Helicopter tour and more - amazing

We found AME treks after doing some extensive research online. Ultimately our main goal was to have a private helicopter tour which landed on the base camp of Mount Everest. After e-mailing over 10 different companies (of which only 2-3 responded) AME treks quickly returned my email and even called me within almost an hour. I am so happy we chose this company.

Tika and his crew arranged an amazing Nepal trip for us. Upon arrival to Kathmandu airport, we were greeted by our guide, Nava as well a driver who took us to the hotel which AME had arranged. Our hotel was perfect and located off a side street with less noise from the roads. We had planned on doing our helitour in a few days but due to weather conditions, AME treks arranged for us to do the tour the next day. The heli tour was by far one of the most amazing things we have done. 

We arrived to the domestic portion of Kathmandu airport and were weighed with our backpacks on (helicopter rules). We then headed out towards our helicopter. It was the 2 of us, our guide and our pilot. I got to sit up front. The views are amazing and the further away from Kathmandu you get the more dramatic the scenery is. We then landed at Lukla airport and switched into a different helicopter with a very experienced mountain helicopter pilot. We headed towards the base camp of Everest. The sky was clear and perfect. We landed at Kalapatur, which is just a little step up from the actual base camp. The air is thin and cold there. I highly recommend wearing a down jacket, a hat and gloves. We also took Diamox the day before and the day of ascending to the base camp to help prevent any altitude sickness issues. Kalapatur's landscape feels like something from the moon. However, you have a great view of the top of Mt. Everest which had clouds coming off of it. It's so tall. We stayed for about 7-10 minutes there taking pictures and aweing in the grandeur of the Himalayas. We got back into the helicopter and went to Mt. Everest View hotel. By the time we got there (5 minutes later) the weather had completely changed at Everest and if we had been a few minutes later, we may not have been able to land due to clouds and wind. We hung out on the hotel deck again marveling at the beautiful landscape while we sipped ginger tea. We also, obviously took quite a few pictures. We boarded the helicopter again, landed at Lukla, switched into a smaller helicopter and headed back to Kathmandu. It was amazing and worth every penny spent.

After our heli tour, AME arranged a trek for us to Nagarkot. This is a 7mi hike with about a 1 mile incline. It was beautiful. Our guide, Nava was amazing and pointed out all the mountain ranges. Half way through the hike we stopped at a very remote open air road side café. We talked with the owner who was super friendly. We each had a Coke and just sat enjoying the peace and the views. We hiked up to our hotel (the Fort Resort). We had a beautiful room on the edge of a cliff overlooking 3 main mountain ranges in the Himalayas. We woke up early to see the gorgeous sunrise over the mountains. We had breakfast and then took a car back to Kathmandu.

AME also arranged a city tour for us of Kathmandu. Sushma was our guide and she was absolutely amazing. She's knowledgeable, friendly and funny. We saw the Monkey Temple, multiple large stupas, and various other attractions around town. We never would have easily found these places on our own. I'm very happy we did this and had a private car with a driver to facilitate this tour.

We only had a brief few days in Nepal and they were the best 3 days of our 2 week trip we took (we also went to India). I credit AME treks for making our trip amazing and flawless. They were professional, courteous, friendly and very prompt in responding to any questions we had. We can't wait to come back to Nepal and we will absolutely use AME treks.

Tips:

If you do the heli tour- try to have a few days to spend in Kathmandu in case the day you plan for the tour, the weather is bad. It allows you flexibility.

Kathmandu in early March is warm during the day but it gets cold at night. Dress in layers. Kathmandu looks like a living Northface ad. Everyone is bundled up in a jack of some sort at all times.

Nagarkot is tiny but really cool. It gets quite cold up there so bring warm jackets. Our hotel had a small heater but it was still cold and we slept in our warm clothes.

During our Nagarkot hike, it was warm out and we drank through all of our water. Luckily we had a Lifestraw and were able to drink from the streams and a running tap from the side of the road. It came in handy. Water purifier tabs would work just the same.

Thank you to Nava, Sushma, Tika and the crew at AME for a wonderful experience. We hope to see you again!

Catherine Meadows UNITED STATES Helicopter Tour to Everest Base Camp