Disembark from your Pandaw ship and transfer to the hotel for the last overnight in India. Rest of the day free to relax.

Meals: Breakfast on ship

Transfer from your hotel to the airport for your flight to Paro.

Welcome to Bhutan! Pick up at Paro international airport. After Lunch in the city, drive on a winding road to Thimphu (one hour), the capital of Bhutan.

Visit Tashichho Dzong, Bhutan's most impressive building and seat of the Druk desi or ‘Dharma Raja’, the head of Bhutan's civil government which has been combined with the kingship since the creation of the monarchy in 1907. It houses the throne room of His Majesty the King of Bhutan and is the summer residence of the venerated monastic community. The current Dzong is the impressive result of a redesign of the original medieval structure sanctioned by the Third King, His Majesty King Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, when he moved the capital to Thimphu from Punakha.

Meals: lunch depending on arrival time

After breakfast visit the Memorial Chorten, also known as the Thimphu Chorten, a large Tibetan-style Buddhist Monastery with golden spires and bells. It was built in 1974 to honor the memory of the third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck.

Continue to the Folk Heritage Museum, National Institute of Zorig Chusum and the National Library of Bhutan, Junghi Paper Factory, National Institute of Traditional Medicine and Bhutan Postal Museum.

Meals: breakfast at hotel

After breakfast, we take the Dochula pass, located 30 km from the capital, on the way to Punakha which offers a 360-degree of beautiful panoramic view of the Himalaya mountain range. Visit Chimi Lhakhang, a monastery dedicated to Lama Drukpa Kinley or ‘the Divine Madman’. An accomplished master of Mahamudra Buddhist Tradition, he is also known as the ‘Mad Saint’ for his unorthodox ways of teaching Buddhism by singing, humor and outrageous behavior.

Continue to Drukpa Kinley, also a cultural icon in Bhutan around whom countless yarns, fictions, stories and legends have been spun. In founding the site, it is said that Lama Kunley subdued a demon of Dochu La with his “magic thunderbolt of wisdom” and trapped it in a rock at the location close to where the chorten now stands.

Meals: breakfast at hotel and lunch box

After breakfast, visit the Punakha Dzong, also known as Pungtang Dechen Photrang Dzong (meaning ‘the palace of great happiness or bliss’), the administrative centre of Punakha dzongkhag. Constructed in 1673, it is the second oldest and second largest dzong in Bhutan and one of its most majestic structures.

Drive to Paro then and visit the National Museum and Paro Dzong. The National Museum of Bhutan is housed inside the revamped circular Ta-dzong building, an ancient watchtower above the Paro Dzong. This unusual round building is said to be in the shape of a conch shell. The original building was constructed in 1656 and then converted into a museum in 1968, housing some of the finest specimens of Bhutanese art, including masterpieces of bronze statues and paintings gathered from different parts of the country.

Meals: breakfast at hotel

Drive to Satsam Chorten for a soft hike to Taktsang Monastery. The name Taktsang means “Tiger’s Nest”. The monastery is perched on a rocky ledge with a sheer drop of nearly 800m, overlooking the Paro Valley and the river. It is said that in the second half of the 8th century, Guru Padma Sambhava known as the second Buddha in Bhutan, meditated at the spot where the monastery is situated having alighted there on the back of a flying tigress.

The hike takes about 4 hours back and forth. Once you reach the view point of the monastery you have the option to visit the monastery which takes another hour hike.

After visit a Farm House where your dinner will be arranged with the local family.

Meals: breakfast at hotel and dinner with local family

After breakfast transfer Paro International Airport.

Meals: breakfast at hotel