Bottom line: beautiful country with friendly people.
We flew over from Kathmandu (well under an hour flight, with views of Everest on the clear day that we arrived). Took a few days to get acclimated after having spent the previous two weeks at sea level before flying to Kathmandu for a single night. Tigers Nest, in particular, was a slower hike than would typically be the case, as we did it on day three. By the end of our stay, however, we easily had adjusted (we'll see what the trekking in Nepal thinks about that though!).
A very different type of trip for us, as the government mandates that you have both a driver and a guide for nearly all parts of the country. Never did get used to them wanting to carry our bags, etc. Plus, the agency arranged all means so that we had fixed menus of Bhutanese food; no ordering from a menu the entire time. FWIW, you also have to pay $100 USD per day, per person, as a tourist tax. So it adds up. (All told, including the roundtrip to/from Nepal and all tips, etc., it was 10K for a couple with intermediate level accommodations/meals.)
A nice part of the trip was staying in the homes of several Bhutanese families. We enjoyed sitting around the woodfired stoves in their kitchens and getting to know them a bit. (Note well, however, that no home stay had en suite bathrooms for the tourists; we were not embarrassed to request buckets/chamberpots to avoid climbing stairs/ladders in the middle of the night!) English is the language of instruction in the country's schools, so that would not have been much of a problem even in the absence of our guide and driver.
As one would guess, the trip revolved around historic and culturally significant Buddhist sites, as well as nature. We drove around the northwestern part of the country, ending up about 300KM (by road) from the international airport. (hotels and homestays were located in Paro (location of the international airport and Tigers Nest), the Haa valley, Thimphu (the capital), Panaka, and Jakar. (I'm missing one or two...) Thus, we did not get into the tropical southern regions (elephants and rhinos!), nor into the eastern provinces.
Definitely recommended if you are planning a trip to India or Southeast Asia (and we found it to be a fairly short hop from Singapore to Kathmandu, and onto Bhutan).
If you are interested in reading more, and seeing photos (and videos of the dances at the festival in Panaka), DW's personal blog for this part of our trip begins here: Bhutan — Lisa's (& Steve's) Travels
We flew over from Kathmandu (well under an hour flight, with views of Everest on the clear day that we arrived). Took a few days to get acclimated after having spent the previous two weeks at sea level before flying to Kathmandu for a single night. Tigers Nest, in particular, was a slower hike than would typically be the case, as we did it on day three. By the end of our stay, however, we easily had adjusted (we'll see what the trekking in Nepal thinks about that though!).
A very different type of trip for us, as the government mandates that you have both a driver and a guide for nearly all parts of the country. Never did get used to them wanting to carry our bags, etc. Plus, the agency arranged all means so that we had fixed menus of Bhutanese food; no ordering from a menu the entire time. FWIW, you also have to pay $100 USD per day, per person, as a tourist tax. So it adds up. (All told, including the roundtrip to/from Nepal and all tips, etc., it was 10K for a couple with intermediate level accommodations/meals.)
A nice part of the trip was staying in the homes of several Bhutanese families. We enjoyed sitting around the woodfired stoves in their kitchens and getting to know them a bit. (Note well, however, that no home stay had en suite bathrooms for the tourists; we were not embarrassed to request buckets/chamberpots to avoid climbing stairs/ladders in the middle of the night!) English is the language of instruction in the country's schools, so that would not have been much of a problem even in the absence of our guide and driver.
As one would guess, the trip revolved around historic and culturally significant Buddhist sites, as well as nature. We drove around the northwestern part of the country, ending up about 300KM (by road) from the international airport. (hotels and homestays were located in Paro (location of the international airport and Tigers Nest), the Haa valley, Thimphu (the capital), Panaka, and Jakar. (I'm missing one or two...) Thus, we did not get into the tropical southern regions (elephants and rhinos!), nor into the eastern provinces.
Definitely recommended if you are planning a trip to India or Southeast Asia (and we found it to be a fairly short hop from Singapore to Kathmandu, and onto Bhutan).
If you are interested in reading more, and seeing photos (and videos of the dances at the festival in Panaka), DW's personal blog for this part of our trip begins here: Bhutan — Lisa's (& Steve's) Travels
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