Everest View Trek with Mani Rimdu Festival 2026

Trip Overview

This 10-day Everest View Trek offers you a perfect opportunity to glance Mount Everest while experiencing the famous Mani Rimdu Festival at Tengboche Monastery from 26–28 October 2026. Covering approximately 65 km of trekking over 6 days, this short Everest trek is considered moderately easy and suitable for all travelers with basic fitness. Along the way, you will discover the spectacular Khumbu Valley, enjoy Himalayan mountain views, and experience the rich culture and traditions of the Sherpa communities.

Mani Rimdu is a major Sherpa Buddhist festival held at Tengboche Monastery in the Everest region. It is celebrated to mark the triumph of good over evil through sacred prayers, blessings, masked Cham dances, and the traditional Fire Puja.

The trek begins with a flight to Lukla and continues through Phakding and Namche Bazaar. After an acclimatization day and an Everest View hike, you will spend two nights in Tengboche for the Wong ceremony, the Cham dances, and the closing rituals, before trekking back through Namche to Lukla.

Trip Detail

Itinerary Overview

This 10 day, 9 night trip combines a gentle introduction to the Everest region with a rare festival experience. You fly from Kathmandu to Lukla and trek through Phakding to Namche Bazaar, where you spend an extra day acclimatizing and hiking up toward the Everest View area for close up views of Everest and the surrounding peaks. From Namche, you continue to Tengboche in time for the Wong opening ceremony, stay for the main day of Cham masked dances, and take part in the closing rituals before trekking back to Namche the same day. You then continue back through Lukla and fly to Kathmandu for your departure.

Here is a quick look at how your 10 day trek unfolds.

•  Day 1: Arrive in Kathmandu and transfer to your hotel.

•  Day 2: Fly from Kathmandu to Lukla and trek to Phakding.

•  Day 3: Trek from Phakding to Namche Bazaar.

•  Day 4: Acclimatization day in Namche with a hike toward the Everest View area.

•  Day 5: Trek from Namche to Tengboche and attend the Wong opening ceremony.

•  Day 6: Attend the main day of the Mani Rimdu Festival with Cham masked dances.

•  Day 7: Attend the fire puja and closing ceremony of the festival and trek back to Namche.

•  Day 8: Trek from Namche to Lukla. 

•  Day 9: Fly from Lukla back to Kathmandu.

•  Day 10: Transfer to Tribhuvan International Airport for your international departure.
   

Why You Will Love This Trip

• Witness the Mani Rimdu Festival at Tengboche: Tengboche Monastery is the main venue for this festival in the Khumbu region, and this itinerary is built around the opening Wong ceremony, the main day of Cham masked dances, and the closing fire puja, giving you the full arc of the celebration rather than a single day.

• Enjoy Everest Region Mountain Views: Walk through the Khumbu landscape with opportunities to see Mount Everest, Ama Dablam, Lhotse, Nuptse, Thamserku, Kangtega and other Himalayan peaks when weather conditions are favorable. 

• Time to Properly Acclimatize: With a dedicated acclimatization day in Namche and two nights in Tengboche, the pace is gentler than a full Everest Base Camp trek, making the trip more comfortable for trekkers who want the Khumbu experience without pushing to extreme altitude.

• Walk Through Classic Sherpa Villages: Phakding, Namche Bazaar, and Tengboche each offer a different side of Khumbu life, from riverside lodges to the busy trading hub of Namche to the spiritual center of Tengboche Monastery.

• A Complete Introduction to the Khumbu: In just 10  days, you experience the Everest region's scenery, its Sherpa culture, and one of its most important yearly festivals, all within a single well paced trek.
   

Understanding the Mani Rimdu Festival

What Mani Rimdu Celebrates

Mani Rimdu is a sacred Tibetan Buddhist festival celebrated by the Sherpa community of the Khumbu region. It commemorates the victory of Buddhism over the ancient Bon religion and honors Guru Rinpoche, also known as Padmasambhava, who is credited with bringing Buddhism to Tibet. The festival follows the Nyingma tradition of Tibetan Buddhism, which most Sherpa families in the Everest region practice. For the Sherpa community, Mani Rimdu is not only a religious observance but also a living expression of cultural identity, passed down through generations of monks and families at Tengboche Monastery.

The Sand Mandala

In the days leading up to the public festival, monks at Tengboche Monastery construct an intricate sand mandala inside the monastery hall. Using colored sand, they build a detailed representation of the palace of the Lord of the Dance. At the center of the mandala sits a bowl of Mani Rilwu tablets, considered sacred medicine. The mandala takes several days of careful work to complete and is ritually dismantled at the close of the public festival, with the sand offered to the Nagas, the serpent gods of Tibetan Buddhist tradition.

Wong: The Opening Ceremony

Wong is the opening ceremony of the public festival, held on the first of the three public days at Tengboche Monastery. The head lama distributes Rilwu, blessed pills, and Tshereel, long life pills, to everyone present. Both local Sherpas and visiting trekkers receive these offerings with great reverence. This ceremony marks the formal beginning of the public celebrations and is considered one of the most spiritually significant moments of the entire festival.

Chham: The Sacred Masked Dances

The Chham dances form the most visually striking part of the Mani Rimdu Festival and take place on the second public day. Monks dress in elaborate costumes and wear large painted masks representing deities, demons, and mythological protectors. The performances unfold across the monastery courtyard, with each sequence drawn from Tibetan Buddhist scripture. Every movement carries symbolic meaning, representing the struggle between wisdom and ignorance. The monks performing the dance are understood to embody the deity of the mask, making the performance itself a form of prayer and protection for the community.

Jinsak: The Fire Puja

On the final public day, the Jinsak, or fire puja, is performed in the open courtyard of the monastery. Offerings are made to Agni, the god of fire, and to the deities of the mandala. The ritual is intended to clear accumulated harm and invite peace and prosperity for the community in the coming year. Following the fire puja, the sand mandala is ceremonially dismantled, completing the ritual cycle of the public festival.

A Brief History of the Festival at Tengboche

Mani Rimdu has been celebrated at Tengboche Monastery since 1938, after being brought to the Khumbu region from Rongbuk Monastery on the Tibetan side of Everest. The festival has remained a cornerstone of Sherpa religious and cultural life for decades, drawing Sherpa families, monks, and visiting trekkers to Tengboche each year it is held. Chiwong Monastery in the lower Solu region and Thame Gompa in the upper Khumbu also hold their own Mani Rimdu celebrations at different points in the calendar, though Tengboche remains the primary and most visited venue.

A Note on Festival Dates: The Mani Rimdu Festival follows the Tibetan lunar calendar, so its exact dates shift from year to year and are confirmed by the head lama at Tengboche Monastery closer to the time of celebration. We recommend confirming the current year's public festival dates with us before finalizing your travel plans.

Altitude & Activities

This is a moderate trek that combines classic Everest region trekking with a major cultural festival. The itinerary includes acclimatization built in at Namche, a scenic viewpoint hike, and two full days at Tengboche Monastery for the Mani Rimdu celebrations.

Accommodation and Meals

You will spend two nights in a comfortable 4 star hotel in Kathmandu, before and after the trek, with daily breakfast included. During the trek, you will stay in mountain lodges along the route, with full board meals of breakfast, lunch, and dinner included at every stop from Phakding through your return to Lukla.