Trip to Bhutan (6 nights) (December 2019)
3 nights in Thimpu, 1 night in Wangdiphodrang (very close to Punankha, chose this place for the resort) and 2 nights in Paro
Trip Details:
3 nights in Thimpu:
1) From Paro Airport to Hotel in Thimpu (Bhutan Boutique Residency; BBR) (3-star).
2) We booked 2 standard DBL rooms for 3 nights in BBR and the cost for this hotel was 15000 INR (for 4 people). Hence, 3750 INR per person for 3 nights. This was without breakfast since, there is plenty of places to eat at Thimpu (the capital of Bhutan). For breakfast, you need to give additional 350 INR per person. However, you can order for any meal (on their menu). On the last morning of check out, we ate breakfast and the cost was 200 INR person (since we ordered from the menu).
3) For lunch or dinner in Thimpu, you can visit Zombala 2 restaurant (best for Momo, egg freid rice, chicken curry, beef sizzling, etc.). You may also try Karma's Dhaba, which has a thali based system (Chicken Thali, Beef Thali, Mutton Thali, etc.)
4) For cafes and other restaurants, you can try Ambient Café, Thija Café, Cloud 9 (best from my experience for desserts, coffee and hard drinks). Thija Café has a great exterior view.
5) The location of the hotel BBR is pitch perfect. It is located in the heart of the city and all the cafes, bars, restaurants and general stores (along with market for shopping) are walking distance from the hotel.
6) We have booked the hotel through direct email. This helped us to get the best available rates since we could directly bargain with the hotel.
1 night in Wangdiphodrang: (On our way we visited Pobjika; Thimpu to Pobjika to Wangdiphodrang)
1) Started at 8:30 am from Thimpu to Pobjika and had lunch at a restaurant on the way close to Pobjika (Your driver will take you there). We went straight to Pobjika since it takes 4 to 5 hours from Thimpu. But the best time to visit Pobjika (is February, March and April). Yet again the ride to Pobjika was breathtaking. If you have vertigo issue (I would suggest to not to take the ride, yet again it would be a memorable experience). From Pobjika, we came back to our hotel at Wangdiphodrang at 5 pm. So the whole ride from Thimpu to Pobjika and back to Wangdiphodrang is about roughly 8 hours.
2) The name of the hotel in Wangdiphodrang was Himalayan Dragon's Nest Hotel, Punakha. It is a 3-star hotel under the Hotel Chain (Summit Hotels India). It is a very old fashioned resort with a close view of the Punakha River. The hotel was good and the view of the hotel was mesmerizing. We took 2 deluxe rooms with valley and river view for 4 people. The room tariff for 1 night (with complementary breakfast) was 8600 INR. Hence, per person per night with breakfast was 2150 INR. We also had the dinner there while we came back from Pobjika, which costed about 600 INR per person. You may also find restaurants in the town (at a much economical rate), but since, we took the resort a bit far from the main town, we had the dinner inside the hotel premises.
2 nights in Paro: (On our way from Wangdiphodrang to Paro, we visited the Hanging Bridge, Punakha Dzong and Dochela Pass)
1) We started at 11 am from Wangdiphodrang and took us 25 minutes to reach the Punakha Dzong. Since, we started late in the morning, we did not go inside the Dzong but tool pictures from outside. It has a great scenic view. If you are very much interested in arts and monastery, then please get a ticket with 300 INR and take the tour for an hour. This Dzong is also the Administrative Office of Bhutan and is the most beautiful Dzong in all of Bhutan. The Hanging Bridge in 20 minutes walking distance from the Dzong and it is the longest Hanging Bridge of Bhutan with great scenic view. We then started again for Dochela Pass (the highest point in Thimpu; though it is located in the highway of Punakha to Paro). We were lucky that we found a festival when we stopped there. The Bhutan Royal Family was present and it was a great Mask Dance Festival. There is a café in Dochela Pass, where you can enjoy the view of the mountains with a cup of coffee and great desserts.
2) From Dochela Pass we started again for Paro and on the way we had the lunch. We reached Paro at about 6 pm (we wasted about 2 hours on the road), so usually after visiting all these places you can easily reach Paro by 4 pm.
3) We stayed at Hotel Khamsum (3-star). One of the best hotels and booked it through direct email. The hotel staff was very helpful; we have chatted over email to get the best rates with breakfast. They gave us the rooms in the second floor as the upper rooms were already booked. However, the rooms had great view and the hotel was very compliant. They also had the best breakfast in all of my Bhutan hotel experience. The tariff for 2 nights in Hotel Khamsum (with breakfast) was 11760 INR. Hence, 2940 INR per person for 2 nights (with breakfast).
4) For lunch and dinner, you can try Sonam Restaurent, My kind of Place and several other restaurants on the same road. Distance from our hotel in within 150 to 200 meters (which is a walking distance). For cafes and snacking please try mountain café (a bit expensive) and Champaca Café (best and value for money) (desserts, coffee, snacking, etc.).
5) On our last day of Paro, we went to Tiger's Nest and explored the city. But you can go to Chele La Pass which is the highest point is all of Bhutan. From our hotel, it was more than 4 hours of drive to come back to the city. Since, we wanted to chill and enjoy the time we explored the city. But if you are more interested in adventure then, keep one full day for Tiger's Nest and one full day for Chele La Pass. But if you want to save the car cost for two days, then start for Tiger's nest before 8 am and then after lunch you can start for Chele La Pass. Also, if you don't want to trek but want to take pictures of the Tiger's Nest, then you can get pictures from the base camp of Tiger's Nest. Hence, it would be much easier for you to cover both Tiger's Nest and Chele La Pass.
6) The last morning, we had breakfast in the hotel (complementary with the room) and headed back to the airport, with a taxi (for 400 INR). The taxi was a hyundai Tucson and it was very comfortable with all the bags. It took us less than 20 minutes from Khamsum Hotel (Paro) to Paro Airport.
Car Cost Total (we have booked personally) (agencies were asking more than 3000 INR per day):
For each day, we have booked a hyundai Creta (it is a crossover just like Tucson) at a rate of 2500 INR.
Per day food cost:
We have had a budget of 1200 INR per day (we went to try some exotic and expensive places too), but usually you can eat at 800 INR per day.
Flight Cost (return ticket): 24,200 BDT per person. If you are a student and have a valid student card, you will get 20% discount on air tickets from Druk Air.
Overall, we were on a vacation trip (main purpose was food, hotels, car travel and café chilling). If you are looking for an adventure budget trip, it is also easily possible (both by air or port). Happy to help with car booking and hotel booking. Hope this post helps you to have a generic idea.
Bhutan is an underrated country. It has a great travel road and mountains are amazing. City life is very different from India and Nepal. Most of the people think that, Bhutan is boring but, you will not believe your eyes, until you land in the airport. The moment you land into Paro airport; you will be hit with a fresh air alongside breathtaking views.
(Forgive me if there is any spelling mistake or error in the sentence structure)
Best time to visit Bhutan is in March, April and May. However, we enjoy travelling during the winter and we were lucky to find snow for one day!
