The high road to Laya with hidden Trongsa
The activities on this trip are rated as moderate and suits a wide range of interests and physical fitness levels. The hikes on this trip can range from moderate to challenging, depending on your abilities. Trip members should be in good health and comfortable standing or walking for extended periods of time and confident navigating mixed and steep terrain that may include rocky trails, slippery conditions and, or, steps and stairs. Daily activities include city walking tours, hiking to and entering monasteries, temples and fortresses, driving over winding mountain roads and easy to moderate hiking with some strenuous options where possible. The general elevations in the valleys will mostly range from 6,800 ft to 9,000 ft, with drives that will take us over higher passes before descending to the average elevations mentioned above. The final hike to Tiger's Nest Monastery is 10,000 ft.
Accommodations
The high-end accommodations on this journey feature traditional Bhutanese style with modern elements. The lodges are handpicked for regional character, comfort, and hospitality, including our beautiful family lodge in the central highlands of Bhutan, the Mountain Resort (see more on the Mountain Resort below). In peak season, depending on availability, we may use lodges comparable to the ones we have listed or advertised.
Expedition Staff
Every expedition is curated by expert native-born guides and trip leaders who also facilitate meetings and learning experiences with other locally knowledgeable people along the way. Our experienced team shares valuable insights and local expertise to ensure a culturally rich adventure of discovery through the Himalayan landscape and traditions of Bhutan.
The activities on this trip are rated as moderate and suits a wide range of interests and physical fitness levels. The hikes on this trip can range from moderate to challenging, depending on your abilities. Trip members should be in good health and comfortable standing or walking for extended periods of time and confident navigating mixed and steep terrain that may include rocky trails, slippery conditions and, or, steps and stairs. Daily activities include city walking tours, hiking to and entering monasteries, temples and fortresses, driving over winding mountain roads and easy to moderate hiking with some strenuous options where possible. The general elevations in the valleys will mostly range from 6,800 ft to 9,000 ft, with drives that will take us over higher passes before descending to the average elevations mentioned above. The final hike to Tiger's Nest Monastery is 10,000 ft.
Accommodations
The high-end accommodations on this journey feature traditional Bhutanese style with modern elements. The lodges are handpicked for regional character, comfort, and hospitality, including our beautiful family lodge in the central highlands of Bhutan, the Mountain Resort (see more on the Mountain Resort below). In peak season, depending on availability, we may use lodges comparable to the ones we have listed or advertised.
Expedition Staff
Every expedition is curated by expert native-born guides and trip leaders who also facilitate meetings and learning experiences with other locally knowledgeable people along the way. Our experienced team shares valuable insights and local expertise to ensure a culturally rich adventure of discovery through the Himalayan landscape and traditions of Bhutan.
The activities on this trip are rated as moderate and suits a wide range of interests and physical fitness levels. The hikes on this trip can range from moderate to challenging, depending on your abilities. Trip members should be in good health and comfortable standing or walking for extended periods of time and confident navigating mixed and steep terrain that may include rocky trails, slippery conditions and, or, steps and stairs. Daily activities include city walking tours, hiking to and entering monasteries, temples and fortresses, driving over winding mountain roads and easy to moderate hiking with some strenuous options where possible. The general elevations in the valleys will mostly range from 6,800 ft to 9,000 ft, with drives that will take us over higher passes before descending to the average elevations mentioned above. The final hike to Tiger's Nest Monastery is 10,000 ft.
Accommodations
The high-end accommodations on this journey feature traditional Bhutanese style with modern elements. The lodges are handpicked for regional character, comfort, and hospitality, including our beautiful family lodge in the central highlands of Bhutan, the Mountain Resort (see more on the Mountain Resort below). In peak season, depending on availability, we may use lodges comparable to the ones we have listed or advertised.
Expedition Staff
Every expedition is curated by expert native-born guides and trip leaders who also facilitate meetings and learning experiences with other locally knowledgeable people along the way. Our experienced team shares valuable insights and local expertise to ensure a culturally rich adventure of discovery through the Himalayan landscape and traditions of Bhutan.
The activities on this trip are rated as moderate and suits a wide range of interests and physical fitness levels. The hikes on this trip can range from moderate to challenging, depending on your abilities. Trip members should be in good health and comfortable standing or walking for extended periods of time and confident navigating mixed and steep terrain that may include rocky trails, slippery conditions and, or, steps and stairs. Daily activities include city walking tours, hiking to and entering monasteries, temples and fortresses, driving over winding mountain roads and easy to moderate hiking with some strenuous options where possible. The general elevations in the valleys will mostly range from 6,800 ft to 9,000 ft, with drives that will take us over higher passes before descending to the average elevations mentioned above. The final hike to Tiger's Nest Monastery is 10,000 ft.
Accommodations
The high-end accommodations on this journey feature traditional Bhutanese style with modern elements. The lodges are handpicked for regional character, comfort, and hospitality, including our beautiful family lodge in the central highlands of Bhutan, the Mountain Resort (see more on the Mountain Resort below). In peak season, depending on availability, we may use lodges comparable to the ones we have listed or advertised.
Expedition Staff
Every expedition is curated by expert native-born guides and trip leaders who also facilitate meetings and learning experiences with other locally knowledgeable people along the way. Our experienced team shares valuable insights and local expertise to ensure a culturally rich adventure of discovery through the Himalayan landscape and traditions of Bhutan.
A special journey commemorating the 40th anniversary of the Bhutan Foundation
This 13-day trip takes you from the official calm of a Thimphu boardroom, and a royal dinner celebrating the foundation's 40th anniversary, to the wind-scoured ampitheater above Laya, where yak caravans still arrive on their own schedule, where the main event is a highland festival designed by Bhutan's young king to secure the kingdom's wild frontiers, and to celebrate the strong mountain people who live in these rugged valleys.
Formal business in the capital gives way, within days, to a homestay with shared bathrooms in Gasa, then to trekking tents at altitude, and on to Trongsa to the Samchholing Tea Cooperative project. In the mountaintop village of Yuelling (anglicized to Willing) you'll enjoy the comforts of a new mid-range luxury lodge fully designed, built and operated by a Trongsa native, which is as local as you can get. Pema, who returned to his remote village after decades working for the United Nations internationally, decided his small mountain community in Trongsa deserved a fair shake at the economic benefits of Bhutanese tourism.
Finally, from Trongsa return to a self-arranged luxury lodge in Paro for some elevated R&R before your return flight to Bangkok.
What holds it all together is Bhutan’s governing ethos—felt at a traditional medicine institute stocked with alpine herbs; in the country’s central heartland, where a small rural women’s community is reviving a royal tea-making legacy; and in the breathtaking mountains of the remote north, where highland traditions endure. This is Bhutan, measured on its own terms.
HEALTH & SAFETY
HEALTH & SAFETY
We are following strict national and international safety guidelines and protocols (Royal Government of Bhutan, WHO, and CDC (US) recommendations) to keep you, our staff, and the Bhutanese people safe. This includes new measures for maintaining personal health and hygiene, social distancing best practices, face covering requirements, cleaning, handwashing and more.
UPDATED BOOKING & CANCELLATION POLICY
With global travel resuming, we have changed our booking and cancellation policies back to normal. Normal cancellation policies are now in effect and final trip payment is due (4 months/120 days before trip start date, whichever is earlier). Trip cancellation policies are outlined in our trip confirmation emails and available by request.
ITINERARY
Arriving in Paro, attend board meetings and make site visits and celebrate 40 years of the Bhutan Foundation. Then drive to Punakha Dzong and climb to Gasa, ending with the trek to Laya. Following the highland festival, drive to Trongsa, visit the Samchholing Tea project and explore hidden villages and trails cut off from the national highway below.
Finally, return to Paro Six Senses for R&R, followed by your early morning departure for Bangkok.
VIEW DAY BY DAY
OCTOBER 18: ARRIVE PARO; DRIVE TO THIMPHU; SETTLE IN
Your early morning flight from Bangkok, Drukair KB153, departs at 05:00 am and arrives in Paro at 07:15 am. Mount Jomolhari and her neighbors rise white-shouldered over the green mountains as the flight descends in long banking turns, followed by customs and the ceremonial first breath of pine-scented air. Drive an hour and half east to Thimphu, the world's only capital without a traffic light, climbing gently along the Paro Chhu and then the Wang Chhu through fields going gold with the October rice harvest. The evening is left loose by design: wander through Thimphu's busy downtown, tailors measuring shoulders for gho and kira, or rest in the heart of downtown with the particular satisfaction of arriving somewhere that still feels, after all these years, entirely its own thing.
OCTOBER 19: CELEBRATING FORTY YEARS OF THE BHUTAN FOUNDATION
Four decades ago the Bhutan Foundation set out to do something quietly radical: to let Bhutan define development on its own terms, and to back that vision with patient, unglamorous work rather than headlines. What has followed is a body of impact almost too varied to summarize neatly — conservation corridors that keep tigers and snow leopards moving across an intact Himalaya, rural health posts and scholarships that reach communities the road barely does, textile and craft revival that keeps living traditions alive, disaster response and climate resilience work in valleys that feel every shift in the glacier line that threaten lives and livelihoods. The celebration itself gathers forty years of these threads in one place — partners and grantees, government counterparts and representatives, foundation staff and longtime friends of Bhutan — each carrying a piece of what four decades of goodwill actually looks like on the ground. To sit among them is to understand Gross National Happiness not as a phrase for export but as thousands of small, compounding decisions, made well, for a very long time. The evening carries the celebration forward into a Board & Partners dinner, raising a glass to what has been built and, quietly, to what these next forty years might still make possible.
OCTOBER 20: FULL MORNING BOARD MEETING IN THIMPHU
A working day — four hours of business in the capital before the itinerary turns east and up into the mountains. The meeting runs from ten to two; the afternoon is unstructured, a rare pocket of stillness or sightseeing before you begin the long climb toward Punakha, Gasa, and the highlands beyond.
OCTOBER 21: PUNAKHA DZONG, DOCHULA PASS, ON TO GASA
The road out of Thimphu climbs up to Dochula Pass, where 108 chortens stand in formation against a horizon of eastern Himalayan peaks on a clear day. The descent drops travelers into Punakha, beside the dzong — built at the confluence of the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu rivers in 1637, and by most accounts the most beautiful fortress-monastery in the country, its whitewashed walls and gilded roofs mirrored in the water below. Lunch is riverside before the drive continues north into wilder country, climbing another three to four hours toward Gasa, a district defined by hot springs, it's striking dzong framed by snowy peaks, and a thinning of both road and population. The day ends at Aum Chimi Homestay, a farmhouse run by the local parliamentary representative and his gracious wife, the eponymous Chimi for whom the place is named. The place is low on amenities standard at hotels and lodges, (bathrooms are shared for instance), but it offers the kind of genuine human warmth and cultural insights that can only be won by staying at a place like this. For those interested, there may still be time to take a short drive and a soak in Gasa's natural hot springs, the mineral water rising from beneath the mountain.
Accommodations: Aum Chimi Homestay, a.k.a. Chimi Farmhouse
OCTOBER 22: DRIVE TO TASHIMAKA AND HIKE TO LAYA
Today, the trip becomes, unmistakably, a trek. Ninety minutes by vehicle to the roadhead at Tashimaka, then three to four hours on foot, climbing roughly 3,000 feet from Gasa's river-bottom elevation toward Laya, one of the highest permanent settlements in the kingdom and home to the Layap, whose conical bamboo hats and yak-wool dress are found nowhere else in Bhutan. The trail threads through blue pine and rhododendron before opening onto alpine pasture, yak bells carrying on thin air. Lodging tonight is a local homestay or expedition camp — tents, sleeping bags, and inflatable mats — and either way, a night colder and clearer than anything Thimphu offers.
Accommodations: Local homestay or Bhutan Himalaya Expeditions camp
OCTOBER 23: LAYA FESTIVAL BEGINS; YAK CARAVAN ARRIVES
The Laya Highland Festival exists to celebrate the lives and livelihoods of Bhutan's high altitude nomads — horse racing, yak-rides, and dances performed in the black-and-red woven dress particular to Layap women, whose pointed bamboo hats mark them as being from nowhere else on earth. Today's centerpiece is the arrival of the yak caravan itself: animals coming down from higher pasture laden with goods, bells announcing them long before they crest the ridge. It's a festival built around herding, not staged for cameras, and the distinction is felt rather than explained.
Accommodations: Local homestay or Bhutan Himalaya Expeditions camp
OCTOBER 24: SECOND DAY OF FESTIVAL; YAK CARAVAN DEPARTS
A second full day in Laya, and a chance to watch the same festival close as it opened — with the yak caravan departing back toward high pasture, a rhythm of arrival and departure that has structured this valley's year for centuries. More dancing, cultural performances and unhurried time to sit with families who host relatively few outsiders and treat the ones who arrive with an open-hearted hospitality that no five-star property can manufacture.
Accommodations: Local homestay or Bhutan Himalaya Expeditions camp
OCTOBER 25: HIKE TO TASHIMAKA, DRIVE TO PUNAKHA
The return leg: ninety minutes on foot back down to Tashimaka, retracing our previous ascent in far less time than it took to earn it, followed by a five-hour drive south to Punakha. Bodies that spent two nights at altitude and under trekking tents will feel the return to a proper bed at the Punakha Khuru Resort as something close to luxury, whatever the star rating says.
Accommodations: Khuru Punakha Lodge
OCTOBER 26: FROM TRONGSA TO SAMCHHOLING
Four hours by road to Trongsa, then lunch at the Willing Waterfall Cafe, before continuing on to the Samchholing Tea project for a site visit. Return in the evening to the comforts of the lodge in Yuelling village.
Accommodations: Willing Lodge
OCTOBER 27: TRONGSA EXPLORATIONS
An exploration day around the valley today. Pick from the following options:
The Kitchen at Semji — A gentle village walk unfolds into a day of hands-on cooking, cheese and butter making, and a family-hosted lunch built around chilies picked that same morning.
Taphe Goemba: The Pilgrimage Climb — A steep ascent (or scenic drive) leads to a royal-retreat-turned-monastery, where prayer flags, a smoke offering, and an eleven-headed Chenrezig reward the effort.
The Herders' Road: Dorji Goemba to Taphe Goemba — Bhutan's newest and least-trodden trail climbs to 3,800 meters (12,467 ft) for views of Gangkhar Phuensum, the world's highest unclimbed mountain, along a route once walked by herders and shingle-bearers.
Learn more here: Select Full Day Adventures in Trongsa from the Willing Resort (Lodge)
Accommodations: Willing Lodge
OCTOBER 28: DRIVE TO PARO; OPTIONAL LUNGCHUTSE TEMPLE HIKE
After breakfast, drive six hours west to Paro, back over Dochula Pass, to arrive and ease into the ample comforts of the luxe lodge in Paro (please check with Matt Oresman).
Accommodations: Arranged privately by Matt Oresman
OCTOBER 29: SPA DAY IN PARO
The day belongs to recovery — a full spa day at your luxury lodge, hot stone and juniper steam undoing eleven days of trail and altitude in one long exhale.
Accommodations: Arranged privately by Matt Oresman
OCTOBER 30: DEPART FOR BANGKOK
We bring you back to the airport in time for your early morning return flight to Bangkok. Your departing flight, KB150, departs Paro at at 08:00 am and arrives around midday 12:10 pm.
***
ACCOMMODATIONS
PEACE OF MIND
PRACTICAL DETAILS
DATES & PRICES
October 18 ~ 30
TRIP PRICE:
Total Cost: $13,594
Includes:
BHE Land Costs: $10,140
Single Supplement: $1,300
Flights (Drukair): $1,554 total
Trongsa Willing Lodge: $600 total ($300 for each of the two nights).
Important Pricing Terms & Notes:
Transportation: A shared vehicle and driver are included in the BHE Land Costs, so there is no additional charge for this.
SDF (Sustainable Development Fee) & Visa: This is currently listed as $0. However, a supplementary invoice may be sent to you later for this amount depending on the status of the SDF waiver and the duration waived.
THE FOLLOWING ARRANGEMENTS ARE MADE INDEPENDENTLY BY GUESTS (NOT INCLUDED IN BHUTAN HIMALAYA EXPEDITIONS COSTS AND OBLIGATIONS) :
~ Three nights at the Le Meridien in Thimphu
~ Two nights at a Paro luxury lodge (checking in October 28th and checking out October 30th)
**NOTE: Bhutan Himalaya Expeditions will transfer and support guests for drop-offs and pickups at these lodges with trip leading services included for explorations out of the lodges.
DATE
*When signing up together as part of the same group
Prices are per person based on double occupancy and DO NOT include international airfare to/from your destination or regional flights to Bhutan from Gateway Cities such as Bangkok or Delhi, and internal flights in the country during the expedition. We will arrange such regional flights for our guests and fares will be quoted at airline cost as a courtesy to our guests with no extra booking or reservation fees. Regional flights from Bangkok start from $980 per person & from $175 per person for internal domestic flights where a short-duration flight is included on your itinerary. Surcharges may apply to certain travel dates based upon international or local holidays, as well as local events and festivals.
Single Traveler supplements will be assessed in addition to our published trip price, and are available on request. All prices and fares are quoted in U.S. dollars and subject to change.
If you'd like to travel with your own special group of friends or family on dates different from the ones shown above, this expedition can be arranged March through May & October through February.
TRAVEL SEASONS
TRIP PRICE:
Total Cost: $13,594
Includes:
BHE Land Costs: $10,140
Single Supplement: $1,300
Flights (Drukair): $1,554 total
Trongsa Willing Lodge: $600 total ($300 for each of the two nights).
Important Pricing Terms & Notes:
Transportation: A shared vehicle and driver are included in the BHE Land Costs, so there is no additional charge for this.
SDF (Sustainable Development Fee) & Visa: This is currently listed as $0. However, a supplementary invoice may be sent to you later for this amount depending on the status of the SDF waiver and the duration waived.
THE FOLLOWING ARRANGEMENTS ARE MADE INDEPENDENTLY BY GUESTS (NOT INCLUDED IN BHUTAN HIMALAYA EXPEDITIONS COSTS AND OBLIGATIONS) :
~ Three nights at the Le Meridien in Thimphu
~ Two nights at a Paro luxury lodge (checking in October 28th and checking out October 30th)
**NOTE: Bhutan Himalaya Expeditions will transfer and support guests for drop-offs and pickups at these lodges with trip leading services included for explorations out of the lodges.
DATE
*When signing up together as part of the same group
Prices are per person based on double occupancy and DO NOT include international airfare to/from your destination or regional flights to Bhutan from Gateway Cities such as Bangkok or Delhi, and internal flights in the country during the expedition. We will arrange such regional flights for our guests and fares will be quoted at airline cost as a courtesy to our guests with no extra booking or reservation fees. Regional flights from Bangkok start from $980 per person & from $175 per person for internal domestic flights where a short-duration flight is included on your itinerary. Surcharges may apply to certain travel dates based upon international or local holidays, as well as local events and festivals.
Single Traveler supplements will be assessed in addition to our published trip price, and are available on request. All prices and fares are quoted in U.S. dollars and subject to change.
If you'd like to travel with your own special group of friends or family on dates different from the ones shown above, this expedition can be arranged March through May & October through February.
TRAVEL SEASONS
2026 Dates & Prices
2026 Dates & Prices
WHAT'S INCLUDED
WHAT'S INCLUDED
WHAT'S NOT INCLUDED
TRIP PHOTOGALLERY
| RECOMMENDED POSTS
CUSTOM TRIPS
If this trip or schedule doesn't meet your needs, we also arrange private journeys throughout the year with flexible dates.
WHAT TO EXPECT
The 3-4-hour trek from Tashimaka Army Outpost to Laya is a steep uphill hike that requires about 1,900 feet of elevation gain. While the day trek is short, it is all uphill, starting from approximately 10,600 feet and going up to 12,533 feet, an elevation gain of about 1,900 feet. The next three nights of overnight stay in Laya are at 12,533 feet. Please contact us if you have concerns about this portion of the journey.
The remaining cultural portions of this trip are rated moderate to easy and suits a wide range of interests and physical fitness levels. The hikes on this trip can range from moderate on the cultural portion of the trip to challenging for the day hike to Laya.
Trip members should be in good health and comfortable standing or walking for extended periods of time and confident navigating mixed and steep terrain that may include rocky trails, slippery conditions and, or, steps and stairs. Daily activities include city walking tours, hiking to and entering monasteries, temples and fortresses, driving over winding mountain roads and easy to moderate hiking with some strenuous options where possible. The general elevations in the valleys will mostly range from 6,800 ft to 9,000 ft, with drives that will take us over higher passes before descending to the average elevations mentioned above. The final hike to Tiger's Nest Monastery is 10,000 ft.
ACCOMMODATIONS
The high-end accommodations on this journey feature traditional Bhutanese style with modern elements. The lodges are handpicked for regional character, comfort, and hospitality, including our beautiful family lodge in the central highlands of Bhutan, the Mountain Resort (see more on the Mountain Resort below). In peak season, depending on availability, we may use lodges comparable to the ones we have listed or advertised.
EXPEDITION STAFF
Every expedition is curated by expert native-born guides and trip leaders who also facilitate meetings and learning experiences with other locally knowledgeable people along the way. Our experienced team shares valuable insights and local expertise to ensure a culturally rich adventure of discovery through the Himalayan landscape and traditions of Bhutan.
ABOUT CULTURAL EXPEDITIONS
Our cultural expeditions are bespoke itineraries designed for active travelers that combine guided excursions, cultural insights, art and customs, with distinguished accommodations featuring a traditional ambience. Our journeys are small group adventures of usually 8 to 12 travelers, with a maximum of 16 guests per group. Unlike most tour providers who think nothing of a single guide leading an entire busload of travelers, we maintain a maximum of 4 guests per Bhutan Himalaya Expeditions guide, not counting support staff. This ensures that our journeys feel more like a shared adventure with local friends than a tourist's jaunt through the countryside.
GETTING THERE
Fly from your home city to Bangkok, Singapore, New Delhi Kolkata, or Kathmandu (Main Gateway Cities)*
Overnight
Fly from Gateway City to Paro, Bhutan.
IMPORTANT: Bhutan Himalaya Expeditions makes round-trip flight arrangements from the Gateway City of your choice to Bhutan as a courtesy to our travelers. Airfare is not included in trip price.
For further details please email us contact us using the Reserve Online button on this page.
*Bangkok is the primary Gateway City and offers the most frequent and most reliable flights to Bhutan.
WHAT TRAVELERS ARE SAYING
“Through the eyes of a select few informed leaders, we saw the dilemmas of a culture: A hitherto sheltered nation discovering the arguments for and against remaining a cloistered society in this 21st Century. I loved the adventure, and I loved the discovery. Unlike anything else I have ever experienced!”
~ Lola W., California (U.S.)
ACCOMMODATIONS
High-end traditional lodges
PRIVATE
DURATION
13 days
ACTIVITY LEVEL
Challenging to Moderate
Or call 1-855-4-BHUTAN (248826)
TRIP TYPE
ACTIVE ● CULTURE
ASK A QUESTION
_________
Travel Logistics Organizer for CBS 60 Minutes 2024 special report on Bhutan
“First, thank you for making my trip to Bhutan run smoothly. Second, for explaining your culture and customs to me and our team in a way that helped our 60 MINS story come alive. Third, for making the visit seriously fun!”
~ Lesley Stahl, Correspondent, CBS 60 Minutes, September 2024
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