Bhutan festival holidays
| country: | Bhutan |
| departures: | 2009: 22 Dec |
| price: | From £1475 - £2455 (9-16 days) excluding flights. Fully inclusive package. Discounts available for groups of 4+ people |
| vouchers: | Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday |
the amazing things you'll be doing
Plan your journey to visit to Bhutan to coincide with one of the vibrant religious festivals, known as ‘tshechu’.
Tshechu’s are celebrated to honor Guru Rimpoche, the precious teacher. This Indian saint traveled all over the Himalayas spreading tantric Buddhism. Invariably, the tshechu is celebrated on the10th day of the month in the Bhutanese lunar calendar, this being an auspicious date.
The most famous festivals are the Paro festival in Spring and the Thimphu festival in Autumn because these are also the peak tourist times. However, every region and every village holds its own tsechu at different times of the year. Many colourful festivals take place in Punakha, already warm in the early Spring, Wangdi in the Autumn and Trongsa in the middle of Winter.
The festivities consist mainly of masked dances, chanting, blessing or reading religious texts aloud and last two or three days. The repertory of masked dances and the gorgeous silk and brocade costumes are the same for all the ‘tsechu’ - only the settings are different. The events take place outside and inside the Dzongs. Thronging with locals, these occasions are a visual delight for all to experience. The climax of the festivals is the unfurling of a huge silk appliqué ‘thangka’ from the top of the building. This takes place in on the final day of the festival. The Punakha Dromchoe, which is celebrated either before or after the Tsechu, is performed to commemorate victory over the Tibetans when they invaded in the 17th century.
The highlight of this tour is the Punakha festival consisting of typical masked dances which are very colourful and interesting, the events and enactments are different on each day. Punakha Dromchoe is a eight days long festival dedicated to the goddess Mahakala. The religious aspects are performed in the same manner as in early times. On the last day, a play of warriors going off to war is enacted.
Paro Tshechu From £1475 (9 days) ex flights 2009: 04 Apr
Paro Festival is one of the busiest festivals in Bhutan, dances are performed by trained monks and laymen wearing amazing costumes, experience the buzzing active lifestyle while visiting many historical sites in Bhutan. The unfolding of the silk Thangka - which is so large it covers the face of the building and is considered one of the most sacred blessings in the whole of Bhutan. The 'Thangka' is a religious picture scroll known as a Thongdroel which is exhibited for a few hours, at day break of the final day of the festival, enabling the people to obtain its blessing. This holy scroll 'confers liberation by the mere sight of it' (the meaning of the word 'thongdroel' in Bhutanese). This festival is a time for Bhutanese to celebrate with their families and friends.
Bhutan Ura Yakchoe From £1845 (12 days) ex flights 2009: 02 May
Highlighting this tour is the Ura Yakchoe Festival; invocations of local blessing and religious purification. Tsechus are spiritual, exotic arrays of color, medieval and breathtaking. The four valleys of Punakha, Bumthang, Ura, Wangdue defy words with their beauty.
Tamshingphala Choepa From £2025 (12 days) ex flights 2009: 23 Sep
This tour gives you the opportunity to explore Bhutans most visited sightseeing historical sites in Paro, Thimphu and Bumthang. Also experience the festival festivities that are celebrated. The festival is celebrated for three days, on the open grounds in front of the Tamshing lhakang. This festival is in honour of the “Terton” (treasure discoverer) Pema Lingpa of the 15th century. The religious dances are generally the same, but performed in a slightly different manner, as of the Nyingmapa sect of Mahayana Buddhism.
Bumthang Tangbi Mani From £1690 (11 days) ex flights 2009: 02 Oct
Join the Tangbi Mani Festival Tour at Bumthang, one of the grandest festivals in Bhutan. The Bumthang Festivals are religious festivals where masks of glorious demonic demons and animals arouse your senses as you watch the purification take place. The intensity goes on. Your spirit will fly, your camera will snap away, and you will again be transported. We will join the local people for picnic lunch and games. Watch for the Atsara (clown) this dancer, unique in his own style, mimics dancers and entertains onlookers. Festival deities are invoked through benediction and luck is increased and misfortune gone. During the Bumthang Fesitval Tour you can witness various religious masked dances performed in the courtyards of the Dzongs of the area.
Mongar and Trashigang From £2455 (16 days) ex flights 2009: 18 Nov
At 1,700 meters, Mongar is the headquarters of the district of the same name and is little more than a stopping place between Bumthang and Trashigang, A tourist guest house offers basic amenities, a good view encompassing a large area and a lovely garden. Monger is also the first town in the mountains that is situated on a hillside rather than a valley.
Trashigang At 1,150 meters, Trashigang is the biggest urban center in the mountains, after Thimphu. The administrative and economic hub of Bhutan's most populous region, Trashigang is known for its woodwork and weaving. Trashigang also has an impressive dzong, from which the town takes its name. Built on spur in 1656 - 1659, overlooking the Gamri River, 400 meters below, its name aptly translates as "fortress of the auspicious mountain".
Trongsa Lhuntse Tshechu From £1842 (12 days) ex flights 2009: 22 Dec
The Tshechu is a festival honoring Guru Padmasambhava, "one who was born from a lotus flower." This Indian saint contributed enormously to the diffusion of Tantric Buddhism in the Himalayan regions of Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan etc. around 800 AD. He is the founder of the Nyingmapa, the "old school" of Lamaism which still has numerous followers. The biography of Guru is highlighted by 12 episodes of the model of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s life.
Tshechu’s are celebrated to honor Guru Rimpoche, the precious teacher. This Indian saint traveled all over the Himalayas spreading tantric Buddhism. Invariably, the tshechu is celebrated on the10th day of the month in the Bhutanese lunar calendar, this being an auspicious date.
The most famous festivals are the Paro festival in Spring and the Thimphu festival in Autumn because these are also the peak tourist times. However, every region and every village holds its own tsechu at different times of the year. Many colourful festivals take place in Punakha, already warm in the early Spring, Wangdi in the Autumn and Trongsa in the middle of Winter.
The festivities consist mainly of masked dances, chanting, blessing or reading religious texts aloud and last two or three days. The repertory of masked dances and the gorgeous silk and brocade costumes are the same for all the ‘tsechu’ - only the settings are different. The events take place outside and inside the Dzongs. Thronging with locals, these occasions are a visual delight for all to experience. The climax of the festivals is the unfurling of a huge silk appliqué ‘thangka’ from the top of the building. This takes place in on the final day of the festival. The Punakha Dromchoe, which is celebrated either before or after the Tsechu, is performed to commemorate victory over the Tibetans when they invaded in the 17th century.
our Bhutan festivals
Punakha Domchoe From £2455 (15 days) ex flights 2009: 27 FebThe highlight of this tour is the Punakha festival consisting of typical masked dances which are very colourful and interesting, the events and enactments are different on each day. Punakha Dromchoe is a eight days long festival dedicated to the goddess Mahakala. The religious aspects are performed in the same manner as in early times. On the last day, a play of warriors going off to war is enacted.
Paro Tshechu From £1475 (9 days) ex flights 2009: 04 Apr
Paro Festival is one of the busiest festivals in Bhutan, dances are performed by trained monks and laymen wearing amazing costumes, experience the buzzing active lifestyle while visiting many historical sites in Bhutan. The unfolding of the silk Thangka - which is so large it covers the face of the building and is considered one of the most sacred blessings in the whole of Bhutan. The 'Thangka' is a religious picture scroll known as a Thongdroel which is exhibited for a few hours, at day break of the final day of the festival, enabling the people to obtain its blessing. This holy scroll 'confers liberation by the mere sight of it' (the meaning of the word 'thongdroel' in Bhutanese). This festival is a time for Bhutanese to celebrate with their families and friends.
Bhutan Ura Yakchoe From £1845 (12 days) ex flights 2009: 02 May
Highlighting this tour is the Ura Yakchoe Festival; invocations of local blessing and religious purification. Tsechus are spiritual, exotic arrays of color, medieval and breathtaking. The four valleys of Punakha, Bumthang, Ura, Wangdue defy words with their beauty.
Tamshingphala Choepa From £2025 (12 days) ex flights 2009: 23 Sep
This tour gives you the opportunity to explore Bhutans most visited sightseeing historical sites in Paro, Thimphu and Bumthang. Also experience the festival festivities that are celebrated. The festival is celebrated for three days, on the open grounds in front of the Tamshing lhakang. This festival is in honour of the “Terton” (treasure discoverer) Pema Lingpa of the 15th century. The religious dances are generally the same, but performed in a slightly different manner, as of the Nyingmapa sect of Mahayana Buddhism.
Bumthang Tangbi Mani From £1690 (11 days) ex flights 2009: 02 Oct
Join the Tangbi Mani Festival Tour at Bumthang, one of the grandest festivals in Bhutan. The Bumthang Festivals are religious festivals where masks of glorious demonic demons and animals arouse your senses as you watch the purification take place. The intensity goes on. Your spirit will fly, your camera will snap away, and you will again be transported. We will join the local people for picnic lunch and games. Watch for the Atsara (clown) this dancer, unique in his own style, mimics dancers and entertains onlookers. Festival deities are invoked through benediction and luck is increased and misfortune gone. During the Bumthang Fesitval Tour you can witness various religious masked dances performed in the courtyards of the Dzongs of the area.
Mongar and Trashigang From £2455 (16 days) ex flights 2009: 18 Nov
At 1,700 meters, Mongar is the headquarters of the district of the same name and is little more than a stopping place between Bumthang and Trashigang, A tourist guest house offers basic amenities, a good view encompassing a large area and a lovely garden. Monger is also the first town in the mountains that is situated on a hillside rather than a valley.
Trashigang At 1,150 meters, Trashigang is the biggest urban center in the mountains, after Thimphu. The administrative and economic hub of Bhutan's most populous region, Trashigang is known for its woodwork and weaving. Trashigang also has an impressive dzong, from which the town takes its name. Built on spur in 1656 - 1659, overlooking the Gamri River, 400 meters below, its name aptly translates as "fortress of the auspicious mountain".
Trongsa Lhuntse Tshechu From £1842 (12 days) ex flights 2009: 22 Dec
The Tshechu is a festival honoring Guru Padmasambhava, "one who was born from a lotus flower." This Indian saint contributed enormously to the diffusion of Tantric Buddhism in the Himalayan regions of Tibet, Nepal, and Bhutan etc. around 800 AD. He is the founder of the Nyingmapa, the "old school" of Lamaism which still has numerous followers. The biography of Guru is highlighted by 12 episodes of the model of the Buddha Shakyamuni’s life.
travelling with a local operator
This holiday is operated by a company based in the holiday destination and they will be able to provide expert local knowledge. They will be able to tailor make your holiday to suit your requirements not only concerning the dates of travel but also typically the standard of accommodation, and thus price. It is rare for local operators to be able to help with the booking of your flights.how this holiday makes a difference
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Responsible tourism is very much imperative as it becomes a responsibility of each and every individual in the tourism industry as the very sustainability of the industry depends on this significant factor. Before our Festival Tour commences our guide will brief group members on the importance of conservation in the environment as part of our responsible tourism efforts.
Bhutan has a Royalty levy (included in trip cost) which goes into education and health projects, for example community schools and basic health units. Many western visitors travel to Bhutan each year for the spectacular display of festival entertainment, although festivals are not held as tourist attractions, but genuine expressions of religious traditions which are thousands of years old. This authentic interaction with the local population, customs and culture is a way of encouraging tourists to invest within the local community, with preference given to locally produced goods. We choose our suppliers on a rotational basis and different ones in each area to ensure that the money we bring in is distributed evenly throughout the community. Local hotels, before the construction of any hotel can commence an EIA, (environmental impact assessment) must be obtained from the National Environment commission. Hotels adhere to eco friendly methods of operation including minimizing the use of non-bio degradable products and basic precautions like switching off electricity energy when not in use or required. Organic vegetables, fruits and consumables are mostly sourced from the communities to benefit the villages. We ensure all local vehicles used for transportation are serviced frequently in addition we fully comply with Government Road Worthy standards. The life span of our vehicles is around 5 years after which we purchase new vehicles which allows for new fuel efficient and safe vehicles. This ensures minimal gas emissions are lost from our vehicles, poorly maintained or malfunctioning vehicles can release as much as 10 times the emissions of a well-maintained vehicle. Along our Festival Tour we are very cautious about the human imprints such as garbage and refuse disposal. We bring back garbage from all our tours and dispose them in government landfills for recycling into compost or sales to recyclers. We do not use firewood as means of heating or cooking on our tours. All staff on this trip are local Bhutanese, chosen for their excellent indigenous knowledge of the area and training. Their understanding of the country's flora, fauna and local culture will guarantee an accurate insight to traditional Bhutanese life. |
Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people. We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel. 'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left). We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays. We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism. This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards. |