Bhutan: the Paro and Thimphu festivals, with Punakha

1. Jour 1 : Arrive in Paro

   Paro International Airport to your hotel in Paro, then Rinpung Dzong and the National Museum

   • Environ 15 min de route
   • Lunch and welcome dinner
   • Nuit : Paro
   Détail du jour 1

   Land at Paro International Airport (PBH), where your See Sight Tours guide and our licensed Bhutanese guide meet you outside arrivals. Flights operate in daylight only and most land in the morning, and the hotel is about ten minutes away. Paro sits at about 2,200 m, so the first afternoon is slow on purpose. After lunch in town we walk over the covered wooden bridge on the Paro Chhu to Rinpung Dzong, the fortress-monastery completed in 1646 whose courtyard hosts the Paro Tshechu each spring, then up to the Ta Dzong watchtower and the National Museum, where the masks and thangka paintings are a first look at the characters you will see dance. In the evening, before the welcome dinner, your Bhutanese guide gives the festival briefing: what a tshechu is, how the masked dances tell the stories of Guru Rinpoche, what to wear, where to sit and how to behave in the courtyard.

   Compris

   • Pick-up at Paro International Airport (PBH)
   • Lunch in Paro
   • Rinpung Dzong and the covered bridge over the Paro Chhu
   • Ta Dzong National Museum
   • Festival briefing with your Bhutanese guide
   • Welcome dinner

   Temps libre : Time to rest at the hotel before the evening briefing

   Activité : Plan to land by about midday to join lunch and the afternoon walk; later arrivals are met and join at the briefing.

   

2. Jour 2 : Paro: festival morning or the valley

   Paro: the Tshechu at Rinpung Dzong (spring) or the Paro valley (autumn), then Kyichu Lhakhang and a farmhouse

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Paro
   Détail du jour 2

   On spring departures this is the first festival morning. We leave at about 7:30 am to find a place on the steps before the Paro Tshechu courtyard fills with families in their best gho and kira. Our Bhutanese guide sits with you and names each dance as it starts: the black-hat dancers, the deer and the dogs, the stag-masked figures, and the atsara clowns who tease the crowd and keep order. You stay through the morning, then we walk out for lunch in town. On autumn departures the morning is spent in the Paro valley instead: Dungtse Lhakhang, the chorten-shaped temple attributed to the bridge-builder Thangtong Gyalpo, and a walk through the old town. In both seasons the afternoon takes us to Kyichu Lhakhang, one of Bhutan's oldest temples, and in the evening a Paro farmhouse heats river stones for a traditional hot stone bath, followed by dinner with the family.

   Compris

   • Spring departures: Paro Tshechu morning with your Bhutanese guide explaining the dances
   • Autumn departures: Dungtse Lhakhang and a walk in Paro town
   • Lunch in Paro
   • Kyichu Lhakhang
   • Hot stone bath and dinner at a Paro farmhouse

   Option plus facile : On a festival morning, leave the courtyard whenever you like; your guide can walk you back to the hotel, about ten minutes away.

   Option plus active : Stay on at the festival through the afternoon with the crowd before meeting the group for the farmhouse evening.

   Temps libre : An hour free at the hotel before the farmhouse evening

   Activité : Festival mornings mean sitting on stone steps for three to four hours; bring a cushion, a warm layer and sun protection.

3. Jour 3 : The Tiger's Nest walk

   Paro to the Taktsang trailhead, the cafeteria viewpoint and the monastery, then back to Paro

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Paro
   Détail du jour 3

   We leave the hotel at about 7:30 am for the 20-minute drive to the trailhead at about 2,600 m, so we are on the path before the heat and the main flow of walkers. Paro Taktsang, the Tiger's Nest, clings to a cliff about 900 m above the valley floor, around the cave where, by tradition, Guru Rinpoche meditated, the same Guru Rinpoche whose eight forms appear in the festival dances. The trail climbs through blue pine and oak hung with prayer flags to the cafeteria viewpoint, about an hour and a half up, facing the monastery across the gorge. Everyone can stop here; the view is the classic one. Those who want to go on walk about another hour, down and up several hundred steps past a waterfall, to the monastery itself, where bags and cameras are left at the gate. We meet for a sit-down lunch at the cafeteria, walk down together, and the rest of the afternoon is free in Paro.

   Compris

   • Guided walk to the Tiger's Nest (Paro Taktsang) cafeteria viewpoint, with the option to continue to the monastery
   • Sit-down lunch at the Tiger's Nest cafeteria

   Activités en option

   • A pony from the trailhead to the cafeteria (uphill only, paid locally)

   Option plus facile : Stop at the cafeteria viewpoint: tea and the full view of the monastery across the gorge while the others go on, then lunch together.

   Option plus active : Continue from the cafeteria to the monastery, about an hour each way on steps, and go inside the temples with our Bhutanese guide.

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Paro

   Activité : The hardest morning of the trip: about 4 to 6 hours on the trail for the full walk, or about 3 hours to the cafeteria and back. Walking poles and layers help; the descent is steep and dusty.

   

4. Jour 4 : Paro to Thimphu

   Paro (festival morning in spring) to Tachog Lhakhang and Chuzom, then Thimphu

   • Environ 1.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Thimphu
   Détail du jour 4

   On spring departures this is the second Paro Tshechu morning, back on the steps by about 8 am with our guide, so you can recognise dances you saw on day 2 and catch the ones you missed. If our dates include the last day of the festival, the giant thangka called a thongdrel is unrolled on the dzong wall before sunrise and taken down early in the morning; those who want to see it leave the hotel at about 4:30 am. On autumn departures we leave Paro after breakfast instead. In both seasons we drive about an hour and a half along the Paro Chhu to Thimphu, the capital, at about 2,300 m, stopping at Tachog Lhakhang, where an iron chain bridge crosses the river to a small temple, and at Chuzom, the meeting of the Paro and Thimphu rivers. Autumn groups have time for Buddha Dordenma, the giant gilded Buddha above the city, and everyone ends the day at the National Memorial Chorten, where older residents walk and spin prayer wheels in the evening.

   Compris

   • Spring departures: second Paro Tshechu morning with your Bhutanese guide
   • Tachog Lhakhang and its iron chain bridge, and Chuzom
   • Autumn departures: Buddha Dordenma
   • Lunch in Paro or Thimphu
   • National Memorial Chorten in Thimphu

   Option plus facile : Skip the dawn thongdrel and join the festival later in the morning with the rest of the group.

   Option plus active : Leave at about 4:30 am for the dawn thongdrel when the dates allow, with your guide.

   Temps libre : An hour free at the Thimphu hotel before dinner

   Activité : The thongdrel is shown only on the last festival day; whether a departure includes it depends on the year's dates, which we state before you book.

5. Jour 5 : Thimphu: festival morning or the city

   Thimphu: the Tshechu ground at Tashichho Dzong (autumn) or Buddha Dordenma and Tashichho Dzong (spring), then the Takin Preserve and the Folk Heritage Museum

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Thimphu
   Détail du jour 5

   On autumn departures this is the first Thimphu Tshechu morning. We are at the festival ground beside Tashichho Dzong by about 8 am, where thousands of Thimphu families gather in their finest clothes on the terraces around a stone-paved dance ground. Our Bhutanese guide explains each dance as it begins, and points out the atsara clowns and the blessings people queue for. We leave at midday for lunch in town. On spring departures the morning is for the city: Buddha Dordenma, the giant gilded Buddha on the ridge south of Thimphu, and Changangkha Lhakhang above the town, with Tashichho Dzong at its after-office-hours visiting slot late in the day. In both seasons the afternoon takes in the Motithang Takin Preserve, where Bhutan's national animal grazes in fenced forest, and the Folk Heritage Museum, a restored rammed-earth farmhouse that shows how rural families lived. Dinner together in Thimphu.

   Compris

   • Autumn departures: Thimphu Tshechu morning with your Bhutanese guide explaining the dances
   • Spring departures: Buddha Dordenma, Changangkha Lhakhang and Tashichho Dzong after office hours
   • Lunch in Thimphu
   • Motithang Takin Preserve
   • Folk Heritage Museum

   Option plus facile : Leave the festival ground when you like; the hotel is a short drive away and your guide arranges it.

   Option plus active : Stay on at the festival through the afternoon and skip the museum visits.

   Temps libre : An hour or two free before dinner

   Activité : Thimphu fills during the festival; we keep the van close and walk the last part to the ground.

   

6. Jour 6 : Thimphu at your own pace

   Thimphu: the Tshechu ground (autumn) or Sangaygang, Zorig Chusum and the market (spring), then a free afternoon

   • Environ 30 min de route
   • Petit-déjeuner et repas du midi
   • Nuit : Thimphu
   Détail du jour 6

   On autumn departures this is the second Thimphu Tshechu morning, back on the terraces by about 8 am with our guide for the dances you have not yet seen, and with time to walk around the edges of the ground where families picnic and stalls sell snacks and toys. On spring departures the morning is Thimphu's quieter sights: Sangaygang, the hillside viewpoint where prayer flags frame the whole valley; the National Institute for Zorig Chusum on weekdays, where students train in the thirteen traditional arts from thangka painting to wood carving; and, from Friday to Sunday, the Centenary Farmers Market by the river. Autumn guests can reach Sangaygang on the afternoon walk with the guide. After lunch together the afternoon and evening are free in both seasons: return to the festival, browse the craft shops, sit in a café or rest. Dinner tonight is your choice.

   Compris

   • Autumn departures: second Thimphu Tshechu morning with your Bhutanese guide
   • Spring departures: Sangaygang viewpoint, the National Institute for Zorig Chusum (weekdays) and the Centenary Farmers Market (busiest Friday to Sunday)
   • Lunch in Thimphu

   Option plus facile : Spend the afternoon at the hotel or in the cafés of the town centre.

   Option plus active : Walk with your guide from Sangaygang through pine forest to Wangditse Lhakhang, about 1.5 to 2 hours with gentle climbs.

   Temps libre : Afternoon and evening free; dinner on your own

   

7. Jour 7 : Over the Dochula Pass to Punakha

   Thimphu to the Dochula Pass, Sopsokha and Chimi Lhakhang, then Punakha

   • Environ 3 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Punakha
   Détail du jour 7

   Cloud usually builds over the pass by late morning, so we leave Thimphu at 8 am to reach Dochula, at about 3,100 m, while the northern horizon is clearest. On a good day, most often in autumn, the snow peaks of the high Himalaya line up beyond the 108 Druk Wangyal chortens on the saddle. There is time for tea and a walk among the chortens before the road drops through forest into the warm Punakha valley, where rice terraces line the rivers at about 1,200 m. Lunch is at a farm restaurant near Sopsokha. Then we walk about 20 to 30 minutes through the village, its house walls painted with protective phallus symbols, and between the paddies to the low hill of Chimi Lhakhang, the temple built in 1499 for Drukpa Kunley, the Divine Madman, where couples still come for fertility blessings. We reach the hotel by mid-afternoon, and the rest of the day is free.

   Compris

   • Dochula Pass and the 108 Druk Wangyal chortens
   • Lunch near Sopsokha
   • Walk through the rice fields to Chimi Lhakhang

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free at the hotel

   Activité : The road is narrow and winding on both sides of the pass; if you are prone to motion sickness, take a front seat and medication before we leave.

8. Jour 8 : Punakha Dzong and the valley

   Punakha Dzong, the Punakha Suspension Bridge and Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten

   • Environ 1 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Punakha
   Détail du jour 8

   The light on Punakha Dzong's whitewashed walls is best in the morning, so we cross the wooden cantilever bridge over the Mo Chhu soon after it opens to visitors. Built in 1637 to 1638 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal where the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu rivers meet, it was the seat of government until the capital moved to Thimphu, and the central monk body still spends the winter here. Inside, the courtyards open one after another, and your guide links the murals in the assembly hall to the dances you watched at the festival. Then a short drive upriver to the Punakha Suspension Bridge, strung with prayer flags over the Pho Chhu. The active option climbs about 45 minutes through rice fields to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten for the view up the valley; the easy option visits the Sangchhen Dorji Lhuendrup Nunnery on its ridge, reached by road. A picnic lunch by the river, then a free afternoon.

   Compris

   • Punakha Dzong with your guides
   • Punakha Suspension Bridge
   • Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten or Sangchhen Dorji Lhuendrup Nunnery
   • Picnic lunch by the river

   Option plus facile : Drive up to the Sangchhen Dorji Lhuendrup Nunnery for the valley view instead of the chorten hike.

   Option plus active : Hike about 45 minutes up through rice fields to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten and climb to its roof for the view.

   Temps libre : Afternoon free

   Activité : Punakha is warmer than Paro and Thimphu; bring sun protection.

9. Jour 9 : Back over the pass to Paro

   Punakha to the Dochula Pass and Thimphu, then Paro

   • Environ 4.5 h de route
   • Petit-déjeuner, repas du midi et repas du soir
   • Nuit : Paro
   Détail du jour 9

   This is the trip's one long drive, about 125 km and four to four and a half hours on a winding road, and there is no shorter way: Punakha and Paro lie on either side of the Dochula Pass and the Thimphu valley. We break it into three parts. After breakfast we climb back up to Dochula for tea and a stretch among the chortens, with another look at the mountains if the sky is clear. Then we carry on down to Thimphu, about halfway, for a sit-down lunch, and finish the last hour and a half along the Paro Chhu, reaching Paro by mid-afternoon. The rest of the afternoon is free on Paro's main street, two short rows of painted wooden shopfronts, for handicrafts, a coffee and a last walk. If there is a match on, the archery ground near town is worth a look. In the evening we sit down together for a farewell dinner.

   Compris

   • Tea stop at the Dochula Pass
   • Sit-down lunch in Thimphu
   • Farewell dinner in Paro

   Temps libre : Late afternoon free in Paro

   Activité : The longest day in the vehicle, a little over the 4-hour cap, broken by tea at Dochula and lunch in Thimphu.

10. Jour 10 : Leave from Paro

    Your hotel in Paro to Paro International Airport

    • Environ 15 min de route
    • Petit-déjeuner
    Détail du jour 10

    Breakfast at the hotel, then a transfer of about ten minutes to Paro International Airport. Flights out of Paro operate in daylight only and most leave in the morning, so plan to be at the airport about two hours before departure; your guides see you to the terminal and help with check-in before saying goodbye. If you fly to Kathmandu or Delhi, ask for a window on the right-hand side: on a clear morning the high Himalaya can run along the horizon, though the view depends on the weather and the route flown. If your flight leaves later in the day, the morning is free in Paro and your guide can suggest a short walk in the valley, with a later transfer. If you would like to stay longer in Bhutan, ask us when you book and we can quote extra nights in Paro, though each extra night also carries the government's Sustainable Development Fee.

    Compris

    • Drop-off at Paro International Airport (PBH)

    Temps libre : Morning free if your flight leaves later

    Activité : Book any flight out of Paro; all departures are in daylight and the airport is about ten minutes from the hotel.

Faune et météo : Spring departures (Paro Tshechu, usually March or April) bring mild days, cold mornings in the courtyard and rhododendrons on the Dochula Pass, with more haze over the peaks. Autumn departures (Thimphu Tshechu, usually September or October) follow the end of the monsoon: the first days can still be showery, then skies clear and the Himalaya is most often visible from Dochula. Bring a warm layer and a cushion or mat for the stone steps on festival mornings.

• Paro3 nuits
• Thimphu3 nuits
• Punakha2 nuits
• Paro1 nuit