In this blog post I will cover my experience, itenary and other details for travel from Bangalore (India) to Bhutan.
We 3 (me, wife and son) went towards the end of December 2023. Took flight from Bangalore to Kolkata, stayed there with our family and then took train to New Jaipaiguri station the next evening.
We reached at morning 9am and a cab was waiting for us to take us to Phonstoling (Border entry town of Bhutan). It took us around 5hours including a stop for an hour for breakfast to reach Phonstoling.
The entry process is quiet simple for Indian tourists. You need to have a valid passport with validity of 6 months atleast, 4 photographs, a travel insurance. (Travel insurance can be bought then and there at immigration office too).
Important points to know:
1. Having a guide with you is compulsory in Bhutan. (Ranges between ₹1000 - ₹2000 per day)
2. Indian tourists need to pay an SDF charge of ₹1200 per night per adult and ₹600 per night per child there. (Except your stay in Phonstoling).
3. If you take an Indian registered Car with you then it costs ₹4500 per night SDF for the vehicle too. (So better hire a cab there). Approx ₹3500 for 1 day including everything. (Creta charges)
4. Entry tickets for everything is very expensive and not everything is worth it. So choose and enter.
Now back to story.
We reached Phonstoling in the afternoon and then got our entry permit in no time. This permit allows you till Phonstoling only. For visiting rest of Bhutan you need a Visa which you can get easily in an hour or so.
We stayed in Phonstoling that day and explored nearby market. We stayed at Hotel Druk. It's walking 100mtrs from immigration office. So it's very convenient. Hotel is decent with decent food and courteous staff. Our guide got us our Visa the next morning and we started our onward journey. We headed towards Thimphu. There are 2 checkposts when we get out of Phonstoling where they will check your Visa and passport. The guide needs to register your travel in some app which they use and the police at the checkpost will match it with your passport.
It took us around 5 hours to reach Thimphu with a 30min lunch break. On the way we also stopped at some places to take photos because the scenic beauty of Bhutan is just too hard to resist. We stopped at the meeting point of rivers paro and thimphu. City Thimphu is around 2140 meters above sea level and the temperature there was cold. As the evening progressed it became colder and colder.
We stayed at Resort Termalinca. It's very good with big rooms and just beside the river Thimphu. They had a big spread during dinner buffet. Food was good and staff was very courteous. It's a luxury resort. Although we didn't try it but there was Spa at the resort too. After dinner we sat in the lawn to enjoy the clear skies and the chilli weather with river Thimphu flowing right beside us. It was phenomenal.
Next day we explored Thimphu. 1st thing we visited was the Bhuddha statue. It's very big and a great place to spend time. Car goes right to the top of the hill so nothing to walk. No entry charges.
After that we went to Takin preservence center. Takin is the national animal of Bhutan. It's an animal with cows body and goats head. It's a calm and quiet animal. The preservence center entry charge was ₹300 for adults and kids are free. It's a small zoo kind of place with Takin, yak, deer and few other animals and birds (read very few). It's a decent place to visit.
Next we went to some view point to take pictures. The whole city of Thimphu was visible from there. It was good. (No entry charges)
Guide took us to a Buddha stupa in the middle of the city but it looked very small from outside so we skipped it. (Entry - ₹500 per adult and ₹250 per child). Not worth it, ₹1250 saved.
Next the guide took us to "Simply Bhutan". Entry charges were ₹1000 per adult and free for kids. There they show us the history of Bhutan and architecture, food and culture of Bhutan. It was "Simply" not worth the amount paid for but we enjoyed there. There was live dance performance and guests were also encouraged to dance. They even played an Indian song. There are few shops inside too.
On the way back we stopped at the textile handicraft shops there. I don't know the area name but there was handicraft school and number of banks there. There are around 50 shops in a line selling almost the same set of things. The items are good and the price increases as we go down the road. You can bargain there and get what you like because that item will be the cheapest there compared to anywhere else in Bhutan. So don't leave it for later. It was evening for us by that time and we headed back to hotel.
Next morning after breakfast (read yummy with lots of options) we headed to our next destination i.e. Punakha.
It's a small town where 2 rivers meet (Hoonchu and Moonchu). Hoonchu is the male river and violent and Moonchu is the female river which is little calm. It took us around 2.5 hours to reach there. The drive is over Dochu-la pass(3080 mtrs) which is very scenic with a great view of the mountains of Bhutan. We stopped there for tea, coffee and of course photos. A must visit place.
The temperature in Punakha is warm and pleasant during winters. It's famous for river rafting. We did the same.
It's costed us ₹7000 for a full raft with only 3 of us. Our driver Sonam Wangdi also joined us. It was a great experience with almost an hour of rafting along the Moonchu river. The person with us kept telling stories about the place and Bhutan in general. It was interesting and a good experience. Then we went to the suspension bridge over the Moonchu river. It's very beautiful and a good place to visit. We also had the fortress in our itenary but we skipped it and went to hotel. Took pictures of the fortress in the moon light from a distance and it looked stunning. In Punakha we stayed at RKPO resort. It's based on nature theme. The room was big and spacious and the view was also good. Had dinner there which was good and went to bed.
Tip:
1. Get the higher floor rooms in resort for a better view.
2. Momo Hut in Punakha is very small restaurant but sells awesome momos, you should try it.
Next morning after a good breakfast we checked out and headed to Paro. A town situated at 2280mtrs above sea level and the only one with an International airport in Bhutan.
We again passed via Dochu-la pass and admired the beautiful view yet again. In Paro we stayed at Le-Meridian hotel. It is situated on the banks of Paro river. The room was huge with a great view. The service and staff is incomparable.
Before going to hotel we visited Ta Dzong (National museum of Bhutan). Entry fees was ₹500 per adult and free for kids. It has lot of paintings and artifacts depicting the history and culture of Bhutan. It was good and worth the money paid. We were also supposed to visit the Fortress but we skipped it, for it didn't look worth it and we were on a leisure trip.
Next day we started at around 9am to visit Chele-la pass. Morning 7am temperature was -14°C at Chele-la but was around 0°C when we reached around 12pm. It's is the highest motorable road in Bhutan at 3988mtrs. The view from there was breath taking. And lucky for us it was sunny and not windy so we could enjoy the place without getting frozen. On the way there were multiple places where we could see frost and we took lots of pictures by stopping and playing in the snow. It was a memorable morning.
By the time we reached back to Paro it was 4pm already so we decided to go shopping. Everything there was very very expensive and you could get the same thing in Darjeeling for half the price if not 1/3rd. But yes for whom they want to buy, Paro is the best place for shopping in Bhutan from multiple shops and cafes. You could easily chill there. We also took a few items. Bought Bhutan's famous Zumjin peach wine ₹270 a bottle 750ml and headed back to hotel. We enjoyed our stay at the hotel and obviously the food was phenomenal.
Next day was to start our journey back home. The driver insisted on starting early because it's a long way back to Phonstoling and we started at 10am. But we could have started late and still reached by 3 pm. The driver wanted to get himself free early because Phonstoling was the last drop for him of us. We again stayed at Hotel Druk and exited Bhutan without any Hassel the next morning.
We headed to Bagdogra airport to catch our flight back to Bangalore leaving Bhutan behind but carrying all the lovely and wonderful memories with us of the country, its people and culture.
That's all folks.
