Bhutan tours, tailormade

country:	Bhutan, Nepal
departures:	This trip can be tailor made throughout the year and can be adapted to suit your interests, budget and requirements as necessary
price:	From £1400 (11 days) excluding flights. Price is for sample itinerary below. We can tailor this tour to fit your budget and length of stay
vouchers:	Gift vouchers can be used with this holiday

Nepal holidays here

Bhutan holidays here

Tailor made cultural tours here

the amazing things you'll be doing

Hidden in the Himalayas between India and China, the independent Bhutanese people have largely lived a life of isolation from the world, and have succeeded in maintaining their cultural and spiritual heritage, preserved in age-old traditions.

Bhutan exudes a special charm, a feeling of calm and serenity, which envelopes you the instant you arrive. The people are deeply religious, following the Lamaist form of Buddhism, and monasteries, temples and religious monuments are dotted across the landscape. Nearly three quarters of the land area is covered by forests, and the country has a wealth of biodiversity, with dazzling snow-capped peaks, lush valleys, and beautiful rural landscapes.

Even after visiting Nepal, many travellers find Bhutan to be a revelation, and feel strongly drawn to return again to experience more of the beauty, charm and spirituality of the kingdom and its people.

day-by-day itinerary

We can offer a range of tour itineraries in Bhutan, designed to fit your own budget and personal requirements and staying in a wide range of accommodation from basic home-stays and trekking lodges through to more luxurious hotels.

Itineraries can concentrate on cultural and historic sightseeing, trekking or wildlife viewing, or a combination of these to make an exciting and fascinating holiday in this beautiful and remote country.

We are also happy to combine time in Bhutan with a tour in Nepal as well to help you enjoy a comprehensive Himalayan experience. Please contact us with your ideas and we’ll be happy to provide some suggestions and possible itineraries.

Below is a sample itinerary for an 11 day cultural tour:

Day 1:	Arrival at Paro Airport and drive to Thimphu. Overnight at hotel.
Day 2:	Thimphu – Sightseeing tour
Day 3:	Punakha & Wangdi tour
Day 4:	To Phubjikha (Gangtey Gompa) and tour
Day 5:	To Bumthang (Jakar) via Tongsai
Day 6:	Bumthang tour
Day 7:	Bumthang walking tour
Day 8:	Bumthang to Thimphu
Day 9:	Thimphu to Paro
Day 10:	Paro – sightseeing tour. (Taktsang Excursion)
Day 11:	Paro. Transfer to airport for departure

how this holiday makes a difference

Our Bhutan tours are run in close conjunction with our local Bhutanese suppliers, and the Bhutan government who are very keen on supporting sustainable and environmentally friendly tourism.

As these are private tours for individuals, couples, families and small groups, we are able to be much more flexible with the itineraries, exploring famous sites and going off the beaten track, and taking you to smaller and more interesting family-run accommodation as well as higher-level properties.

We take responsible travel very seriously, and have given some details below of how this is implemented on this tour.

Local people:

We choose our local suppliers in Bhutan carefully and they share our love of the country and the desire to run tours there that are both exciting, informative and supportive to the local people and natural environment.
We use fully-trained local tour leaders, guides and reps, rather than flying in Western leaders whose knowledge and love of the country will never be as full or passionate.
We use smaller locally owned and operated hotels and lodges wherever possible, which means that your stay can directly benefit small families and village communities.
One of the highlights of the tours is finding and enjoying traditional local food in a wide range of small restaurants and snack shops.
We give information and advice to our travellers on how to respect local customs and religious practices, giving them a greater understanding of the local people and culture.

Environment:

The Bhutanese people live in close harmony with their environment, and are proud of the way that tourism respects the country around them. We try to pass this on as much as possible in our tours.
Explanations are given during any trekking tours of how to conserve scarce fuel resources, as well as reducing litter & waste production (for example by not ordering numerous different items from trekking lodge menus, and by treating water rather than buying numerous mineral water bottles).
We have a recycling policy in our UK and local offices and re-use or recycle the information booklets we provide to every client on arrival wherever possible.
We do not produce a glossy brochure, concentrating on a comprehensive website, and providing as much information to our travellers as possible electronically, reducing the use of paper and inks.

Local projects & charity support:

Our main local projects that we support continuously are in Nepal where we run regular group departures, but our travellers are welcome to arrange visits to local projects in Bhutan and to support them personally if they wish.
The company also supports further projects and charities internationally.

Responsible tourism: We send all our travellers a copy of our responsible tourism policy before their holiday, and encourage them to read it and join us in following the ideas and suggestions contained within it.

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.