Kathmandu and Bhutan Tour, 8 Nights

In short

Is Two Himalayan Capitals right for you?

Two Himalayan Capitals is an eight-night private journey from Kathmandu to western Bhutan, joined by Drukair's morning flight past Everest. You spend three nights in Kathmandu, fly to Paro and drive on to Thimphu for two, cross Dochu La to a single night at Punakha, and end with two nights in Paro below Taktsang.

Made fortravellers drawn to old cities and living ritual, couples, a first visit to Bhutan and families with children over ten.

Not for you ifyou want Darjeeling and Sikkim on the same trip, or would rather reach Bhutan overland, choose Three Kingdoms, the fourteen-night journey by road.

Kathmandu and Thimphu are both mountain capitals, and they could hardly be less alike. One is a valley of brick courtyards and pagoda roofs, where a girl venerated as a goddess looks out of a latticed window. The other became Bhutan's capital only in 1955, keeps its king's office inside a fortress monastery, and still has a policeman direct the main junction by hand.

In 2008 their stories crossed. On 11 June Nepal's last king, Gyanendra, walked out of Narayanhiti, and the palace became a museum. Five weeks later Bhutan adopted its constitution, and on 6 November it crowned its fifth king. This journey lets you stand in both chapters: the throne room Nepal's kings left, and the dzong in Thimphu that still holds Bhutan's throne room and the king's office. Between them runs one of the great scheduled mountain flights, Drukair's morning departure from Kathmandu, with the Himalaya along the left-hand windows from Everest to Kanchenjunga on a clear day. We ask for those windows when we book.

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

Length: 8 nights, 9 days
Starts and ends: Kathmandu airport (KTM) to Paro airport (PBH)
Best months: October to December, March to May
Avoid: Mid June to mid September (monsoon cloud hides the peaks and delays Paro flights)
Pace: Moderate
Longest drive: About 4 hours, 415 km in all
Highest point: Taktsang, 3,120 m
Group: Private, 2 to 6 guests

The route

Why Kathmandu comes first

Kathmandu first, because long-haul flights land there and Drukair's flight to Paro leaves in the morning, when the peaks are clearest. Flying east puts the range on your left without a detour. In Bhutan the route rises and falls gently: Thimphu at 2,320 m for two nights, over Dochu La and down to Punakha at 1,200 m, then back to Paro at 2,200 m. Taktsang comes on day eight, after a week at altitude, and the flight home leaves from the same valley the next morning.

your bases, in orderby roadby airborders not drawn

Where the nights go

3Kathmandu2Thimphu1Punakha2Paro

Read the place guidesNepal Bhutan

The shape of the journey

From 1,200 m to 3,120 m, day by day

You sleep between 1,200 m and 2,320 m. The highest you go is 3,120 m, on day 8 at Taktsang, and you come down again to sleep.

1,000 m2,000 m3,000 m 3,100 m3,100 m3,120 m

Arrive1,338 m
Day 11,400 m
Day 21,400 m
Day 31,400 m
Day 42,320 m
Day 52,320 m
Day 61,200 m
Day 72,200 m
Day 82,200 m
Day 92,235 m

Built around

Kathmandu, Thimphu, Punakha and Paro at their best

Drukair from Kathmandu to Paro with left-hand windows requested, Everest and Kanchenjunga alongside
Gorkha Baithak, the throne room at Narayanhiti that Nepal's last king left on 11 June 2008
Budhanilkantha's sleeping Vishnu, 5 m of black stone that Nepal's kings would not look upon
Swayambhunath at 06:15, up King Pratap Malla's eastern stairway before the city stirs
Tashichho Dzong at 17:00, as civil servants in gho and kira pass the monks on their way home
Taktsang on day eight, then an outdoor hot stone bath at Zhiwaling that evening

Day by day

Day by day, Kathmandu to Paro

The longest drive is day 7, Punakha to Paro, about 4 hours with stops.

01
Day 1 · Kathmandu airport (KTM) Kathmandu

Into Kathmandu, to a house on palace ground
- 6 km, about 0.5 h
- High point 1,400 m
- Sleep at 1,400 m
- Easy
Whatever time your flight reaches Tribhuvan, your Kathmandu guide is outside the terminal with the car, once foreign guests have their visa on arrival and Indian guests have shown a passport. Baber Mahal Vilas is about half an hour away, traffic willing. It stands in the grounds of the Baber Mahal palace and was built by descendants of Chandra Shumsher Rana, prime minister from 1901 to 1929, and of his son Baber Shumsher, later commander-in-chief of the army. Newar craftsmen made its rooms, and the Royal Suites carry woodwork in the manner of Lo Manthang, the walled town of Upper Mustang. Your room should be ready from midday, as we request when we book. Rest, swim, or wander the palace's old outbuildings next door, now shops and cafes. Dinner is at Baithak, the house restaurant, at a quiet table we ask for before you fly.

The momentYour first evening in a courtyard built by a Rana prime minister's descendants, on their family's palace ground.

InsiderCarry small Nepali notes for shoe-minders and temple offerings. Your guide changes a first batch for you on arrival, so you never need the airport counters.

If the weather turnsIf your flight lands late, dinner comes to your room instead of Baithak, and the walk through the old palace buildings moves to day two's afternoon.

Tonight
Baber Mahal Vilas, Kathmandu

Meals
Dinner
02
Day 2 · Kathmandu

Swayambhu at dawn, and the palace the kings left
- 25 km, about 1.5 h
- High point 1,400 m
- Sleep at 1,400 m
- Moderate
At 06:15 the car leaves you at the foot of Swayambhunath's eastern stairway, laid by King Pratap Malla in the seventeenth century. Climb with the first pilgrims and the monkeys that gave the hill its nickname, past the great vajra at the top, to the stupa whose painted eyes look out on four sides over a valley still in haze. Breakfast back at the hotel. At 10:00 your guide walks you through Kathmandu Durbar Square, the old royal centre, as far as the Kumari Ghar. Lunch is at a Newar kitchen, and then the day turns to the palace that replaced the square. Narayanhiti takes its name from Narayana, Vishnu, and hiti, the Newar word for a stone water spout. The present building was designed by the American architect Benjamin Polk, finished in 1969 and opened with Crown Prince Birendra's wedding in February 1970. At 14:30 you walk its 52 rooms to the throne room, Gorkha Baithak, where a chandelier 48 feet long hangs under a pagoda-style ceiling 60 feet high. King Gyanendra left on 11 June 2008, and it has been a museum since.

The momentStanding in Gorkha Baithak, the throne room Nepal's last king left in June 2008, under its 48-foot chandelier.

InsiderPhotographs of the Kumari are not allowed. When she comes to the window, lower the camera and look up; your guide will tell you when she may appear.

If the weather turnsNarayanhiti closes on some weekdays, so we fix its day when we book. In rain the museum comes first and Durbar Square waits for a dry hour.

Tonight
Baber Mahal Vilas, Kathmandu

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch
03
Day 3 · Kathmandu

Changu Narayan's hilltop, and the Vishnu no king would see
- 60 km, about 2.5 h
- High point 1,400 m
- Sleep at 1,400 m
- Easy
A later start, at 08:30, for the drive east to Changu Narayan, about an hour through brick villages and fields. The temple crowns a hilltop above the Manohara river, a two-roofed pagoda of timber and brick counted among the oldest in Nepal. In its courtyard a stone pillar carries the inscription of King Manadeva, who came to the throne in 464, one of the oldest pillar inscriptions in the country. Walk it slowly with your guide: the seventh-century Vishnu Vikranta and the kneeling Garudas are among the finest stone carvings in the valley. Lunch in the village, and back at the hotel by 14:30 to rest. At 16:00 the car crosses the city to Budhanilkantha, below Shivapuri Hill at the valley's northern edge. In a pool 13 m long lies Vishnu asleep on the coils of the serpent, 5 m of black basalt cut from a single block and believed to be more than 1,400 years old. A prophecy held that a king who came here would die young, so after Pratap Malla no monarch of Nepal did. On the way back, one round of the Boudha kora at dusk if you want it. Dinner is samay baji, the Newar festival platter, on leaf plates, with a vegetarian version for anyone who asks.

The momentVishnu asleep in his pool at Budhanilkantha, the stone figure Nepal's kings were told never to see.

InsiderOn Haribodhini Ekadashi, the eleventh day of Kartik in October or November, thousands come to Budhanilkantha to wake Vishnu from his sleep. Tell us if your dates meet it.

If the weather turnsIf the Changu road is closed, the morning goes to Patan's Golden Temple instead. Budhanilkantha is open to the sky, so rain only shortens the visit, and the kora carries on under umbrellas.

Tonight
Baber Mahal Vilas, Kathmandu

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
04
Day 4 · Kathmandu Thimphu

Drukair to Paro, Everest off the left wing
- 60 km, about 1.5 h
- High point 2,320 m
- Sleep at 2,320 m
- Easy
Breakfast at 06:15 and away at 06:45 for the international terminal, with your Kathmandu guide seeing you to check-in. Drukair's KB401 leaves for Paro at 09:10 daily in the October 2026 schedule and spends about 65 minutes in the air. We requested left-hand windows when we booked, because flying east puts the high Himalaya on that side: Everest, Lhotse and Makalu, then Kanchenjunga, above the cloud on a clear morning. Keep watching during the descent. Paro takes flights only in daylight and good visibility, and the approach runs between forested ridges before the runway shows beside the river. Your Bhutanese guide meets you outside arrivals, the entry permit already filed. Lunch in Paro, then about an hour and a quarter by road, down the Paro Chhu to Chuzom and up the Wang Chhu to Thimphu. Before dinner, walk down Norzin Lam, the main street, where a traffic policeman directs the central junction by hand.

The momentKanchenjunga sliding past the left windows, then the Paro valley opening suddenly beneath the wing.

InsiderOn Drukair's Airbus the A seats are the left-hand windows, the side the mountains fill. If our request has not stuck, ask for an A seat at check-in.

If the weather turnsIf cloud closes Paro, the flight waits in Kathmandu or turns back. We book the next seat into Paro and shift Thimphu by a day.

Tonight
Le Meridien Thimphu, Thimphu

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
05
Day 5 · Thimphu

Thimphu's oldest temple and its fortress of state
- 20 km, about 1 h
- High point 2,320 m
- Sleep at 2,320 m
- Easy
At 08:00 the car climbs to Changangkha Lhakhang on its spur above the city, held to be Thimphu's oldest surviving temple, founded in the thirteenth century by a son of Phajo Drugom Zhigpo. Parents carry newborns up here, because its protector watches over children born at the national hospital below, and the eleven-headed Avalokiteshvara inside is the image they come to. From the terraces behind, the whole capital lies open. At 09:30 the Motithang Takin Preserve, for the national animal on its steep slope; at 11:00 the Folk Heritage Museum at Kawajangsa, a farmhouse furnished as a family lived in it, opened in 2001. After lunch, Kaja Throm, the covered farmers' market renewed in 2023, for dried chillies, datshi and red rice. At 17:00 Tashichho Dzong, seat of government since 1968. Behind one set of whitewashed walls sit the throne room, the king's office and, in summer, the central monk body, and in November 2008 its courtyards held religious ceremonies for the fifth king's coronation, five months after Kathmandu's palace became a museum.

The momentStanding in Tashichho Dzong's courtyard as civil servants in gho and kira pass the monks on their way home.

InsiderAsk your guide why the takin looks so odd. The story goes that Drukpa Kunley, the Divine Madman, built it from a cow's bones and a goat's head after lunch.

If the weather turnsTashichho opens to visitors only at set hours. If an event closes it, we watch it from the river bank at dusk and give the time to the market.

Tonight
Le Meridien Thimphu, Thimphu

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
06
Day 6 · Thimphu Punakha

Over Dochu La to the old capital at Punakha
- 85 km, about 3 h
- High point 3,100 m
- Sleep at 1,200 m
- Moderate
We leave Thimphu at 08:00 and stop at Dochu La, 3,100 m, for a flask of tea among its 108 chortens while your guide names the northern peaks, if the sky allows. Then 49 km of bends take you down into warm air and rice terraces. Punakha governed Bhutan until 1955, the third capital of your journey, and at 11:30 you cross the covered bridge into its dzong where the Pho Chhu meets the Mo Chhu. Lunch at Lobesa. At 15:00 a path of about 20 minutes through the fields leads to Chimi Lhakhang, the temple of Drukpa Kunley, the Divine Madman, founded in 1499; the village houses along the way are painted with protective phalluses. Dhensa by 17:00: 24 rooms in six cottages above the paddies, each with a balcony and a bath beside a tall window. Dinner is home-style Bhutanese cooking, and afterwards the balcony is the place to be.

The momentDusk from your balcony at Dhensa, the paddies going blue below and the river loud in the valley.

InsiderAt Chimi Lhakhang, couples hoping for a child are blessed with a wooden phallus said to have come from Tibet with Drukpa Kunley. Visitors may ask too.

If the weather turnsIf ice or cloud closes Dochu La early, we wait over a slow breakfast in Thimphu until the road opens, and Chimi Lhakhang moves to tomorrow at 07:00.

Tonight
Dhensa Resort, Punakha, Punakha

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
07
Day 7 · Punakha Paro

A nunnery walk at sunrise, then west to Paro
- 130 km, about 4 h
- High point 3,100 m
- Sleep at 2,200 m
- Moderate
At 06:30 you climb 15 minutes on foot from Dhensa to Sangchhen Dorji Lhuendrup, the nunnery on the ridge between the Punakha and Wangdue valleys. If the nuns are at prayer, their chanting drifts over the terraces as the mist lifts. Breakfast at 08:00 and away by 09:00, back over Dochu La, down to Chuzom and up the Paro Chhu: about four hours with lunch on the way. At 14:00, five minutes north of Paro town, you reach Kyichu Lhakhang, which tradition dates to 659 and the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo, whose temples were raised to subdue a demoness lying across the land; two orange trees in its courtyard are said to fruit all year. Zhiwaling by 16:00, stone and timber with a temple of its own. An early dinner, because tomorrow starts at 06:30.

The momentMist lifting off the Mo Chhu below the nunnery while smoke rises from the first farmhouse fires.

InsiderZhiwaling's Samden meditation house faces Taktsang. Sit there at 17:00 with your guide and trace tomorrow's path on the cliff before you climb it.

If the weather turnsIf cloud or roadworks slow Dochu La, we drive straight through and Kyichu Lhakhang moves to the afternoon after the climb.

Tonight
Zhiwaling Heritage, Paro

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
08
Day 8 · Paro

Taktsang on the path you traced, then the dotsho
- 20 km, about 1 h
- High point 3,120 m
- Sleep at 2,200 m
- Active
Breakfast at 06:30, and you are at the trailhead by 07:15. What this morning adds is recognition. From a cushion in the meditation house last evening the route was a line drawn on rock: the switchbacks through blue pine, the cafeteria, the viewpoint beyond it, the drop to the bridge beside the waterfall, the last stairs. Now you are inside that line, and each turn arrives where you expected it. Our Bhutan page carries the trail in figures and the monastery's own rules, at /destinations/bhutan/#taktsang. A pony is booked to about halfway for either of you who would rather ride. At the gate cameras go into lockers, and beyond it the chapels close around the cave where Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated, your guide naming each one under his breath. Down by 13:30 for a late lunch. At 17:00 the dotsho waits in the garden at the Menlha spa: river stones fired until they glow, lowered hissing into a wooden tub of water steeped with khempa, a local artemisia.

The momentReaching the cafeteria terrace to find the cliff you traced from Zhiwaling last evening almost level with your eyes.

InsiderBook the stone bath for the evening of the climb, never before it. The heat goes straight to the calves the descent has tightened.

If the weather turnsIf rain turns the path to mud, we start at 10:00 once it clears or stop at the cafeteria viewpoint. The stone bath goes ahead in any weather.

Tonight
Zhiwaling Heritage, Paro

Meals
Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner
09
Day 9 · Paro Paro airport (PBH)

A last morning in the Paro valley
- 10 km, about 0.5 h
- High point 2,235 m
- Easy
Paro's departures cluster in the morning, because its airport works only in daylight and clear visibility. In the October 2026 schedule Drukair's Delhi flight leaves daily at 09:40, Kolkata flights at 11:30 on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and Bagdogra flights at 16:20 on Mondays and Fridays. For the Delhi flight, breakfast is at 06:45 and your bags leave the room at 07:30. For a later flight, your guide takes you through the courtyards of Rinpung Dzong, consecrated in 1646, while the monks are about their morning. Either way the airport is a short drive, and your guide stays with you through check-in. If you connect onward in Delhi or Kolkata, we built in at least four hours. Foreign guests continuing into India can use an e-Visa here, because Delhi, Kolkata and Bagdogra are all e-Visa arrival airports. Your 24x7 contact follows the flight until you land.

The momentBreakfast outside at Zhiwaling in the first sun, the valley quiet and the prayer flags on the hillside barely moving.

InsiderKeep Bhutan's entry permit printout until you are airside. We also send it to your phone, but a paper copy saves time at any desk that asks.

If the weather turnsIf weather delays or cancels the flight, we bring you back to Zhiwaling, book the next seat out and rearrange your onward tickets from our desk.

Tonight
Homeward

Meals
Breakfast

Where you will stay

Where you sleep, four houses

Baber Mahal Vilas, Le Meridien Thimphu, Dhensa Resort, Punakha and Zhiwaling Heritage. Prefer a different house on any night? Say which and we re-price it.

Central Kathmandu from the roofs. The hotel keeps its own walled garden on the Baber Mahal grounds.Roman Saienko / Pexels

3 nights
Baber Mahal Vilas

Kathmandu

A small heritage hotel built by Rana descendants in the grounds of Baber Mahal palace: central, walled and quiet, the right base for a capitals journey.

Ask for A Heritage Room with a private balcony; a Royal Suite for the Lo Manthang woodwork
- BathroomRoyal Suites have large bathrooms with tubs
The hotel on its Thimphu street corner, white walls under painted Bhutanese window galleries.Christopher J. Fynn, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

2 nights

Le Meridien Thimphu

Thimphu

In the centre of the capital, a few minutes' walk from Norzin Lam and the Clock Tower square, with a two-night minimum that fits this route.

Ask for A Classic Room; a Deluxe Room or one of the nine top-floor suites for more space
The Punakha valley from above the river, the terraces the pine cottages look over.Anil Sharma / Pexels

1 night

Dhensa Resort, Punakha

Punakha

Six cottages above the paddies, a 15-minute walk from the nunnery, and happy to take a single night where others ask for two.

Ask for Any of the 24 cottage rooms: all have private balconies and a bath beside the window
Zhiwaling at dusk, the stone walls and painted timber galleries of the Paro valley house.Xiaojun Deng, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

2 nights

Zhiwaling Heritage

Paro

Twelve acres of the Paro valley in stone and timber, with its own temple and the Samden meditation house looking straight at the cliff you climb next day.

Ask for A Junior Suite, the entry category; a One-Bedroom Suite for a sitting room

Price and what it covers

from₹3,80,000

per person for two sharing, at Indian-national rates, including Bhutan's fee for five nights. How our prices are built

About £2,960 or US$3,960 at the rates of 19 September 2026.

On other passports, about ₹4,26,000 (£3,320, US$4,440). Bhutan's Sustainable Development Fee is US$100 a night for most visitors, against ₹1,200 for Indian passports, for 5 nights here, plus a US$40 visa. How the fee works

Price my dates

Less time?The Masked Dances of Paro7 nights More time?Bhutan: Into the Heart9 nights

Included

Drukair economy flight from Kathmandu to Paro, with left-hand window seats requested at booking
Private car and driver in Kathmandu, and a Bhutanese SUV with a licensed driver for the Bhutan days
A licensed Kathmandu valley guide for three days, and the licensed Bhutanese guide Bhutan requires
Eight nights for two sharing in the four houses named, with the breakfasts, lunches and dinners each day lists, the samay baji night included
Bhutan's entry permit, filed online, and the Sustainable Development Fee for your five nights there: ₹6,000 for an Indian adult
Entry fees at every site named, including Swayambhunath, Kathmandu Durbar Square, Narayanhiti, Changu Narayan, Tashichho Dzong and Taktsang
A pre-booked pony at Taktsang if wanted, and the outdoor hot stone bath at Zhiwaling's Menlha spa
A samay baji dinner in Kathmandu and a home-style Bhutanese dinner at Dhensa
Meetings and transfers at Kathmandu and Paro airports, with luggage handled
Our Darjeeling team on call 24x7 from your Tribhuvan arrival to the Paro departure gate

Not included

International flights into Kathmandu and home from Paro
The Nepal visa on arrival and the Bhutan visa (US$40) for foreign nationals
On other passports, Bhutan's SDF at US$100 a night, US$500 for these five nights, in place of the Indian rate
Travel insurance with medical evacuation cover
Tips for guides, drivers and hotel staff
Drinks, laundry and meals not listed day by day

Make it more Arranged on request, priced in your quote

The Everest Experience flightBuddha Air's hour-long mountain flight from Kathmandu on day two or three, every passenger at a window.
A second night at DhensaStay two nights in Punakha for a slow day of paddies, the nunnery and a walk up to a hilltop chorten.
Rafting on the Mo ChhuA gentle afternoon float below Punakha Dzong with a licensed rafting crew, water levels permitting.
Travel in Thimphu Tshechu weekTime your Thimphu nights to the masked dances of the capital's festival, in September or October by the lunar calendar.

Before you go

Before you go on this route

Choose another journey ifIf you want Darjeeling and Sikkim on the same trip, or would rather reach Bhutan overland, choose Three Kingdoms, the fourteen-night journey by road.

Papers: for Nepal and Bhutan alike, Indian guests carry a passport or an original Voter ID, never Aadhaar, while other passports take Nepal's visa at Tribhuvan and a Bhutan visa filed with the entry permit. The planning guide's Permits and visas page has the full list.
Dress for dzongs and temples in long sleeves and trousers or a long skirt. Walking shoes with grip earn their place on the Taktsang path, and a fleece on the Dochu La stop.
Altitude: your highest night is Thimphu at 2,320 m, and Dochu La at 3,100 m is a stop on a drive. Taktsang at 3,120 m is a day climb with a pony available; ask your doctor first about heart or lung conditions.
Clocks: Bhutan runs 15 minutes ahead of Nepal, so KB401's 09:10 departure lands at 10:30 Paro time after about 65 minutes in the air.
Cash, cards and phone signal in both countries, and what to tip guides and drivers, are covered on the Before you travel page of the planning guide.

Questions

Five questions about Two Himalayan Capitals

Ask on WhatsApp

Which side of the plane, and which months, for the Kathmandu to Paro flight?

Sit on the left, in an A seat on Drukair's Airbus. Flying east, those windows face Everest, Lhotse and Makalu, then Kanchenjunga, and they give the better view of the approach into the Paro valley. In the October 2026 schedule KB401 leaves daily at 09:10. October to December gives the clearest windows; March to May is warmer but hazier. From mid June to mid September cloud hides the peaks, and Paro, which takes flights only in daylight and good visibility, is delayed more often.

Which houses do we stay in, and why these?

Four, each chosen for this route. Baber Mahal Vilas stands in the grounds of a Rana palace, central and walled, for the three Kathmandu nights. Le Meridien Thimphu is a few minutes' walk from Norzin Lam, and its two-night minimum fits. Dhensa takes a single night, which not every Punakha lodge will, in six cottages above the paddies. Zhiwaling Heritage in Paro has its own temple and a meditation house facing Taktsang.

Two Himalayan Capitals or Three Kingdoms?

Choose this journey if you have eight nights and want Kathmandu and Bhutan without long road days: the Drukair flight replaces the overland route, and no drive runs past about four hours. Three Kingdoms takes fourteen nights by road instead, adding Darjeeling, Gangtok and a seven-hour day through the Dooars to the Bhutan Gate. Both end below Taktsang; only Three Kingdoms includes India's hills.

Can parents in their seventies manage this journey?

Most can, with two choices made in advance. The highest night is Thimphu at 2,320 m, and Dochu La at 3,100 m is a stop on a drive, not a stay. Swayambhu's eastern stairway is steep, so we can drive them round to the top instead. On day eight a pony carries riders the first half of the Taktsang path, and the cafeteria terrace is a good place to stop; the descent is on foot. Ask their doctor first about heart or lung conditions.

Why only one night in Punakha?

Because the valley's best hours are the afternoon you arrive and the morning you leave: the dzong at midday, Chimi Lhakhang at 15:00, the nunnery walk at 06:30. Dhensa takes a single night where some lodges ask for two, which keeps the journey to eight nights. If you would like a slow day among the paddies and a walk to a hilltop chorten, add a second night; it is one of the add-ons below.

Sources we checked for this itinerary (35)