Our minimums are $8 per day for a guide and $6.50 per day for a porter. Those are the figures to budget with, and they still stand in 2026.
Above the minimum it is entirely yours to decide. At the end of the trek, if your team met your expectations, give whatever amount feels right to you. There is no scale and nobody is counting: a small increase here can be enough to feed a family for another two or three weeks.
Things worth weighing when you settle on a figure for each person:
- How good the general quality of service was.
- Did the team member go above and beyond in their role?
- How much will your tip make a difference to their life this year?
- How much can you afford to part with, if more than the minimum.
- How hard was the trekking route? If you found your Everest Base Camp trek or other trek very tough, they probably did too.
Tips are separate from what you pay us and go entirely to the person who earned them. Our day rates, and everything else a trekking budget has to cover, are on what a guide or porter costs.
Which currency?
Any currency you like. Rupees, dollars, pounds, euros, whatever you have left at the end of the trek. Your team can change it, so do not go hunting for a bank in Namche on our account.
When and how to hand it over
Near the end of the trek rather than on the very last night. If you leave it until you are back in Lukla or Pokhara your guides and porters may have already set off home, and you will be trying to find someone in a bus park.
Give it privately, or in envelopes. Tipping people different amounts in front of each other is how you turn a good fortnight into an awkward one, and your team will be working together again next week.