Rainbow Photo Tours of

Click on the Day for detailed daily events.

Day 1 – Spring Itinerary – {date1s}

Arrive Paro, check in to Nak Sel Resort, full day photographing and touring popular and little-known sites around Paro, including the our first dzong, centuries old temples and just strolling through the small market town of Paro. Since we are two-to-a-car you are the captain of your own ship, just take your time getting comfortable in your room and then your own personal guide and driver will make suggestions for a great day of cultural exchange according to your personal schedule.

Day 2 – Spring Itinerary – {date2s}

Paro to Thimphu: Two hour drive to Thimphu, now a burgeoning Asian city but still plenty of things to see and do. (We only spend one night here so we can move on to the East where the "Authentic" Bhutan awaits us. Check the list of favorites on the detailed description of this day, highlight is tour of The School of Thirteen Traditional Arts. Picnic lunch beside the roaring Cheri Chuu just below Cheri and Tango Monasteries. Afternoon Thimphu touring.

 Day 3 — Spring Itinerary – {date3s}

Thimphu to Punakha Dzong: Halt at DochuLa Pass (108 chortens), walk through a village to Divine Madman's Temple, on to Punakha Dzong—the Vatican of Buddhism in Bhutan—then overnight in a resort overlooking the dzong.

Day 4 — Spring Itinerary – {date4s}

Punakha to Phobjhika: Through the Black Mountains—a forest of oak and rhododendron—to one of the most scenic landscapes in all of Bhutan, Phobjhika Valley. Herein lies Gangtey Monastery, established in 1613. One-hour hike through the forest to lunch at a farmhouse and then visit Khewa Temple (built in the 14th century) for private puja (ceremony) to bless the tour. Rainbow is a sponsor of this temple so interior photos are allowed—monks chanting, horns blaring, cymbals clashing, etc. Then visit the monastery's incense "factory."

Day 5 — Spring Itinerary – {date5s}

Phobjhika to Trongsa: Robin's favorite drive in Bhutan, through PeleLa Pass draped in prayer flags, dense forest, past a Nepalese-style chorten with smiling eyes, and dramatic rivers at the bottom of green gorges where no man has ever set foot because of the evil deities that reside there. At Trongsa visit the Dzong and Royal Museum and walk the quaint streets of the village.

Day 6 — Spring Itinerary – {date6s}

Trongsa to Domkhar: Via YotongLa Pass, destination Domkhar Village—many stops along the four-hour drive. Arrive Chumey Valley Nature Resort for lunch and two night stay, then each car visits a different farmhouse for tea, cultural exchange and explanation of Bhutanese life in a farmhouse. Then archery and kuru games with our guides and drivers against local villagers, then awards ceremony around a bonfire singing and dancing and drinking ara.

Day 7 — Spring Itinerary – {date7s}

Full day Domkhar Festival: Morning back to same farmhouses for breakfast and help kids get dressed up for the festival—this family will "adopt" you for the day. Then on to the Domkhar Festival where we are treated as royalty. Exclusively for our tour, photography allowed in the temple and colorful dressing room, lunch with the lama in his "skybox." Fun to explore the makeshift flea market adjacent to the temple and engage in games of chance.

Day 8 — Spring Itinerary – {date8s}

Domkhar to Jakar: Just an hour's drive from Domkhar we will stop at the local Yathra (cloth) handicraft co-op outlet. Then check into hotel and start to check off all of the interesting places to see in Bhumtang, the cultural and religious heartland of Bhutan. See full day itinerary for more details of these places.

Day 9 — Spring Itinerary – {date9s}

Jakar to Ugen Choling in the Tang Valley: Our journey is 20 miles, 13 miles of which is on a farm road with lots of farmhouse stops. We visit at a roadside nunnery at Bapzor village then drive to the very end of the road at Ugen Choling Guest House. If you choose to, you can take a one-hour hike over a suspension footbridge, through farm fields and cluster villages and up a "hill" to the mystical Ugyen Choling Palace where we will spend the night in the owner's guesthouse. Guides, drivers and farmers will have an archery and lawn dart competition with great prizes and an audience of village children. (Robin wrote a story on Ugyen Choling for Tashi Delek magazine, available on the Rainbow web site.)

Day 10 — Spring Itinerary – {date10s}

Tang Valley to Mongar: Only 200 foreign visitors a year venture beyond here. Spectacular white-knuckled eight-hour drive stopping whenever you like in villages, forests, and riversides. Lunch at a roadside restaurant, tea/coffee breaks wherever the scenery appeals to you—guide and driver at your service with folding chairs. The cars will "leap-frog" from cultural exchange to scenic overview, to "I need to find a bush!" bathroom breaks. Check into Mongar hotel for two nights.

Day 11 — Spring Itinerary – {date11s}

Full day touring Mongar: Start with attending opening assembly at Mongar High School and observe the singing of the national anthem and the national prayer. Break into couples and attend classrooms of your choice—you will be asked to lecture on your personal occupation. Then on to the primary school to be the guests of honor at their presentation of their annual program, used to raise money for their annual picnic. Visit classrooms and interact with students. Then an ancient temple where elderly spin huge prayer wheels and chant mantras, also known as an adult day care center. This temple is next to a Pre-K school and a visit there always brings smiles as the tiny students perform modern dance and songs for us. Cultural immersion at its best.

Day 12 — Spring Itinerary – {date12s}

Mongar to Trashigang: five-hour drive with plenty of stops--you are the captain of your ship. Lunch upon arrival at the hotel then sightseeing in Trashigang, the second largest city in Bhutan but a place where you will probably not see another foreign visitor.

Day 13 — Spring Itinerary – {date13s}

Trashigang to Phongmey and return: Exclusive full-day yak herder festival in courtyard of Phongmey Temple. The Brokpa people trek for two days to get to us! and bring all of their festival costumes including a two-man, four-legged yak. You will be asked to lend a hand in the serving line that feeds over a hundred Bhutanese villagers and yak herders. Photography allowed in temple, join in folk dancing. Second night in Trashigang.

Day 14 — Spring Itinerary – {date14s}

Flight from the nearby domestic airport in Yongphula to Paro: This flight above the clouds leaves at 10:00 a.m. and arrives in Paro at 11:40 after a brief stop in Gelephu or Bumthang. You will meet with new guides and drivers, they will be available for more Paro touring--some might want to make a quick run to Thimphu to see things they might have missed in the beginning. Dinner and overnight, NakSel Boutique Resort.

Day 15 — Spring Itinerary – {date15s}

Tiger's Nest: This will be just the fifth time the tour hikes to Tiger's Nest on day 15, heretofore we made the hike on day two because we did not return to Paro, we exited south through India. Something else that is new is a pre-dawn hike to Tiger's Nest to avoid the crowds and heat as we watch the morning light on Bhutan's most famous and scenic icon. After a one-and-a-half hour strenuous hike we will be served a hot picnic breakfast as we look across the chasm to young monks lighting morning incense fires at Taktsang Monastery, dubbed Tiger's Nest because of the legend associated with it. (The monastery opens at 9 a.m.) This very early hike will be made by just our group since the large fleet of tour buses don't start to arrive until around 9 a.m. On average, 1,000 tourists a day hike to Tiger's Nest--the parking lot is packed with buses, noisy tourists that scare off the birds, monkeys and goats and the glaring sun causes you to peel off clothing as the trail is not in a forest but rather out in the open. (Please see Robin's story on Tiger's Nest for Tashi Delek Magazine, the in-flight magazine for Royal Druk Air, posted on the Rainbow Photo Tours web site.)

Day 16 — Spring Itinerary – {date16s}

Departure Paro to Bangkok.

Next:  Start reading our incredible Spring Tour Itinerary from Day 1 all the way across Bhutan to Day 16! 

Have Questions? Please Email Robin!