Beginning Stages of planning a trip to Bhutan

I%26#39;m in the very initial stages of planning a trip to Bhutan. I have about 2 weeks at the end of March/beginning of April to travel.

I%26#39;ve tried getting estimates on air travel (San Diego-Paro) and have had little luck coming up with a price. I am using Kayak, STN, Travelocity, etc... I put LAX as a starting destination as well.

Ok, I%26#39;m rambling. My questions are as follows:

1. Are people using travel agents to book each leg of their flights into Bhutan? (I realize there is one airline, so I must connect from Thailand, India, Nepal)

2. How do decide what to see and do?!! I am active and like to hike, but I love culture. The companies I looked at don%26#39;t seem to offer a combo trip. Does anyone know of a company that offers this sort of tour?

3. Could anyone recommended a tour company? I have a growing list, but it doesn%26#39;t hurt to check out more.

4. What did you book first, the tour or the flight?

Beginning Stages of planning a trip to Bhutan

You first have to fly into Bangkok, Kathmandu, or India to then fly to Paro. There is only 1 airline serving Bhutan....Druk Air. Your travel agency will make that flight arrangement for you, with the visa, etc. You will need to get to Asia however you normally would-----either arrange your own flight or use Travelocity, etc. We are flying from SFO to BKK with United, as we are using FF miles to upgrade to Business. We booked our flight first. Then we made Bhutan arrangements. We are going on our own, just the 2 of us, without a prearranged trip/group/itinerary, so they made our itinerary around our dates. As far as what to see and do, tell them what you are interested in and they will fix you up. We are spending a couple of days at a festival, as per my request, plus light hikes, white water rafting, and dzongs, etc. Plus shopping for the 13 Arts. Total of 12 days.

We are using Nirvana, but there are several others recommended on this site.

Beginning Stages of planning a trip to Bhutan

Great you decided to see Bhutan, it is very special.A tour in Bhutan has to be organised by a local agent (even if you use one abroad, he%26#39;ll do it with someone local, that%26#39;s why it is better to deal directly with one in the country).This local agent will take care of all arrangements including flights into Bhutan.

As flights onto Bhutan depart only on certain days, I%26#39;d advise you first to plan your itinary, find out if there are places on the plane for you, and then reserve the connecting flight to either Bangkok, Delhi or Kathmandu.No travelagent from outside can arrange your flights into Bhutan.

You can ask agents for examples of tours, and read different trip reports here on the forum.This will give you an idea of the usual sights visited. There are also treks, depending on time and effort you can decide on a 3 day trek or longer ones.

As I%26#39;ve been to Bhutan three times with Nirvanaexpeditions, I can recommend them warmly. Write them your wishes and you can see if that suites you. Good luck.

I second Bhutantraveller%26#39;s advice. First, do spend some time reading the trip reports. They represent pretty accurate experiences and will give you a flavor of what to expext. I agree about using a local agent to arrange both your tour and Druk flights. We found them very responsive to e mail questions. Once that is set, then you can arrange your flights. Since you are in California, you are better off going through Bangkok, though after the recent adventures at the airport one wonders. There are daily flights to Paro from Bangkok. One thing to note, the Paro flight leaves quite early ( between 4:30 and 5:30 am ) . You should have several options for your california - Bangkok flights. When we went last October, our flight ( Eva Air) arrived in Bangkok around noon the day prior to or Paro flight. We stayed at the Novotel Airport hotel that has a very convient shuttle. We arrived at the hotel around 12:30, ha a couple of gin and tonics in the room, took a nice swim, had an early dinner and got a decent night%26#39;s sleep. Another bit of advice, business class on Druk is not that much more expensive. You get a more comfortable seat, excellent meals and service, and most important an extra 10kg of luggage. Like Bhutan Traveller, we used Nirvana and were very pleased. However as you read the trip reports, you%26#39;ll see that other people had positive experiences with other places. You%26#39;ll absolutely love Bhutan!

We recently returned from a two week tour of Bhutan. We did some initial research on which parts of the country to visit and then worked with a local Bhutanese tour company, Wisdom Tours, to develop a customized trip for the three of us.

We started with some research on the web and with the Lonely Planet Bhutan guidebook, which is covers most of the areas available to tourists. Like you, we were interested in hiking as well as seeing the cultural aspects of the country. We ultimately determined that we would not go on a trek and would confine ourselves to day hikes.

Many of the temples and monasteries are high in the hills above the more populated valleys, and we had memorable experiences hiking to Tango and Cherie monasteries above Thimphu, Pelseling monastery above Bumthang, and not to be missed, Taktshang (Tiger%26#39;s Nest) above Paro.

The preceding hikes took a half-day or more including tours of the monasteries. It should be noted that these hikes, although not far in terms of kilometers, were pretty strenuous due to the high altitude and the steep terrain. There are also plenty of shorter and more moderate walks to various temples and other sites.

In terms of planning, we first contacted Sonam Wangden at Wisdom Tours and gave her an idea of where we wanted to go and approximate dates. She prepared a draft itinerary for us, which we firmed up before making plane reservations. Because Druk Air is the only airline available into Bhutan, and its departure times are subject to change, a one-day layover is pretty much required either in Delhi, Katmandu, or Bankok. Sonam made our Druk Air reservations for us and handled Bhutan visa arrangements, but we made our own reservations to Delhi with a US based travel agent.

While we saw many large tour groups, we also saw others like us in small groups of two, three or four. There were even a few single travelers with their own guides and drivers. The biggest challenge with two or less is the increased cost - the daily tariff is higher for singles or couples. On the other hand, a customized tour affords you more flexibility both in planning and in traveling, as you can adjust your daily activities to some extent according to the weather or your energy level.

One final note on Wisdom Tours -- Sonam, our guide Tashi, and our driver Dodgi did a great job organizing our trip and showing us this beautiful country. They were able to obtain advance permission for entry into the important temples and monasteries, and Tashi, who spoke excellent English, was well-versed in the history of the country and the places we visited. We also had the pleasure of getting to know them and we parted as friends, hoping that some day, circumstances would bring us together again.

Hi,

End March to early April is one of the best time to visit Bhutan and perfect for treking as it does not have much rain which is perfect for trekking.

I was in Bhutan in Sep alone for 10D9N and I stayed at Uma Paro. They helped me to arrange my visa, air ticket from BKK to Paro, the Druk Path Trek [4D3N] as well as to visit Dzhongs on other days. They are really flexible and I had my itinerary fixed in just a couple of emails and they are really efficient. Fyi, I only book my flight from Sin to BKK upon confirmation of my Druk Air.

If you do not want to stay at Uma Paro, you can then use some of the tour companies that are being recommended by members of TA and they would be able to give you a customised tour which has a mixture of culture and trek.

We were in Bhutan in November 2008. To answer your questions sequentially:

1. Make your own reservations to Asia. Your Bhutan travel agent will arrange the flight from the Asia gateway into Paro via Druk Air. We flew from Khatmandu. The Khatmandu-Paro flight is considered the most beautiful commerical flight in the world, as it runs right along the Great Himalayan range. At 55 minutes, it was much too short. If you enter Bhutan from Nepal, get to the airport early both times and try to get a seat on the LEFT SIDE of the plane flying to Paro and on the RIGHT SIDE of the plane on your return to Khathmandu.

2. Any good Bhutanese tour company will custom design a trip for you if you are willing to pay a surcharge for a private (1-2 person) trip. I believe it to be $30/day. Our tour (see #3 below)included arduous treks to, e.g., Cherie and Tiger%26#39;s Nest Monasteries; but, it also included tours of virtually all of the important Dzhongs. Although the festival we had intended to visit was canceled, that was because the coronation had been scheduled, so we actually had an improved cultural experience.

3. Our tour company was Bhutan Birding %26amp; Heritage Travels (www.bhutaneritage.com). Hishey Tshering is the owner and will work with you every step of the way in designing a trip. We highly recommend this company. We were delighted with our tour guide and driver.

4. We first booked our main flights to Asia, and then set the dates for our Bhutan tour. After that, we booked our inter-Asia flights (other than Bhutan) as we had a 1-month trip planned and went to other areas.

Enjoy. Bhutan is a magnificent place.