Trip Difficulty Level, Road and Transport

This trip has been designed for hiking enthusiasts who want to travel to the areas away from the motor vehicle tracks and explore the areas less traveled by foreign foot. While we use motor vehicle for city visit and transfer from one town to other, we have some of the finest walking and hiking with the base in the towns. All the walks and hikes can be done at our own pace, interacting with the locals and catching the beautiful scenery into your camera and visiting local homes with unique Bhutanese architecture. Hikes can be 2-4 hours long and sometime a bit longer. We not necessarily need any previous hiking or trekking experience to take up this trip. Hiking trails are often the traditional path of Bhutanese locals and pilgrims and at times it can be steep.

We do not attain any significant altitude in this trip and so we can stay worry free about altitude related sickness. For the driving part, we just have to keep in mind that not all parts of the road are paved. At times, it can be dusty and bumpy. Roads are often carved out of the steep hills and follows river bank and sometime they can be temporarily blocked due to erosion or landslide. Daily driving distance is not that big but as the roads are narrow with frequent zigzags, it consumes a lot of time. In average, we drive 4-5 hrs daily. Some days can be shorter.

Anyone with regular health conditions can take up this trip. Although no hiking or trekking experiences is required, its advisable that you should start some jogging, cycling, swimming etc several weeks ahead of the time to keep yourself fit.

Accommodations

For the most part of the trip, unless we have chosen other alternatives, we will be staying in moderate to the best available accommodations which are in general small hotel with room numbers ranging 10-20. No rooms may be similar to another and so there may be disparity in the rooms. You may get a better room than others or vice versa. We do not expect our hotel to have a gift shop for "sundry" items. Remember, outside Thimphu and Paro, “best available" may be very basic. In certain areas there may or may not be hot water (or any water, for that matter). We have to be prepared to adjust our normal routine and mentally be OK with things that may not work or be available when we want them to. During festival period, there will be huge demand of accommodations and suggested hotels may be already booked up and we may have to adjust you in alternative hotels and your cooperation in this matter is very much important.

Major Cities like Paro and Thimphu have a couple of international chain resorts with remarkably high price but our trips do not feature them, unless you want those hotels on additional charges.

Meals

Bhutan trip features 3 meals a day and we expect to eat most meals at our hotel, usually served in buffet that includes rice, vegetables, noodles etc. Our guide can arrange some dinner at local restaurants but beware: traditional Bhutanese food always features chilies and the most popular dish is ema datse made with large, green hot chilies in a cheese sauce.

Guides

Our guides are college educated locals, proficient in English and trained and licensed by local tourism authorities. Most importantly they are friendly and committed to deliver the best services.

International and internal airfares:

You will book your international airfare on your own and provide us your flight information. We can also help you find good fares through our air ticket consolidator on your request. We will take care of internal airfares-flight from Bangkok into Paro or on the return from Kathmandu back to Bangkok. If your trip starts from Delhi or Kathmandu, we can book your internal airfare accordingly. All internal airfares are booked locally. Local airport taxes may or may not included in the fare.

Passport and Visa

Your passport must be valid for at least 6 months at the time of travel and there should be enough blank pages for entry and exit seals. Bhutan visa is pre-processed by us and we will get clearance for you before your flight into Bhutan. Your passport gets actual visa seal upon arrival at Paro airport. If your travel starts from India, you should obtain Indian visa beforehand as India does not grant visa on arrival.

Best time for this trip:

This trip can be undertaken throughout the year but definitely October and November are the best months when temperatures are mild, skies are clear and we have clear visibility. The second best season is from March through early May.

Highland Asia Travel, Inc.

We are an active adventure travel company, based in Minneapolis, USA with destination management offices in Kathmandu, Thimphu and Lhasa. We have set the standard for adventure travel and have a strong reputation for excellence that we do everything we can to maintain. Our managers and guides have more than 15 years of experience in organizing and leading adventure trips in the highlands of Asia.

Note on Itinerary.

Although we will do our very best to adhere to the itinerary schedule as listed; it is subject to change for numerous reasons beyond our control.

Booking/Deposit.

When you are certain about traveling to Bhutan, it will be wise to put your reservation in line as early as possible to secure your reservation on the flight to Bhutan as well as room reservation in the preferred hotels. A deposit of US$ 200 on land plus the cost of internal airfares is requested along with booking application and passport photocopies.

Balance Payment.

The balance and final payment is 60 days prior departure. The payment schedule may vary with customized and private trips on case to case basis. Payments made within 60 days prior departure may be subject to late fee and are required to make through wire transfer or cashier’s check. Credit card payment attracts additional 3% fee.

Cancellation and refund

Notice of cancellation and refund request must be received in written form. Cancellation fee structure has been listed below.
90 days prior departure: US$ 50 (Administrative Fee)
60-89 day's prior departure: US$ 250 or 25% of the land cost whichever is higher.
45 days to 59 days prior departure: US$ 450 or 50% of the land cost whichever is higher.
30 days to 44 days prior departure: US$ 600 or 75% of the land cost whichever is higher.
Less than 30 days: 100%

Travel Protection Plan

While we hope and do our best that your trip goes smoothly as planned but there are always chances of unforeseen incidents and conditions such as illness, accident, inclement weather, and flight cancellation or missed connection or loss of baggage etc. that may cause interruption or delay or total cancellation of your trip putting your hard earned travel investment in jeopardy. It’s also possible that you may need medical assistance, emergency evacuation or medical transportation when you get ill or involve in an accident when you are traveling in remote areas. Highland Asia’s Tour cost does not cover any of these expenses or losses and so we strongly recommend you that you should protect yourself and your travel investment against those unfavorable conditions.