Pricing
Departures:Throughout the year as a private journey.
Price: Per person sharing room from $4,990 for this eight-day sample itinerary. Upgrade to Aman hotels is at additional cost; for details, please speak to an R. Crusoe tour specialist.
For more information, to book, or to speak to an R. Crusoe & Son tour specialist, please call us at 800-585-8555.
Local Flavor
A very important message: If you want to see Bhutan as it's been for centuries, go now. Right now. King Jigme Singye Wangchuck has given up his day job, and the nation has held its first election as a constitutional democracy. Change is imminent, so don't delay.
In the meantime, the king has been very cautious. It's not that he's not a progressive thinker (on the contrary—the change in government was his idea). In fact, he's the first in a line of recent Bhutanese kings to open his kingdom up to foreigner visitors. But King Wangchuck is also intent on maintaining the integrity of his people's culture, protecting the pristine mountainsides on which they live, and preserving nature's delicate balance here.
Which explains why you need an invitation from the king himself to cross into Bhutan's border (at least for the time being). R. Crusoe is on his short list.
Bhutan. Inside the Hidden Himalayan Kingdom.
This is an eight-day sample itinerary. Remember that R. Crusoe can create a Bhutan itinerary of any length to meet your exact specifications.
Join us on a unique guided tour as we experience one of Asia’s most untouched and authentic countries. Arriving in tiny Bhutan is like stepping into a time machine. Things are done pretty much as they have been for centuries—and the Bhutanese are a happy lot.
Welcome to the top of the world.
Begin in Paro, one of two Bhutanese “cities” (population: 35,000 or so). Take a gorgeous drive to Thimphu, Bhutan's other teeming metropolis. Meet the local population, see a school of arts and crafts and a folk museum founded by one queen, and a textile museum founded by another. Get familiar with the local lingo—dzongs, chortens, goembas, lhakhangs… And learn the fundamentals of tantric Mahayana Buddhism, central to everyday life in Bhutan.
Traverse Dochu La Pass (elevation 10,300 feet) into the Punakha Valley, winter HQ of the kingdom’s head abbot, Je Khenpo, and the district government. On a private guided tour, enter Anim Dratsang Nunnery by special permission, and see how female monks live, work, and worship.
The Paro Valley’s spectacular scenery leaves us breathless (it’s more than just the high altitude, you see). Green fields, isolated farms, cozy hamlets.
Back to the city of Paro for ancient temples, thangka paintings, and to hear of the trials and tribulations of Bhutan's first king, who set off a revolt in the late 1800s. Does Rinpung Dzong looks familiar? No wonder; Bernardo Bertolucci used it as the setting for his 1993 film, “Little Buddha.”
If you'd like, pony trek and hike up to Tiger's Nest Monastery, where Guru Rinpoche came to figure things out a millennium ago. This is one of the most revered sites in all Bhutan. Looking for something a little less challenging? If so, take an easier trek to Dzong Draka. Guru Rinpoche flew here on the back of a tiger. Consider some retail therapy along Paro’s pretty little streets.
At the end of your holiday, jet back to your Asian gateway city and then home.
R. Crusoe offers two other custom tours to Bhutan. Go to Farther Inside Bhutan, and Deeper Inside Bhutan for more information.
To request a detailed itinerary for this journey (and others), click here.