It’s not quite a highway to heaven, but it’s as high as any traveller will be able to drive when Nepal constructs the first hard-surface road leading to Lukla, the gateway to Mount Everest. The Nepalese government has announced that it is planning to build a 65 miles (100km) highway linking the village of Jiri to Lukla which will cut out four days' walk for trekkers and mountaineers. To avoid this on-foot journey, most tourists opt to fly from Kathmandu to Lukla but bad weather can cause flight chaos. A road from Jiri will cut out flight schedule problems which can sometimes seriously interfere with adventure holidays.
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Nepal  building the first hard-surface road leading to Lukla, gateway to Everest
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The 65-mile road will cut out four days' walk for trekkers and mountaineers
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Most tourists fly from Kathmandu to Lukla but bad weather disrupts flights
Jiri
Jiri
Before the airport was built, the only way to reach base camp was to walk from @placeholder to Lukla, along a difficult trail at that time that took up to nine days.
Mount Everest
Everest
At least 35,000 tourists visit the @placeholder national park each year, most of them enjoying treks along the lower slopes of the mountain.