Day 01:
flight landing at Paro international airport.
The landing is Paro will be one of the breathtaking and thrilling experiences. You can get to see a precise glimpse of Mount Everest and kanjungkankha, including Bhutan famous Jomolhari and Jichu Drake. When it comes to landing it is one of the adventurous landings as compared to other countries.
Distance: Paro-Thimphu (capital city of Bhutan) 1 an half hour drive.
After your arrival you will be warmly welcome by our Samden lhundrup tour and travel guide and escort you to the hotel. In between the drive from Paro airport to Thimphu there will be a brief stopover at Chunzom, two river meet point, pa chu (river flowing from Paro ) and wangchuk (river flowing from Thimphu). When we reach at Thimphu, our first visit will the National Memorial Chorten, which was build in 2003 by her majesty stupas build in memory of Our Third King Jigme Dorji Wanchuk who is famously known as “The Father of Modern Bhutan”. Later if time permits we will visit one of the oldest temple of Thimphu Changangkha Temple, build in 12 century.
Over night at hotel.
Day 02: Thimphu sight seeing
After Breakfast you will be taken to the following places:
Buddha Point: One of the largest Buddha(51.5m, 169ft) in the world in a sitting post surrounded by some beautiful and unique statues of goddess. You will also see the bird eye view of Thimphu city from Buddha point. Buddha point (51.5m, 169ft) has a unique great Buddha statue of dordenma( gigantic shakyamuni Buddha) build on the mountain. The throne that the Buddha sits upon is a large meditation hall.
Changangkha Lhakhang : changangkha temple is an old fortress like temple and monastic school ridge above Thimphu, southeast of motithang. It’s Very popular for the newly born babies and child who are born in Thimphu are believed to be protected by the local deities. It is one of the oldest temples built in 12 century and people take their newly born babies to get blessings and their names.
Takin Zoo: the takin is the national animal of Bhutan and, to be honest it is the stranges, unique and rare animal to be found in Bhutan. It is believed that The animal (Takin) was created by great divine mad man Drukpa Kuenley, who took the head of the goat, attach it to the skeleton of cow, clapped his hands and, to the surprise the skeleton magically grew a body and ran to into the meadow. Its because of the unique and rare look, it was choosen as national animal of Bhutan.
Royal Textile Museum Bhutan: The Royal Textile has a very unique and invaluable collection of Bhutanese antique textile which is dedicated to preserve and promote the Bhutanese textile. The royal textile museum has been established by Azhi Sangay Choden Wangchuk(Queen Mother) on 2001. And over a year it has attracted national and international countries to admire and appreciate the authentic textile of Bhutan.
Later the lunch will be done at local restaurant and then again resume with the sightseeing.
Painting school of traditional arts and crafts: a life painting can be seen, where students undertakes a six years course on the 13 traditinal arts and crafts of Bhutan.
Archery games: you can check out the national game of Bhutan at the National stadium.
Than if time permits you can have a leisurely walk around the Thimphu town.
Overnight at hotel.
Day 03: Drive to Punakha
After breakfast, we will start our journey to Punakha( 71km, driving time 2 and half an hour’s). In between the drive there will be a brief stopover at Dochula Pass (3100m) where you can enjoy the panoramic view of the Himalayan mountain ranges. . In Dochula Pass there is 108 memorial chorten or stupas known as Druk Wangyel making a place delighted to stay for a while. It was build by her majestry Ashi Dorji Wangmo wangchuk( queen mother of Bhutan) for the well being of his majesty, king of bhutan. The place becomes more pretty for the tourist when the eye catches one of the beautiful sights of the eastern Himalayan snow-capped ranges (6000m-7554m).
En-route to Punakha, we will visit to Chimi lhakhang. Its The hike (half an hour) from the road point. the chimi lhakhang was build in the 15th century by a famous Drukpa kuenley, popularly known as “Divine Madmonk”. This temple is famously known as fertility shrine, where one can receive a special fertility blessing.
Lunch break.
After lunch we will drive to Punakha, which has been as the capital of Bhutan until 1955. Punakha fortress was build by shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in 1637, amazingly build at the confluence of two rivers (po-chu(male river) and mo-chu (female river). It serves as a main administration offices and the monk body.
Day 04: The Great Paro Fortress
It will be a leisure 4 hours drive back to Paro. After reaching Paro the first sight will be a very historical place, the Paro Rimpong Dzong (Forteress on a heap of jewels), followed by the Ta Dzong (a watch tower) and today it’s the country national museum. Later the visit will be kyichu temple, which is one of the oldest temples in Bhutan built in 7th century by the Tibetan king Songtsen gempo.
The lunch will be at local restaurant at Paro town. After a lunch we will have a leisurely walk around the town and you will get enough of time to see around town and do shopping if time permits.
Overnight at hotel
Day 05: Drive to Chelela
After breakfast it will be a drive of arounf 2 an half hour to reach Chelela. One of the highest pass in Bhutan.
Day 06: Taksang (tigress nest )
Taksang is one of the high lights of our country and believe as a very sacred/holy place. The most famous of Bhutan’s monasteries is spectacularly perched on the side of the cliff 900m above the Paro valley floor. Taksang is a pilgrimage which Bhutanese try to visit at least once in a lifetime. It is said that in the 8th century Guru Rinpoche flew on the back of a tigress from eastern Bhutan to this place on 746AD and meditated in a cave here for 3 months, hence it’s named ‘tigress Nest’.
After an early breakfast we will start our journey, where drive will be for half an hour to reach the tigress nest base point. From the base start point to reach up and to get back to base point it will take 5 hours. It’s believed that any person who has visited Taksang is fascinated with the amazing architecture design and unique sight to see. When you reach base, it’s optional to experience the hot stone bath.
Day 07: departure from airport (Paro airport)