SJ town
Southern Bhutan

Samdrup Jongkhar

The southeastern door — where journeys through the whole kingdom step down onto the plain.

Altitude 200 m Best season November to March Worth 1 night in passing Getting there Border exit toward Guwahati, India

Every great east west journey through Bhutan ends, if it is honest, in Samdrup Jongkhar — the warm border town where the Himalaya finally lets go.

The district is the traditional exit for travellers who have crossed the whole kingdom: from here, Guwahati’s airport in Assam is a few hours across the plain. The town itself is a friendly trading place of momo shops and last purchases; the hills behind it hold craft workshops and quiet monasteries that most departing travellers never think to ask about.

Leave a morning spare. Endings deserve better than a rush for the gate.

While You Are Here

Things worth your time

  1. 01 The last morning market Buy the chillies and the dried cheese you now know how to use.
  2. 02 Dewathang and its workshops Craft and monastic schools in the hills above town — the east's quiet institutions.
  3. 03 The border crossing itself Stamp, gate, plain — and the strange weight of leaving a kingdom that measures wealth differently.

Samdrup Jongkhar Tshechu closes the festival year in the warm southeast. See festival dates

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