Bhutan joins EcoVoyager for 2027, with cultural journeys, an east-to-west crossing and Himalayan treks for small groups and private travelers.
Most people remember the flight in. The plane threads between forested ridges, banks hard over the Paro valley and drops onto a runway that seems far too short, with prayer flags strung along the hillsides and a whitewashed fortress standing over the river below. Within an hour of landing you are driving past farmhouses painted with flowers and dragons, and the air smells of pine and woodsmoke.
For the 2027 season, that arrival can be the start of an EcoVoyager trip. Bhutan is now part of our lineup, with small-group departures and private custom journeys that range from a week of dzongs and valleys to two weeks on high Himalayan trails.
Why Bhutan
Bhutan has handled tourism differently from almost anywhere else since it first opened to visitors in 1974. Rather than chase arrival numbers, the country has long followed a policy of "high value, low volume," asking travelers to contribute directly to its schools, hospitals and forests through a daily fee. The result is a place where monasteries are still places of worship rather than ticketed attractions, where national dress is everyday wear, and where most of the country is still covered in forest. Bhutan's constitution requires that at least 60 percent of the land stay forested, and the country absorbs more carbon than it produces.
That approach lines up closely with how we like to travel. Our trips are built around small groups, local guides and time spent with the people who live in a place, and we look for destinations where visitors give something back. Bhutan has been on our list for a long time.
What Makes Bhutan Different
The dzongs are the first surprise. These huge fortress monasteries anchor every major valley, and they are working buildings: monks study and pray on one side of the courtyard, district officials keep office hours on the other. Punakha Dzong, built in 1637 where two rivers meet and framed by purple jacaranda in spring, is often called the most beautiful building in the country, and it is hard to argue. Above the Paro valley, Taktsang Monastery, better known as the Tiger's Nest, clings to a cliff about 3,000 feet above the valley floor. The walk up takes most of a morning through pine forest, and the view from the final lookout, with the monastery suddenly close enough to hear its bells, is worth every step.
Further east, the valleys of Bumthang hold some of the oldest temples in the kingdom, from Jambay Lhakhang, said to date to the seventh century, to Kurjey, where Guru Rinpoche is believed to have left the imprint of his body in rock. Bumthang is too high for rice, so lunch here means buckwheat noodles, local cheese and honey. Beyond it, across the forested pass of Thrumshing La, the east is the least visited part of Bhutan: weaving villages, remote district dzongs and the white stupa of Chorten Kora beside the river in Trashiyangtse.
Then there are the festivals. Each tshechu brings a town together for days of masked dances performed in the dzong courtyard, with families arriving in their finest clothes, picnics spread across the grass and clowns working the crowd between dances. In winter, the Phobjikha Valley welcomes back the black-necked cranes that fly over the Himalaya from Tibet, with a festival in their honor every November. Both can be built into a private trip.
And everywhere there is daily life worth slowing down for: archery matches where rival teams sing and heckle each other between shots, farmhouse lunches built around ema datshi, the national dish of chilies cooked in cheese, and long evenings in valleys where the only sound is the river.
Our 2027 Bhutan Trips
We are starting with a mix of cultural journeys and treks, all run with a Bhutanese ground team and led by licensed local guides.
Our shortest trip covers the classic western valleys in about a week. It takes in Thimphu's monasteries, painting school and weekend farmers' market, crosses the Dochula pass and its 108 chortens to Punakha, spends a day in the quiet Haa Valley and finishes with the climb to the Tiger's Nest. For travelers with more time, a longer journey of around 12 days adds the sacred valleys of Bumthang, including the Tang valley and the Burning Lake, where the saint Pema Lingpa is said to have dived into the river holding a lamp and come back up with it still alight.
The most ambitious of our cultural trips crosses the whole country over 16 days. It enters Bhutan overland from Assam in India and begins in the far east, visiting silk-weaving villages, a Buddhist institute and the pilgrimage sites of Trashiyangtse before working west over the high passes through Bumthang, Trongsa and Punakha. It includes a cooking class in a Bumthang farmhouse and ends, like the shorter trips, beneath the Tiger's Nest. Very few visitors see Bhutan this way.
For walkers, there are three treks to choose from. The Druk Path is the classic first trek, about ten days in all, following ridges and high lakes between Paro and Thimphu with views north to the Himalaya on clear mornings. The Jomolhari trek is the bigger undertaking: just under two weeks, walking up the Paro valley past yak herders' camps to a base camp beneath Jomolhari, the sacred peak on the Tibetan border, with a rest day at camp and a crossing of the highest pass at nearly 16,000 feet. And for the cooler months, a shorter, lower winter trek winds through farming villages and old monasteries in the hills above Punakha, staying low enough to walk when the high routes are under snow.
Prices for each trip are on the Bhutan tours page. If you would rather travel on your own schedule, with family or a private group, we also design custom trips to Bhutan, quoted individually based on how long you want to stay, where you want to go, the size of your group and what you want to do.
Planning a Trip to Bhutan
Every international visitor pays Bhutan's Sustainable Development Fee, which funds healthcare, education and conservation across the country. The fee is currently US$100 per person per night for most international visitors, with reduced rates for children, and the government has confirmed that rate through August 31, 2027. Trips after that date may be charged at a different rate. The fee is not included in our tour prices and is paid on top of the trip cost.
Visas are arranged in advance rather than on arrival, and we handle the application as part of your booking. Most travelers fly into Paro on one of Bhutan's two national airlines, with connections through cities such as Bangkok, Delhi and Kathmandu. The flight from Kathmandu passes the high Himalaya, including Everest on a clear day.
Spring, from March to May, brings rhododendrons in bloom and the Paro festival. Autumn, from late September to November, is the clearest season for mountain views and the best time for the high treks. Winter is cold but bright and quiet, and it is the season for the cranes. The summer monsoon turns the valleys a deep green and brings fewer visitors, though clouds often hide the peaks.
As on all our trips, emergency medical and evacuation coverage is required. We recommend Global Rescue, and our team can help you set it up.
Start Planning
Bhutan suits travelers who want culture that is still lived rather than performed, mountain scenery on a grand scale and a pace that leaves room to take it in. Autumn departures and festival dates tend to fill first, so if you have a particular time of year in mind, it is worth reaching out early.
Explore the Bhutan destination page and our Bhutan tours, or contact us to ask about a departure or start planning a private trip.
