One week in Bhutan

We had a brilliant time travelling for 23 days in Nepal and Bhutan. Our time in Nepal included having a few days in Kathmandu and visiting the major sites there, walking in the hills around the Kathmandu valley, flying to Pokhara and walking in the Annapurna foothills, having a peaceful and rural few days next to Chitwan national park in the southern lowlands and finishing in Patan, a really interesting ancient place now pretty much joined up with Kathmandu city but with a very distinctive, upmarket atmosphere. The people and cultures, landscapes and habitats are so diverse in Nepal. It has so much of beauty and interest to see, more than we could ever have imagined, despite its obvious poverty and the devastating effect of the 2015 earthquakes. We had 9 days in Bhutan which is an intriguing place, that raised many contradictory feelings and a lot of thinking. The natural environment and landscapes of Bhutan are stunningly beautiful - still over 70% forested, its a carbon negative country and the still preserved traditional culture and ancient temples are truly amazing. Travellers should be aware that tourism is heavily controlled and monitored here. We spent our entire 9 days with our guide and driver and we could have felt pretty restricted but they were both so lovely and such great fun to be with, and all the people we met were so kind and welcoming that this more than compensated. The whole organisation of our trip was superb from the moment of being put in touch with Sudarshan in Kathmandu to returning home.

We arrived Bhutan October 5,2019 & we were off on a journey that lasted for the next 13 days. We visited the Haa Valley & a surprise festival awaited us. Then we’re we’re off to Thimphu for the Thimphu Tshechu Festival. That was the only day it rained. Lots of temples, prayer wheels, valleys etc, another festival, the Thangbi Mani Festival, a Homestay & finally the Tiger’s Nest. Amazing trip, amazing people. Lucky us.

We loved Bhutan. It is somewhere I have wanted to go for some time and it was as wonderful as I'd anticipated. I loved the trekking and enjoyed the camping element even more than I thought I would. There was the perfect mix of activity, time to relax and being part of the cultural experience. Our guide, Tenzing, was great. Very knowledgeable, very caring about us and our experience and very easy to be with. We went at the start of the walking season so we had the Druk Path and the camping sites to ourselves! Bhutan is such a beautiful and peaceful country and the itinerary *** put together for us was just perfect.