Kathmandu to Makalu Base Camp Helicopter Flight

The Kathmandu to Makalu Base Camp helicopter flight is the ultimate access to Nepal's most remote base camp, a scenic transfer that skips the 18 to 22-day trek entirely and sets you down beside the Barun Glacier in a morning. The helicopter takes off from Tribhuvan International Airport, heads east over the Arun Valley with a fuel stop, and sets down at Makalu Base Camp, 4,870 metres above sea level, in roughly 90 minutes. On a day tour you have a short alpine stop for photographs and darshan before flying back; on the trending one-way option you begin the Makalu heli trek from the camp itself or continue the return on foot. As every flight is influenced by the weather, the exact duration may vary depending on visibility, wind, refuelling, and the flight route assigned on the day of departure.

The Kathmandu to Makalu Base Camp helicopter flight exists because the base camp of the fifth-highest peak on Earth is one of the least accessible places in the Himalaya. Reaching it on foot means a flight to Tumlingtar, then a 18 to 22-day trek through the Makalu-Barun National Park via Num, Seduwa, Tashigaon, and two high passes, rewarding trekkers with a solitude almost nowhere else in Nepal can match. This is the only protected area on Earth whose range of elevation exceeds 8,000 metres, climbing from subtropical forest to snow peaks within a few dozen kilometres, and a helicopter carrying you up the Barun Valley compresses that entire spectrum of landscape into a single unforgettable corridor of flight.

We operate the Makalu Base Camp helicopter tour from Kathmandu with the same care and safety standards as every Mountain Helicopters Nepal flight, from the pre-flight briefing to the final landing. The route climbs east over the deep Arun river gorge and crosses the ridges of the Makalu-Barun National Park, with Everest, Lhotse, Chamlang, Baruntse, and the colossal black pyramid of Makalu itself appearing in turn. It is especially popular with heli trekkers, photographers, mountaineering enthusiasts, and travellers who want to stand before the great south face of Makalu without the weeks of walking that ordinarily guard it.