Home / About Us
About Longing Bhutan Travels
Our Story
A Thimphu tour company named for the feeling Bhutan leaves behind.
Who we are
Why "Longing"?
There is a word travellers keep using when they talk about Bhutan after they leave. They say they long for it — for the prayer flags on the passes, the smell of juniper smoke, the unhurried kindness of the people.
Longing Bhutan Travels was created in Thimphu to answer that feeling well. We plan private journeys for people who want more than a checklist: travellers who would rather sit with a farming family for an evening than see one more viewpoint from a bus window.
We keep things personal. The team that replies to your first message is the same team that plans your days, meets you at Paro and stays in touch while you travel. We would rather look after a few guests properly than many in a hurry.
Our symbol
Four directions, one endless knot
Our emblem is drawn from two of the most familiar symbols in Himalayan Buddhism. Around the outside is the double vajra, the crossed thunderbolt that stands for stability and reaches out to the four directions. At its heart is the endless knot, one of the eight auspicious signs, whose single line has no beginning and no end — a reminder that everything is connected.
We read it as a picture of what we do: journeys that set out in every direction across Bhutan, held together by the people who make them — guests, guides, drivers, cooks and the families who welcome you into their homes. The letters B, L and T sit at the tips of the vajra; the four colours are those of the prayer flags that fly on every pass.
Red · Fire
Warmth
The warmth of a Bhutanese welcome — butter tea poured before you have sat down. We want every guest to feel it.
Yellow · Earth
Grounded knowledge
We are from here. Our planning is rooted in the roads, seasons and villages we know first-hand.
Green · Water & forest
Care for the land
Bhutan keeps most of its land under forest by law. We travel in a way that respects that choice.
Blue · Sky
Openness
Clear answers and itemised quotations. No surprises, and no question too small to ask.
What we arrange
Everything between your first question and your flight home
- Tailor-made cultural tours across all twenty districts
- Festival journeys timed to the lunar calendar
- Camping treks with guides, cooks and pack animals
- Homestays and farmhouse nights
- Visa applications and the Sustainable Development Fee
- Flights into Paro on Drukair or Bhutan Airlines
- Certified hotels from comfortable to luxury
- Private vehicles with experienced drivers
Travelling responsibly
Bhutan’s approach to tourism — “high value, low volume” — asks visitors to travel thoughtfully. We follow it gladly: we use local guides, drivers, hotels and homestays, keep group sizes small, and brief every guest on how to behave in temples and at festivals.
The Sustainable Development Fee you pay each night goes to the Government of Bhutan and supports free healthcare, education and conservation. We show it on its own line in every quotation.
Licensed & recognised
Authorised by & affiliated with
We operate under licence from the Department of Tourism, Royal Government of Bhutan, and work with the national associations for tour operators and guides.
Department of Tourism
ABTO
Guide Association of Bhutan
Fly into Paro with Bhutan's two national carriers
Drukair
Bhutan Airlines
Guest reviews
What our travellers say
★★★★★
Our guide seemed to know exactly when we needed tea and when we needed silence. At the Tiger's Nest he let us go at our own pace and never once made us feel slow. Punakha Dzong in the evening light is something I will never forget.
S
Sarah
United Kingdom · Heart of Western Bhutan
★★★★★
We wanted to go beyond Paro and Thimphu and Longing Bhutan understood that from the first email. Bumthang was the highlight — the temples, the buckwheat pancakes, the quiet. Every hotel was clean and warm.
RM
Rahul & Meera
★★★★★
The camp crew were brilliant. Hot tea at the tent door every morning, and the food on the trail was better than most restaurants at home. Waking up to the peaks above Jimilang Tsho was worth every step.
D
Daniel
Australia · Druk Path Trek
Ready to answer the longing?
Tell us a little about the journey you are imagining. We will take it from there.