The short answer
If this is your first Himalayan trek and you want the name, the trail friends and the teahouse buzz, walk to Base Camp. If you've already got altitude miles — or you'd rather photograph turquoise lakes than queue for a rock cairn — cross Cho La into Gokyo. The best answer, fitness and calendar permitting, is the 16-day loop that stitches both together.
The trails themselves
The EBC route follows the Dudh Koshi up a chain of Sherpa towns — Namche, Tengboche, Dingboche — each one higher, colder and more cinematic than the last. It's social, well-serviced, and relentlessly uphill-then-sideways. Gokyo branches north at Namche into the quieter Dudh Koshi headwaters: five glacial lakes stack up the valley, and the view from Gokyo Ri frames four 8,000m peaks — Everest, Lhotse, Makalu and Cho Oyu — in one eyeful.
Altitude and acclimatisation
Both routes top out around 5,350m and both need honest acclimatisation days. The difference is texture: EBC's profile is a long staircase with two well-placed rest days; Gokyo's lake-to-lake gains are gentler, which is why we often steer nervous first-timers with a bit more time toward Gokyo first, Base Camp second.
Crowds, costs and the verdict
In October the EBC corridor feels like a high-altitude highway; Gokyo sees perhaps a fifth of the traffic. Costs are near-identical — the helicopter-in, helicopter-out options aside. Our verdict: under 12 days, choose one and commit. With 14 or more, link them over Cho La and stop asking the question.
Trek it yourself
