SKY DRAGONEXPEDITIONS
All ten journeysCultural, trekking, festival, wildlife
Seven days deliberately underfilled — the same three valleys as our standard route, at roughly half the pace, with mornings left empty on purpose.
Most Bhutan itineraries are too full. This one is not. It visits fewer places, spends longer at each, and builds in mornings with nothing scheduled — which, in a country where the interesting thing is usually the valley rather than the monument, turns out to be the better trade.
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.
Travellers recovering from something, or travelling with someone who tires easily, or simply tired of itineraries that start at seven. Also good for a second visit. There is no demanding walking; the Taktsang climb is offered but optional.
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.
We meet you at Paro and take you to the hotel, and that is the whole plan for today.
If you want something to do, Kyichu Lhakhang is fifteen minutes away and takes half an hour. If you would rather sleep, sleep.
A free morning. The path along the Paro Chhu runs for several kilometres in either direction and passes farmhouses, a couple of small temples and a great many prayer flags.
In the afternoon, Rinpung Dzong — built in 1644, approached across the old cantilever bridge — and, if you want it, the National Museum in the watchtower above.
A late start and the short drive to Thimphu. In the afternoon, Buddha Dordenma above the valley at Kuensel Phodrang — which is worth an hour rather than the fifteen minutes most itineraries give it.
In the early evening, a singing-bowl session. Metal bowls are struck and rimmed to produce sustained tones; you lie or sit and listen. It is a restorative hour and we make no therapeutic claims for it beyond that.
The National Memorial Chorten, built in 1974 in memory of the third King, early enough to see the older residents making their circuits — many spend a large part of the day there and it is the most quietly moving place in the capital.
The rest of the day is yours. The craft bazaar, the weekend market if the timing works, or a chair somewhere. Your guide is available if you want to go somewhere.
Dochu La at about 3,100 metres with its 108 chortens, and a long stop there rather than the usual twenty minutes — there is a café, and on a clear day the eastern Himalaya is worth sitting in front of.
Down into the Punakha valley and, in the afternoon, the flat twenty-five minute walk through the rice terraces to Chimi Lhakhang, built in 1499.
A free morning by the river, then Punakha Dzong in the afternoon — built in 1637–38 at the confluence of the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu, and the finest building in Bhutan. Two hours is not too long to spend in it.
In the evening, a traditional hot-stone bath at a farmhouse: river stones heated in a fire and dropped into a wooden tub of water and artemisia. A long-standing Bhutanese custom, and a good end to the week.
The drive back over Dochu La to Paro for your flight. If your departure is early we move you to Paro the previous evening instead — tell us your flight and we will arrange the week around it.
Altitude range on this journey is 1,250–3,100 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
11 days · 10 nightsEast from Punakha over the Pele La to Trongsa, then into the four valleys of Bumthang — the oldest temples in the country and the quietest roads.
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.