Wi-Fi, an Irish Pub and No Hot Shower: What the Everest Trek Is Really Like

There's a pub with a pool table at 3,440m, Wi-Fi almost the whole way, −15°C nights and one rule every guide whispers: don't order the meat. The honest reality of the EBC trek.

LR By Laxman Rawal · Jul 15, 2026 · 3 min read · Updated Jul 8, 2026

Mount Everest and the Khumbu Himalaya, Nepal

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Things that surprise first-timers

There is a proper Irish pub — pool table, live music — at 3,440m in Namche Bazaar.
Wi-Fi reaches almost the whole trail; people video-call home from above 5,000m.
Nights hit −15°C even in spring and autumn, under a blazing daytime sun.
Every guide will quietly tell you: don’t order meat above Namche.

There is an Irish pub with a pool table and live acoustic music at 3,440 metres on the way to Everest Base Camp. And honestly? That is the least surprising thing about this trek. After decades of guiding it, here are the things that catch almost every first-timer off guard — the good, the cold and the slightly gross.

1. You’re more connected than you think

People picture two weeks off-grid. The reality: Wi-Fi hotspots run almost the length of the trail, mobile data works in most villages, and plenty of trekkers video-call home from Gorak Shep above 5,000m. If you want to disconnect, you have to choose to — the mountain will not do it for you.

2. It’s a walk — but the cold is the shock

The daytime sun is so strong you trek in a T-shirt. Then it drops behind a ridge and it is suddenly −10 to −15°C — in April and October, not just winter. Lodges are unheated except for a stove in the dining room. The real challenge is not the climbing; it is peeling out of a warm sleeping bag into a freezing room at 5 a.m.

3. Don’t order the meat

Here is the one every guide tells you quietly: above Namche, skip the meat. There is no refrigeration up high — everything is carried up for days by porter — and a bad yak steak at 4,500m is how a dream trek becomes a nightmare. Go vegetarian above Namche and your stomach will thank you. Which brings us to…

4. Dal bhat is the real fuel

The national dish — rice, lentil soup, vegetables, pickle — is unlimited (they refill until you say stop), fresh, cheap and exactly what a body needs at altitude. There is a reason porters carrying 30kg live on it. We wrote a whole love letter to it in Dal Bhat Power.

5. The hot shower is (mostly) a myth

Some lower lodges sell a “hot shower” — often a bucket of solar-warmed water for a few dollars. Higher up, it is baby wipes and willpower. Most trekkers simply stop showering above Dingboche. Everyone smells; nobody minds.

6. The people carrying you up earn less than you’d guess

The one that stays with you

Average annual income in the Khumbu is only a few hundred dollars — and a porter or base-camp worker can earn several times that in a single trekking season. It is life-changing money locally, and still a fraction of what a Western company charges. Tip well, book with a company that pays and insures its porters fairly, and remember whose backs this trek is built on.

None of this should put you off — it is exactly what makes the Everest Base Camp trek unforgettable. Go in knowing the reality and you will love it more, not less. Ready? Our 14-day Everest Base Camp trek runs with fairly-paid porters, real acclimatisation and an NMA-certified guide. Nervous about the risk first? Read our honest take on whether the Everest trek is dangerous.

Sources: on-the-ground reporting from our guides across 29 seasons; Khumbu wage and porter-welfare data, 2026.

Cover photo: Clinton Weaver via Pexels (Pexels License).

Source: Travel Himalaya Nepal field reporting

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