Optional Experiences

Experiences & Activities

Beyond the monasteries and mountain views, Bhutan offers a quieter kind of discovery. Browse, save what speaks to you, and send your wishlist to Kinley. She will design and price your private journey within 24 hours.

Hands-on & Local Life

Ara Making Experience

Three to five hours in a farmhouse, distilling Bhutan's traditional grain spirit by wood fire.

  • Duration 3 to 5 hours
  • Region Paro, Thimphu
  • Advance booking
Active & Outdoor

Archery Experience

An hour or two with a local archery team, who will tease you and cheer you in equal measure.

  • Duration 1 to 2 hours
  • Region Paro, Thimphu, Haa
Cultural & Contemplative

Astrology Reading

An hour with a Bhutanese astrologer. Specific, sometimes uncomfortable, remembered.

  • Duration 1 hour
  • Region Thimphu
  • Advance booking
Hands-on & Local Life

Bhutanese Cooking Experience

Three to four hours in a Bhutanese kitchen, where chillies are vegetables and butter goes on everything.

  • Duration 3 to 4 hours
  • Region Thimphu, Punakha
  • Advance booking
Cultural & Contemplative

Cleansing Ritual

A traditional cleansing ritual at a small Thimphu monastery, arranged discreetly.

  • Duration 1 hour
  • Region Thimphu
  • Advance booking
Hands-on & Local Life

Farmhouse Meal

A home cooked meal grown on the family's own land, in a farmhouse.

  • Duration 2 to 3 hours
  • Region Paro, Punakha, Phobjikha
  • Advance booking
Cultural & Contemplative

Festival Access

Guided access to whichever tshechu falls during your trip, with a guide explaining the dances as they happen.

  • Duration Half day to full day
  • Region Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, Bumthang, Phobjikha, Haa, Eastern Bhutan, Southern Bhutan
  • Advance booking
Active & Outdoor

Fly Fishing — Trout & Mahseer

A day on a glacial river casting for trout, or the south for mahseer.

  • Duration Full Day
  • Region Haa, Southern Bhutan
  • Advance booking
Cultural & Contemplative

Guided Meditation Session

An hour of guided meditation with a practising monk, in a temple or quiet hall.

  • Duration 1 to 2 hours
  • Region Thimphu
  • Advance booking
Active & Outdoor

Helicopter Picnic

Land in a highland, picnic where there is no road, fly home before sunset.

  • Duration Half Day
  • Region Paro, Thimphu, Punakha
  • Advance booking
Active & Outdoor

Helicopter Scenic Ride

Fifteen to forty five minutes above Bhutan's valleys and dzongs, weather permitting.

  • Duration 15 to 45 minutes
  • Region Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, Bumthang, Phobjikha, Haa, Eastern Bhutan, Southern Bhutan
  • Advance booking
Active & Outdoor

Helicopter Trek Connection

Fly in to a remote trek end-point. Walk the part that matters. Fly out.

  • Duration Half day to full day
  • Region Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, Bumthang
Active & Outdoor

Horse Riding

On a mountain horse through Bumthang's pines or Phobjikha's marshes.

  • Duration 1 to 3 hours
  • Region Bumthang, Phobjikha
Cultural & Contemplative

Hot Stone Bath

The way to loosen tired legs after Tiger's Nest, a private wooden bath in Paro, heated by red hot stones and scented with wild Artemisia.

  • Duration About 1 hour
  • Region Paro, Thimphu, Phobjikha
  • Advance booking
Cultural & Contemplative

Mandala Painting Experience

A quiet morning at a thangka teacher's table in Paro, painting one petal of one lotus.

  • Duration 2 to 4 hours
  • Region Paro
  • Advance booking
Cultural & Contemplative

Monastery Stay

A night inside a Himalayan monastery, at 3,000 or 3,600 metres, arranged well in advance.

  • Duration Overnight
  • Region Thimphu, Bumthang
  • Advance booking
Active & Outdoor

Mountain Biking

A day on a bike through pine forests, paddy terraces, or the open valley of Phobjikha.

  • Duration Full Day
  • Region Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, Phobjikha
  • Advance booking
Active & Outdoor

Riverside Picnic

Half a day by a river with a Bhutanese picnic, a flat rock, and time.

  • Duration Half day
  • Region Paro, Punakha
Cultural & Contemplative

School or College Campus Visit

An hour or two in a Bhutanese school during term, with children, questions, and tea.

  • Duration 1 to 2 hours
  • Region Paro, Thimphu
  • Advance booking
Cultural & Contemplative

Sound Healing

An hour with Tibetan singing bowls and chanting. You lie down. The bowls do the work.

  • Duration 1 hour
  • Region Paro, Thimphu
  • Advance booking
Cultural & Contemplative

Talk on Gross National Happiness

An hour with a Bhutanese researcher on Gross National Happiness, beyond the postcard version.

  • Duration 1 hour
  • Region Thimphu
  • Advance booking
Cultural & Contemplative

Traditional Bhutanese Doctor Consultation

An hour with a Sowa Rigpa traditional doctor in Thimphu or Paro, including pulse reading and herbs if needed.

  • Duration 1 hour
  • Region Paro, Thimphu
  • Advance booking
Active & Outdoor

Whitewater Rafting

Two to four hours on the cold, silver Mo Chhu river in Punakha.

  • Duration 2 to 4 hours
  • Region Punakha
Cultural & Contemplative

Yoga

An hour of yoga in a quiet Thimphu studio, at your own pace.

  • Duration 1 hour
  • Region Thimphu
  • Advance booking