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I have been fascinated By Bhutan for a long time. I was thus very happy to be able to visit it in 2018. I planned it In September as it was coincident with a Festival in Paro.
While it's not cheap and not really easy to get there it was worth it.
To visit Bhutan most nationalities need a tour agency to apply for your visa and to organize your stay. After communicating with different tour agencies we chose Bhutan Travel Guru. The price per night to stay in Bhutan was 250usd per person. it includes everything (Meals, guide, 3 star hotel, transport and any entrance fees). We decided to upgrade the hotels to Ramada Valley Thimphu and Le Meridien Paro which is a small additional fee as they are 3+ and 5 star hotels. Payment is done to a bank account in the US which was owned by the government, my understanding is that the company only gets the funds after you leave Bhutan.
The flights we booked ourselves on the Druk Air website.
Detailed plan of our stay :
We also received a preparation document with all kinds of information, some information was applicable only for camping which we didn't do.
Day 1 : Arrival in Bhutan
A guide and a driver met us at the airport, we spend every day with the same 2 guys except the last day due to an emergency the guide could not be there but the driver did very well his best to compensate him.
We drove for 1 and a half hour from Paro to Thimphu.
The road to Thimphu is already beautiful with most of it next to the river.
Halfway the Thimphu River and the Wang River come together and form the Paro Chu river
After the scenic one and a half hour drive we arrived at our hotel, Ramada Valley Thimphu. It is considered an upgraded 3 star hotel so slightly more expensive than the standard hotels offered in the package
We were upgraded to a nicer room, very big with river view.
The design is beautiful and rather unusual compared to other hotels we have stayed at from the Ramada Brand.
It did have all the comforts of a usual Ramada hotel.
We ate multiple days at the Ramada hotel, Breakfast and dinner. The Breakfast was nice, slightly limited availability of foods. For dinner there were some days with buffet and others A La Carte, the Buffet was mostly spicy as all other guests at the hotel were from India. We asked if we could get something less spicy and they made some fresh A La Carte meals for us which was brilliant.
Day 2 : Thimphu
The capital of Bhutan is not so big, the population of Bhutan is just below 800.000 and the capital Thimphu around 120.000.
We went to see the Takins, Bhutan's national animal that lives only in the Himalayan region. Close to the Capital they live in enclosure in the Royal Takin Preserve.
You can find them in the wild however not near Thimphu.
After a short visit to the Takins we continued to see the
big Golden Buddha statue on the hillside.
The Buddha Dordenma Stature, it was partially sponsored by a Singaporean Businessman.
After the Buddha Statue, we visited the National Memorial Chhorten
To end the day, we visited the city Centre were we bought some souvenirs and a local dress. Thimphu has no traffic lights, instead it chose a more personal approach as they found traffic lights not personal enough, there is police officer directing traffic from the small cabin in the centre.
Day 3 : Dochu La Pass and Punakha Dzong
Usually trips include a stay in Punakha. We made it a longer day and returned to Thimphu as we felt it was easier since we didn't have to pack and change hotel.
We drove over the Dochu La pass, we were so lucky with the weather.
The drive is very scenic to Punakha, if the weather is good the Himalayas are stunning, you can also see the rice field and some temples.
There are so many prayer flags along the road
We then proceeded to the Punakha Dzong after we went for Lunch.
In the afternoon we visited the Chimo Llakhang. The fertility temple is located in between two rivers. More beautiful than the temple we found was the walk to the temple through the rice fields. We saw people harvesting rice and just walking in between was really relaxing. The walk is about half an hour to the temple.
You can buy some interesting souvenirs around the temple...
We drove back to Thimphu which was almost 3 hours, the same route passing the Dochu La Pass again.
Day 4 Thimphu Festival
The Thimphu festival in honor of Guru Rinpoche take places in the. Tashichho Dzong.
Mrs Discover With Two went for the local dress, on the left is our guide who accompanied everyday on the trip except for the last day.
The local dress is a great souvenir.
We found the festival fascinating, although a bit weird that tourists were seated at different areas than locals, however we could move freely around and sit anywhere else. The guide gave some more explanation and we admired the dances.
Some were absolutely beautiful, others when they were dancing with penises left us a bit puzzled...
We spend nearly the whole day at the festival, we also visited inside the Tashiccho Dzong were the festival is held.
We ate in the evening With Tcheten, who runs Bhutan Travel Guru. He wanted to check how our stay was going and if we had any comments to improve it.
In the evening we transferred to Paro, we stayed in Le Meridien Paro.
This hotel is a 5 star hotel and again is at an extra fee above the standard package.
It is very well worth the extra, the hotel is beautiful and located next to the river where you easily walk to. We sat nearby the river for almost an hour enjoying the sounds of the river and the birds.
The Rooms are great, less typical Bhutanese style like the Ramada hotel but very luxurious and the views from the window to the river is really nice. We also noticed that there was a bee hive on the other side of the window which we could look into, very interesting to see them working.
The food was buffet style and there was a lot of choice although some items were really too spicy for us.
Day 5 : Tiger's nest trek
For the final day in Bhutan we did what everyone does but what you definitely should see, the Tiger's nest.
Located at a height of 3180m, 900m above the valley in the side of a mountain.
The monastery was originally built in 1692, it was partially destroyed and reconstructed after a fire in 1998.
We were wondering if we could do such a trek we figured out it was not that hard. We are generally fit but not exceptional. The trek upwards took us 2 hours by foot. There are toilets and a café and halfway. You can do it partially by horse, I recommend to do it by foot it's beautiful to just enjoy nature and go at your own pace. On our climb we met a 70 years old women so I believe anyone can do it.
To make it easier I suggest to adapt to Bhutan's higher altitude above sea level and not do it on the first 2 days of your stay in Bhutan.
The tigers nest after passing the Cafe
There are multiple points on the climb where you can see the Tigers Nest beautifully.
The Picture below is at the highest point of the climb before you descend and climb again in between the 2 sides of the mountain.
You'll climb for around 1 and a half hours after make a short descend and climb stairs up again.
The tiger's nest doesn't allow any cameras inside. Please respect that. It's beautiful, keep the surprise for those who are visiting and don't smuggle your photo gear inside.
The way back to the car park took us only 1 hour, we did expedite it since it started to rain. We returned to the hotel to rest and freshen up a bit after we went for a hot stone bath, something I wasn't really planning to do as I couldn't figure out how to enjoy a Bath sitting somewhere in a hut but I have to admit I enjoyed it... They add some herbs to the water together with the hot stones and it's good for muscle pain which we did suffer the next day after our Tigers nest climb.
Every day our guide and driver arranged a day plan, which in some way I did like. We always plan everything ourselves, this was thus really relaxing in some way. The guide knows a lot so if you have any questions it's easy and we did get way more information about the country like this. They arrange every day 3 meals for you (some at the hotel, other meals were at restaurants). While 500 Usd per couple per night is not cheap we only spend money on tips and souvenirs, in comparison you can easily stay in all inclusive in the Caribbean for the same money and you wouldn't have seen a thing thus I'd find it not too expensive for the unique experience you get.
Also the amount of tourists visiting is significantly lower than the neighbouring Nepal and we found Bhutan is a more enjoyable, quiet and cleaner place.
From the 250 USD Per person, about 65USD is invested in Healthcare, Schools and other infrastructure.
We absolutely loved Bhutan and we can't recommend it enough. The people are fantastic, the country is beautiful. Bhutanese people have a lot of respect for Nature and it's impressive how tidy it is and how much effort they put in protecting the environment. The food a bit too spicy🤪 but other than that it is fantastic.
For more information :
Travel Guru Bhutan : https://www.bhutantravelguru.com/
Druk Air : https://www.drukair.com.bt/
Tourism Bhutan : https://www.tourism.gov.bt/
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