SKY DRAGONEXPEDITIONS
All ten journeysCultural, trekking, festival, wildlife
The short, high, classic Bhutanese trek — four days along the ridge that separates the Paro and Thimphu valleys, past a string of glacial lakes, with the Himalaya to the north.
The Druk Path is the trek to do if you have one week and want real altitude without committing to a fortnight. It is only four walking days, but it stays high the whole way, and the camps beside Jimilang Tsho and Simkotra Tsho are as good as camping gets in Bhutan.
The itinerary below is what we would run as written. Every day of it is adjustable — add a night, drop a drive, change a valley. Read when to travel if you are still choosing dates, and entry and fees for what a quotation covers.
Walkers who are comfortable with four consecutive days of five to six hours on rough ground at altitude. No technical skill is needed and there is no climbing, but you will sleep above 3,700 metres for three nights and it is cold.
Private departure, any date. We reply with a written itinerary and a full quotation.
Overnight stops in order. Read more about each valley on the valleys page.
Driving times are realistic for Bhutanese mountain roads. Everything here is adjustable.
Arrival and an easy afternoon at about 2,235 metres. Kyichu Lhakhang if there is time, and an early night.
Your guide will run through the trek with you this evening and check your kit — better to find a problem now than at 4,000 metres.
The climb to Taktsang does double duty on this itinerary: it is the thing everyone comes to Bhutan for, and it is an excellent acclimatisation day, taking you to about 3,120 metres and back down to sleep low.
Roughly 900 metres of ascent, four to five hours return. The monastery dates from 1692 and was rebuilt after a fire in 1998.
The trek starts above the National Museum and climbs steadily through blue pine and then rhododendron. The first landmark is Jele Dzong at about 3,480 metres, a small ruined fortress on the ridge with the whole Paro valley laid out below it and Jomolhari to the north in clear weather.
From there the path follows the ridge to camp at Jangchulakha, roughly 3,770 metres. Yak herders use these pastures in summer. It is a substantial first day and the altitude gain is real — drink more than you want to.
A shorter day, and the one that repays the first. The path stays on the ridge with the Paro valley falling away on one side and Thimphu's catchment on the other, and on a clear morning the high Himalaya runs along the northern horizon.
Camp is beside Jimilang Tsho at about 3,870 metres — a lake known for its large brown trout, stocked decades ago. Afternoons here are often still; evenings are cold as soon as the sun leaves the water.
The highest camp of the trek. The path passes Janetsho lake and a scattering of herders' huts, then climbs through dwarf rhododendron to Simkotra Tsho at about 4,110 metres.
This is the night people feel. Sleeping above 4,000 metres after two nights near 3,800 is a real step up, and mild headaches are common. Your guide will watch how everyone is doing and the day can be shortened if needed.
The last walking day, and the best one. A gradual climb to the Phume La at about 4,235 metres — the high point of the trek — and, if the weather holds, a clear view of Gangkhar Puensum at 7,570 metres on the northern horizon.
Then a long descent past Phajoding monastery at around 3,650 metres, through blue pine forest, to the road head above Thimphu. The drop from the pass to the city is close to two kilometres of altitude in an afternoon, and your knees will know it.
A hotel, a shower and a bed in Thimphu tonight.
A gentle day after four hard ones. Buddha Dordenma at Kuensel Phodrang, the National Memorial Chorten, the takin preserve at Motithang, and the craft bazaar.
Tashichho Dzong in the late afternoon once the government offices close.
The drive back down to Paro and your flight home.
Altitude range on this journey is 2,235–4,235 m. Sleeping heights matter more than the passes you drive over — see travel questions on altitude.
One figure covers everything on the left, the Sustainable Development Fee and the visa fee included. There are no compulsory extras added later.
More general questions are answered on travel questions.
We do not publish prices, because a private trip priced honestly depends on your dates, your group and the hotels you want. Tell us those three things and you will have a real figure.
No call centre and no automated quote. A person in our Thimphu office reads what you have written and replies with a plan built around it.
Private departure on any date you choose. We reply with a written itinerary and a full quotation.
Cultural
8 days · 7 nightsParo, Thimphu and Punakha at a pace that leaves room for the Taktsang climb, an afternoon in the Punakha rice terraces and a drive over Chele La.
Cultural
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Cultural
14 days · 13 nightsThe full length of the country, west to east, over Bhutan's highest road pass into the weaving districts most itineraries never reach.