Tailor-made journeys through Bhutan
Dzong House
Named for the whitewashed fortress-monasteries that have kept Bhutan’s faith, culture and government for centuries, we open the kingdom to a small number of thoughtful travellers and look after every detail inside. One dedicated specialist. A Bhutanese partner operator and local guides. From the first message to the day you fly home.
Featured journeys
Wellness in Bhutan
Bhutan measures its wealth in happiness. Spend a week learning how: morning meditation with monks, river-stone baths heated over pine fires, long silent walks through rhododendron forest, and a traditional medicine consultation in Thimphu that begins with your pulse.
Wellness
Hot stone baths, monastery mornings, mindful hikes and traditional medicine, woven into any journey or made the whole point of one.
Culture
Dzongs still house monks and ministers. Festivals still fill courtyards. Your guide was born here, and introduces you properly.
Responsible travel
Every night in Bhutan carries a Sustainable Development Fee. It pays for free healthcare, free education and the forests that cover most of the country. We include it in every price.
Upcoming
Tshechus follow the lunar calendar, so dates shift each year. Those below are typical months; we confirm exact dates as the Royal Government publishes them.
February / MarchPunakha
The Drubchen re-enacts the seventeenth-century defeat of Tibetan invaders: local militia in battle dress, the pazaps, storm the dzong courtyard with swords and shouts before the Zhabdrung's relic is carried in procession to the river. The Tshechu that follows brings three days of masked cham dances beneath the walls where the rivers meet, in the warmest valley in the kingdom and at the end of the monks' winter residence.
March / AprilParo
Bhutan's best-known festival, held since the seventeenth century in honour of Guru Rinpoche. Monks and laymen in brocade and carved masks dance the cham: the Black Hat dance, the Dance of the Lords of the Cremation Grounds, the Judgement of the Dead. Before dawn on the final day a vast thongdrel of Guru Rinpoche is unfurled down the dzong wall and rolled away before the sun can touch it. Simply seeing it is said to cleanse the sins of a lifetime.
April / MayUra, Bumthang
A village festival in one of the highest and most beautiful valleys in Bumthang, centred on a sacred relic kept by one Ura family and carried in procession to the temple, where it is displayed for the blessing of the valley. Cham dances fill the courtyard, the women of Ura wear their sheepskin shawls, and the whole village feasts. Small, local and very far from the crowds of Paro.
JulyHaa
A celebration of the valley's nomadic and farming life rather than a religious tshechu: yak herders bring their animals down, there is archery and khuru darts, folk songs and dances, home-brewed ara and a long table of Haa dishes such as hoentay dumplings. Visitors can try the local sports, taste everything and walk out into the high pastures with the herders.
September / OctoberThimphu
The capital's great festival, the largest gathering in the kingdom, when thousands fill the ground beside Tashichho Dzong in their finest silks. Monks and lay dancers from the central monastic body perform the full cycle of cham over three days, with atsaras working the crowd, and the days end with picnics on the hillside. The Drubchen in the days before brings quieter, more esoteric dances inside the dzong.
October / NovemberBumthang
One of the most atmospheric festivals in the country, held at a seventh-century temple. By day there are cham dances in the courtyard; on the first night comes the Mewang, when the crowd runs beneath a blazing gate of pine branches for purification, and later the Tercham, a sacred naked dance performed by masked men in the dark to bless the fields and the fertility of the valley.
NovemberPhobjikha
A conservation festival rather than a tshechu, held since 1998 to welcome the cranes back to the valley. Schoolchildren in crane costumes perform the crane dance, there are masked dances, songs and environmental plays, and the valley's farmers sell potatoes, cheese and woven goods. The cranes themselves feed in the marsh below, and the morning before the festival is the best time to watch them.
November / DecemberTrashigang
The great festival of the east, when the Brokpa herders of Merak and Sakteng walk down in their black yak-felt hats and red jackets to join the Sharchop farmers of the valley in the dzong's single courtyard. Cham dances by day, a thongdrel unfurled at dawn on the final morning, and a warmth and intimacy that the big western festivals no longer have. Very few foreign visitors.
Dates are placeholders to verify yearly against the official calendar.
Offers
Experiences
Lodge circuit · 10 nights
We arrange your guide, driver, routes, and every detail in between. You arrange nothing but your gaze.
Stays
Placeholder names until partner agreements are signed. Every price is per person per night, all-in.
Journal
Letters from the kingdom
