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Page 1 of 3 How to visit Bhutan? - As mentioned on the introductory page, you are obliged to book a guided tour and also fly into the country. To get out of the country, you can go overland.
- The price for this tour is fixed at 200$ per day for all operators, although discounts of 20$ are readily given, and another discount can be given for low season. If I say 200$ per day, this is actually 200$ for each night you spend in the country. If you are a single traveler, you'll have to pay 40$ extra, if you are with 2, you'll have to pay 30$ extra each. Also add 20$ for the visa.
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Where to book your tour? First of all you need to decide whether you will book your trip with an operator in your own country, or book a trip in Katmandu, or book directly with a Bhutanese operator. Personally I opted for the last choice, but there are pro's and con's for every option.
Operator in your own country
- For some people this will give the advantage of being able to join a group of people from their own country. Also a known operator in your own country may give you more confidence. The program will be fixed, and for people who don't like to plan everything on their own, this can be an advantage.
- Disadvantage is of course that you'll have to pay a commission for the work of the operator, and such a trip will usually be more expensive. This can sometimes be compensated by the fact that in group, you don't need to pay a single supplement of 40 US$ per day, although most operators still charge this if you want a single room. Another disadvantage is that you are not free to decide on your own program, and for me this is not acceptable. Often it happens that you want to stop along the road for a picture or a walk, this is of course more difficult if you are in a group of 20 people because everyone has to agree with the change of plans.
- When booking a tour like this, you should realize that your own operator is still obliged to have a Bhutanese partner, and once you arrive in Paro, you will be guided by the Bhutanese operator. Also carefully check the period they are going. One operator here in Belgium f.i. does 2 trips, 1 in July and 1 in February. These 2 months are both low season, and this will lower the price they have to pay their Bhutanese operator, but there are no festivals then and the weather is not too good.
Operator in Katmandu
I think this is only an option when you are in KTM and suddenly decide to go to Bhutan. Otherwise you could better prepare your trip on beforehand and book a trip with a Bhutanese operator.
Operator in Bhutan
- With the internet, it is nowadays very easy to contact a Bhutanese operator and book a trip. The advantage here is that you can put up your own program as you wish, and at the time you wish. If you don't want to put up a program on your own, you can of course also ask the Bhutanese operator to make a proposal.
- Disadvantage is of course that through the internet, it's not always easy to know which operator is reliable, and which will give the best quality for your money. In practice all Bhutanese operators are government controlled, so you should be OK.
- You might also feel unconfident about sending money to an operator you don't know. This is a good point, because after I had sent the money to the US bank account of the Bhutanese National Bank, the operator mailed me they still didn't get my money. The same thing happened to an American couple we met. So I had to fax them the bank details, and then they quickly found the money on this account, but still it can be stressing.
How to choose your Bhutanese operator
1) I mailed all the operators which I found on Yahoo and in the LP book and asked them 2 questions:
- How much does a trip cost?
- What program do you offer?
2) I immediately skipped all operators charging the full price of 200$ a day, as most operators give a discount nowadays with a price of 180$ a day. To this they always add 40$ if you are single, or 30$ a day if you are with 2, no supplement starting from 3 people. Beware, in order to avoid this supplement, these people need to travel together and apply for a visa all together. Most operators also give a discount if you go in low season.
3) Then I looked at the program they offered. Operators sending me a standard program not taking in the Punakha festival were dismissed. Of the few that remained, I asked more detailed questions like which hotels they offered. I also put in some extra things I wanted to see, and also asked whether on some days we could leave very early at 7 am f.i. Some operators will say they only start driving at 8 am. I also tried to see which operator answered right away, dismissing those where it took days before I got an answer.
4) You'll also have to decide whether you'll take a big operator (who usually works with bigger groups) or a smaller one. The biggest operator is Etho Metho, they have 20% of the market, the you have Yangphel, BTCL, International Treks and Tours, and Bhutan andala Tours. Smaller ones usually deal with individual tourists, like f.i. Yu-Druk.
What happens next? - You will need to send money to a US-based bank account. Once they've received the money, you will need to send your passport details to the Bhutanese operator, and they will apply for your visa. They will of course also book you on a flight to Paro.
- Your visa will be waiting for you at arrival in Paro. you still need to pay 20 $ for this.
How to get to Bhutan? - The only way you are allowed to do this is to fly in. As there is only 1 company flying to Paro, namely Druk Air, your options are fairly limited.
- They have 3 main routes which they operate:Delhi via Katmandu to ParoBangkok over Calcutta to ParoBangkok over Rangoon and Dakha to Paro
- These flights are not really cheap. A one way flight from KTM, Calcutta or Dakha costs 190 $ (3/03). Fares for Bhutanese are much cheaper. There are about 2 flights a week. At times of a festival, it's best to book well ahead as flights may be full. Your travel agent in Bhutan will make sure that your flight ticket will be waiting for you at the Druk air desk of the airport from where you leave.
- Check out their website at http://www.drukair.com.bt/.
Arrival at the airport
- This should normally go very smoothly. Your name will be on a list of people who are allowed to get a visa (if not you wouldn't have gotten a Druk air ticket in the first place). Normally your travel agent will also have sent you a duplicate of this paper together with the flight tickets.
- He then gives you a paper, and with this paper you go to the visa office. You'll have to pay 20$, and they'll give you a visa for the number of days you've paid for, not 1 day longer.
- Then you go through immigration.
- While you wait for your luggage, you can change some money. Don't change too much because you won't have many costs since most things are included in your 200 $.
- Then you go through customs. This whole process will take no longer then 45 minutes.
- IMPORTANT: When coming from Nepal, don't forget to put your watch 15 minutes later !!
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