Travel style · Bhutan
Homestays and villages in Bhutan
Sleep in the hive itself
Homestays are the Himalaya's best value and its best way in: Ladakhi kitchens, Spiti mud houses, Kumaoni stone homes, Lepcha villages in Dzongu, Apatani homes in Ziro. Simple rooms, home food, money that stays in the valley.
Photo: PgyamtshoBT · CC0 · CommonsA homestay is a room in a family home, with meals from the family kitchen. Expect clean, simple rooms, often a shared or outside bathroom in the high valleys, and food made from what the village grows.
Bhutan is a Himalayan kingdom of about 38,394 sq km where every valley is run from a dzong and every tourist pays a nightly Sustainable Development Fee. Indians pay ₹1,200 a night and can drive in from Siliguri via Phuentsholing; most other visitors pay USD 100 and fly into Paro. Go March–May or late September–November.
Trips
Homestays and villages trips in Bhutan
Photo: Christopher J. Fynn · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Comfort
Central Bhutan to Bumthang, 12 nights
Private car with driver
Photo: Afifa Afrin · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Saver
Bhutan saver with Phobjikha farmhouse, 7 nights
Shared jeep or bus to Jaigaon, then shared vehicle with licensed guide
3 places
Where to go
Photo: PgyamtshoBT · CC0 · Commons
Bumthang (Jakar)
Four valleys of temples, buckwheat and yathra wool
Photo: Christopher J. Fynn · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Haa
Over Chele La to a quiet valley of white and black temples
Photo: Phuentsho · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Phobjikha (Gangtey)
A glacial bowl where black-necked cranes spend the winter
Experiences
Days that fit the style
Photo: Christopher J. Fynn · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Jambay to Kurjey: the temple walk of Choekhor
A gentle 3–4 km walk up the Choekhor valley linking Jambay Lhakhang, Kurjey Lhakhang and, across a footbridge, Tamshing…
Photo: Doctor 17 · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Membartsho, the Burning Lake in Tang valley
A short drive and a five-minute walk lead to a deep pool in the Tang Chhu gorge, revered as the place where Pema Lingpa…
Photo: Prof Ranga Sai · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Buckwheat kitchen and yathra looms
Learn how Bumthang feeds and dresses itself: a farmhouse session making puta buckwheat noodles and khuli pancakes, then…
Photo: Mario Biondi writer · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Chele La ridge walk at sunrise
Stop at Bhutan's highest road pass, 3,988 m, and walk along the prayer-flag ridge for views of Jomolhari and the Paro a…
Photo: Leovdvxxx · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Lhakhang Karpo, Nagpo and the three brother hills
Visit the White and Black temples at the foot of Miri Punsum, the three brother hills that guard Haa, and hear how a lo…
Photo: Bhutanese_hemadatsi_and_rice.JPG: ShashiBellam… · CC BY 2.0 · Commons
Make hoentoe in a Haa farmhouse
Spend an evening in a Haa farmhouse kitchen learning to fold hoentoe, buckwheat dumplings stuffed with turnip leaves, c…
Photo: Sumeetmoghe · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Dawn crane watching on the Phobjikha marsh
Watch black-necked cranes leave their night roost and spread across the marsh to feed, calling as they go. Start at the…
Photo: Christopher J Fynn · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Gangtey Goenpa and the nature trail
Visit the 1613 monastery on its spur above the valley, then walk the Gangtey nature trail down through pine forest and …
Where to sleep
Stays in these places
Photo: Christopher J. Fynn · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Commons
Budget
Haa valley farmhouse homestays
Registered family homestays in the villages of the Haa valley, in traditional rammed-earth and timber farmhouses. …
Photo: Phuentsho · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Budget
Phobjikha valley farmhouse stays
Registered farmhouse stays scattered around the Phobjikha valley floor and Gangtey village, a short walk from the …
Photo: PgyamtshoBT · CC0 · Commons
Budget
Swiss Guest House, Jakar
A farmhouse-style guesthouse on a hillside a few minutes above Jakar, one of Bumthang's first places for foreign t…
Photo: Phuentsho · CC BY-SA 4.0 · Commons
Mid
Dewachen Hotel, Gangtey
A 16-room lodge in traditional Bhutanese style at the edge of the Phobjikha valley, near Gangtey village and the B…
Homestays and villages elsewhere