with a 6 km round-trip climb to Gokyo Ri at 5,357 m.

Stage 7 — Renjo La (Day 13)

14 km. The third pass. Gokyo climbs to Renjo La at 5,360 m, then descends over 1,100 m through Lungden into the Bhote Koshi Valley to Marulung — the quietest section of the whole route.

Stage 8 — Marulung to Lukla (Days 14–16)

38 km across three days. The long walk out: down the Bhote Koshi through Thame and Phurte to Namche, then retracing the Day 2 trail to Phakding and the final short climb back to Lukla.

That last stage is worth noticing. Nearly a quarter of the trek's total distance comes after the final pass, on descending trail, when most people have mentally finished the trek.

Villages and Overnight Stops Along the Route

Thagnak also appears as Dragnag, and Marulung as Marlung or Marlungche, on maps and other itineraries. They're the same places. Thame is a daytime waypoint on this itinerary rather than an overnight stop.

Smaller waypoints you'll walk through without stopping overnight include Ghat, Monjo, Jorsalle, Phunki Thanga, Pangboche, Shomare, Thukla, Lungden and Phurte.

Day-by-Day Distance Table

This is the core reference. All figures are from our current 17-day itinerary.

* Day 3 is the one estimated figure in this table. 

Distance at a Glance: The Numbers That Matter

How Far Is the Kongma La Crossing?

11 km / 6.8 miles from Chhukung to Lobuche, in 7–9 hours.

• Start: Chhukung, 4,730 m
• High point: Kongma La, 5,535 m — the highest of the three passes
• End: Lobuche, 4,910 m
• Ascent: 810 m from Chhukung
• Terrain: steep rock and glacial moraine, non-glaciated

Eleven kilometres in nine hours works out to well under 1.5 km/h. That pace isn't a sign of a slow group — it's what the combination of 5,500 m altitude, 800 m of climbing on loose rock, and a demanding moraine descent produces.

This is the day where the mismatch between distance and effort is widest on the entire trek. It reads as a short day on paper and is, for most trekkers, the hardest single day of the seventeen.

Route detail, crossing conditions and what the terrain is actually like are covered in the Kongma La Pass guide.

How Far Is the Everest Base Camp Day?

15 km / 9.3 miles round trip from Lobuche, in 7–9 hours.

That total breaks into three parts:

You sleep at Gorak Shep, 5,140 m — the highest overnight of the trek. Everest Base Camp itself, at 5,364 m, is a there-and-back side trip with no overnight.

This distinction matters for distance comparisons. A route calculation measuring only overnight-to-overnight transfers would count Lobuche to Gorak Shep at roughly 4.5 km and stop there. Places Nepal's 15 km figure counts the full round trip out to Base Camp and back, because that's what you actually walk.

The terrain is rocky, undulating glacial moraine throughout. It's not steep, but the footing is constantly awkward, which is why 15 km takes 7–9 hours here and a comparable distance lower down takes five.

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How Far Is the Kala Patthar Day?

14 km / 8.7 miles from Gorak Shep to Dzongla via Kala Patthar, in roughly 6–8 hours.

This day has two distinct halves:

1. Gorak Shep → Kala Patthar → Gorak Shep. A pre-dawn climb, typically starting 4:00–4:30 AM, to 5,545 m and back down for breakfast. Roughly 4 km round trip with about 400 m of ascent.
2. Gorak Shep → Dzongla. The route leaves the main EBC trail for good and traverses west across high moraine and open hillside to Dzongla at 4,830 m.

Kala Patthar is not a separate trek. It's integrated into Day 9 of this itinerary, climbed at first light and followed by a full traverse the same day. That's what makes this one of the four days rated Strenuous despite not crossing a named pass.

It's also the highest point of the entire route — higher than all three passes and higher than Everest Base Camp. See the Kala Patthar guide for detail on the climb itself.

How Far Is Dzongla to Thagnak via Cho La?

11 km / 6.8 miles, in 6–8 hours.

• Start: Dzongla, 4,830 m
• High point: Cho La, 5,420 m
• End: Thagnak, 4,750 m
• Ascent: 590 m from Dzongla

Eleven kilometres is a modest distance by any normal hiking standard. The 6–8 hour window attached to it reflects four things the kilometre figure doesn't capture:

• Altitude — the day sits above 4,800 m throughout, where oxygen availability is roughly half of sea level
• Glaciated terrain — the upper section and the descent cross snow and ice often enough that traction devices are a routine consideration
• Steep rock — the lower approach and the drop toward Thagnak are both demanding underfoot
• Conditions on the day — fitting crampons or microspikes, and moving carefully across ice, both take time

Snow conditions, crampon requirements, weather risk and how guides assess the crossing are covered in the Cho La Pass guide. This page covers the distance; that one covers the crossing.

How Far Is Thagnak to Gokyo?

5 km / 3 miles, in 2–3 hours.

The shortest kind of day on the route, and deliberately placed the morning after Cho La. The trail crosses the moraine of the Ngozumpa Glacier — Nepal's longest — then follows the eastern shore past the first and second Gokyo Lakes to the third lake and Gokyo village.

Terrain is rocky moraine for the first section, which slows the pace more than 5 km suggests, then straightforward lakeside trail. It's a recovery day, and the itinerary uses it as one.

How Far Is the Gokyo Ri Hike?

6 km / 3.7 miles round trip, in 4–5 hours.

• Start and finish: Gokyo village, 4,750 m
• Summit: Gokyo Ri, 5,357 m
• Ascent: 607 m

Gokyo Ri is a day hike from Gokyo, not a route transfer. You start and end in the same village, which is why it appears in the distance table as a round trip rather than a point-to-point figure.

Six kilometres in four to five hours is roughly 1.3 km/h — the slowest average pace on the entire trek, and it's an out-and-back on a well-worn path. The reason is simple: 607 m of steep climbing above 4,700 m, usually before dawn, followed by a careful descent.

Because it's a separate summit above the village, Gokyo Ri and Gokyo village are frequently confused in route descriptions. They're different places at different elevations.

How Far Is Gokyo to Marulung via Renjo La?

14 km / 8.7 miles, in 7–8 hours.

• Start: Gokyo, 4,750 m
• High point: Renjo La, 5,360 m
• End: Marulung, 4,210 m
• Ascent: 610 m from Gokyo
• Descent: over 1,100 m to Marulung

This is the longest of the three pass days by distance, and the descent is the defining feature. Dropping more than 1,100 m into the Bhote Koshi Valley through Lungden is the single longest sustained descent on the route, on a trail less maintained than the main Khumbu paths.

It also falls on Day 13, after twelve consecutive demanding days. Renjo La is the least technical of the three crossings in isolation; it's rarely the easiest in practice.

Route detail is in the Renjo La Pass guide.

Which Are the Longest and Shortest Walking Days?

Longest by distance: Day 14, Marulung → Thame → Namche Bazaar, 20 km.

Longest by walking time: Days 7 and 8, 7–9 hours each — Kongma La, and the Everest Base Camp round trip.

Shortest trekking days: Days 6 and 11, 5 km in 2–3 hours — Dingboche to Chhukung, and Thagnak to Gokyo.

Here's the part worth sitting with: the longest day by distance is not the hardest day on this trek. Day 14 covers 20 km — 6 km more than any other day — and it's rated Hard rather than Strenuous, because it's a net descent from 4,210 m to 3,440 m. You're losing altitude the whole way, and at those elevations the body gets easier work with every hour.

The four days rated Strenuous on the current itinerary are Days 7, 9, 10 and 13 — Kongma La, Kala Patthar to Dzongla, Cho La, and Renjo La. Their distances are 11 km, 14 km, 11 km and 14 km. Not one of them is in the top two by distance.

If you're planning around this route, plan around walking hours and altitude, not kilometres.

The Three 11-Kilometre Days

The clearest illustration on this trek comes from three days that cover an identical distance.

Same eleven kilometres. Roughly double the time on Day 7 compared with Day 15.

Day 15 is a descent through forest below 3,500 m. Day 10 crosses a glaciated pass at 5,420 m. Day 7 climbs 810 m of loose rock to 5,535 m and descends onto glacial moraine. The distance is identical; the days are not remotely comparable.

This is the single most useful thing to understand about Three Passes distances, and it's why the kilometre column in any itinerary should be read alongside the walking-time column rather than instead of it.

Why 10 km at 5,000 m Is Not Like 10 km at Sea Level

Readers consistently judge trek difficulty by distance, because distance is the number that's easiest to compare. On a high-altitude route it's close to the least informative one.

Altitude. Above 5,000 m, the air holds roughly half the oxygen available at sea level. Pace drops regardless of fitness. The slow, rhythmic walking pace you see on the high sections isn't people struggling — it's the correct technique.

Elevation gain. Eleven kilometres with 810 m of climbing is a fundamentally different day from eleven flat kilometres. Vertical metres are the hidden variable in every distance figure.

Terrain. Glacial moraine, loose rock and ice all slow you down per kilometre because footing demands continuous attention. The approach to Gorak Shep, the Kongma La descent and the Cho La upper section are all far slower per kilometre than forest trail.

Snow and ice. Cho La's glaciated section may require fitting traction devices and moving carefully. That costs time the distance doesn't show.

Descents. Long drops — over 1,100 m on Renjo La day — are slow and hard on the legs, not fast free distance.

Weather. Wind, cold and reduced visibility all reduce pace, and the high passes are fully exposed.

Pack weight. Even a daypack changes your pace over a 7–9 hour day.

Acclimatization and accumulated fatigue. Day 13 is physically the same climb it would be on Day 3. It isn't the same day.

For how these demands translate into preparation, see the Three Passes Trek training plan — particularly the sections on long walking days, back-to-back hiking and downhill conditioning.

Three Passes Trek Elevation Profile

 Read against distance rather than days, the profile makes three things obvious:

1. The first 50 km are a steady climb from 2,840 m to about 4,400 m, with no sharp spikes. That's the acclimatization section doing its job.
2. The middle 55 km contain every high point. Between roughly the 54 km mark and the 105 km mark you cross Kongma La, walk to Everest Base Camp, climb Kala Patthar and cross Cho La. Four of the trek's six high points, inside about a third of its distance.
3. The last 38 km are almost entirely descent. From Marulung at 4,210 m down to Lukla at 2,840 m, with one short climb on the final morning.

The profile also shows why Kala Patthar catches people out. It's the highest point on the chart at 5,545 m, and it isn't a pass — it sits between the first and second crossings, on a day most people haven't marked as a summit day.

How the Distance Adds Up Across the Trek

Cumulative totals, calculated from the published daily figures. These are arithmetic on Places Nepal's daily distances, not separately published Places Nepal figures.

Two observations planners find useful:

The halfway point by distance falls around Day 8 or 9 — in the middle of the Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar block. You cross the first pass having walked only about 38% of the route, but having used 7 of your 16 walking days. The early days are short; the later ones are long.

You still have 38 km to walk after the last pass. Once Renjo La is behind you at the 130 km mark, there's another 22% of the trek to cover. It's all downhill and none of it is technically hard, but it's three more days of walking, and people routinely underestimate it.

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Side Trips: What Counts and What Doesn't

This is where most distance confusion originates. On the current Places Nepal itinerary:

The important point: Everest Base Camp, Kala Patthar and Gokyo Ri are already inside the 170 km. They're built into the daily figures for Days 8, 9 and 12. Adding them again on top of the total is double-counting, and it's a common error in Three Passes distance summaries.

Does Chhukung Ri Add to the Three Passes Distance?

Chhukung Ri is not part of the current Places Nepal Three Passes itinerary.

Day 6 is Dingboche to Chhukung — 5 km, 2–3 hours — and the afternoon is scheduled as rest before the Kongma La crossing the following morning. There is no Chhukung Ri climb built into the route.

Some Three Passes itineraries from other operators, particularly longer 19–21 day versions, do include a Chhukung Ri acclimatization hike, which is one reason their published totals come out higher. If you see a Three Passes distance quoted well above 170 km, an extra acclimatization summit is often part of the explanation.

If you want it added, it's a customization question rather than a standard inclusion — and worth discussing against the trade-off, since Day 6's short distance exists specifically to leave you rested for the highest pass of the trek.

Does Gokyo Ri Add to the Total Distance?

No — it's already counted.

Gokyo Ri appears in the itinerary as Day 12: a 6 km round trip in 4–5 hours from Gokyo village. That 6 km is inside the 170 km total.

Where confusion creeps in is with route calculations that measure only village-to-village transfers. On such a calculation, Day 12 registers as zero distance, because you start and finish in Gokyo. A GPS track of the same day records 6 km. Both are correct; they're measuring different things.

The same logic applies to the Namche acclimatization hike on Day 3 — which is exactly why Places Nepal's published figure for that day is blank rather than zero.

Everest Base Camp and Kala Patthar: How They're Counted

These two days are the biggest single source of variation between published Three Passes distances.

Day 8 can legitimately be counted two ways:

• Lobuche → Gorak Shep only: roughly 4.5 km
• Lobuche → Gorak Shep → EBC → Gorak Shep: 15 km

Day 9 can also be counted two ways:

• Gorak Shep → Dzongla only: roughly 10 km
• Gorak Shep → Kala Patthar → Gorak Shep → Dzongla: 14 km

Between those two days alone, the choice of method swings the total by around 15 km. Apply the narrower method across the whole route, and you land near the 148 km figure that appears on some Three Passes pages. Apply the fuller method, and you get something close to 170 km.

Neither is wrong. They answer different questions: how far is the route versus how far do I walk. Places Nepal's figures answer the second.

How Trek Distance Is Measured

Published trek distances are approximations, and it's worth understanding why no two sources agree.

Trail line versus recorded track. A route drawn on a map smooths out switchbacks, contour detours and the constant small deviations of a real mountain trail. A GPS track picks all of them up, and consistently records more distance than a drawn line.

GPS recording accuracy. In steep valleys and below high ridges, satellite reception degrades. Tracks can both overstate distance through positional noise and understate it by dropping points.

Detours and variations. Several sections of this route have more than one valid path — around the Ngozumpa Glacier moraine, on the approaches to Gorak Shep, and on the descent from Renjo La.

Map simplification. Route summaries built from a handful of waypoints will always report less distance than the trail actually covers.

Trail changes. Paths in glacial terrain shift. The moraine sections around the Khumbu and Ngozumpa glaciers are re-routed periodically as the ice moves.

The practical conclusion: treat any published Three Passes distance, including this one, as approximate. The value in a daily breakdown isn't precision to the decimal — it's understanding the relative shape of the route.

Which is why you'll find no figures like "13.73 km" on this page. Distances on this scale, measured this way, don't support that precision, and presenting them that way would be misleading.

How Many Hours Do You Walk Each Day?

Most trekking days run 5–6 hours. Five days run 6 hours or longer. Four days are under 3 hours.

Walking time varies with distance, elevation gain, terrain, rest breaks, weather and individual pace — which is why itineraries publish ranges rather than fixed figures.

Don't calculate your own pace by dividing kilometres by hours and applying it across the trek. The implied pace on this route ranges from roughly 1.2 km/h on Kongma La day to nearly 3 km/h on the descent to Phakding. There is no single Three Passes walking speed, and a figure derived from one day will mislead you about every other.

The walking times above also exclude lunch stops, extended breaks at pass summits and photo stops. Real elapsed time from leaving a teahouse to arriving at the next one is typically longer than the walking-time range.

Flights and Distance

The trek starts and ends at Lukla. The flights are transport, not trekking.

• Day 1: fly Kathmandu or Manthali → Lukla, then walk 7 km to Phakding
• Day 17: fly Lukla → Kathmandu or Manthali, no trekking

The Kathmandu–Lukla flight is roughly 135 km in a straight line and takes 20–35 minutes depending on which airport you depart from. None of it belongs in a trekking distance total.

Which airport you use depends on the season, and it affects your Day 1 schedule considerably more than your Day 1 distance — peak-season Manthali departures mean a 1:00–3:00 AM start before you walk a single kilometre. The Lukla flights via Ramechhap guide covers how that works.

Route Direction: Why the Map Runs This Way

The current Places Nepal route runs anti-clockwise: Kongma La first, then Cho La, then Renjo La.

Read on the map, that means heading up the Imja Valley to the east, crossing west over each pass in turn, and returning south down the Bhote Koshi. The reverse direction — Renjo La first — is also walked, and changes the acclimatization profile, the order in which you meet the glaciated section on Cho La, and which pass you cross on tired legs.

That's a planning decision with real trade-offs, and it's covered properly in Three Passes Trek: Clockwise or Anticlockwise. The distances on this page describe the anti-clockwise route as currently operated.

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Trek the Three Passes With Places Nepal

The current Everest Three Passes Trek is a 17-day Kathmandu-to-Kathmandu itinerary covering approximately 170 km on foot, and it takes in every point on the map above:

• Kongma La, 5,535 m — Day 7
• Everest Base Camp, 5,364 m — Day 8
• Kala Patthar, 5,545 m — Day 9, the highest point of the route
• Cho La, 5,420 m — Day 10
• Gokyo Lakes and Gokyo Ri, 5,357 m — Days 11–12
• Renjo La, 5,360 m — Day 13
• Thame and the Bhote Koshi Valley — Day 14

The package includes round-trip Lukla flights, a licensed English-speaking high-altitude guide for all 17 days, all Sagarmatha National Park and Khumbu permits, 16 nights of teahouse accommodation and all meals on the trail.

Places Nepal runs the route as both a fixed-departure group joining trek, with group rates for two or more travellers, and as a private, customized trek. Customization affects pace, buffer days and side-trip emphasis rather than the route itself — the geography on the map doesn't change with how the trip is booked.

For the full day-by-day narrative, see the 17-day itinerary. For costs, see the Three Passes trek cost breakdown. For timing, see the best time for the Three Passes Trek. If you're weighing this route against the standard trail, compare it in Everest Base Camp vs Three Passes Trek.

Want to see the complete 17-day route, current inclusions and departure options? View the Places Nepal Everest Three Passes Trek.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many km is the Everest Three Passes Trek? Approximately 170 km / 105 miles on the current Places Nepal 17-day itinerary. Published daily figures total 163 km across 15 days, plus an unpublished Namche acclimatization hike of roughly 4–6 km.

What is the total walking distance? All 170 km is walked. There are no road or jeep sections on the route — only the Lukla flights at either end, which aren't trekking distance.

How many kilometres do you walk per day? Between 5 and 20 km, most commonly 11–14 km. Four days are 5–7 km; the longest is 20 km.

How long does the Three Passes Trek take? 17 days Kathmandu to Kathmandu, of which 16 are trekking days and two are flight days (Day 1 includes both a flight and 7 km of walking).

What villages are on the route? Overnight stops are Phakding, Namche Bazaar, Tengboche, Dingboche, Chhukung, Lobuche, Gorak Shep, Dzongla, Thagnak, Gokyo and Marulung. Thame is passed through on Day 14 without an overnight.

What is the route of the Three Passes Trek? Lukla → Phakding → Namche → Tengboche → Dingboche → Chhukung → Kongma La → Lobuche → Gorak Shep → Everest Base Camp → Kala Patthar → Dzongla → Cho La → Thagnak → Gokyo → Gokyo Ri → Renjo La → Marulung → Thame → Namche → Phakding → Lukla.

Where does the Three Passes Trek start? Lukla, 2,840 m, reached by a 20–35 minute flight from Kathmandu or Manthali.

Where does it finish? Lukla, the same airstrip, closing the loop.

Is the Three Passes Trek a loop? Yes. It leaves the Khumbu Valley eastward into the Imja Valley and re-enters it from the Bhote Koshi Valley in the west, which is what makes it a circuit rather than an out-and-back. Only the Lukla–Namche section is walked twice.

What are the three passes in order? Kongma La (Day 7, 5,535 m), Cho La (Day 10, 5,420 m), Renjo La (Day 13, 5,360 m) on the anti-clockwise route.

How far is Kongma La? 11 km from Chhukung to Lobuche, in 7–9 hours, with 810 m of ascent to the 5,535 m pass.

How far is Cho La? 11 km from Dzongla to Thagnak, in 6–8 hours, with 590 m of ascent to the 5,420 m pass.

How far is Renjo La? 14 km from Gokyo to Marulung, in 7–8 hours, with 610 m of ascent and over 1,100 m of descent.

How far is Dzongla to Thagnak? Approximately 11 km / 6.8 miles via Cho La, taking 6–8 hours.

How far is Gokyo to Renjo La? The pass sits about 610 m above Gokyo; the full day to Marulung covers 14 km.

How far is the EBC day? 15 km round trip from Lobuche via Gorak Shep to Everest Base Camp and back to Gorak Shep, in 7–9 hours.

How much extra distance does Gokyo Ri add? None — the 6 km round trip is already inside the 170 km total. Adding it again is double-counting.

How much extra distance does Chhukung Ri add? Chhukung Ri isn't on the current Places Nepal itinerary, so it adds nothing to this route. Operators who include it publish correspondingly higher totals.

Does Kala Patthar add distance? It's already counted. The Kala Patthar climb is inside Day 9's 14 km figure, along with the traverse to Dzongla.

What is the longest walking day? Day 14, Marulung to Namche via Thame, at 20 km. It's the longest by distance but not the hardest — it's a net descent.

What is the shortest walking day? Days 6 and 11, both 5 km in 2–3 hours. Both are placed deliberately: one before Kongma La, one after Cho La.

Does the total distance include side trips? Yes. Everest Base Camp, Kala Patthar and Gokyo Ri are all included in the daily figures. The Day 3 Namche acclimatization hike is not.

Why do websites give different Three Passes distances? Mainly because of what they count. Route calculations measuring only village-to-village transfers come out around 15–20 km shorter than ones counting the EBC, Kala Patthar and Gokyo Ri walks. Itinerary length, GPS versus map measurement, and route variations account for the rest.

Is 170 km accurate? It's a reasonable approximation for the current Places Nepal route including side trips. It holds up against the published daily figures, which total 163 km before the unpublished Namche hike. Treat it as approximate, not exact — trail distances at this scale don't support decimal precision.

Is the Three Passes Trek harder because of its distance? Not primarily. At 170 km over 16 days it averages about 10.5 km a day, which is unremarkable. The difficulty comes from altitude, elevation gain, terrain and 17 consecutive days with only two rest days — not from the kilometre count.

How many hours do you walk each day? Most days run 5–6 hours. Pass days and the Kala Patthar day run 6–9 hours. Short positioning and acclimatization days run 2–3 hours.

What's the highest point on the route? Kala Patthar at 5,545 m, on Day 9 — higher than all three passes and higher than Everest Base Camp.

The Bottom Line

The Everest Three Passes Trek covers approximately 170 km on foot over 16 trekking days, in a loop from Lukla through the Imja, Khumbu, Gokyo and Bhote Koshi valleys and back. Typical days run 11–14 km; the shortest are 5 km and the longest is 20 km.

The three pass days — 11 km, 11 km and 14 km — account for only about a fifth of the total distance and contain most of the difficulty. The longest day by distance, at 20 km, is a descent and is rated easier than any of them. Three separate days on the route cover exactly 11 km and take between four and nine hours depending on where they sit on the map.

That's the lesson the distance table teaches: on this route, kilometres describe the geography, not the workload. Altitude, elevation gain and terrain do that.

And when you compare this 170 km against another operator's figure, check what's being counted before assuming one of them is wrong. Include Everest Base Camp, Kala Patthar and Gokyo Ri and you get something near 170 km. Count only village-to-village transfers and the same route measures closer to 150 km. Both describe the same trail.

To see the full route as currently operated, with day-by-day detail, inclusions and departure dates, view the Places Nepal Everest Three Passes Trek.