Paro Tshechu Festival Tour, 7 Nights

In short

Is The Masked Dances of Paro right for you?

The Masked Dances of Paro is a seven-night private journey timed to the Paro Tshechu, the valley's festival of masked dances. You fly into Paro and spend two nights in Thimphu, two in Punakha and three in Paro for the last three festival days and the thongdrel before dawn.

Made fortravellers who plan around ritual, not sights, photographers with a long lens, couples and friends travelling together, families with children over ten and second visits to Bhutan.

Not for you ifsix hours a day sitting on the ground in a festival crowd sounds like a trial, or you cannot travel in March or April, Bhutan: The Western Valleys crosses the same three valleys in any month of the season, without the festival.

Once a year, in the small hours of the last day of the Paro Tshechu, monks carry a rolled cloth down from Rinpung Dzong to the festival ground and raise it up a wall three storeys high. It shows Guru Rinpoche in his eight manifestations with his two consorts, and Bhutanese believe that simply seeing it clears away sin. Before the sun can touch it, it is rolled up and carried back inside, and anyone who slept through the alarm has missed it for a year.

This journey is built backwards from that hour, and it gives you the faces before the dance: students carving and painting the masks at the national arts school, a guide who names each one, and a tailor who fits you for a gho or kira so you sit on the Deyangkha ground dressed as the valley is. It takes you to the temple of Drukpa Kunley, the Divine Madman, whose teaching by laughter the festival clowns, the atsaras, carry on. Then three days on a cushion in the crowd, a hamper from the lodge kitchen at noon, and the thongdrel in the dark.

Designed in the Darjeeling hills by the Darjeeling Trips team · Updated September 2026

Length: 7 nights, 8 days
Starts and ends: Paro airport to Paro airport
Best months: March or April; in 2027 the festival is listed for 18 to 22 March
Avoid: Any date away from the festival; mid June to mid September is monsoon in any case
Pace: Moderate
Longest drive: About 4.5 hours, 340 km in all
Highest point: Dochu La, 3,100 m
Group: Private, 2 to 6 guests

The route

Why Thimphu comes first

The festival fixes the calendar, so everything runs towards Paro. Thimphu and Punakha come first because the dances make more sense once you have watched masks being carved and heard who Drukpa Kunley was. Punakha, at 1,200 m, rests your lungs in the middle. Paro takes the last three nights, so the thongdrel falls on your final full morning and the runway is ten minutes from your room when you leave.

your bases, in orderby roadborders not drawn

Where the nights go

2Thimphu2Punakha3Paro

Read the place guidesBhutan

The shape of the journey

From 1,200 m to 3,100 m, day by day

You sleep between 1,200 m and 2,320 m. The highest you go is 3,100 m, on day 3 at Dochu La, and you come down again to sleep.

1,000 m2,000 m3,000 m 3,100 m3,100 m

Arrive2,235 m
Day 12,320 m
Day 22,320 m
Day 31,200 m
Day 41,200 m
Day 52,200 m
Day 62,200 m
Day 72,200 m
Day 82,235 m

Built around

Thimphu, Punakha and Paro at their best

The Guru Tshengye thongdrel raised in the dark at about 03:00, and rolled away before the sun can reach it
Three festival days on the Deyangkha ground, and on the full day a guide who goes ahead at 07:00 for a place in the shade
Students carving and painting cham masks at the national arts school in Thimphu
Chimi Lhakhang, the Divine Madman's temple, reached on foot along the Punakha paddies
A gho or kira fitted in Thimphu, so you watch the dances dressed as the valley does
COMO Uma Paro for the festival nights: a short drive to the ground at 02:30, ten minutes from the runway

Day by day

Day by day, Thimphu to Paro

The longest drive is day 5, Punakha to Paro, about 4.5 hours with stops.

01
Day 1 · Paro airport Thimphu

Down the Paro runway, up to the capital
- 54 km, about 1 h
- High point 2,320 m
- Sleep at 2,320 m
- Easy
Paro takes aircraft only by day and in clear air, so the landing is flown by sight between forested ridges. Spring flights have landed at 07:15 from Delhi every day and at 10:40 from Bagdogra on Tuesdays and Saturdays. Your guide, in a gho, meets you at the arrivals exit, your entry permit already filed and the SDF paid. Pick up a local SIM at the visitor information counter, then drive 54 km, about an hour, down the Paro Chhu and up the Wang Chhu to Thimphu. Lunch at Pemako: red rice, jasha maru, a gentle dal. Rest through the afternoon; you are at 2,320 m and the body notices. At 17:00 a short walk to the Memorial Chorten, the third king's white memorial, where older residents turn the big wheels at the end of the working day. Dinner at the hotel and an early night; your first festival day is four days away.

The momentPrayer wheels creaking at the Memorial Chorten in the last light, the whole of Thimphu walking past you clockwise

InsiderThimphu sits at 2,320 m, so the first night's sleep can be light. Skip the bar, drink water and ask housekeeping for a hot water bottle: the festival days ahead are long.

If the weather turnsIf cloud delays the landing, as Paro's daylight rules allow, lunch becomes an early dinner and the Memorial Chorten moves to 07:30 the next morning.

Tonight
Pemako Thimphu, Thimphu

Meals
Lunch, Dinner
02
Day 2 · Thimphu

Mask carvers and weavers of Thimphu
- 15 km, about 0.5 h
- High point 2,320 m
- Sleep at 2,320 m
- Easy
Breakfast at 08:00, then the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, founded in 1971 to teach the thirteen traditional arts. We book the 10:00 visiting window, when classes are at work. In the carving rooms, students rough out masks from blocks of wood; along the corridor others paint them. These are the faces you will meet in Paro in three days, and your guide names them as you go: the stag, the hound, the lords of the cremation ground. Lunch in town. At 14:00 the Royal Textile Academy, where weavers work at the loom in open studios and the royal collection hangs upstairs. Then a Thimphu tailor fits you for a gho or kira to wear on the festival ground. At 17:00, once the ministries have closed, you walk into Tashichho Dzong, rebuilt by the third king and finished in 1968, the seat of the throne room.

The momentA student lifting a half-carved stag mask to the window, the same face that will dance for you in Paro

InsiderThe arts school takes visitors only from 10:00 to 12:00 and 14:00 to 16:00 on weekdays, so we build this day around its hours rather than ours.

If the weather turnsIf Day 2 falls on a weekend or holiday when the school is shut, the carvers move to your Day 1 afternoon, or we swap in the Folk Heritage Museum.

Tonight
Pemako Thimphu, Thimphu

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
03
Day 3 · Thimphu Punakha

Over Dochu La to the Divine Madman
- 75 km, about 3 h
- High point 3,100 m
- Sleep at 1,200 m
- Easy
Leave at 08:00 with flasks of suja and coffee in the car. Over Dochu La, 3,100 m, you stop for tea among the chortens while the rhododendrons open in the forest behind them, then take the long descent to Punakha's orchards and rice terraces. At Sopsokha we park and walk 20 minutes along the paddy bunds to Chimi Lhakhang, the small temple of 1499 on the hillock that Drukpa Kunley, the Divine Madman, had blessed. He was the saint who taught through songs, humour and outrageous behaviour. Your guide tells his stories on the walk, including how he is said to have trapped the demon of Dochu La in a rock, because you will meet his spirit again in Paro: the atsaras, the masked clowns who work the festival crowd between dances, take their name from acharya, teacher, and their clowning is part of the rite. Picnic under the trees, then Uma Punakha by 14:30 and a slow afternoon.

The momentThe paddy path out to Chimi Lhakhang, and the first of the Divine Madman's stories told as you walk

InsiderAsk for the story of the demon of Dochu La on the drive down. The pass you crossed that morning and the temple you walk to after lunch share it.

If the weather turnsIf Dochu La is lost in cloud, we skip the long stop and take tea lower down. If rain turns the paddy path to mud, there are rubber boots in the car.

Tonight
COMO Uma Punakha, Punakha

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
04
Day 4 · Punakha

Punakha Dzong and the swaying bridge
- 30 km, about 1 h
- High point 1,200 m
- Sleep at 1,200 m
- Easy
Breakfast at 08:00, then an hour at Punakha Dzong from 09:00, the Zhabdrung's fortress where the Pho Chhu meets the Mo Chhu, and a walk of about 15 minutes to the long suspension bridge over the Pho Chhu, which moves as you cross. The rest of the day belongs to Paro. Lunch back at the lodge and a free hour by the river. At 16:00, over tea, your guide takes you through the dances you are about to see, photograph by photograph: the Shawa Shachi, in which the poet Milarepa turns the hunter Gonpo Dorji and his hounds to the dharma; the Raksha Mangcham, the judgement of the dead; the Dance of the Four Stags. By the end you know the stag from the hound, and the lords of the cremation ground from the heroes. At dusk, the lodge's butter lamp lighting, which we have booked for you.

The momentButter lamps lit at dusk above the Mo Chhu, the evening before you drive to the festival

InsiderKeep the briefing photographs on your phone. On the ground the dancers turn side on as often as they face you, and a glance at the mask tells you which dance has begun.

If the weather turnsIf wind closes the suspension bridge or the river runs high, we walk the riverside path below the dzong instead and keep the dance briefing as planned.

Tonight
COMO Uma Punakha, Punakha

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
05
Day 5 · Punakha Paro

Back over the pass for the third festival day
- 130 km, about 4.5 h
- High point 3,100 m
- Sleep at 2,200 m
- Moderate
The car leaves at 07:30. Over Dochu La again by about 09:00, down past Thimphu to the confluence at Chuzom, then up the Paro Chhu into Paro around 12:30. Check in at Uma Paro, lunch, and at 14:00 your guide walks you onto the Deyangkha ground below Rinpung Dzong, where the festival moves after its opening day inside the dzong. This is day three of five; on the 2027 dates, Saturday 20 March. Dancers turn in heavy brocade to cymbals, drums and long horns, and the crowd, dressed in its best, eats, talks and watches all at once. The day's programme often includes the second part of the Shawa Shachi, the hunter's conversion you heard about in Punakha. Stay for the last dance of the afternoon, then stand on the covered bridge as the dzong's lights come on. Dinner at Bukhari.

The momentYour first cham: brocade skirts wheeling open beneath the dzong walls as the horns start

InsiderNever cut across the dance ground to reach a gap on the far side. Walk round behind the seated crowd, as every Bhutanese there does, even when it takes ten minutes.

If the weather turnsIf snow or a slip closes Dochu La, we wait at the lodge for the road crews and reach Paro by evening; the last two festival days are the ones that matter most.

Tonight
COMO Uma Paro, Paro

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
06
Day 6 · Paro

A full day with the cham
- 10 km, about 0.5 h
- High point 2,200 m
- Sleep at 2,200 m
- Moderate
Your guide leaves the lodge at 07:00 with cushions, a rolled mat and two umbrellas, and holds a place with shade and a clear line to the dancers. You follow at 08:30 after breakfast. The fourth day, Sunday 21 March on the 2027 dates, usually brings the Raksha Mangcham, the judgement of the dead, in which the Lord of Death hears the case of each soul, and the Dance of the Four Stags. Between dances the atsaras work the crowd in their red-faced masks, teasing, joking and tapping heads with a carved wooden phallus, the Divine Madman's old symbol of protection. Lunch is a hamper from Uma's kitchen: red rice, kewa datshi, cut fruit, a flask of suja. Families near you may offer zaow, crisp roasted rice; take a little, with both hands. Back at the lodge by 16:30 for a hot shower, dinner at 19:00 and bed by 21:00, because the thongdrel will not wait for anyone.

The momentThe hush as the Raksha Mangcham begins and the Lord of Death takes his seat

InsiderSpring sun at 2,200 m burns through thin cloud. The Bhutanese under umbrellas are not being fussy; we pack hats and sunscreen in the hamper for the same reason.

If the weather turnsIf rain sets in, the dances go on and so do we, in shells on a second mat. If it turns cold, we take you back for lunch by the fire and return at 14:00.

Tonight
COMO Uma Paro, Paro

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
07
Day 7 · Paro

The thongdrel before dawn
- 20 km, about 1 h
- High point 2,200 m
- Sleep at 2,200 m
- Moderate
A knock at 02:00 with tea and a hot water bottle for your coat pocket. The car leaves at 02:30 and you are on the Deyangkha ground by 02:45, where hundreds of people are already waiting in the cold; on the 2027 dates, this is Monday 22 March. At about 03:00 the monks raise the Guru Tshengye thongdrel, carried in procession from the dzong, until it covers the whole three-storey wall: Guru Rinpoche in his eight manifestations with his two consorts. Horns sound and the crowd moves forward to bow and pray. Families then queue in silence to touch their foreheads to the lower edge of the cloth; if you wish to join, your guide walks you into the line, and many guests simply watch. No flash on the thongdrel, and phones away while people bow. Before the sun can touch it, the cloth is rolled and carried back inside. Breakfast at Uma by 07:00, then sleep. At 15:30 we drive to Kyichu Lhakhang, one of Songtsen Gampo's 7th-century temples, quiet again after the festival crowds. The spa at 17:00 if you want it, farewell dinner at 19:30.

The momentThe great thongdrel rising up the wall in the dark, three storeys of Guru Rinpoche, gone again before sunrise

InsiderStand for the unveiling rather than sitting: the crowd surges forward for blessings, and a guide on your elbow is worth more than a front-row cushion.

If the weather turnsIf the 02:00 start is too much for one of you, stay in bed: the car goes again at 04:15, and the cloth stays up until shortly before sunrise.

Tonight
COMO Uma Paro, Paro

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
08
Day 8 · Paro Paro airport

Paro to your flight home
- 6 km, about 0.5 h
- High point 2,235 m
- Easy
No alarm this morning: breakfast on the terrace at 07:30, and your bags leave the room at 09:00, seats reconfirmed the day before. Leave at 09:30 for the ten-minute drive to the airport; in the spring timetables for 2026 and 2027 the Delhi flight leaves at 11:55 and the Bagdogra flight at 11:50 on Mondays and Fridays, and Paro likes you early at check-in. On the 2027 dates your last day is a Tuesday, so Bagdogra guests fly home through Delhi or add a night. Your guide stays with you until security, and we track the aircraft from Darjeeling until you are down. Guests who added the fourth Paro night climb Taktsang this morning instead, with the valley quiet again after the festival and the trail at its best in spring light.

The momentThe aircraft turning inside the valley walls, and Paro falling away beneath the wing

InsiderPack the gho or kira flat in your cabin bag: brocade creases badly, and you will want it again for the next family wedding at home.

If the weather turnsIf weather delays the flight, the car brings you back to Uma for lunch and your room. If it is cancelled, we book the next seat out and a room at Uma until it goes.

Tonight
Homeward

Meals
Breakfast

Where you will stay

Where you sleep, three houses

Pemako Thimphu, COMO Uma Punakha and COMO Uma Paro. Prefer a different house on any night? Say which and we re-price it.

The house itself in central Thimphu, photographed while it still traded as the Taj Tashi.Christopher J. Fynn, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

2 nights

Pemako Thimphu

Thimphu

Opened in 2008 as the Taj Tashi and dressed in Bhutanese art throughout; central for the arts school, the textile academy and the tailors.

Ask for A Deluxe Room; the Deluxe with Balcony if you want the valley air at night
The river below Punakha and its long prayer flag bridge, the valley the eleven rooms face.Darshan Chudasama / Unsplash

2 nights
COMO Uma Punakha

Punakha

A small farmhouse-style lodge on a hill above the Mo Chhu at the valley's western end: quiet rest before the festival.

Ask for A Valley Room, over the rice fields and the river
- BathroomValley Rooms have a bathtub with a separate shower
The pine hillside over the Paro river and valley that the hotel looks down on.Thinho 7 / Pexels

3 nights
COMO Uma Paro

Paro

Ten minutes from the runway and a short drive to the festival ground at 02:30, with a kitchen that packs a proper hamper.

Ask for A Forest Room in the pines, or a Valley Room looking across Paro
- Getting inForest Rooms are on the main floor close to the lobby
- BathroomValley Rooms have a bathtub with a separate shower stall; Forest Rooms have a walk in shower only

Price and what it covers

from₹5,15,000

per person, twin share, for the March 2027 festival dates, with seven nights of SDF at the Indian rate, ₹8,400; flights to Paro are extra, and other passports pay US$700 in SDF plus a US$40 visa. How our prices are built

About £4,020 or US$5,370 at the rates of 19 September 2026.

On other passports, about ₹5,78,000 (£4,510, US$6,020). Bhutan's Sustainable Development Fee is US$100 a night for most visitors, against ₹1,200 for Indian passports, for 7 nights here, plus a US$40 visa. How the fee works

Price my dates

Less time?Bhutan: The Western Valleys6 nights More time?From the Hills into Bhutan8 nights

Included

Your own car and Bhutanese driver for all eight days: a Prado-class SUV, or a Toyota Hiace for five or six
A licensed Bhutanese guide throughout, as the law requires, who holds your place on the festival ground
Seven nights: two at Pemako Thimphu, two at COMO Uma Punakha, three at COMO Uma Paro, with breakfast and dinner
Lunch every day from Day 1 to Day 7, including festival hampers from the Uma Paro kitchen
Seven nights of SDF at the Indian rate, ₹8,400 a person, with the entry permit (other passports: /plan/what-it-costs/#bhutan-sdf)
Entrance fees, at the rate for your passport, at the Memorial Chorten, Tashichho Dzong, Zorig Chusum, the Royal Textile Academy, Chimi Lhakhang, Punakha Dzong, Rinpung Dzong and Kyichu Lhakhang
Festival kit: cushions, ground mats, umbrellas, rain shells and blankets for the thongdrel morning
The butter lamp lighting at COMO Uma Punakha
Meet and assist at Paro airport, a local SIM card, and water and hot flasks in the car
Our Darjeeling office on call 24x7 from your landing to the flight home, festival nights included

Not included

Flights to and from Paro, which we book at the published fare
Other passports: the US$40 visa and the US$100 nightly SDF in place of the Indian rate
Travel insurance, which should include medical evacuation
Tips for your guide and driver
Drinks from the bar and wine with dinner
Spa treatments
A gho or kira if you buy one; we arrange and accompany the fitting

Make it more Arranged on request, priced in your quote

A fourth Paro night for TaktsangStay on after the festival and climb to the Tiger's Nest on a quiet morning, with a pony booked for the first half if you like.
Your own gho or kiraChosen with your guide at a Thimphu shop, fitted on Day 2 and worn on the festival ground, then carried home.
Rafting the Mo ChhuA gentle float past rice fields and under Punakha Dzong's walls in Day 4's free afternoon, with a qualified crew.
Arrive by road through PhuentsholingDrive 162 km from Bagdogra to the border, sleep there, then climb to Thimphu next day: one extra night.

Before you go

Before you go on this route

Choose another journey ifIf six hours a day sitting on the ground in a festival crowd sounds like a trial, or you cannot travel in March or April, Bhutan: The Western Valleys crosses the same three valleys in any month of the season, without the festival.

Papers: for Indian nationals, a voter ID or a passport with six months left, not Aadhaar. Children's papers and visas for other nationalities: /plan/permits-and-visas/#documents.
Plan early: festival week fills Paro's rooms and flights first, so we ask for rooms as soon as the lunar dates are published, often 9 to 12 months ahead.
Festival dress: long sleeves or a jacket, trousers or a long skirt, shoulders and knees covered, hats off near the temples. No flash, and never cross the dance ground.
Weather in March and April: Thimphu averages lows of 4 to 8 °C and highs of 19 to 22 °C. The 03:00 thongdrel morning is the coldest hour of the trip: bring a down jacket, hat and gloves.
Sun and seating: bring a sun hat, sunscreen and sunglasses for long days on the ground; we supply cushions and umbrellas.
Long lens, no drone: bring the longest lens you own for the dances, and leave the drone at home, since visitors may not fly one in Bhutan and customs at Paro keeps any that arrive.
SDF, cash and tips: seven nights at the Indian rate, ₹8,400, are in the price. Small notes for the altar and a SIM: /plan/before-you-travel/#money-and-phones; tips: /plan/before-you-travel/#tipping.

Questions

Six questions about The Masked Dances of Paro

Ask on WhatsApp

When is the next Paro Tshechu, and when would this journey run?

The festival runs five days, from the 11th to the 15th day of the second month of the Bhutanese lunar calendar, which lands in March or early April. In 2026 it ran from 29 March to 2 April. For 2027 it is listed for 18 to 22 March, still to be confirmed by the Paro Dzongkhag, so this journey would run Tuesday 16 to Tuesday 23 March, with the thongdrel on Monday 22 March. We ask for rooms as soon as the official calendar is out.

Do we have to be on the ground at 03:00 for the thongdrel?

Only if you want the unveiling itself. The monks raise the cloth at about 03:00 on the last day, so the car leaves Uma at 02:30 and has you on the Deyangkha ground by 02:45, with tea, blankets and your guide beside you. Anyone who would rather sleep can join at 04:15 instead, while the thongdrel is still up; it comes down before sunrise, so that sunlight never falls on it.

How do we sit through a full festival day?

Slowly, and in comfort. Everyone sits on the ground, so your guide goes ahead at 07:00 with cushions, a mat and umbrellas and chooses shade over a front row; you follow after breakfast. Lunch is a hamper where you sit. Grandparents can watch the morning dances and rest at the lodge after lunch, and children usually fall for the atsaras, the clowns. Everyone is back at Uma by 16:30.

Should we wear a gho or kira to the festival?

You need not, but it is welcomed, and many visitors do. A Thimphu tailor fits you on day two; the cloth and tailoring are yours to buy. A kira is worn over a wonju blouse with a short toego jacket, pinned at the shoulders and belted at the waist; a gho is a knee-length robe tied with a cloth belt, the kera. Bhutanese men add a kabney scarf on formal occasions, so ask your guide whether to wear one with yours.

Is this a good first visit to Bhutan?

Yes, if the festival is why you are coming. You see Thimphu, Punakha and Paro, as on Bhutan: The Western Valleys, but three of the seven days go to the dances rather than to Taktsang and the quieter sights. If you want the valleys without the crowds, or cannot travel in March or April, The Western Valleys runs on the Tuesday and Saturday Drukair flights through the season and ends with the Tiger's Nest.

Can we add the Tiger's Nest to this journey?

Yes, with a fourth night in Paro after the festival. It deserves a morning of its own rather than a gap between dances, and on the morning after the thongdrel the trail is quiet again. Ponies must be booked ahead and carry riders about halfway. If walking matters more to you than the festival, look at Walking Western Bhutan instead.

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