Paro Tshechu Festival Journey

The flight into Paro is part of the adventure: on a clear day the Himalaya slides past the window before the plane banks between forested ridges and settles onto the valley floor. Your guide meets you outside the small terminal with a white kata scarf, the traditional Bhutanese welcome, and a private vehicle is waiting.

With festival season filling the Paro valley, we begin in the capital and return to Paro for the celebrations. In the evening, join the circle of prayer at the National Memorial Chorten and take a first walk along Norzin Lam, the main street, to see the white-gloved policeman directing traffic by hand in a capital with no traffic lights.

Drive: Paro to Thimphu, about 1 hour
Overnight: Thimphu

Buddha Dordenma, the takin preserve and the Institute for Zorig Chusum (weekdays), where you can see the painters and mask-carvers whose work you will soon watch in the festival courtyard.

In the afternoon, visit the Royal Textile Academy and a tailor's shop if you would like to have a gho or kira made to wear at the festival — your guide will help you choose and learn to wear it.

Sightseeing by vehicle with short walks
Overnight: Thimphu

Climb out of Thimphu to the Dochula pass, about 3,100 m, crowned by the 108 Druk Wangyal chortens built by the Queen Mother. On a clear morning — less common in spring, when the rhododendrons bloom instead — the snow peaks of the northern border line the horizon. Take tea at the pass before the long descent through rhododendron, oak and then warmer forest into the Punakha valley, more than a thousand metres lower.

Walk for about half an hour through the rice fields of Sopsokha to Chimi Lhakhang, the fertility temple linked to Drukpa Kunley, the "Divine Madman", whose unconventional teachings explain the painted phalluses on the village houses. Couples still come here to ask for the blessing of a child, and your guide will share some of the saint's more colourful stories. Then visit Punakha Dzong, perhaps with jacaranda flowering in its courtyards.

Drive: Thimphu to Punakha, about 3 hours with stops
Overnight: Punakha

Leave the Punakha valley after breakfast and climb back to Dochula — the view is often quite different in the other direction, and a second cup of tea at the pass is never wasted. Continue past Thimphu and down the Wang Chhu to Chuzom and the Paro valley. The valley will already be busy with families arriving from outlying villages for the festival.

In the afternoon, visit Kyichu Lhakhang and the National Museum. Over dinner your guide will explain the programme for the next two days — which dances to look out for, when to arrive and where to sit — and help you into your gho or kira if you are wearing one.

Drive: Punakha to Paro, about 4–4½ hours
Overnight: Paro

Spend the day at the festival ground by Rinpung Dzong. Monks and laymen in silk robes and carved masks perform dances such as the Dance of the Black Hats, the Dance of the Stag and the Hounds, and the drum dance of Drametse, each a teaching or a blessing. The atsaras — masked clowns — keep the crowd laughing and may pick on you too.

Just as fascinating is the audience: whole families in their finest kira and gho, picnics of red rice and chilli, and elders spinning prayer wheels as they watch. Your guide explains each dance as it unfolds.

On foot at the festival ground
Overnight: Paro

Rise in the dark to reach the dzong before first light. On the final morning a giant thongdrel — an appliqué thangka of Guru Rinpoche several storeys high — is unrolled on the wall. Simply seeing it is believed to bring great blessing, and it is taken down again before the sun can strike it.

Return to the hotel for breakfast, then go back for the closing dances of the festival in the afternoon.

Early start: dawn at the festival ground
Overnight: Paro

Paro Taktsang, the Tiger's Nest, clings to a cliff about 900 m above the valley floor. Legend says Guru Rinpoche flew here on the back of a tigress in the 8th century to meditate in the cave around which the monastery was later built. The trail climbs steadily through blue pine and oak hung with prayer flags; most people take two to three hours to reach the top, and a cafeteria halfway up offers tea with a view straight across to the monastery. After the crowds of the festival, the quiet of the forest trail is a welcome contrast.

The final section drops down hundreds of steps to a waterfall and climbs again to the gate; bags and cameras are left in lockers before you enter. Back in Paro, celebrate the journey with a farewell dinner — perhaps after a traditional hot-stone bath.

Hike: about 5–6 hours return
Overnight: Paro

Enjoy a last breakfast with the valley outside your window. Your guide and driver accompany you to Paro airport and help with check-in for your onward flight — the farewells are often warmer than travellers expect.

If you would like to see a festival in another season, ask us about the Thimphu Tshechu in autumn or the smaller village festivals of central Bhutan.

Drive: hotel to Paro airport, 10–30 minutes