4 nights / 5 days · Kingdom of Bhutan

Thimphu and Paro Unhurried

The short stay with the rush taken out — a second night in Thimphu, a park and a museum added, and a clear day held for Taktsang.

Plan this trip See the day-by-day

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Duration: 4 nights / 5 days
Where you stay: Thimphu → Paro
Style: Classic city

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About this trip

The same two valleys as the three-night programme, one extra night in each half, and the difference is entirely in the pace. Thimphu gets a full second day: the Folk Heritage Museum, the seven-acre Chang Yul Park along the Wangchhu, and an evening left open at Kaja Throm. The drive back to Paro becomes a morning of its own rather than something squeezed between two museums.

Taktsang still sits on the penultimate day, but now with a whole day either side of it. If the Tiger’s Nest is the reason you are going to Bhutan, this is the shortest programme that leaves you any margin at all when the weather closes the valley.

What you go for

Taktsang Monastery, with a full day held clear for it
Chang Yul Park on the Wangchhu, and the rose garden in its north zone
The Folk Heritage Museum, staged inside a three-storey house
Rinpung Dzong and the National Museum in Paro

The route

Day by day

Times are the operator's planned schedule. They shift with the season, the light and the traffic on the day.

Day 1
Arrive Paro, transfer to Thimphu
Overnight: Thimphu
Morning
The descent into Paro
The flight runs along the Himalaya and drops between ridges into the kingdom; the first thing you notice on the steps is the cold, clean mountain air. Our representative meets you after immigration and baggage, and the road runs across to Thimphu.
Buddha Point (Kuensel Phodrang)
A short drive from the centre of the city, giving a good overview of the Thimphu valley. The Buddha here is the largest statue in the country.
Textile Museum
The living national art of weaving, set out by technique — the major styles of local dress, and the cloth made by women and by men.
Craft Bazaar
Hand-woven textiles and craft products under one roof, from workshops across the country.
Evening
Check in at your hotel in Thimphu. Dinner at the hotel.
Day 2
A full day in Thimphu
Overnight: Thimphu
Morning
Breakfast at the hotel.
Simply Bhutan
A recently commissioned museum recording the Bhutanese architecture that modernisation has been eroding, with the older ways of living staged through it.
Chang Yul Park
Seven acres along the Wangchhu, in three zones. The central zone is the community plaza and the adventure playground; the north holds one of the largest rose gardens in Thimphu. The pavements and the ground beneath them were built nature-based rather than sealed.
Afternoon
Folk Heritage Museum
Set up in 2001 inside a three-storey house with a deliberately sober facade, the museum stages rural Bhutanese life room by room — cuisine, farming tools, household objects, the trees that matter. The oldest institution of its kind in the country, and the one that gets closest to how people actually lived.
Evening
A self-guided stroll around the newly built Kaja Throm. Dinner at the hotel.
Day 3
West to Paro
Overnight: Paro
Morning
Breakfast at the hotel, then the drive back to Paro.
Ta Dzong and the National Museum
On arrival in Paro, the old watchtower above the dzong, which now holds the National Museum.
Rinpung Dzong
Fortress of the heap of jewels — a long and complicated history, and the working fortress-monastery of the Paro valley.
Evening
Dinner and overnight in Paro.
Day 4
Taktsang Monastery
Overnight: Paro
Morning
Breakfast at the hotel.
Full day
The climb to the Tiger’s Nest
Allow five hours on foot, to a monastery on the side of a cliff 900 metres above the Paro valley floor at 3,150 metres. Guru Rinpoche is said to have arrived on the back of a tigress and meditated here. Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal visited in 1646; Bhutanese come at least once in a lifetime. The main structure was severely damaged by fire on 19 April 1998 and has been restored.
Kyichu Lhakhang
A seventh-century temple in the valley below, one of the 108 the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo is said to have built across the Himalaya, and the marker for Buddhism’s arrival in Bhutan.
Evening
Dinner and overnight in Paro.
Day 5
Departure
Morning
Early breakfast, then the drive to Paro airport for your onward flight. Our representative runs through the exit formalities.

Where you stay

Hotel options

Pick a line and the whole trip is costed against it, so you can see what the difference actually buys.

3★ Deluxe
- Thimphu — Lhayuel Hotel or Cholay Khangzang, 2 nights
- Paro — Taktshang Village Lodge or Dorjiling, 2 nights
Quoted on enquiry
4★ Deluxe
- Thimphu — The SEVA or Overland Thimphu, 2 nights
- Paro — Tashi Namgay Resort or Resort Thim Dorji, 2 nights
Quoted on enquiry
5★ Deluxe
- Thimphu — Le Meridien or Yarkay Seleqtion, 2 nights
- Paro — Le Meridien or Dawa at the Hill Top, 2 nights
Quoted on enquiry

Per person, twin share. Land only — international flights are not included. Rates move with the season, the number of you travelling and the hotel line you choose, so we confirm the final figure against your dates before anything is booked.

The detail

What is included

Included

Four nights — two in Thimphu, two in Paro — on the hotel line you choose above.
Accommodation as set out in the hotel options above.
All transfers and sightseeing as set out in the day-by-day.
An accompanying English-speaking guide throughout.
Meals on a MAP basis: breakfast and dinner daily.
Two 500ml bottles of mineral water per person, per day.
Private vehicle sized to the party — an SUV for two travelling, a Toyota HiRoof for three to six, a Toyota Coaster for seven to fifteen.
Bhutan’s Sustainable Development Fee, included in the package. No amount is quoted for it separately; we confirm what applies to your party in writing with your quotation.

Not included

Airfare and airport taxes.
Entrance fees at the sights named in the day-by-day.
Lunch.
Tea and snacks.
Beverages, alcoholic and non-alcoholic.
Insurance of any kind, and medical expenses.
Expenses of a personal nature — tipping, laundry, telephone and fax calls, camera and video fees.

Meal upgrades

Half board as standard: Every programme is quoted on MAP: breakfast and dinner daily. Full board is not offered on any of the five.
Lunch, tea and snacks: Not included on any of the five programmes, including on the days where the itinerary names a lunch stop. There is no published add-on rate, so we quote them with the package.
Beverages: Alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks sit outside the package price on every programme.

Entry rules, tourism taxes and health requirements change without notice and depend on your passport. Everything above is confirmed by our operations desk before your booking is finalised.

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