5 Days Bumdrak Trek

On your arrival at the Paro International Airport, you will be met by your tour guide and driver, who will assist you with any concerns on your entry to Bhutan and show you to the vehicle they will use to take you to your hotel in Thimphu (2,320 meters). The 45-kilometer drive from Paro to the Bhutanese capital takes around 1 hour 15 minutes, and once in your hotel you will have a traditional Bhutanese lunch and rest a while.

In the afternoon, your guide will pick you up to take you sightseeing around the city, visiting such amazing historic sites as the memorial Chorten, erected by the former Queen of Bhutan in honor of her late husband; the Motithang Zoo, which is now a free-roaming Takin park where you can see the national animal of Bhutan; and the Drupthop Lhakhang and Nunnery.

Then you can spend some time strolling around this beautiful city, before heading to visit the Thimphu Tashichho Dzong, the Fortress of the Glorious Religion, before heading back to your hotel for dinner and relaxing.

Stay overnight in Thimphu.

Tashichho Dzong

Today, we will head out of the Bhutanese capital for the day to visit the beautiful Punakha Valley (1,350m), to the east of Thimphu. Traveling to Punakha takes you over the stunning Dochula Pass, at 3,150 meters above sea level. The pass is beset with 108 small religious stupas, as well as thousands of prayer flags that adorn the stupas, trees, bushes, and rocks of the pass. The crest of the pass is also one of the best places in Bhutan to get a great view of the Himalayan vista, which can be seen to the north on clear days.

After stopping at the pass to take photos, we will continue on to Punakha, the location of some of the most beautiful Dzongs in Bhutan. We will spend some time visiting the famous Punakha Dzong, and then travel to Lobesa (1,388m), where we will take a short hike to the Chhimi Lhakhang (1,300m), known locally as the temple of Fertility, which lies on the hilltop nearby. The Lhakhang is around 30-minutes hike from the road, and passes through paddy fields of Bhutanese red rice and small farming communities. Lunch will be had at Lobesa after the hike.

In the afternoon, we will drive back to Thimphu, and spend the afternoon exploring this delightful capital, with dinner in the hotel’s exquisite restaurant.

Stay overnight in Thimphu.

Chimi Lhakhang

After taking an early breakfast, we will get an early start for the drive back to Paro, to the village of Sang Choekhor (2,900m), where we will meet the team for the trek.

The actual trek starts from here, and heads first to Bumdrak, the place where 100,000 dakini footprints can be found. Before leaving Sang Choekhor, we will visit the small Sang Choekhor Lhakhang, the local Buddhist College, after which we will take the trail up through the blue pines of the hillsides to the shady forested ridge above, which opens out onto a clearing festooned with prayer flags. The views from the clearing look down onto both the Paro and Do Chhu Valleys and are spectacular.

A few hours walk from the clearing and we will pass by the often-closed Chhoe Tse Lhakhang (3,650m), a small temple that nestles on the side of the mountain. The trail is up and down for the entire walk, with the last stretch climbing steeply to the temple, where you get some commanding views out over Paro and to the north to the mountains of the Himalayas.

The final climb through ruined buildings and fluttering prayer flags takes around 20 minutes, after which we will drop back into the dense ancient forests of pine, juniper, and rhododendron, coming out 40 minutes later onto a vast open meadow scattered with sacred chortens and adorned with colorful prayer flags.

On the side of the meadow lies the Cave of a Hundred Thousand Prayers, which lies under the Bumdrak Monastery (3,900m), and after lunch we will explore this delightful meditation site and the monastery above. The campsite for the night lies just below the monastery, at around 3,800 meters, and offers some great views of the mountains as the sun drops over them.

Stay overnight in Bumdrak Campsite.

Sang Choekhor

After a delicious breakfast, we will start our trek to the city of Paro, passing by and visiting the amazing Taktsang Monastery along the way. After leaving the Bumdrak Monastery camp, we will descend for around two hours towards the city in the valley below. On the descent, the path snakes its way down the side of the mountain, finally reaching the gardens of Sangtopelri (heaven on Earth), at around 3,000 meters, from where you can peer down on the roofs of the Taktsang Monastery (3,155m), if you are brave enough to go to the edge.

After another hour of descent, we will finally reach the gates of the Taktsang Monastery, perched against the face of the cliff on a narrow ledge that hardly seems wide enough to build on. After a descent from the gates past a beautiful waterfall and up some carved steps in the rock of the cliffs, we pass into the Tiger’s Nest Monastery itself.

Lunch is served as a hot picnic lunch, and after eating and exploring this amazing feat of construction, and the legends of the meditation caves of Guru Rinpoche and his journey to Bhutan on the back of a flying tigress, we will continue our descent to the valley below, where our car will take us back to Paro.

Stay overnight in Paro.

Trek to Taktshang Monastery

After breakfast, our guide will meet you at the hotel and transfer you to Paro International Airport for your next destination.

The tour service end.