Sarpang
Southern Bhutan

Sarpang

Grassland and river country beside Royal Manas, where the kingdom now imagines its future city.

Altitude 300 m at Gelephu Best season November to March Worth 1 to 2 nights Getting there Southern gateway at Gelephu; domestic airport

Sarpang is where Bhutan touches the great grasslands — elephant and hornbill country along the buffer of Royal Manas National Park, the kingdom’s oldest protected place.

Gelephu, its main town, has been chosen as the site of the Gelephu Mindfulness City, the kingdom’s most ambitious project — a future gateway conceived on Bhutanese terms. For now the district remains warm, green and lightly travelled: sal forest, tea gardens, rivers loosening onto the plain.

Watch this space, as the saying goes — but see it while it is still mostly birdsong.

While You Are Here

Things worth your time

  1. 01 The edge of Royal Manas Bhutan's oldest national park — elephants, hornbills and, deep within, tigers that walk from the plains to the snowline.
  2. 02 Gelephu's warm rivers The Mao Chhu and its channels braid onto the plain — winter picnic country for the whole town.
  3. 03 Tea and sal forest Plantation walks under giant trees, an hour from the border.

Sarpang holds its tshechu each winter on the warm southern plain. See festival dates

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