9 Day Trip to Bhutan

Hi Folks, Back from our Bhutan anniversary trip! Made great memories, enjoyed scenic views and met people of a different culture!  I'm sharing a suggested itinerary for people who are planning a trip to Bhutan. We had a 9 day trip from Delhi, including the to and fro travel. We did this trip in Feb’17.

Suggested Itinerary:

Day 1: Delhi to Bagdogra->Siliguri-> Night Stay in Siliguri
Day 2: Siliguri->Hashimara(Train)-> Jaigaon(shared auto)->Phuentsholing(shared cab/bus)->Thimphu
Day 3: Thimphu Local sight-seeing
Day 4: Thimphu Local sight-seeing
Day 5: Day trip to Punakha and travel to Paro
Day 6: Paro Local sight-seeing
Day 7: Paro Local sight seeing
Day 8: Paro->Phuentsholing->Jaigaon->Hashimara->Siliguri
Day 9: Flight from Bagdogra to Delhi

Cost of Trip
Flight Expenses: 10,200Rs (Round Trip For 2 pax from Delhi to Bagdogra)
Hotels: 11,300Rs (All hotels booked on MMT/OYO/AirBnB)
Food & Sight-seeing : 11,600Rs

Total: 33,000Rs

Trip in Detail:

Delhi to Thimphu:

We took the afternoon flight from Delhi to Bagdogra, and landed at 4pm. From the airport, we took a shared cab and reached Siliguri bus stand (Cab charged 250 bucks for 2 people. Remember to walk out of the airport and bargain hard). We had pre-booked a hotel in Siliguri for the night and rested there.

At the Bagdogra Airport

Next day, we took the Dhubri intercity at 6am to reach Hashimara(Ticket costs Rs 120 for 2 pax). From there, we took a shared auto to reach Jaigaon(80 bucks). From Jaigaon, we just crossed the border by walk, to enter into Phuentsholing, and proceeded to the immigration office. People in the immigration office are quite helpful. We got our entry permits done in 30 minutes and proceeded to the bus stand. 

Walking across the border to get Immigration done

All buses to Thimphu had departed for the day. So, we took a cab to Thimphu(1150 bucks for 2 pax). It was a 6 hr ride, and we halted in between for lunch. We had a sumptuous Bhutanese lunch of Shamu Datschi & Chicken Thukpa, and proceeded for the remaining part of the journey. The driver was playing Hindi songs all along! He dropped us in our hotel in Thimphu. We checked-in, freshened up and headed out for dinner. 

We explored the Clock Tower area in Thimphu, and came across Ambient Cafe. As the name suggests, it is a place with excellent ambience. There was a cat thrown in, and some great travel books to pick up, but the food was terrible. We had a carrot cake and some Pakoras, and called it a night.

At the Ambient Cafe in Thimphu. Great Ambience but horrible food!

Thimphu Local Sightseeing:

I'm jotting down the places to visit in the logical order of visiting. On the day of our visit, it was a festival in Thimphu, and hence a national holiday. So, tourist spots were closed. But we had lot of time and hence we explored Thimphu on foot!

1. Clock Tower square: This is located centrally in Thimphu. It has a clock tower with a shopping complex surrounding it. Ideal to buy souvenirs, gifts etc, and has lot of cafes, restaurants around it. This was our first stop

At the Clock Tower

2. Changlimithang: This is the national football stadium of Bhutan. It is located near the Thimphu bus stand and Taxi stand. Great place to stroll around and click some beautiful pics.

Football Stadium

3. Coronation Park: This was the park, in which the current king was publicly coronated in around 2008(I guess!). It has this huge Buddha statue and a nice park to loiter around!

Beneath the Buddha in the Coronation Park

4. Memorial Chorten: We next headed to Memorial Chorten Dzong. It’s a beautiful place with lots of pigeons and huge prayer wheels. The landmark of this monument is the golden spires that one can’t miss. Very peaceful and one can sit in the benches around the Dzong and drown into reverie!

At the entrance of the Memorial Chorten

5. Buddha Dordemna: This is a huge statue of Buddha on a hill top, proposed to be the 8^th World Wonder. We walked up the hill which is a 5km hike! But the experience was worth all the pains!(There are cabs available uphill, and downhill, but with the national holiday, we had plenty of time to cover Thimphu, in two days!). The statue is surrounded by a huge portico on all four sides. We took beautiful pictures on the cold windy day!

At the Windy Buddha Dordenma

 6. Changangkha Lkhang: A beautiful dzong located on a small hillock. We walked from Dordenma to this Dzong. Saw a lot of tourist crowd here. It is a very serene Dzong, visited by expecting mothers. The Queen of Bhutan also visited this Dzong when she was carrying.

Outside the Sanctum Sanctorum of Changangkha

7. Zilukha Nunnery: A small school kind of building, not many people in it, but quite a walk to reach this place.

 

Enroute Zilukha Nunnery

8. TraschiChod Dzong: A huge Dzong, almost deserted, very close to the Bhutan assembly building

The huge Traschichod Dzong

9. Handicrafts Market: These are a line of shops selling handicrafts and souvenirs.

We did not visit the Takin Reserve Zoo and The National Folk Heritage Museum as both of them were closed in the two days we spent in Thimphu. But these are places definitely worth visiting is what we learnt.

Punakha:

There is immigration paperwork to visit Punakha. It took us around an hour to get it done, in Thimphu.

Places to visit in Punakha:

Dochula Pass: This is the crown jewel of Punakha! It’s on the way to Punakha and a must visit monument in Bhutan. It was very misty and cloudy when we visited this. It is a congregation of 108 Memorial Chortens or stupas!

Could capture only a few of 108 stupas in the lens

Punakha Dzong: This is a huge majestic Dzong, with a small bridge to cross, to enter the temple. It is called the administrative centre of Punakha.

The Majestic Punakha Dzong

Suspension Bridge: This is walkable from the Punakha Dzong. It is the longest suspension bridge in Bhutan. Very nice and serene place!

Suspending on the Suspension Bridge!

Paro

Tiger’s Nest:

One can write a separate blog post, or maybe a separate blog on Tiger Nest trek! It’s called Takhthang in the local language, and people emphasize its pronunciation from the tongue! We took a cab till the base camp. From the base camp, there is a charge of INR 500 per person for Indian Nationals to trek the mountain. We took around 2.5 hours one side. Initially it is steep, followed by a flat patch for a while but it’s the end which is the most painful. The end has a downhill for a small part and a huge fleet of stairs which are very steep and uphill. There is a local guide being provided for every tourist group that visits the temple. He explained us about the relevance of the temple and the various mini temples inside the temple complex (most of which I forgot!). The way back was a comparatively easier trek. Saw some fellow trekkers who were eager to know the balance way up!

Enroute Tiger Nest!

We took a shared cab back to our hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Rinpung Dzong:

We were casually hiking to Ta Dzong National Musuem and this Dzong came in our way.

Inside the Rinpung Dzong

Nice place to rest before finishing the complete hike!

Ta Dzong National Museum:

We walked to this place from the Rinpung Dzong. There is a small entry fee, and then a good collection of Bhutanese artefacts.

Ta Dzong Clock Tower

We roamed around for lunch in Champaca Cafe. Had some sumptuous sandwiches and called it a day.

The next day, we started our way back for Phuentsholing in a shared cab from Paro bus stand. From Phuentsholing, we crossed the border by foot to Jaigaon, took a shared auto to Hasimara, and boarded the intercity to Siliguri. We halted for the night in Siliguri and took an early morning flight from Bagdogra to Delhi.

Few suggestions for your travel in Bhutan – Bargain a lot. We took shared cabs over buses. While buses may be cheaper, they take a lot of time, with frequent break-downs etc. We hiked a lot to short distances, and maps always help( We didn’t take any Bhutanese sim. We managed navigation through offline maps, which we downloaded the previous evening from the hotel wifi!)

Try the local food. Its tasty, easy on the stomach and of course cheaper than Indian food! Shamu Datschi and all variants of Datshcis are yummy!