About this trip
One of the great quirks of the Bhutanese ritual calendar: two important festivals fall on the same lunar day each summer in the Bumthang valleys, just an hour's drive apart. Nimalung Tshechu takes place at the small but exquisite Nimalung Monastery in the Chumey valley, ending with the dawn unveiling of a giant Thongdrol of Guru Rinpoche surrounded by his eight manifestations. Kurjey Tshechu, held at Kurjey Lhakhang in the Bumthang valley, marks the day Guru Rinpoche meditated in a cave and left an imprint of his body on the rock — an image that gives the temple its name (kur = body, jey = imprint).
Highlights
- Witness two Thongdrol unveilings on the same day, valleys apart
- Bumthang — the spiritual heartland of Bhutan, with the country's oldest temples
- The four valleys of Bumthang: Jakar, Chumey, Tang, Ura
- The Burning Lake (Mebar Tsho) and Jambay Lhakhang
Festival dates shift each year with the lunar calendar — typically early to mid-June. The festival coincides with the start of summer green in the central valleys.
Day-by-day itinerary
Day 01 Arrive Paro
Met at Paro International Airport with khadars and transferred to the hotel for check-in. After lunch, a light walking introduction to Rinpung Dzong on the riverbank and the National Museum housed in the old watchtower above. Early dinner and an early night to settle from the journey. The next nine days will move through the heart of Bhutan from west to east and back, with the Bumthang twin festivals as the centrepiece.
- Stay:
- Hotel Olathang, Paro
- Meals:
- D
Day 02 Tiger's Nest hike
The classic Bhutan hike — a steady 5- to 6-hour return walk up to Taktsang Monastery (the Tiger's Nest) on its 3,000-metre cliff face. Switchbacks through blue pine and prayer-flag rest stops, with a tea break at the halfway cafeteria for the iconic view. Inside the monastery, several small lhakhangs are open for visit. The climb also acclimatises the body to the elevation we'll see in the central valleys later. Afternoon hot-stone bath at a traditional farmhouse for tired legs.
- Stay:
- Hotel Olathang, Paro
- Meals:
- B/L/D
- Distance:
- 7 km
- Altitude:
- 3120 m
Day 03 Drive to Thimphu
Easy 90-minute drive to the capital with a stop at the steel-cable Tachog Lhakhang bridge. In Thimphu, visit Tashichho Dzong, the National Memorial Chorten, and the giant Buddha Dordenma watching over the valley from a hilltop. Afternoon at the Crafts Bazaar and the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, where students train for years in Bhutan's thirteen traditional arts. If scheduling allows, an archery match at a local club caps the afternoon — Bhutan's national sport, played with much singing and good-natured heckling between the teams.
- Stay:
- Hotel Druk, Thimphu
- Meals:
- B/L/D
Day 04 Drive to Punakha · Dochula
Cross Dochula Pass at 3,100 metres with its 108 white chortens and the eastern Himalayan view. Coffee and apple pie at the pass-side cafe. Descend through subtropical forest to Punakha and visit Punakha Dzong, built in 1637 at the meeting of two rivers. Afternoon walk across the rice paddies to Chimi Lhakhang, the small fertility temple founded by the 15th-century 'Divine Madman' Drukpa Kunley. Evening at the boutique hotel.
- Stay:
- Dhensa Boutique, Punakha
- Meals:
- B/L/D
- Altitude:
- 3100 m
Day 05 Long drive · Punakha to Bumthang
The big transit day east — about 8 hours by road. Climb to Pele La at 3,420 metres, descend through Trongsa where Bhutan's largest dzong perches above a deep gorge (tea stop and a dzong tour here), then climb again to Yotongla at 3,425 metres before dropping into the four broad valleys of Bumthang. The cook crew brings picnic lunch at a roadside meadow. Bumthang is sometimes called the spiritual heartland of Bhutan — many of the country's oldest temples are clustered here, and it is the home valley of the great treasure-finder Pema Lingpa.
- Stay:
- Yu-Loki Resort, Bumthang
- Meals:
- B/L/D
- Altitude:
- 3425 m
Day 06 Nimalung Tshechu · day one
An early drive of about 30 minutes from Bumthang to Nimalung Monastery, tucked above the Chumey valley at around 2,900 metres. The monastery was founded in 1935 and is one of the most beautifully preserved smaller goembas in the country. The festival opens with traditional cham dances in the courtyard — the Black Hat dance, the dance of the Lords of the Cremation Grounds, the dance of the Stag and the Hounds — performed by the resident monks. The crowd is mostly local Chumey villagers, with a small number of foreign visitors. Picnic lunch in the monastery grounds, then more dances in the afternoon. Drive back to Bumthang for the night.
- Stay:
- Yu-Loki Resort, Bumthang
- Meals:
- B/L/D
Day 07 Twin Thongdrol day · Nimalung & Kurjey
The festival's most memorable day, and the genuine quirk of the Bumthang ritual calendar. Pre-dawn drive back to Nimalung to be in the courtyard for the unveiling of the giant Thongdrol — a silk appliqué of Guru Rinpoche surrounded by his eight manifestations, said to liberate viewers on first sight. The Thongdrol is unrolled before sunrise; by the time the first light hits the monastery walls, hundreds of pilgrims are already prostrating before it. After breakfast we drive the hour east to Kurjey Lhakhang in the Bumthang valley, where the same lunar day brings a separate Tshechu and a separate Thongdrol — Kurjey is the temple housing the body imprint of Guru Rinpoche left in a meditation cave. Two festival peaks in a single day — almost unique in Bhutan.
- Stay:
- Yu-Loki Resort, Bumthang
- Meals:
- B/L/D
Day 08 Bumthang valleys exploration
A relaxed day exploring the four broad valleys of Bumthang — Jakar, Chumey, Tang and Ura — with frequent stops to dismount and walk. Visit Jambay Lhakhang, one of 108 temples said to have been built across the Himalaya in a single day in the 7th century by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo. Continue to the Burning Lake (Mebar Tsho), where the treasure-finder Pema Lingpa is said to have emerged from the water in the 15th century still holding a butter lamp lit. Afternoon visit to Jakar Dzong and the weavers' villages of Chumey, where the famous yathra woollen cloth is woven on traditional back-strap looms.
- Stay:
- Yu-Loki Resort, Bumthang
- Meals:
- B/L/D
Day 09 Drive Bumthang to Punakha
The long return drive west, recrossing Yotongla and Pele La passes — about 8 hours with stops, but everyone is more relaxed on the return now that the festival is the memory it will become. Lunch at Trongsa with views of the dzong above its gorge. Late afternoon descent to Punakha for hot showers and a celebratory farewell dinner at the boutique hotel.
- Stay:
- Dhensa Boutique, Punakha
- Meals:
- B/L/D
Day 10 Drive Paro · Departure
Late breakfast and the easy 3-hour drive back over Dochula Pass to Paro. We aim for the airport at least two hours before departure for relaxed check-in. Final khadars at the security gate and a last 'tashi delek' before you board. Most onward flights connect through Delhi, Kolkata, Bangkok or Singapore.
- Stay:
- —
- Meals:
- B
