Bhutan - Lindsay Brown [8]
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This wide-ranging itinerary takes you from one end of Bhutan to the other, well away from the main tourist itineraries. It’s a particularly great trip if you’re interested in traditional weaving. You’ll need to arrange an Indian visa before you arrive in Bhutan.
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From Bumthang, day one takes you on a dramatic drive over the Thrumshing La to Mongar. Stay here two nights by making a scenic day trip up to remote Lhuentse, pausing to visit the dzong and hike 45 minutes up to the traditional weaving village of Khoma.
Day three takes you on to Trashigang, with a two-or three-hour detour to Drametse Goemba, Bhutan’s most important Nyingma monastery.
Figure on two nights at Trashigang, with another great day excursion to Trashi Yangtse, with stops en route at the pilgrimage site of Gom Kora, the old Trashi Yangtse dzong and the Nepali-style Chorten Kora. March and April bring two important pilgrimage festivals to this region.
From Trashigang it’s a six-hour winding drive down to the plains at steamy Samdrup Jongkhar ; stop to check out traditional weaving at Khaling’s National Handloom Development Centre. From Samdrup Jongkhar, take a three-hour taxi ride to Guwahati then fly to Kolkata, Delhi or Bangkok, or take the overnight train to West Bengal for Darjeeling and the Nepal border.
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TAILORED TRIPS
FESTIVALS
Most people try to time their trip with one of Bhutan’s colourful tsechus, or dance festivals. You can expect mask dancing, lots of colourful costumes, and superb photo opportunities, but also lots of tourists and busier than normal flights and hotels. Click here for the dates of the major festivals.
By far the most popular festival is the spring-time Paro tsechu in March or April. It is perhaps a little too popular with groups, and you’ll need to make flight and hotel bookings months in advance.
A less-busy alternative is the Ura yakchoe, though the western dates are notoriously changeable here so it’s best to include a couple of days’ buffer on either side of the predicted date. Camping is a good idea here.
The Punakha domchoe is one of Bhutan’s most unusual festivals, in February or March, just after the important Losar new year festival.
The Jampey Lhakhang drup in October/November coincides with near perfect weather and so is again popular with groups. The Thimphu and Wangdue Phodrang tsechus also take place during great weather.
The Kurjey tsechu in June/July isn’t the best time of year to visit weather-wise (expect lots of rain), but sees few tourists and you can hit the nearby Nimalung tsechu at the same time.
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TREKKING
The best way to experience Bhutan is without doubt on foot, especially if you can combine a trek with a major tsechu and add on a visit to Paro and Thimphu. You really need at least a week if you want to trek in Bhutan. The best months are October and November (for mountain views) and March (for rhododendron blooms).
The six-day Druk Path trek from Paro to Thimphu is a short and relatively simple trek, though it does spend two nights at a high elevation.
The eight- or nine-day Jhomolhari trek offers some of the best high-mountain scenery in Bhutan, crossing a high (4800m) pass. An excellent alternative is to do only the first three days of this trek to Jhomolhari base camp, spend a day exploring, then return to Paro via the same route. This avoids the high passes but still provides spectacular mountain views and visits to highland villages and yak pastures.
Perhaps the best combination of scenery and culture is the 14-day Laya–Gasa trek, which offers superb mountain views of Jhomolhari, the historically interesting regions of Lingzhi and Gasa, and the unique culture and people of Laya.
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