The pace is the point
The Journey
This journey covers the same ground as Bhutan's classic circuit, Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, but removes the pressure that usually comes with it. Where other itineraries build a day around a hike, this one builds it around a choice: climb if you want to, or spend the morning learning a craft instead. Every base is held for at least two nights, drives are kept short, and the days that matter most, a private lunch with a noted local chef, an afternoon with a natural dye and thangka painting specialist, a morning shaping your own small statue, are built to be savoured rather than rushed through.
Estimated Per Person Price
$1,150 USD
Packages can be designed for single or double occupancy. Pricing is subject to change based on number of guests, room types, and availability.
Journey Length
7 nights / 8 days
Property Style
3-star hotels, two homestays, and two nights at a working farm stay
Ideal For
Elderly travellers, travellers recovering from illness or injury, and anyone wanting a gentler pace
Day 01
Arrival into the Paro valley. After settling in, a farm-to-table lunch at a local homestay, cooked with whatever the family has gathered that morning. The rest of the day is left at leisure.
Day 02
A morning built around choice. Climb to the Tiger's Nest in the classic style, take a horse partway up to the midpoint viewpoint, or stay low altogether at a hillside homestay with its own view of the monastery across the valley, where a private class teaches the slow, careful work of making prayer flags by hand. Guests who choose the homestay can extend into the afternoon: access to the family's private museum, a chance to cook over their 400-year-old stove, and a short stroll to the neighbouring village. Wherever the day is spent, it closes with a hot stone herbal soak.
Day 03
Transfer to Thimphu. Lunch is at a private riverside home belonging to an accomplished local chef, learning firsthand about Bhutanese cuisine and seasonal produce as the meal comes together. Afterward, a drive to see Buddha Dordenma, the giant gilded statue that watches over the valley from its hillside perch. The afternoon continues at a specialist dye workshop, where natural dyeing and thangka painting, a sacred form of Buddhist iconographic art with its own centuries-old rules of proportion and symbolism, are demonstrated and explained in depth. Evening at leisure.
Day 04
A slow morning walk around the National Memorial Chorten, where locals circle in quiet devotion from early morning onward. Breakfast follows at a nunnery, shared with the resident nuns over simple conversation. A gentle walk through Thimphu town rounds out the late morning. In the evening, visit a statue-maker's workshop to see how Bhutan's bronze and clay statues are formed, and take part in the moulding yourself, shaping a small piece of your own to keep. Dinner at a local eatery.
Day 05
After breakfast, transfer to Punakha, stopping at Dochula for lunch along the way, among its 108 chortens. After checking in, visit Punakha Dzong. In the evening, cross the suspension bridge to a working community farm, where you'll learn to make Bhutan's beloved momos and hear from the farm's owner, once a weaver herself, about the valley's textile history.
Day 06
A slow start to the day, then a homestay visit: cook alongside your host, walk her fields for whatever is in season, and learn to make a traditional Bhutanese rice dish. When the season allows, press oil together, the way the household has for generations. In the evening, transfer to Chuzom for an overnight stay at a working farm.
Day 07
A farm-to-table breakfast, followed by an egg harvest and a conversation with the farm's owner about the sustainability work underway there. Help plant a tree before an afternoon left entirely free to rest. The evening closes with a bonfire.
Day 08
After breakfast, transfer to the airport for your onward journey.
For every guest who travels with Dralwa Journeys, we plant one tree in partnership with The Happiness Farm, supporting reforestation and land restoration in Bhutan. We calculate the estimated carbon footprint of your journey and, should you wish to offset it further, offer the option to plant additional trees through the same partnership. In place of single-use bottled water, we provide a clean water supply throughout your journey for guests to refill their own bottles, reducing plastic waste.
Your journey supported a homestay family in Paro, an accomplished local chef and a natural dye and thangka painting specialist in Thimphu, a nunnery, a statue-maker, a working community farm in Punakha, and a second homestay family, along with a working farm in Chuzom that anchors much of Dralwa Journeys' sustainability work. All Dralwa Journeys experiences of this kind contribute directly to RENEW, which supports women's economic empowerment and community resilience across Bhutan, and to SELWA, which supports persons with disabilities in Bhutan through skills training and inclusive community programmes.
