This post is what you would usually find in the Lonely Planet book, but it is not easy to source the lonely planet for Bhutan, I was lucky to have a friend who had it. If you want to cover Bhutan as a tourist, you would not need more than one day at Thimphu and maybe half a day at Paro and you would have pretty much seen most of what needs to be seen.
Bhutan for the Tourists
Thimphu the capital of Bhutan
Thimphu has one long street which divides the main city into two parts. If you start in the morning at one end and keep stopping at state emporiums, textile museum, city library, national archive library, folk heritage museum, Thanka painting school, the only cinema hall, heritage art and craft shop, royal academy of performing arts, open place in the market where you can sit and see the people passing by and also see the beautiful array of prayer wheels, by end of the day you would have seen the whole of Thimphu.
Don’t forget to see the human skull bowls at the Emporium, manuscripts at the national library, and the weavers weaving at the textile museum.
Takin Reserve
If you go a little further and do a bit of hiking, you would come across the beautiful Takin reserve. Takin is the national animal of Bhutan. An animal somewhere between a cow and a goat, with mythical tales around it. You go further up and you would see the BBS (Bhutan Broadcasting Services) tower, which is at the height and gives a nice view of the city. If you come back down where you started your hike and take the road down, on your right you would see the beautiful river. And a Tsheri Dzong on its bank.
Royal Government of Bhutan
This Dzong is the seat of the Royal Government of the Himalayan Country and this is where the King operates from. You are not allowed to go inside unless you are accompanied by an official guide. And come within one hour of the closing of the government offices. From the main road (called Norzim Lam) you have to take a small detour to see the Memorial Chorten. The final end of the road is a monastery where if you go on top and see the young lamas playing around or eating. You would see the contrast their red robes provide against the peaceful mountains and valleys.
Archery ground
You can also see the archery ground where you would see men in traditional attire practicing archery, which also happens to be their national game. And yes, you can do all this in a day on foot, or maybe a couple of small cab rides. Surprisingly with such a small population also most of the roads in Thimphu are one-way.
Paro
Paro is about 2 hours drive from Thimphu. And the only place to see there is a Conch-shaped national museum. Which as I mentioned earlier is really worth spending some time on. But even then it would not take more than 2-3 hours of your time. There is Paro Dzong, but if you have seen one Dzong, you have pretty much seen all of them. To an ordinary eye, they do not look very different. About 10 km outside the city is the old Paro Dzong which is no more than a ruin today.
Taktsang Monastery
A few more km ahead is the famous Taktsang or Tiger’s Nest which is a monastery built on a cliff and is quite a sight to see even from the base. You can trek up and it would take you around 3 hours to go up and come back. But I suggest if you are not a seasoned trekker do not try it. Do have a good look at the Paro airport, which is very nicely done.
Punakha
Punakha is the third most popular place on the tourist circuit. It is about 3.5 hours away from Thimphu and can be a day trip. There is nothing but an old dzong there to see, where you would need at most three hours. You need a separate permit to visit this Dzong, which you have to take from Thimphu. But do see the valleys and flowers on the way. They would transport you to a different world.
There are defined treks around the Himalayan Country, which I did not get a chance to go around. You can go for these treks only with approved trek guides. Sometime next time may be…
Recommend you read the following posts.
Bhutan Travel – An Experience
Getting Stuck at India – Bhutan Border
Wow, I would love to go to Bhutan.
You must Krina, it is a lovely little country.
I want to visit this place with my parents. when is the good time to visit? approx budget required?
Smita, summers is a good time to go to Bhutan. Budget depends on where you are located. There are flights from Kolkata or you can take the road route and drive from New Jalpaiguri station in North Bengal.
Bhutan is just so amazing. Waiting to go there and your travelogue is really making me hope that it happens soon.
Bhutan was amazing when I went there almost 9 years back. Hope it remains the same. It was not very open to tourists then, and I was the only Indian tourist there. Now of course they are opening up in a big way.
I had a quick trip to Bhutan but it was for a Photography project, so couldn’t explore much. I would want to visit Bhutan again.
I am going to be very close to Bhutan very soon, but not entering Bhutan. Every place leaves me wanting to come back for more 🙂
I read the article. Please provide me detail information for the trip. Iam looking for budget hotels. Will b traveling from Kolkata.
Sir, I am not a travel agent, you will have to contact one or search online.
Being the closest neighbor of Bhutan, I believe we should go and explore the beauty of this place. My friends often go on trips abroad but no one is willing to see the beauty of our nearby countries. These places are true gem on earth, we only need to go and visit them once.
Every part of Himalaya is heaven, hope we leave it that way and not make it another Shimla or Mussourie.
Bhutan is such a mysterious place. It looks like it comes up from a fairy tale. I hope to visit the place soon. It will definitely fall under my wishlist.
Thanks for a marvelous posting! I really enjoyed reading it, this post is very interesting and informative. Thanks for sharing…
I really appreciate the Bhutanese for preserving their culture and showcasing it to the world. Right from their style of architecture to the clothes they wear, they are unapologetically themselves. I just wish the food is better catered to the vegetarians. Hopefully, the influx of tourists has made way to a range of delicious vegetarian food in Bhutan.