Although the normal Bhutan full-board tour package ranges within the 2-3 Star hotels stay generally. But quite a few groups are opting to stay in 5-star hotels while adventuring and touring different parts of Bhutan, especially from West-Central Bhutan and back.

Based on my experience ever since the exploration of Western or Central Bhutan with the establishment of 5-star hotels and resorts for quite close to 20 years only, I quite recently accomplished a tour that’s fully a kind of luxury tour with the discovery of the essence of Western Bhutan. It was a group of 12 people from Hong Kong who booked this trip about 4 months before their trip, and they were referred to me by one of our past travelers who traveled with me and my company end of May this year only. So, Ms. Kin Lee from Hong Kong who was involved with me initially sent emails in regards to their trip.

In the process, I firstly informed her about the dates on which the flights are available to and from Bhutan, and also the dates 5-star hotels are available for their trip. And she was very swift and flexible with the alterations from our end. Then we decided on the travel dates, itinerary, and flights and confirmed everything just in a few days. And then the week tour began smoothly as expected on 28th November 2023.

Their first two nights stay was at Hotel Pemako which was Taj Tashi before with exceptional experience as for the food and services. They explored the key sights of Bhutan’s Modern capital on the 2nd day of their stay in Thimphu with a wonderful dinner at the Pemako Hotel.

And the 3rd night, the group drove from Thimphu to Phobjikha and stayed at Gangtey Lodge perched on the hillside with an amazing view of the Phobjikha valley. The view and tranquility of this valley are even more awe-inspiring from this lodge. Upon our arrival in Gangtey, the group did the Gangtey Nature Trail walk which began below this lodge and then ended at the base or nearby temple called Khewang Lhakhang took us nearly 1 ½ hours to complete. This hike was kind of easy but offered a scenic view of the Gangtey and Phobjikha valley that is awaiting the rarest Black Necked Crane’s arrival for their winter home until they fly back to Tibet in early March normally.

After our late check out from Gangtey Lodge, we reached for a sumptuous picnic lunch well set up at the confluence of Phochu River (Male) and Mochu River (Female) with a view of the gigantic historical Punakha dzong.

For our 4th-night stay, we drove to Punakha and sojourned at the unique andBeyond River Lodge by the Mochu riverside. The stay over there was the most terrific experience as the rooms were unique and the meals and services were outstanding. Even most of the group members were impressed by the experience they had at this new luxury resort in Bhutan. Their outdoor meals with the candle lights were another unique experience. And I too felt the difference between staying in luxury hotels and resorts mainly after staying here.

In the morning we went on a Khamsum Yuelley Namgyel Hike for slightly over 1 ½ hours hike only before breakfast. We then enjoyed the superb morning view from the rooftop of the temple. And returned for breakfast, and then stayed at the lodge for lunch as everyone wanted to spend a bit more time here as they liked it very much. We checked out from the lodge after our terrific lunch and then headed towards Paro for the last two nights’ stay at the Paro Le Meridien River Front. This Star Wood-affiliated hotel provides different experiences mainly compared to those of resorts, but their room and meal costs are much less as well. And the meals and services were excellent for both nights as well.

We then hiked to the most popular place, Tiger’s Nest on our last day. The monastery is perched on a cliff nearly 800 meters above the Paro valley floor. This day hike is not only spiritually, historically, and culturally interesting, but also incredibly scenic! Today we had a wonderful picnic lunch catered by Paro Valley View restaurant and hiked back downhill. The hike took us nearly 5 hours including the lunch and photo stops enroute. After the hike, I directly took the group to Ugyen Farmhouse mainly to experience the typical Hot Stone Bath which could relieve some of their muscle and knee pains after the hike. The group also tasted the local Ara (distilled wine), Suja (butter tea), and Zaw (roasted rice for snack). All these were awesome last night’s typical experiences which will be cherished as one of the memories from their Bhutan trip.

If you are our traveling companion,  you will be treated as a guest, not as a tourist. So explore the Western Bhutan with us luxuriously.