9D8N Grand Western Bhutan Tour

Get ready for your Bhutan Holiday! Your travel journey begins with a flight into this exotic country. Your flight to Paro will provide you a wonderful experience with a view of various high snow capped mountains of Bhutan and Mt. Everest on a clear day. Upon arrival at Paro, our representative will receive you at the Airport. Drive to Thimphu for 1 hour. After checking in at the hotel you could have rest for a while, and later walk around the city to see the life of urban Bhutan or the capital city. Overnight stay in Thimphu.

2nd Day of your Bhutan Travel journey. After breakfast drive for half an hour (12 km) towards north of Thimphu valley and then you will have to hike for almost 2 hours to and fro.
Tango Goemba (monastery): Lama Gyalwa Lhanampa founded the monastery in the 12th century. The present building was built in the 15th century by the Divine Mad Man “Drukpa Kuenly”. In 1616 Shabdrung Nawang Namgyel visited Tango Goemba and meditated in a cave nearby. Today Tango is the residence of an important young Trulku (reincarnate lama) who is recognized as the 17th reincarnation of highly respected forth Desi, Gyalse Tenzin Rabgye, whose previous reincarnation passed away in 1830. Also at present the monastery serves as the prestigious Buddhist University for the monks of our state religion. You may also see some birds around this vicinity.
Visit the school of Arts and Crafts which was established to preserve and promote our age old practice. The students here are taught 13 different traditional arts and crafts. Visit the folk Heritage museum, to see the house of living traditions in some of the rural areas or the living house in olden days. Drive to Buddha point to see one of the largest statues of the Buddha in the world. And visit the Takins mini zoo to see the Takins which is the national animal of Bhutan. 
After lunch you can visit the Handicraft emporium for your souvenir shopping. Visit the Memorial stupa which was built in the memory of our beloved 3rd King in1974. Overnight halt at the hotel in Thimphu.

3rd Day of your Bhutan Tour. After breakfast drive to Punakha for 2 ½ hours with short stop at Dochula pass (3100 meters). If the weather is clear, you could have a superb view of the Bhutan’s Himalayas from the pass. Upon arrival in Punakha, check into the hotel first.  And have lunch in Punakha town and visit beautiful Punakha Dzong built in 1637 by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. Based on the prophecy of Guru Padmasambava the dzong is situated between two famous rivers, Pho Chu (Male River) and Mo Chu (Female River). Punakha was also the capital of Bhutan until 1955. In the evening you can take an easy hike to Chhimi Lhakhang, or the Divine Mad Man’s Temple. Overnight halt stay at the hotel in Punakha. 

4th Day of this Tour Package. After your breakfast drive to beautiful Phobjikha valley (similar to Tibet's Yarlung Valley). Phobjikha valley is a roosting place for the Black Necked Cranes in winter. Upon arrival at Phobjikha, visit the Crane Information Centre to see the cranes and take a leisure walk around the valley which will give you a warm feeling of rural Bhutan and the valley is beautiful because of its serenity. Overnight at the hotel. 

5th Day of this Bhutan Trip. Drive back to Paro for 5 ½ hours with your lunch stop en-route. And then check-in at the farm house in Paro. You can take a compliment Hot Stone bath at the farmhouse. A Hot Stone Bath is normally taken for healing backache, joints and muscle pains too as the stone and herbs contains nutrients.  You can taste our traditional Butter tea with local homemade snacks, and taste Ara which is a distilled local wine. And then eat our most typical foods too. Overnight halt stay at the Farmhouse tonight. 

On the 6th Day of this Bhutan Itinerary, we'll drive to Haa for 2 ½ hours with a short hike in and around Panoramic Chelela Pass (3980 meters). This is the highest motor-able mountain pass in Bhutan. You will see some high snow-capped peaks like the Jumolhari and Kanchenjunga in Sikkim as well as Paro and Haa valleys. This scenic Chelea Pass is similar to mountain passes (Gyatso La Pass, Geu La Pass, Dikpa La Pass, Dorma La Pass) in Tibet on the way to Tibet Everest Base Camp and Mount Kailash. 

You will then continue your drive towards Haa and visit the recently re-built Lhakhang Karpo. Haa Valley was just opened to tourist few years ago. Overnight stay at the hotel in Haa.

7th Day of this Tour Package. After your breakfast, drive back to Paro and check-in at your hotel in Paro. After lunch you will visit the National museum, the museum which houses numerous collections of arts and artifacts. This museum is also rated as one of the best museum in Asia. It was originally built in the 17th Century as a watch tower for the dzong below. So visit the Paro Ringpung dzong built in 1646 and now serves as head of the administration for Paro district.
After lunch, visit Kyichu monastery dating back to the 7th Century. This is one of the oldest monasteries in Bhutan built by Tibetan king Songtshen Gempo to pin down the ogress. You can stroll around the town in the evening for your last minute souvenirs shopping. Overnight stay in Paro.  

8th Day of this Tour. After your breakfast drive till the road end and begin your hike up hill. Walking time will be around 4 ½ hours for a round trip. Taktsang monastery is perched on the face of a cliff 800 Mts, above the Paro valley. It is a memorable spiritual journey. It was here that the great Tantric master, Guru Padmasambhava flew in from Tibet on the back of a flying tigress to propagate his teachings in Bhutan. If you cannot continue your hike inside the monastery, you can stop at the Cafeteria from where you can have a spectacular view of the Tiger’s Nest.  Lunch at the cafeteria or you will be served catering lunch from a restaurant. Overnight stay in Paro. 

9th Day of this Package. Our guide and driver will drop you at the airport and bid you goodbye for your flight departure.

All International tourists visiting Bhutan will require a visa. Lokopoko will arrange the visa for you upon confirmation of your booking with our Bhutanese partners. For Indian passport (or VIC) holders, Bangladeshi nationals and persons from the Maldives may obtain a visa on entry.

Tip: The same applies for going to Tibet. You'd need a Tibet Travel Permit on top a Chinese Visa in order to enter Tibet. And this travel permit can only be applied through a local Tibetan tour company (directly or indirectly). Lokopoko can also arrange this on your behalf.