It’s certainly an expensive and awkward destination to reach, there’s no question about that! It’s kind of hidden from the world map, really obscure spot in Asia, located somewhere between India and China, so close to India they even accept the Indian Rupee in most shops and restaurants and you can visibly see India, and the Indian mountains, in the distance a lot during the trip. It’s free for Indian citizens to visit Bhutan and they don’t need to organize a visa in advance or go through any bureaucracy , they can just clear customs and drive over the border, but for the rest of us, it’s fairly expensive because you have to purchase the whole tourism package.
Firstly, you need to book your package from a recognized tour agency, there are loads online, I managed to find one that was based in New Delhi, India, marginally cheaper than the others, but most of them are in and around the same price, except for a few dollars here and there. You need to pay a mandatory Bhutanese daily fee, imposed by the government, $200-$250 per day, during the busy season, (there are no alternatives, to the best of my understanding), but that includes everything, food, accommodation, and transportation, you even get your own driver and an English-speaking guide with coffees and snacks and everything else along the way.
You also need the tour agency to book your flights for you and they also take care of the visa invitation form and send it via email, once you send them all of the necessary documents and once everything has been approved they will email everything. That’s why I flew to Kathmandu in Nepal first, knowing that Bhutan Air, the country’s only airline, flies directly from Kathmandu to Paro. It’s an amazing flight, quite short, but you fly over the Himalayan mountains and you can see Mount Everest in the distance, assuming that it’s a clear day, unfortunately for me, it was pretty foggy coming and going from Nepal, which is normal from what I’ve been told because the country’s altitude is so high. You also pass the greenery of Bhutan and the landing itself is so quite scenic, a complete contrast to landing in neighboring Kathmandu which is massively congested.
Bhutan itself is actually a fairly cool spot. It’s very clean, I think the cleanest or one of the cleanest countries in Asia, and the people are friendly and helpful. It’s not a popular tourist destination, mainly because of the expensive daily fee, visa costs, assigned expensive hotel, etc…, but it’s a different kind of Asia with a laid-back lifestyle when you consider how populated and busy the neighboring countries are, for example, China, India and Nepal.
My guide and driver picked me up at the airport and from there they guided me around, firstly checking out some spots in Paro and then driving to the capital city, Thimphu, stopping off a few times along the way for some lunch, coffees, snacks and pictures.
The assigned hotel, the Amodrah Hotel in Thimphu, served dinner and breakfast with a great view over the Himalayan mountains, well worth it just for the view alone and this is mostly where the locals stay,a pretty unique experience.
Not sure if I’d do it again. It seems a bit unfair to be assigned to someone else’s schedule every day and not allowed to roam around the streets alone, kind of like being back in North Korea.
The fee is too high, especially when you look at how cheap the neighboring countries are, for example, Nepal being so cheap. You could almost travel around Southeast Asia for one month for the same price as a 2-and-a-half day trip to Bhutan. Though saying that, the local citizens are all entitled to free education and medical care and they live a good and healthy life which is the reason why the fee is so expensive, so the government looks at it as a low tourist industry, but they make up for it by charging crazy high fees, keeping the country a lot cleaner without a massive tourist industry.
