Best Of Bhutan

Your guide from Bhutan Travel Club will take you to some of the treasures of the capital - Visit the National Folk Heritage Museum, the Zorig Chusum school of 13 traditional arts/crafts, the Textile Museum, the Bhutan Post Office to see the rich collection of stamps and philatelic history. Our guests can make stamps with their faces on it and send postcards to loved ones. Visit the colourful vegetable market where proud villagers behind pyramids of their agricultural produce greet you with stone weights in their hands and smiles on their faces. It is interesting to see what may seem to you as ‘weird vegetables and forest products’ that actually enriches the Bhutanese palate. *We always encourage our guests to live like a Bhutanese while in Bhutan. If you fancy it, you can be dressed in our traditional attire for this day, and for the days to come if you wish. If you are interested, we can also explore a little bit of Bhutan’s high-end bars and music lounges such as the Ara Bar at the 5-star Taj Tashi hotel, where local musicians will be belting out covers and originals. It would be interesting to see a bit of Bhutan’s urban culture! Enjoy the rest of the evening.

Wangditse-Chokhortse Gomba hike (5 km loop, 380m high, 3 hours) In the late afternoon, drive to the entrance gate of the radio tower (BBS) area. Take the trail that traverses through beautiful blue pine forests with many prayer flags the trail. Continue along this trail until you reach Wangditse goenpa. Along the way there are good views of the Dzong and the underlying Thimphu valley. Continue to climb up to Chhokhortse goenpa. The trail goes straight up the ridge. After about 500 m the trail levels out while crossing an open ridge with a field of prayer flags. The views of the city are excellent from here. Continue up the ridge. The trail to Chhokhortse continues up, at times to the left, then again along the ridge. It leads through open grassy areas, oak undergrowth and blue pines. Descend down to the radio tower and visit the Taken Reserve Centre to see the national animal of Bhutan. This is also a very popular singletrack mountain biking trail, and if you would like it, we can bike here as well. WE LOVE IT WHEN OUR GUESTS WANT TO BIKE as we are avid bikers ourselves. Trust me, theres something special about biking in Bhutan– almost an organic feel - about being on a bike and feeling the nature first hand!

After breakfast, drive upto Kuensel Phodrang viewpoint and visit the giant Buddha Statue standing at 169ft. From here you can enjoy a bird’s eye view of the capital city. If you feel like, you can attend the festival for a short time in the morning. Drive to Punakha after morning tea around 11 am, on the highway over the Dochula Pass (3140m). Situated atop the pass at the backdrop of fluttering prayer flags is the Druk Wangyal Chortens, a collection of 108 chortens (stupas) that was built to exemplify the greatness of the Fourth King.  Start early from Thimphu if you would like to capture the breathtaking sunrise at the pass. Descend to the low-lying rice valley of Lobesa and pay your respects to one of Bhutan’s most charming and eccentric historic figures nicknamed ‘The Divine Madman’ at the Chhimi Lhakhang – also called the fertility monastery - our guide will explain the entire story about it. The visit involves a short nice hike through a beautiful village surrounded by paddy fields. Continue to Nalanda Monastic School that houses around 100 monks. Interact with the monks and they love to speak English with visitors and learn about the ways of the world. We also volunteered to teach English to the young monks last year during off season. Stay in a cozy resort overlooking the valley. Drive time 3 hours.

Visit the Punakha Dzong – the most beautiful fortress in Bhutan situated at the confluence of two rivers. It was the capital of Bhutan until 1955, and still serves as the winter residence of the monk body. The fortress is a fine example of Bhutan’s rich art and architecture, and our guide who is an expert in iconography take you on a story-telling ride. The fortress will inspire the photographer in you. Also visit the Khamsum Yuelley Namgyal stupa, which is a splendid example of Bhutan’s fine architectural and artistic traditions and the only one of its kind in the world. After lunch, drive to my village – the scenic Tangsibje village where I spent most of my school holidays with my grandparents and relatives. Stay overnight in my Grandfather’s heritage house, which he built in the 60’s. You will be welcomed by my cousin sister and her husband who was recently won the “Strongest Man of Bhutan” contest. We are the only tour operator in Bhutan taking visitors to this beautiful village which is considered one of the most beautiful villages of Trongsa district, and therefore makes it a real off-the-beaten-track experience. Some of the best singers in Bhutan hail from this village as it is blessed by a holy spring water is believed to make your voice beautiful when you drink it. The host family will prepare a splendid dinner for you using fresh organic vegetables and herbs from her garden. Spend the evening singing and dancing with the locals as they are eager to have visitors to our village. Come prepared with a song or two, because you’ll have to contribute too. Drive time 3 hrs.

This is a perfect opportunity to experience an authentic side of Bhutan by seeing how villagers go about their lifestyles in rural Bhutan. Wake up to the beautiful sounds of the village and enjoy a great view over the gorge from the farmhouse. Watch your hostess prepare breakfast in a tradtiional way. Visit the village temple, school and visit village homes of many of my cousins. In the afternoon, your host will milk her cows and make tea and serve you traditional Bhutanese snacks. Watch a game of archery and if you feel like shooting some arrows, you may try a hand as well. The Strongest man of Bhutan, will take a day off today to accompany you and fill you with stories and local legends. If you like, you can also help your hostess to prepare your dinner together as you’ll really learn how to prepare Bhutanese food. My cousin sister is notoriously known for your great cooking skills, and our guests really love it. Note: This experience is consistently rated as a favourite amongst our guests.

After breakfast, take a nice hike around Tangsibje village which will take you up to the main road. With a traditional tea ceremony, your host family will bid you farewell. If you are interested to see Gangtey valley, take a short detour and visit the Gangtey Goenpa temple. Continue to Wangdue town to visit the Wangdue Fortress, which was devastated by fire a couple of years ago. You could see history in the making with local artisans working on resurrecting the fortress to former glory. It is interesting to know that in the early days, these mighty fortresses were built without using a single nail! Drive to Paro and explore the town in the evening. Visit the Paro Rimpung Dzong fortress that involves walking across a beautiful traditional bridge suspended over the Paro River. In the evening, visit a farmhouse to soak in a herbal hot-stone bath which is known to be therapeutic and helps ailments related to joints and muscle aches, besides simply soothing your mind and body. Perfect to unwind and goes well with the Red Panda local beer. This is a complimentary value-added experience from Bhutan Travel Club without any hidden costs. Proceed to your resort. Explore Paro town on foot in the evening. This is a good moment to sample Bhutanese souvenirs and experience local life in Paro town. Drive time 6 hours.

After an early breakfast, we will drive to Paro, Sang Choekor, where our trekking crew members will be waiting for us. Our trek will start from here to Bumdra. Bumdra, which is blessed by 100,000 dakinies. Little above the place, we can also see a rock which is suppose to be Guru Rinpoche’s Hat and underneath the Hat, there is room where we can mediate and get the blessings from Guru Rinpoche. Visit the Sang Chhoekhor Lhakhang. Continue trekking to Bumdra for about first 1- 2hrs walk will be ascent of a shady, forested ridge, brings us to a clearing with prayer flags and views down into both the Paro and Do Chhu Valleys. Above and ahead the Chhoe Tse Lhakhang (temple) nestles on the mountainside a further one to two hour’s walk away. The trail undulates before the last steep section up to the pretty temple, which offers commanding views south over Paro and northwards to the snow-capped Himalayas. After a final 20-minute climb through ruins and fluttering prayer flags, we plunge back into ancient forest, and, after traversing for about 40 minutes, we come out onto a high wide meadow dotted with stupas and prayer flags. After lunch visit the Bumdra monastery which is believed to be one of the holiest shrines in the country. In our opinion, the meadows of Bumdra offer an immediate meditative feeling. Walk around in the afternoon and enjoy the serenity. You could also take some time off for reflection and meditation. Dinner and over night stay at Bumdra camp (3800m). We’ll be camping under a cave below the temple, or option to stay overnight in the monastery.

After our breakfast, we will start our trek to Paro via Taktshang Monastery (Tiger’s nest). After one to two hours of descent we catch glimpses of the golden roofs of temples below. The path meanders across the mountainside between these monasteries before reaching the gardens of Zangtopelri (Heaven on Earth) from which you can bravely peer the over edge and straight down onto the ornate rooftops of Taktsang Monastery perched against the cliff-face far below. An hour later and we are at the gates of Taktsang looking across the gorge; a steep descent to a waterfall then up some steps and we are passing into Tiger’s Nest itself. Lunch at the Viewpoint Restaurant. Begin the final descent of about 1hr reach our vehicle and drive back to Paro. Visit the oldest Buddhist temple of Bhutan – the 07th century Kyichu Lhakhang and proceed to visit the National Museum in the afternoon to complete your Bhutan experience. Stroll around town and visit the numerous handicrafts shops as you might want to take some souvenirs to remind you of this memorable trip.

After breakfast at your hotel, your driver will take you to the airport. Your guide will help you with the formalities and fare you well on your onward journey.