12D Best of Bhutan

Seat-in-coach tour:  Daily departure from Paro with English speaking guide

Private tour: Daily departure from Paro with a guide in the language of your choice (surcharges may apply)
 

PARO – Thimphu                                 (Drive = 1 hr 30 min)

DAY 1 The flight to Paro is one of the most spectacular of all mountain flights. One can see the Mt. Everest, Mt. Kanchanjunga, Mt. Makalu and other peaks in Bhutan such as Mt. Chomolhari, Mt. Jichu Drakay, and Mt. Tsherimgang. The green wall of hills known as the doors, or gateways into Bhutan from the plains climbs continually higher as down the forested mountainsides, and to the north, the great snowcapped peaks of the inner Himalayas rise up to the sky.  The representative of Diethelm Travel Bhutan will receive you at the airport and be your guide throughout your tour. 

Transfer to Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. Check into hotel and free time to relax.

Take part in a Buddhist prayer ceremony, which has been organized at the Zilukha Nunnery for your health and well being. You can offer your butter lamps and make a little contribution for the prayer ceremony.  Bless your prayer flags which is known as the Wind Horse where it is hoisted on the mountain top.  

Drive to see the Takin Zoo, which houses the national animal the Takin which is a rare and bovid mammal that is only unique to Bhutan. Drive further up to BBS tower to get a view of the Thimphu valley. Fly your prayer flags which increases your luck and the prayers carried by the wind to all the four directions.

Briefing of the next day’s program.

Welcome dinner.
 

Insight Thimphu  

DAY 2 Drive to visit the National folk Heritage Museum to get an insight into the typical Bhutanese way of life. Tour the Traditional Painting School of Arts & Crafts where children are taught centuries old craft. 

Visit the Traditional Medicine Center, which prepares and dispenses traditional herbal and other medicines. 

The National Textile Museum is worth a leisurely visit to get to know the living national art of weaving. It also features masterpieces from the Royal Family of Bhutan, which has been donated by the Royal Family.  

Visit the Bhutan Post renowned for its beautiful stamps where every special event of the world is commemorated.

Evening: Visit Tashichhodzong, its history is very old, dating back to the 13th century, which houses His Majesty’s Throne Room and home to the Monk Body.

Attend a Buddhist talk session and learn more about Buddhism and its practical application to ones life and learn a little more about meditation.
 

Thimphu – Punakha                            (Drive = 1 hr 30 min)

DAY 3 Departing Punakha today we begin our journey towards central Bhutan. We pass over 10,000ft Dochula Pass. We enjoy a photo stop here and view the high Eastern Himalayan Mountains. Many prayer flags encircle us, fluttering their prayer of peace and serenity. Here we will enjoy tea and a snack. 

Today’s departure takes you through the dramatic Paro Chhu and Wang Chu river valleys on to the high mountain pass of Dochula. 

There is a powerful binocular telescope in the cafeteria. From west to east these are the different peaks with their elevation: 

Kang Bum                            6526 m

Gangchhenta                      6840 m

Masang Gang                      7165 m

Tsenda Gang                        7100 m

Teri Gang                              7300 m

Jejekangphu Gang              7100 m

Zongophu Gang (Table Mt) 7100 m

Gangkhar Puensum             7541 m (Highest mt that is completely inside Bhutan)
 

Take a short walk to see the Chimi Lhakhang, built by Lama Drukpa Kuenley in 1499. He subdued the demoness of the Dochu La with his ‘magic thunderbolt of wisdom’. A wooden effigy of the Lama’s thunderbolt is preserved in the temple, and childless women go to the temple to receive a wang (blessing) from the Saint. 

Check into hotel. 

Drive to see the impressive Punakha Dzong, the second of Bhutan’s dzongs. For many years until the time of the second King, it served as the seat of the government. It is the winter residence of the monastic order’s leader and his entourage of monks, and was built in 1637 by Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. Inside the Dzong is the set of the 108 volumes of Kanjur – holy book of the Drukpa Kagyu lineage, written in gold. Bhutan’s most treasured possession is the Rangjung Kharsapani, a self created image of Chenrigzig which is described by Shabdrung as a treasure as vast as the sky.
 

Punakha – Trongsa                    (Drive = 5 hr)        

DAY 4 Today drive to Trongsa via Pele la pass which lies at an altitude of 3,150 metres. This is  a wonderful opportunity for photographs. There will be plenty of stops to take photos and for tea, coffee. Commanding the Mangde Chu at an altitude of 2,200 metres Trongsa Dzong is the most impressive dzong in Bhutan.  Built in 1644 by the Shabdrung, the dzong is an architectural masterpiece. 
 

Trongsa – Bumthang                 (Drive =2 hr)

DAY 5 This is one of the most spectacular valleys in Bhutan and also the heartland of Buddhism.   Here the great teachers meditated and left in their wake many sacred grounds. The Guru and his lineage of Tertons, treasure finders, have led to the sprouting of many temples in the valley. 

This is a good opportunity for photographs. Upon entering the Bumthang valley you will drive through blue pine trees, beautiful clean stream along the roadside. 

Stop and walk amidst fields of buckwheat, mustard and typical bamboo fences along the farmlands. You may also see yaks along the road as they graze for pastures in the lowlands during the winter months.

Walk for sometime along the valley and see the Domkhar Palace at Domkhar where the Tharpaling monastery can be seen on the hill top.

Stop to see the Yatha weaving center and see the weavers at work. The Yatha is produced in this region.

Check into Hotel.        

Visit to Jakar Dzong, “castle of the white bird”. According to legend, when the lamas assembled in about 1549 to select a site for a monastery, a big white bird rose suddenly in the air and settled on a spur of a hill. This was interpreted as an important omen, and the hill was chosen as the site for a monastery and for Jakar Dzong. The fortress is now used as an administrative center of the valley and summer residence of Trongsa monks. 

Wangdichholing Palace was built in 1857 on the site of a battle camp of the Penlop of Trongsa, Jigme Namgyal. It was the first Palace that was not designed as a fortress. His son King Ugyen Wangchuk, chose it as his principal residence.

Walk around Choskhor valley where large fields of buckwheat cover the valley. The buckwheat noodles and pancakes are a Bumthang speciality.

Visit the Sey Lhakhang or the Gold Temple established in 1963 where the central figure in the Lhakhang is Marpa Lotsawa, a great teacher of the Kagyu lineage.
 

Bumthang Sightseeing                 

DAY 6 Jampa Lhakhang is believed to be built in 659 by the Tibetan King Songtsen Gampo. The central figure in the temple is Jampa, the Buddha of the Future. Inside the primary chapel are three stone steps representing ages. The first signifies the past, the age of the Historical Buddha Sakyamuni. This step has descended into the ground and is covered with a wooden plank. The next age is the present and its step is level with the floor. The top step represents a new age and when its sinks to the ground level, the gods will become like humans and the world as it is now will end. Each October one of the most spectacular festivals in Bhutan, the Jampa Lhakhang Drup is staged here. On one evening, after the Lama dances, the monastery is lit by a fire dance to bless infertile women.

Visit the Kurjey Lhakhang: This temple is located above Jambay Lhakhang and consists of three temples. The one on the right was built in 1652 on the rock face where Guru meditated in the 8th century. The second temple is built on the site of a cave containing a rock with the imprint of Guru’s body and is considered the most holy. The present Royal Queen Mother recently built the third temple. These three temples are surrounded by 108 chhorten wall symbolic of each joint of the human body.  

Walk to see Tamshing temple, which was founded in 1501 by Terton Pema Lingpa, the re-incarnation of Guru Padmasambhava. The monastery has very interesting religious paintings like 11000 Buddhas and 21 Taras (female form of Bohhisatava). The temple was restored at the end of the 19th century. 

Drive to Mebartsho ‘the flaming lake’ in the Tang valley. This is where Pema Lingpa found the treasures hidden by Guru Rinpoche and thus became a terton, ‘a discoverer or religious treasurer’. The Mebartsho is in fact, not a lake but a gorge through which the river rushes. It is great pilgrimage site, visitors launch small lighted lamps on the water. Images of Pema Lingpa and his two sons have been carved on the rock.
 

Ura Day Excursion

DAY 7 Ura village is believed to be the home of the earliest inhabitants of Bhutan.  The village lies south east of Jakar, which is one and a half hour drive from Bumthang. One drives through forests and the National Shhep breeding cneter. Enroute cross Shertang La  (3590 m pass) with a magnificent view of Mt. Gangkar Puensum (7541 m). Closely clustered houses are the characteristics of the villages in Ura, which is a unique feature in the country. Above Ura village a new temple was inaugurated in 1986 dedicated to Guru Rimpoche and contains paintings of the cycle of his teachings. Drive back to Bumthang.
 

Bumthang – Phobjikha                      (Drive = 6 hr)

DAY 8 Drive to Phobjikha one of the most beautiful open valleys in the country. The valley is made a conservation spot by the WWF as it is the breeding ground for the endangered black necked cranes which migrate in the winter months. It is run on solar energy.

Optional: Enjoy our traditional hot stone bath where the stones are heated the entire day. The minerals from the stones have healing qualities.
 

Phobjikha – Paro                                (Drive = 4 hr)

DAY 9 The Black necked Cranes, Grus nigricollis, is the least known of the 15 species of cranes in the world. It was first discovered in 1876 by a Russian naturalist, Prjezhwalsky in Lake Koko-nor in the northeast corner of the Tibetan Plateau. Endemic to the Himalayan region, it has been listed in the Red Data Book of the International Union for Conservation of Nature as globally threatened with a total count of 5000-6000 individuals world wide. 

There are also muntjak (barking deer), wild boar, sambar, Himalayan black bear, leopard and red fox. The valley is a designated conservation area and borders Black Mountain National Park.

In Phobjikha, Bhutan, a Black necked Crane Festival is organized every year on 12th Nov. to raise awareness on the cranes and the local paople who live in harmony with them.

Visit to the Crane Observation and Education Centre, activities within the Centre are; early morning crane observation and counting/ crane study using nature trails. The Royal Society established the centre for Protection of Nature (RSPN), the only NGO in the country. 

A place to see is Gangtay Goenpa, the largest Nyingma monastery in Bhutan. Gyalse Pema Thinlay built a small temple in 1613, which was later built into larger Goenpa by the 2nd reincarnation Tenzin Legpai Dhendup.

Villages, you can take a day hike around the valley visiting villages and observing the cranes during November - March. It is very scenic and mind soothing hike that would provide you with rewarding surprises.        

Drive back to Paro. On the way see Tachogang Temple or the “Temple of the Hill of Excellent Horse” which rises in austere surroundings on the left bank of the river, a few km before Chhuzom at the confluence of the Paro and Thimphu rivers. A Tibetan Saint had a vision of the excellent Horse Balaha – an emanation of Avalokiteshwara while he was meditating there. He decided thereupon to build a temple at this spot in addition to one of his famous iron bridges (later carried away by floods in 1969). The exact date of the temple’s construction is not certain, but it was probably around the year 1433. 

Continue your journey to Paro. Check into hotel. 
 

Paro sightseeing                

DAY 10 Visit the Ta Dzong rated as one of the finest natural Museum in South Asia, and is filled with antique thanka paintings, textiles, weapons and Armour. Drive to see the Rinpung dzong, built in 1645 to defend the valley against Tibetan invaders. The Dzong is now used as an administration center and school for monks. 

Visit Kyichu temple one of the 108 temples built in the 7th century by the Tibetan King  Songsten Gampo. The story  goes that a giant demoness lay across the whole area of Tibet and the Himalayas and was preventing the spread of Buddhism.  To overcome her, King Songtsen Gampo decided to build 108 temples, which would be placed on all the points of her body. Of these 108 temples, 12 were built in accordance with precise plans. Thus, it happened that in about the year AD 638 the temple of  Jokhang in Lhasa was built over the very heart of the demoness.

Visit a farmhouse and try our traditional drinks and snacks.
 

Paro day excursion                

DAY 11 Hike or ride a pony to the famous Taktsang Monastery (Tiger's Nest) for an hour and a half uphill. The monastery is perched on a rocky ledge with a sheer drop of nearly 4,000 feet. It is said that in the second half of the 8th century, Guru Padma Sambhava, the saint who converted Bhutan to Buddhism, alighted here upon the back of a tigress. Here we enjoy snacks and tea at the cafeteria viewpoint. 

Take a short walk to the nearby ruins of the Drukgyal Dzong which was built in 1647 by the founder of Bhutan Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal to commemorate his victory over Tibetan invaders, led by Mongolian warlord, Gushri Khan in 1644. Strategically built over the only passage into Paro valley, the dzong helped to repel numerous invasions all through the course of Bhutanese history. It so impressed the early visitors in 1914 that the dzong was featured on the cover of the National Geographic Magazine. 
 

PARO – DeDEPARTURE                                                 

DAY 12 Early morning your guide will escort you to the airport for your flight onwards. 

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