One Of The World's Highest Hotel Rooms Boasts Unmatched Views Of The World's Tallest Mountain

Great hotel stays can make a bad trip good and turn a good trip into a lifelong memory. But when it comes to visiting Mount Everest, providing travelers with accommodations that are nearly as remarkable as the world's most breathtaking mountain range is an unironically tall order.

Despite the odds, Hotel Everest View, a Guinness World Record-holding lodge nestled on a narrow ridge overlooking the Great Himalayas in Nepal's Sagarmatha National Park, has risen to the challenge. The daily reality for hotel guests is a uniquely privileged one that includes waking up every day at 13,000 feet with the grandest mountain range in the world filling your bedroom window view — which makes the hotel a great place to read up on the most interesting facts you don't know about Mount Everest.

Designed by Japanese architect Yoshinobu Kumagaya, the hotel was slowly and arduously built in the late 1960s. Materials were carried in via a two-week trek from the town of Lamusanga, some 50 miles from Kathmandu. The hotel's Japanese soul is also reflected in its glass construction materials and eating utensils, all of which were imported from Japan (where climbing the equally iconic Mount Fuji is prohibited for most of the year). Opening its doors in 1971, the hotel holds the Guinness World Record for being the highest-altitude hotel on the planet. The building represents the perfect intersection of human engineering and the surrounding landscape's grandeur, featuring just 12 rooms that offer panoramic views of Mount Everest and its surrounding peaks. But staying at the hotel isn't for the lazy, as simply getting there is an adventure in and of itself.

Intrepid guests have the option of reaching the hotel via a helicopter flight from Kathmandu to the Syangboche airstrip and then walking the remaining 45-minute distance or flying directly to the lodge's helipad. Whichever option you choose, the helicopter ride includes majestic views of mountains, glaciers, and ice fields, ensuring adventure before you even arrive.

The real magic of Hotel Everest View is not only its elevation but also in how it connects travelers to the environment and people of Nepal. Located within the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Sagarmatha National Park, it serves as a base for exploring the nearby Khumjung, Mongla, and Namche villages, Khunde Peak, and the Tibetan Buddhist Tengboche Monastery — all set amidst landscapes that have remained largely unchanged for centuries. The hotel's dining room accommodates 30 people, with a terrace dining option that can fit groups of up to 50; meals include continental breakfasts, oyakodon (a Japanese chicken and egg rice bowl dish), sandwiches, and more.

Fittingly, the dining room's back wall is composed of a massive boulder that bears the Tibetan Buddhist inscription, "Om mani padme hum," which translates to "Praise to the jewel in the lotus," a phrase describing how spiritual purity can be attained through adherence to method and wisdom. Hotel Everest View transforms a mountain stay from a challenging expedition into an accessible and memorable journey and is a reminder that extraordinary experiences don't always require extraordinary effort — sometimes they just require the right perspective. And if a trip to Nepal isn't on your itinerary or in your budget, you might want to check out the beautiful but deadly mountain known as America's Everest instead.