Join us and be our special guests in the land of Gross National Happiness (GNH)
Met by your expert Bhutanese guides (specialized in Buddhism, local culture and traditional heritage). If morning arrival, drive to your nearby Paro hotel. Lunch is served in a local restaurant before the afternoon is spent sightseeing in the beautiful Paro valley. Considered to have the most beautiful homesteads in Bhutan, a walk-through the fields and houses in an enchanting start to your journey. Depending on time, we can visit the newly renovated Drukgyel Dzong, under Mount Jomolhari, a huge 24,000ft backdrop to this fortress (Mt Jhomolhari is the highest unclimbed mountain in the world and is believed by the Bhutanese as the abode of Goddess Jhomo), the Dungtse Lhakhang and Paro town itself, with its main streets of painted houses and shops. Special experience: engage in farming activities. Overnight hotel Tashi Namgay Resort.
After breakfast, you will be driven towards the capital city Thimphu and the base of the Cheri Goenpa (Monastery). An hour’s walks takes you into this 17th century monastery and a fascinating insight into Bhutan’s monastic and religious life in this architecturally fascinating building. You will have a chance to chat with the most highly qualified lamas and monks and participate in Buddhist meditation here. It is possible on your walk to spot Goral, the rare and nimble goat antelope of the Himalayas. Lunch will be taken back in Thimphu, after checking into your hotel. After lunch, you will have a chance to visit the tallest Buddha statue, experience spirituality, with a great view of the Happiness capital of the World, Thimphu city. You will return to the city for tea and snacks after which you will have an opportunity to explore Thimphu on foot. Thimphu is as modern as Bhutan gets, with traffic, smart traffic policemen directing traffic, old shops and modern houses built in the old style, but with concrete. It’s experiencing something of a boom these days. Overnight in comfortable hotel.
Breakfast will be served at 6am and we will leave the hotel at 7am sharp. Your journey ahead - enjoy a beautiful journey along a very windy but scenic drive east and after one hour reach the 10,000ft high pass of Dochula, with breath-taking views over the high peaks of the Eastern Himalayas, many over 23,000ft peaks. Quantities of prayer flags and 108 chortens mark the pass. You will have a chance to get out, take photos, walk around the chortens. Then we descend down the other side into the Punakha Valley, a long windy journey dropping over 6,000ft through leafy forests to a botanical garden for a break. Drive on to Punakha (winter home of the central monastic body), the unlikely old capital of Bhutan and visit its Dzong built in 1637, that much resembles a ship on the confluence of two rivers. The first King of Bhutan was enthroned here in 1907, and since then all the subsequent kings have received their crowns from Punakha Dzong. After lunch, we will engage in an archery match with locals using bamboo bows and arrows. Archery is the national sport of Bhutan and it is played using both traditional bamboo arrows and bows as well as imported compound bows. The game will end with tea and local alcohol and we will drive to visit the local town and the sacred Chimi Lhakhang, known for blessings especially fertility. Few people including foreign visitors who could not conceive have been blessed with beautiful babies after visiting this monastery. After some refreshments, drive back towards Thimphu but stopping at Dochula pass for night halt at 10,000ft. You will enjoy unbelievable view of the Himalayas. Night halt Dochula hotel
Get up early around 5am, take a walk in brisk clean air, capture the breath-taking view of the Himalayan range that separates Tibet/China from Bhutan. After breakfast, you will depart for the Tiger’s nest (7am), the famous temple Taktsang. Originally just a cave famous for its meditating Buddhist saint Guru Padmasambhava who is believed to have flown in to this inaccessible cave on the back of a roaring tigress. The first temple was built on a cliff face 800m above the Paro valley in the 14th century. Burnt down in 1998, it has been carefully restored and the two and a half-hour walk to it is worth the effort (as long as you do not get vertigo). You will have a chance to meditate in this cliff temple. After a picnic lunch here, descend to the valley and visit the historical TaDzong museum and the Paro Rinpung Dzong. An evening stroll in the town, you will enjoy a feast of Bhutanese dinner, followed by a hot stone bath experience (hot stone baths are famous in Bhutan and has healing and de-stressing abilities due to minerals from the stones), where you will be served local alcohols. You will return to hotel Tashi Namgay Resort for night halt.
Today you will get up early to walk outside the hotel and enjoy mind-blowing early morning view of the Himalayan Range, worth millions of dollars. After a quick breakfast and depending on the flight time, leave for Paro International Airport (about 15 minute’s drive). At the airport, you will say good bye to the guides and head for your next destination with full of energy, excitement, and enlightenment.
