Travel in Bhutan. What is travel in Bhutan like? Costs of Travel in Bhutan. Best places to see and visit in Bhutan. A Bhutan travel blog and guide.
We recently spent 10 days touring Bhutan, including hiking, after years of dreaming of visiting this mystical Himalayan kingdom. This was my ultimate bucket list destination and I’ve finally been. You probably know that Bhutan costs $250 per day per person to visit (ballpark figure – this can vary either way) so is it worth visiting Bhutan at this price? For me, no, it wasn’t worth it. Costs outweighed value and enjoyment. Let me explain why in this Bhutan travel blog before you decide to pay that much money for your Bhutan tour or trip.
If you’d like to book a tour or trek in Bhutan, private or group tour or any kind of adventure, check out the tours available here. Viator can also offer a few Bhutan tours, here.
The cost of Bhutan does vary with time of year, nationality and adult or child status, I’m using $250 a day here as a point of reference, please make your own enquiries as to what Bhutan will cost you.
The more research you do the better, investigate private and group tours thoroughly, we took a group tour. Everything in this post is personal opinion only.
Our Bhutan Travel Blog – An Adventure!
Despite the costs, Bhutan was an amazing trip. Don’t think for one moment that we didn’t enjoy Bhutan.
I just want to put value and experience into some perspective for people on the fence about visiting.
Some tips and a guide to travel in Bhutan and booking your adventure.
I think our major issue was high expectations. After a lifetime of dreaming of this Himalayan Kingdom, it was a bit of a let-down.
Is Bhutan Worth the Money?
Watch the video below. What do you think?
At a cost of $250 a day per person, a fee set by the Bhutanese government and pretty much unavoidable, do you get $250 of value each day?
No, absolutely not. But that’s not really the point.
Remember that a big chunk of your fee goes towards funding health care and education in Bhutan.
We were told this was in the region of $70 per day. That’s fine, we’re cool with that, but if you’re expecting a tour or accommodation that is worth that sum, I doubt you’ll get it.
We don’t feel we did.
Two of us travelled, so we were looking for $500 per day of value. That’s an expensive trip.
I don’t think we came close to that in terms of absolute value.
This is my personal opinion, obviously, and I’m basing value on experiences elsewhere in the world.
We’ve also travelled very extensively in Nepal and visited Tibet, two destinations that most people would consider similar.
We got more for our money in both destinations although Tibet was also expensive.
What Does The Bhutan Tourist Fee Include?
The tourist entry fee for Bhutan should include hotels, all food and a guide along with admissions to places of interest.
Transportation also, your tour, be it private or group will probably involve travelling around Bhutan by road.
We travelled by minibus. Roads were mostly very good and driving standards seemed great.
Your flights to Bhutan are not included and they add significantly to costs. There were no cheap flights on this route. We flew to Bhutan from Bangkok.
Holding my Druk Air boarding passes in my hand was a surreal experience, I was finally going to see the land of the thunder dragon.
Hiking Bhutan
Bhutan is home to some world-class treks or hikes, including the legendary Snowman trek.
That one is billed as the toughest in the world.
Our group tour included a few short day hikes, all very gentle, and a more strenuous hike to the Tiger’s Nest.
We hiked up from above Paro Airport, around 1000m to the Bumdra Camp at roughly 4,000m.
I was a little concerned about altitude and acclimatisation but everyone seemed to cope well with this 1000m gain.
We had no headaches or other problems. If I were to go again I’d take my Diamox, purely because I have some at home.
We didn’t know what to expect at Bumdruk Camp but we found a pleasant, well-run campsite with a small flushing toilet block.
There were 2-man tents with real beds and plenty of warm blankets. It was cold, below freezing overnight, but we were fine in our tent despite not having any warm clothes with us.
After our night at Bumdra we hiked down to the Tiger’s Nest visiting 3 temples on the way.
At the Tiger’s Nest itself there were a lot of steps, down and back up, before a long hike down to the government-run restaurant, another buffet lunch, and a further hike on to the car-park below to meet our tour bus.
Most people hike up to the Tiger’s Nest from here and it would be a long day. I was glad we came down from above.
We really enjoyed the trek, climbing up was steep in places and hot. A bush fire had taken out tree cover for around half the hike making the landscape barren and shade-free, but once we hit the trees the hike was lovely.
Was the hike up to the camp site worth it? Absolutely, this was one of our highlights of the Bhutan tour.
Food in Bhutan
Every meal we ate in Bhutan for 10 days was at a tourist buffet. If I were to be disappointed in any way with Bhutan, it would be with the food.
Buffet food is never as good as the dish should be and our diet was limited and monotonous.
We ate a lot of plain steamed or fried vegetables, occasional momos, occasional dahl, and rarely, a paneer dish.
Chilli cheese, ema datshi, is a favourite dish in Bhutan, I enjoyed it but a lot of people found the chillies too hot.
The chili cheese was often the only protein I, as a vegetarian, had to eat, but no complaints, I loved it.
Potatoes with cheese was another popular dish that I liked.
There was always one meat dish on offer for carnivores, my son ate these but they weren’t too great.
I’ll create a full post on food in Bhutan but I’m certain the Bhutanese people must eat more interesting food than the tourist offerings.
One morning I had a boiled potato and toast for breakfast. The food on offer was just really weird and random.
Food was a bit challenging and I was hungry often.
I’m not a picky eater I just can’t face unappetising food.
At every meal, we were delivered by bus to a restaurant, outdoor venue, or hotel to join several other tour groups at a buffet.
We ate with tourists, not locals, and that’s just not what most travellers want.
There was also a lot of time wasted at mealtimes, we were forever just waiting to get moving again. I like to keep busy and squeeze every drop of exploration out of my travel time so this slow pace wasn’t for me.
We were given water every day in plastic bottles, which was disappointing. We had a kettle in each hotel (take some tea and coffee with you) so I tried to boil water to fill my bottle instead of using the plastic, but it wasn’t usually enough.
Hotels in Bhutan
All but one of the hotels we used on our 10-day trip were superb. One was certainly worthy of a hefty price tag as we were upgraded to an incredibly large suite.
All but one were spotlessly clean, comfortable, modern and had good bathrooms.
Don’t worry about hotels in Bhutan at all, these were some of the best hotels we’ve seen on our travels, for our usual travel style. The hotel below, in Thimphu is pretty fantastic.
The video at the top of the post includes a clip of traditional dancing in our Paro hotel as a farewell event. It was wonderful and very well organised.
I think that’s something we can say about everything in Bhutan and this tour, it was well organised, stress-free and everything was taken care of.
Tipping in Bhutan
Tips were expected and they cost us a lot.
Because this was a group tour we were expected to contribute a standard amount of money to a tipping pool at the start of the trip and our guide then organised tips from us, as a group, for every hotel and restaurant.
Bad food and bad hotels got the same tips as the good ones and I didn’t think this was fair.
That said, I’m not from a tipping culture, US visitors might find this normal.
We were also expected to tip the guide and driver at the end of our trip, we were cool with that and gave every cent we had left, our guide and driver were excellent.
Tips added significantly to costs and I think the set tourist fee, being so high, should probably have covered this.
Who Visits Bhutan?
Our guide told us that “mostly old people” visit Bhutan.
The tourists we saw, and we saw many, were certainly older and of many nationalities.
Yes, you can take kids, I took my teenager, that’s no problem at all, but most families wouldn’t want to pay such a huge amount for a holiday.
The tourists we met in Bhutan seemed to be the type who had done it all, they’d been everywhere, seen everything and Bhutan was last on the list. We were also in that category.
People leave Bhutan till last because of the cost.
There were a lot of tourists in Bhutan, far more than expected, we saw more tourists than locals. In Tibet, we went days without seeing other tourists.
Bhutan, Nepal or Tibet? Which is Better?
With the exception of The Tiger’s Nest, which is possibly up there as my favourite place in the world, if I had to choose, I would prefer to spend my time and money in either Nepal or Tibet than Bhutan.
Tibet felt more real and raw and had that intense spirituality and gut-wrenching history.
Nepal is the ultimate for trekking and is a cheap country with easy long visas. You can stay months in Nepal.
You’re able to fully explore, enjoy good Nepali food, and have a very nice time with no need for guides or groups.
Travellers in Nepal have freedom, and we enjoy that.
Bhutan is unique. Don’t think that if you’ve seen Tibet and Nepal it’s not worth visiting Bhutan. You’ll probably find Bhutan surprising in that it is so different.
We were really surprised.
Much as I loved seeing The Tiger’s Nest and other highlights and mostly had a very enjoyable time in Bhutan, I enjoyed Tibet more and Nepal is still my favourite Himalayan destination. If you’d like to look at the tentative UNESCO World Heritage list for Bhutan, it is here.
Highlights of Our Bhutan Tour
The Tiger’s Nest was the huge highlight, of course, this was even better than expected, hugely spiritual and I walked out feeling different, blessed.
We visited on the last day of our tour so that we all left on a high that had been absent for a few days.
I’ll write more about the Tiger’s Nest and all the attractions we visited in Bhutan later.
We took a few short walks in Bhutan and a two-day trek with overnight camping at 4,000m altitude to reach the Tiger’s Nest. The walking was pleasant and the final trek was challenging, on a par with some days on the Everest Base Camp trek.
The Bumdruk Camp Site was good.
We were there for the Thimphu festival at Thimphu Dzong and caught another festival in rehearsal at another monastery.
This is the stuff you probably imagine when you think of Bhutan, dancers, mask, drums and monks. This has always been the stuff of my dreams.
The reality was that there were crowds and we were generally too far away to see much of the dancing or to take photos. Be sure to take your big lenses if you’re serious about photography. I travel with just a phone and for the purposes of running this website, it’s been all I’ve ever needed.
I really wished I’d packed a camera with a good zoom for our Bhutan tour.
Every monastery and dzong we saw was beautiful and wonderful. Bhutan has many incredible places to see, stunning landscapes and interesting wildlife. The Kila Nunnery was one of my favourites, this is Bhutan’s “Little Tiger’s Nest.”
List of Highlights For Your Bhutan Itinerary
Consider adding these destinations to your Bhutan trip itinerary.
- Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan for Thimphu Dzong and The Memorial Stupa. The giant Buddha Dordenma statue above Thimphu is impressive but modern and not yet finished, we would have happily skipped visiting this one.
- Paro, The Tiger’s Nest (Paro Taktsang) is above Paro. Paro Dzong is also well worth a visit as is the oldest monastery in Paro, Kyichu Lhakhang
- Punakha Dzong
- The Valley of the cranes, Probjikha Valley. The Crane conservation centre was quite interesting and to be there when the cranes arrive in October must be pretty special. Only one injured crane, Karma, was there for our visit but the valley is beautiful.
- Gangtey Monastery was pretty special.
- The Haa Valley, we thought was missable if you’re short of time. The White Temple, Lhakang Karpo, was lovely and the architecture in town was special ( although you’ll see similar in Paro town), but we didn’t have time to explore.
- We would happily skip seeing the Bhutanese national animal, the Takin.
- The walk up to the Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten was lovely and the Chorten itself is beautiful with incredible views up and down the valley. There are a couple of suspension footbridges to cross here.
- Bhutan has an obsession with the phallus, see houses plastered with phallic paintings (see video) as well as masks and wooden effigies around Chimi Lhakhang, the “no dog” monastery, near Lobesa
- The short trek on the mountains between the Haa and Paro valleys, from Chele pass to isolated Kila Goenpa Nunnery ( Chele la Gompa), was very pleasant and this nunnery clinging to the cliff was a little Tiger’s Nest. This was where we met the monk and kitten below.
All of these destinations in Bhutan will have to have posts of their own in time, as you can see, we saw a lot.
Did We Enjoy Bhutan?
Yes, we enjoyed it, very much.
Bhutan was very different from my expectations. It was modern, developed and slick with a landscape that reminded me of mountainous parts of Europe more than Tibet or Nepal.
We loved Bhutan’s ancient monasteries, dzongs and remote, totally unspoiled, places.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a country with so little deforestation.
We felt that a lot of time was wasted on our tour. You pay the tourist fee for every day, or part day, you are in Bhutan.
This meant that on our first and last days, where basically we saw nothing, also cost us the set fee.
We spent a lot of time driving, looping back along the same roads several times. It felt as though the tour was deliberately longer than necessary to keep us paying that fee for as long as possible.
There was also a feeling of only seeing what the government wanted us to see.
There were quite a few retail opportunity stops, we weren’t buying souvenirs but, of course, we had to wait while other group members went shopping.
Bhutan certainly has a lot to see and we’re very glad to have finally been. It’s been my life-long dream to visit Bhutan and my bucket list is now fairly complete.
It’s my job as a travel blogger to visit these places so that I can comment knowledgeably, so for work purposes, of course, I’m glad to have been.
We weren’t in any way disappointed in Bhutan, it was a great trip, but it wasn’t so mind-blowing that I’ll tell you to book your tickets right now.
I do enjoy organised and small group tours and having a local guide is generally gold for most destinations. Our guide was fantastic and having insights from a Bhutanese person was priceless.
I think the very organised nature and regulation of tourism in Bhutan were what slightly spoiled the trip. Only very slightly.
It may surprise you that we found our Tibet tour far less regulated.
To book your flight to Bhutan, visit Druk Air here
If, like me, you’ve always wanted to see Bhutan, go. Is it worth visiting Bhutan, yes, if your interest level is high and your pockets deep. To cut costs you could try to find a shorter tour, be sure that your tour includes the Tiger’s Nest if you are physically able to walk there, either the way we went, or up from the bottom. It’s very close to Paro airport, so if a tour doesn’t include it, it’s not because it is remote. There are many treks to enjoy in Bhutan, you can also look at motorbike or cycle tours, it’s possible to see Bhutan in many different ways. We hope you found our honest Bhutan travel blog useful.
If you'd like to hire a car during your stay, use this car rental comparison tool to find the best deal!
We also suggest you take a look at this company to get a quote for all kinds of the more tricky adventure or extended travel insurance.
Try Stayz / VRBO for an alternative way to find rentals on homes/apartments/condos in any country!
You have provided a balanced perspective, delving into the country’s unique charm, sustainable tourism policies, and visitor experiences. Through personal anecdotes and insightful analysis, the article highlights Bhutan’s cultural richness and natural beauty, ultimately affirming its status as a destination worth exploring for adventurous travelers seeking authenticity and tranquility.
You have a descriptive information about Bhutan, nice blog
An insightful blog, and got good clarity on whether to visit Bhutan or not.
Thanks for your honest feedback. So many glowing travel blogs out there. Wondering what your thoughts on the mountain scenary and landscapes vs Nepal or Tibet? I gather you didnt do an extended trek but still mighr have a valuable opinion. From watching YouTube videos it seems bhutan a notch below but hard to find feedback from people who have been to both. We just had a trek to Langtang Valley which we loved, but no way I’m spending more time in Kathmandu any time soon!
Oh I LOVE Kathmandu! I go to Nepal just to hang out in Kathmandu. The landscapes in Bhutan reminded me of Europe. We lived in Romania, it felt similar to there, or Switzerland, but with all trees remaining. You never saw so many trees, it’s all very well preserved. We didn’t see any snow or really high mountains. We stayed in one village in a valley which again, reminded me of Europe, but unspoiled. It was all very beautiful. But I don’t trek for landscapes, I trek for villages, cultures, peoples and mountaineering history. Landscapes aren’t my jam. The short hike we did up to the camp above The Tiger’s Nest was OK, but a bush fire had been through there. Lots of trees destroyed, but then further up there were lots of pine trees and around the camp it was kind of like an alpine meadow, lots of flowers. I really enjoyed Bhutan, but I love Nepal. Tibet was incredible but I wouldn’t trek there I don’t think. My next trek will be Mustang, Nepal, fingers crossed! Bhutan is much more “civilised” than Nepal. Good roads, nice hotels, good infrastructure. You can see where the tourist dollars are going.
@Alyson for World Travel Family,
Thanks for getting back to me. Good to know. I think it’s on the radar for future travel but may hold off for now. I love landscapes, probably because were more introverts. May have to see if I can get a visa for India to visit Ladakh, or deal with KTM again. Or instead go back to Patagonia. Perhaps if I hadn’t spent half the time going to airport to check for lost luggage and medical appointments (with bad medical advise) after an altitude issue might have better feelings about KTM haha
I’m the biggest introvert in the world! A lot of bloggers are, we communicate better from behind screens. But I love to people-watch and there’s nowhere better to do that than in the Himalayas or Asia generally maybe.
I really enjoyed your article about traveling to Bhutan. We visited Bhutan a few years ago and shared many of your feelings. Like the writer, I also had spent time in Nepal and a few years before going to Bhutan I had visited Tibet, which I must confess made a much stronger impact on me. The toilets in Tibet just about the only real struggle for me. My only disagreement with the writer was the food. We were delighted with the cuisine and did not find it boring at all. Though we did not do any over night trekking and we were not in a big group, just the 2 of us, so maybe more freedom there. We actually really looked forward to meal time. As with the writer, and maybe closer the to commenter (Josh) it is not really worth it, highly over priced. Clearly it is a way to try to market something seen as a unique commodity. sigh…after spending some time there I wonder where most of that money goes to. Sad to say..it is not worth it. But we enjoyed our trip. The expected tipping at the end, after paying a massive amount for the trip, did not sit well with us. Bhutan would be a rather easy place to travel around solo, if they ever change their policies or I suddenly become an Indian national, I would love to go back. But till then, that huge fee will have to go to other places.
Thanks for your perspective.
You should add Ladakh and Sikkim to Nepal and Tibet as awesome places to experience Himalayan beauty and cultures.
Those two are high on my list, my husband’s grandmother was born up there.
First and foremost that a tourist heading to Bhutan must understand her policy ‘High value low volume’. If you love money you will not seem to enjoy your visit to Bhutan .
As mentioned in the post, we were shocked to see so many tourists in Bhutan, far more than in similar countries. We also didn’t feel we received “high value” in terms of cost, at all, in terms of content, we thought it was good but not fantastic. I feel you haven’t actually read the post, I do explain all of this in full.
@Alyson for World Travel Family, you might not have received high value since 65 dollar from that total 250 dollar per person per day is charged as royalty/SDF fees, Since our country value more on sustainable development and preserves available resources for future generation la.
Thank you
We were told $75 I think. I mention it in the post. It doesn’t matter, it is what it is.
I suppose if you have disposable income you’d go, but for me? The … with that! and you have to tip besides?
I’ll take Thailand any and every time! In BKK you don’t need a guide. In Chiang Mai you rent a motorbike and fly wherever you want. Do your research before leaving; you’ll have a blast!
Bhutan? Glad I read your post. To many preferable places. Why do people put up with those fees…
Great Blog, It’s very kind of you to put it in a soft tone. Bhutan in recent year has created a completely different image of itself. Despite facing all the problems that a developing country would have, we here at Bhutan focus on happiness. Making traveling to Bhutan cheaper would have earned its government huge revenue, But the goal has always been to make it special. Its bit upsetting to know that Bhutan could not aweee you as you have expected. But true Bhutan has more to it than what can be seen through 10 days traveling. Hope we get to host you in future with better plan.
Yes, it was rather disappointing. It was mass tourism, tour groups, that’s never a good way to see a country. Travellers like me want to see the real country and way of life, enjoy real local food. It was as if we weren’t allowed to see that. After a lifetime of dreaming it was sad to see.
@Alyson for World Travel Family, you would have been fulfilled your dream if you would have gone to eastern side of the country which is absolutely isolated.
Maybe, but free travel isn’t allowed for us.
@Alyson for World Travel Family, I totally agree with you. I’ve visited Bhutan twice at the invitation of the government to work on projects there
So I paid no fees. I was appalled to learn I was forbidden to leave Thimphu at any time during my visits. I tried to visit a village about an hour outside of town. The bus station in Thimphu refused to sell me a bus ticket without a travel permit. I went to the travel permit office, who said they could only issue a permit if I bought a package tour for the day from a gov’t licensed travel agency, at a cost of $250 per day. This is not cultural protection this is corruption. Ordinary Bhutanese are brainwashed to regurgitate the official gov’t line. ‘Gross National Happiness’ is a brilliant smokescreen to avoid accountability to internationally recognized standards of human development such as the UNHDI. It’s a nice window dressing for a country living on foreign aid and Indian largesse. It is not good value as a travel destination, full stop, no matter how hard the Bhutanese will try and convince otherwise with the philanthropic bias.
Something just felt wrong. I’m not going to even pretend I know what it is, but something was amiss. But as I said, I did very much appreciate visiting. It was still a dream come true in many respects.
@Josh, I don’t know how that happened. I’m working here now and my government hosts were very keen that I enjoy the weekends in the countryside. I climbed some mountains yesterday though I was in effect the only tourist since quarantine still prevents them coming. I find the people really welcoming and friendly but the visitor experience looks like it needs some improvement. And the stray dog barking is absolutely terrible. It is not sustainable for them to ignore it.
@Josh, you are 100% correct! Corruption and fleecing tourists is not my thing! All a farce! You will have a much better experience in Nepal and Tibet.
Great blog, lots of cool facts on Bhutan. Here are a few more: Bhutan is a very unique nation built around the practice of sustainable development. It happens to be the world’s only carbon-negative country and our constitution mandates that 60% of it’s landmass be protected under forest cover. Plastic bags and tobacco are banned in the country for environmental reasons. We have switched from the western idea of ‘Gross National Product’ to ‘Gross National Happiness’ and actually measure the population’s happiness using various indicators. We have an extremely ambitious goal of becoming a 100% organic nation by 2020. Bhutan was awarded 1st place among the 2018 Sustainable Destinations Top 100 ‘Earth Award’ Series in recognition of its efforts towards responsible tourism and distinctive appeal.
Seem like Bhutan is not for Foodie people as we have very less choice to eat. By reading this blog, I think the cost is too expensive and not too much to explore like in Nepal and Tibet. But it may be one of the lifetime experience to visit Bhutan.
@Sovan Kansakar, If there had been chili cheese, momo, and anything local at meal times I would have been very happy indeed! Instead I got boiled potato and toast. They’re trying to please Westerners in all the wrong ways. I noticed that Indian tourists were served much better food than we Westerners. There is an assumption, I think that Westerners just eat boring food. We didn’t have choice, we had to eat what we were given and mostly it was very dull.
Such an interesting guide, sounds like a very different kind of trip! While Bhutan does sound fascinating, I just couldn’t suck up that price tag, I haven’t been anywhere that expensive! Based on your experiences in Tibet and my time in Nepal, I’d definitely opt for visiting them instead. Is it possible to do a really short trip of a couple of days into Bhutan I wonder, just to see the Tiger’s Nest?
Yes, I’m sure it is. You can arrange a private tour from Kathmandu or even cross to Bhutan by road from India. The drive from India to the Haa valley, to Paro should be 1 day max. The Tiger’s Nest is above Paro. But be sure to visit Paro Dzong too, check out the architecture of traditional Bhutanese houses, you’ll be surprised, more Swiss chalet than Nepali or Tibetan, then get your hike on up to the Tiger’s Nest. It should be possible, I don’t know if it is, but the best way to find out is to ask a guide directly. I’m sure you’ll find plenty online.