Bhutan travel for Indians (Tips)

(Edit 23/07/16: Prices mentioned are from July 2014)

While we were planning to travel to Bhutan, we did not get adequate information about the country from internet sources. It made the country even more mystical than it actually is 🙂

So this post will give you some basic information about traveling to Bhutan as individual travelers from India. Indian travelers are not required to get a visa (but a permit) and are not required to be in tour groups as the case with travelers from other countries.

If you are new to Bhutan, you should know that entry to Bhutan is regulated by the government and except for  SAARC country travelers there is a minimum charge of $260 per day and the tourists are not allowed to roam on their own but in tour groups. Permits are available for separate regions of Bhutan and the first permit is given for only Thimpu and Paro.

How to reach

1. Air – You can fly to Paro airport to reach Bhutan. It is a beautiful airport situated in the Paro valley. However, flights are only through two Bhutan airways and therefore very costly. If you are taking this route, you can get a permit after your arrival at the airport (Indian citizens only, if you missed this earlier in the post).

2. Road – You have to cross the border through Phuentsholing (Indian side is Jaynagar). The nearest railway station is Hasimara (HSA). This station is nearby Alipurduar JN and New Alipurduar in case you train goes to any of these stations. I came from Howrah and took a train in the evening (Saraighat Express) and got down at New Alipurduar station. At the station there were shared autorickshaws available to go to Alipurduar JN (15 mins of travel). From Alipurduar JN an intercity (Train no – 15768) leaves at 6AM in the morning which reaches Hashimara at 645 AM (45 mins). At Hasimara come to Platform no 2 and walk to the end of the platform and reach the auto stand. Here you will find autos towards Jaynagar. Shared auto costs Rs 25 per person. We booked the auto for Rs 150 till Jaynagar border as we did not want to wait for other passengers. From the station it would take about 20-25 minutes (15 kms) to reach the border.

Cross the gate on the border (big gate if you are in a vehicle, small one if you are walking). The guards at the gate may inspect your luggage.

Indian tourists can make a permit any day of the week, even if the main office to grant permit is closed. In that case the permit is issued from the checkpost. You must carry a photocopy of your passport and a passport size photograph. Make sure you carry them in advance because xerox shops open at about 9 am and is at a little distance from the permit office.

Traveling from Phuentsholing to Thimpu

You can take a Coaster Bus (Toyota Coaster buses) to Thimpu but you must book the bus as soon as possible because locals also travel in that bus and there are not many buses that ply daily.

Shared taxi is another option – The fare fixed by Bhutan govt is Rs 2600 for Thimpu. So taxi drivers charge Rs 650 per head when they sit 4 people. If you want to hire the whole vehicle, you can bargain a little and get it in about Rs 2400.

I would also suggest that you take either Hyundai Santro or WagonR vehicles as they are more comfortable as compared to Maruti Alto.

Taxi stand is at some distance from the border. You need to reach taxi stand to find shared taxis. (Google map tag).

Extending Permit/ Permit to non-entry areas

You can apply for permit from the Immigrations office situated at Nordzin Lam (Lam=Road). You have to apply with a copy of your permit and the address of the hotel where you are staying. We got it in about 15 minutes as it was off-season. There is no extra charge for the permit.

Google map tag for the immigrations office in Thimpu

Currency in Bhutan

Although you will see information on the internet that Indian currency of denomination 100 is the only denomination accepted in Bhutan, we had no problems using denominations of 500 and 1000.

Also, you do not need to carry a lot of Indian currency with you because you can take out Bhutanese currency through several ATMs in Thimpu/Paro. Extra charge per transaction will be Rs20 that will be reflected in your bank statement. So it is really cheap.

Indian and Bhutanese currency exchange is at par i.e. 1 INR = 1 Bhutanese Ngu

Hiring a local taxi in Bhutan

Generally rates are fixed in Bhutan for all the routes. If you go to the taxi stand drivers would quote you rates that will not be more than the fixed govt. rate. It may be cheaper though due to competition. However, we found the rates much cheaper than India considering the difficult terrain that they have to drive. Drivers are very friendly and irrespective of the place we hired them.

If you are travelling from Thimpu to Paro (vice versa) you would find shared taxi throughout the day. It is the most busy route for shared taxi in Bhutan.

Also, do not ask your hotel to book taxi for you. They earn commission for each transaction 🙂

Buying souvenirs

If you are buying souvenirs, Thimpu is a very costly place. You should bargain in most of the shops but despite that you would find it very costly. Paro is also similar although a little cheaper than Thimpu. However, the cheapest place to buy Souvenirs we discovered was from where the Tiger’s nest trek starts. They were really cheap as compared to Thimpu. E.g. A dragon priced at Rs 880 in Thimpu, we got in Rs. 700 after bargaining. At this place we got the dragon for Rs 300! (along with other items we purchased). So if you are going for Tiger’s nest trek, carry good amount of cash with you. We could not purchase more because we did not have enough cash with us.

This is it for now. I will continue to add relevant information on this post. So follow this one if you are planning to visit Bhutan 🙂 . Or if you want to ask something else, do hit the comment box below.

Bon Voyage !