A country of 800,000 in the eastern Himalaya

Bhutan is a landlocked country on the eastern slope of the Himalaya, holding fewer people than many single city districts elsewhere in Asia. This page is about the place itself — the practical how-to lives in our travel guides.

Where Bhutan is

Tibet (China) lies to the north. India wraps around the rest: Sikkim and West Bengal to the west, Assam to the south, Arunachal Pradesh to the east. Bhutan does not border Nepal, whatever the map in your head says — Sikkim sits in between.

The country covers 38,394 km2, about the size of Switzerland, split into 20 dzongkhags (districts). Land climbs from roughly 100 m in the southern foothills to 7,570 m at Gangkhar Puensum. You can drive from subtropical banana country to snow in a long day.

Census and district figures: National Statistics Bureau (opens in a new tab).

A crown that handed power down

The Wangchuck monarchy dates from 17 December 1907, when Ugyen Wangchuck became the first Druk Gyalpo. That date is still National Day.

Democracy is much newer. The first National Council election was held in December 2007, the first National Assembly election in March 2008, and the Constitution was adopted on 18 July 2008 — no revolution, the Fourth King pushed the change down from the throne. Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck, the fifth Druk Gyalpo, was crowned in November 2008; the fourth National Assembly election ran in January 2024. Bhutan was never colonised, and joined the United Nations in 1971.

Gross National Happiness, and a forest floor in law

GNH is not a slogan here, it is an index: four pillars, nine domains, 33 indicators, surveyed nationally by the Centre for Bhutan Studies. The 2022 round asked 11,052 people across 198 gewogs and 53 towns and put the index at 0.781, up from 0.743 in 2010; 48.1% counted as deeply or extensively happy. It is a domestic policy tool, not a global league table — Bhutan does not top the World Happiness Report and does not claim to.

The environmental half is written into Article 5 of the Constitution: at least 60% of the country must stay under forest, for all time. Actual cover is 69.71%, about 2.68 million hectares. In 2022 Bhutan emitted roughly 1.74 million tonnes of CO2e while its forests, croplands and grasslands absorbed about 11.45 million. That is carbon negative, not merely neutral, and it shapes how we plan trips — see responsible travel.

What it costs, and why

Tourism opened in 1974 and has run on a High Value, Low Volume policy ever since. There is no annual cap on visitor numbers and never has been. What controls the flow is price, plus the rule that a certified guide travels with every visitor.

The old USD 200-250 minimum daily package is gone. You now pay a Sustainable Development Fee of USD 100 per adult per night, held at that level until 31 August 2027, plus the real cost of your trip.

Children aged 6-11 pay half the SDF and under-6s nothing. Indian nationals pay INR 1,200 per person per night, and the first 15,000 guests from Bangladesh and the Maldives USD 15 or INR 1,200. A one-off USD 40 visa fee applies on top. The arithmetic is in our guides to the Sustainable Development Fee and the travel budget; the rules themselves sit with the Department of Tourism (opens in a new tab) and the Department of Immigration (opens in a new tab), and the paperwork is covered in entry requirements and visa and immigration.

Solo travel is allowed and common. Bhutan recorded 209,376 arrivals in 2025 from 157 countries, up 44.3% year on year.

The valleys, west to east

• Paro — the only international airport, at about 2,235 m and ringed by 5,000 m peaks, and Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest) on its cliff around 3,120 m, some 900 m above the valley floor. It dates from 1692 and was rebuilt after a 1998 fire.
• Thimphu — the capital, and the only national capital on earth with no traffic lights: police direct cars by hand from painted booths. A signal went in at a central junction in 1999 and was pulled out within days.
• Punakha — warm, low and green, with Punakha Dzong built in 1637-38 where the Pho Chhu meets the Mo Chhu: second oldest and second largest in the country, winter seat of the Je Khenpo, and the venue for the king’s wedding in 2011.
• Haa and Phobjikha — two quiet valleys off the main road west and east; Phobjikha is the crane valley.
• Trongsa and Bumthang — the central heartland, with a domestic airstrip at Bathpalathang.
• The east and the south — Trashigang, the Yonphula airstrip and Sakteng; and on the southern plains Gelephu, where Gelephu Mindfulness City was established in 2024 as a Special Administrative Region.

Roads wind, and distances take longer than the map suggests — see getting around Bhutan.

Dzongs, festivals and the everyday

Dzongs are not museums. Each still houses district administration on one side and a monastic body on the other, which is why dress and photography rules inside are enforced — see cultural etiquette.

Bhutan has no inscribed UNESCO World Heritage Sites at all. Eight properties have sat on the Tentative List (opens in a new tab) since 2012, including Drukgyel Dzong and a serial nomination of five more. If an operator calls a dzong “UNESCO listed”, it isn’t.

Tshechu dates follow the lunar calendar and move every year: Thimphu Tshechu falls in late September 2026, Paro Tshechu in the second half of March 2027. Confirm against the official calendar before booking, or ask us. Our festival tours follow the dates, and the festival calendar tracks them.

Gho for men, kira for women, with kabney or rachu scarves. Required in dzongs, offices, schools and at formal occasions under driglam namzha — not worn around the clock. Dzongkha is the national language, English is the medium of instruction in schools, and around 19-20 languages are spoken, including Tshangla in the east and Lhotshamkha in the south.

Eat ema datshi, chillies stewed with local cheese, usually with red rice. Suja (butter tea) and doma (areca nut with betel leaf) are everyday. Archery is the national sport, shot between targets about 145 m apart, with teammates singing and dancing to put the other archer off.

Television and the internet were legalised only in 1999 — Bhutan was the last country in the world to allow TV. Plastic shopping bags were first banned that same year, and the ban re-enforced in 2005, 2009 and from April 2019. Tobacco sale through licensed outlets became legal on 2 July 2021, but smoking in public places is still prohibited.

Cranes, takins and an unclimbed summit

The takin, the national animal, is tied to a legend about the 15th-century saint Drukpa Kunley; a herd lives at the Motithang Takin Preserve in Thimphu.

The 2022-23 national survey confirmed 134 snow leopards, up 39.5% since 2016, from 310 camera stations across more than 9,000 km2 of alpine habitat. Tigers came in at 131, up 27% since 2014-15, their range overlapping the snow leopard’s.

Several hundred black-necked cranes cross the Himalaya from the Tibetan plateau to winter in Phobjikha from late October to mid-February, circling Gangtey Goenpa three times on arrival. The Black-Necked Crane Festival is held in the monastery courtyard every 11 November.

Gangkhar Puensum, 7,570 m, is the highest unclimbed mountain in the world and will stay that way: climbing above 6,000 m was banned in 1994 and all mountaineering in 2003. Treks approach the base of the peaks only — see mountains and trekking and our trekking tours.

When to come

Spring (March-May) and autumn (late September-November) are the clearest and the busiest. The monsoon runs June-August in the south and central valleys. Winter brings cold nights at altitude but sharp Himalayan views, cheaper rooms and the cranes.

Our guides to the best time to visit and weather by region go month by month; what to pack follows from the season.

Come and see it

Pick a cultural tour, a trek or a festival trip from our tours, or tell us your dates and we will build the itinerary around them. Get in touch — we answer every enquiry within 24 hours.