Darjeeling to Bhutan
From the Darjeeling hills, Bhutan is closer than most people expect. The road leaves the hills at Sevoke and runs east through the tea country of the Dooars to the gate at Phuentsholing.
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The Dooars
From Bagdogra it is 162 km (101 mi), about 4.5 hours, to the gate. From Darjeeling allow six to seven hours, which is why we break the road with a night in Kalimpong.
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Phuentsholing
Jaigaon and Phuentsholing share one street, with the painted Bhutan Gate between them. Clocks go forward 30 minutes as you cross: from here on, every time on your plan is Bhutan time, including your flight home.
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The papers
Visas are filed online before you travel, with the nightly fee paid in the same step, and your licensed guide meets you at the gate. Since a notification of 11 September 2026, that guide must be registered at the land port 48 hours ahead.
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The crossing
Immigration keeps 09:00 to 17:00 Bhutan time, with a lunch hour from 13:00, so the crossing goes on a weekday. You sleep at Hotel Druk, about 100 m from the gate: plain and central, chosen for the morning's formalities.
Photo: Rama Krushna Behera / Unsplash
The climb
Indian cars pay a daily green tax beyond the Rinchending checkpoint, so your hill driver says goodbye at the gate and a Bhutanese car takes over. The road climbs from 293 m (960 ft) through the Wang Chhu gorge to Thimphu: about 144 km (89 mi), five and a half hours.
Photo: Rama Krushna Behera / Unsplash
The fee
Most foreign passports pay US$100 a night, half the standard US$200, until 31 August 2027, plus a US$40 visa; under-sixes pay nothing. You come back into India afterward, so your Indian visa must allow more than one entry. The e-Tourist visa does.
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Why a week
A day in the border town shows little of the country behind it. A week reaches the parts that justify the trip: Tashichho Dzong at dusk, Punakha's rice valley or the pass into Haa, and Taktsang last. Three nights leave you mostly in the car.
Photo: Soonam Wooeser / Pexels
Planning
From mid June to mid September slides close the highway above Phuentsholing for hours at a time, so we do not route the crossing then. For October, November or spring, six months' notice or more is wise.
Photo: Raimond Klavins / Unsplash