Iâm a former Lonely Planet author (books and their editions include Panama 1, Las Vegas 1, Dominican & Haiti 1, YucatĂĄn 1, and one-third of Mexico 5). Iâve stayed at several thousand hotels. I have my favorites and among them is the Namgyal. Itâs not only comfortable, with a wonderful dining room/hang out area, solar room, private bathrooms, hot showers (!!!) and delicious foodâbest veggie burger Iâve ever had, savory Sherpa stew and divine apple pieâbut itâs a place you want to stay for two days if youâre en route to Gokyo Riâor if you want to greatly increase youâre odds of photographing Mt. Everest. My wife Susan and I stayed at Namgyal two nights and we are delighted we did. Thatâs because, in addition to the reasons given above, thereâs a trail that starts at the lodge and winds 1285 feet up a hillside directly behind it. The elevation gain put us above Gokyo, which means that we had an easy time reaching Gokyo when we left Machhermo for it the next day; we were properly acclimatized. Also from the hill above the Namgyal itâs possible to get an excellent shot of the summit of Mt. Everest. Iâve attached a pic I took of it from that spot using an older point-and-shoot camera (the photo was not taken using a high-powered lens). That photo proved important to me, b/c Everest was hidden by clouds from Gokyo Ri the day I summited it. Without the shot at Machhermo, I would not have captured an image of the worldâs greatest mountain. Also, the Namgyalâs owner is super-helpful.
