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Bhutan – Out of bounds ?

18 November 2008 22 Comments

I am back and before I start writing about my recent adventures ;) , I want to say something about Bhutan.
Recently I was helping someone to plan a budget trip to Bhutan and also looking for some possibility to visit it next year myself.

Photo courtesy: www.cs.unm.edu

What I found are some very valuable and interesting facts.

1) Indian nationals do not require a visa for Bhutan. However, one needs to carry either a passport or voters ID so that a permit can be issued at the entry point.
2) Like in Nepal, Indian currency is accepted in Bhutan as well.
3) There is a rule of Bhutan govt that a person needs to take the air route for at least one way (either coming or going).
4) One can not travel on his own to this country. He has to book with one of the licensed travel agencies.

The rates for travel agencies look ridiculously high to me. The current rate is $200 per person per night which includes stay and transportation for local tours. Thus if a couple stays for 5 days it turns out to be $2000 which means around Rs. 1,00,000 which is way too expensive.

And this does not include air fare and other expenses.
There are Druk Air flights from Bangkok, Kathmandu and Dacca and from India Druk Air flies from Delhi and Kolkata to Paro (Bhutan). One way Bangkok-Paro fare is around $400 and Delhi-Paro is around $350.

Well, if it has to be air travel for at least one side and engaging travel agents at the above rates, I can not call it a budget traveling.

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22 Comments »

  • Anil said:

    Similar restrictions in N. Korea (and Myanmar I believe).

    # 19 November 2008 at 12:05 AM
  • Webradio said:

    Me, I’m french, and I don’t no those problems…

    # 19 November 2008 at 4:23 AM
  • aNoop aka --xh-- said:

    hm.. lemme dig around.. i think there are some differences.. couple of guys from our biking club have been to Bhutan on bike… I think this travel with agency thing applies to foreign nationals, but not to Indians.. cant remember all of that on top of the hat, but will dig around…

    # 19 November 2008 at 9:40 AM
  • aNoop aka --xh-- said:

    did some asking around and the 200$ per day dont apply to Indians- it is only for foreign nationals.. ping me if you would like more details…

    # 19 November 2008 at 12:07 PM
  • Cuckoo (author) said:

    Anil,
    Why do they do this ? For security reasons ? And how they ensure whoever comes in the country, leaves it too ?

    Webradio,
    Je sais que vous êtes français. Mais avez-vous fait face à des problèmes?

    Anoop,
    Oh Thanks. :D Yes, please do so. It’ll be a great information.

    Thanks in advance.

    # 19 November 2008 at 12:46 PM
  • abhijit said:

    Quite an informative post! Interesting!!
    Nice place to get settled :-)

    # 19 November 2008 at 11:33 PM
  • ~vagabond~ said:

    Sounds expensive, but looks soooo good.

    # 20 November 2008 at 3:11 AM
  • thyme said:

    That does sounds expensive. I have to say the country looks amazingly beautiful from your photo but a bit inaccessible also… maybe that is why the rates are so high?

    # 20 November 2008 at 3:34 AM
  • Jenny said:

    It does sound expensive, but it’s probably awesome!

    # 20 November 2008 at 6:38 AM
  • Shantanu said:

    Hey, useful information this! The travel agent fees do look excessive; I am not too bothered about the air travel since I have to anyway do that to save time.

    # 21 November 2008 at 11:16 AM
  • rahi said:

    hey that’s not done. they r killing their tourism industry that way – good to know from anoop that at least the $200 is spared for indians.
    but the picture was really marvellous. man kar raha hai ki jaoon lekin abhi won’t b able to afford that much.
    this post didn’t show up on my reader; that’s y cudn’t respond to it on time

    # 21 November 2008 at 3:28 PM
  • Shillu said:

    Beautiful Pic… I want to go there now… sounds expensive…some day :)

    # 22 November 2008 at 9:19 AM
  • Asian Traveler said:

    Bhutan sounds interesting and the photo above is awesome, but the price that you mentioned is way too expensive especially for budget travelers. I wonder why the government has this kind of regulatory rules for visitors. (???)

    By the way, thanks for dropping by my page.

    # 22 November 2008 at 12:09 PM
  • Celine said:

    Bhutan would certainly be an awesome place. I had done research on travelling to Bhutan two years back but had dropped the idea. Maybe someday and until then the Himalayan mountains of India should keep me busy.

    By the way, the picture you posted is of Takstang Gompa, also called Tiger’s Den, and I believe is a place for a fantastic trek. :)

    # 24 November 2008 at 2:38 AM
  • Trotter said:

    Hi Cuckoo! It’s always great when I have a chance to get here! But this time I’m not sure I’ll take your advice and get to Bhutan in the near furture… ;)
    Interested in Tunisia? Blogtrotter has it now, and looks forward to reading your comments… ;) ) Hope you enjoy! Have a great week!

    # 24 November 2008 at 2:48 AM
  • Wendy-Escape NY said:

    Interesting facts. Another place I would love to see. I hope you make it there next year.

    # 25 November 2008 at 7:26 AM
  • odzer said:

    I have left a reply to your query on the Bhutan post in my blog. I am happy that you are interested in visiting there. I am sure it will be a pleasant and enjoyable trip.

    # 26 November 2008 at 1:14 AM
  • Bendtherulz said:

    What a coincidence…I was thinking of this place….!! And today when I came here to check …I found this post….!! Great …pic…!

    *** Oh and btw -hope you and your friends , family all safe….!! Yikes…Mumbai reports are not good….!! Tk care ~~

    # 27 November 2008 at 1:16 PM
  • PN Subramanian said:

    I can only dream about it.

    # 8 December 2008 at 11:40 AM
  • Priyank said:

    #3 and #4 do not apply to Indian nationals.

    # 9 December 2008 at 1:11 PM
  • Shantanu said:

    Wow, isn’t that an amazing pic?!

    # 9 December 2008 at 3:08 PM
  • Vands said:

    Interesting, I didn’t know this.

    # 27 February 2009 at 9:40 PM

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