Questions, answered.

Yes, and you do not apply yourself: we apply on your behalf, which is how it works for every visitor. We need a clear colour scan of your passport and a digital passport photograph, not the physical passport.

The fee is USD 40 per person, paid once, and it is not refundable. Approval usually comes back within five working days. Your visa clearance is issued before you fly and is checked on arrival at Paro or at the land border.

A nightly fee every visitor pays to the government, which funds free healthcare, free education and forest conservation. It is not our fee and we do not mark it up. It is already inside every price we quote.

• USD 100 per person per night for most visitors
• USD 50 per night for children aged 6 to 12
• Free for children of five and under
• Nu 1,200 per person per night for Indian nationals

Booking a trip after August 2027? The USD 100 rate is a discount on a statutory USD 200, and the discount is currently set to end on 31 August 2027. Nobody yet knows what replaces it. If you book a departure after that date we will say so in writing in your quote, and tell you exactly what happens to your price if the rate changes.

Yes. Bhutan introduced a 5% GST on 1 January 2026. It applies to hotels, guiding, transport, meals and activities, but not to the Sustainable Development Fee, the visa fee or your international airfare. It is already inside every price we quote you: Bhutanese law requires that a quoted price is the total price.

Two airlines fly into Paro: Drukair and Bhutan Airlines. Routes run from Bangkok, Delhi, Kathmandu, Kolkata, Dhaka, Guwahati, Singapore and Dubai, with seasonal services elsewhere. Most visitors from Europe, North America and Australia connect through Bangkok, Delhi or Singapore.

Paro has one runway in a steep valley and operates in daylight and good visibility only. In spring and autumn it runs close to capacity, so book the flight before the land package in peak season: in March and October the flights sell out before the hotels do. Tell us your dates and we will check availability before you commit to anything.

Coming from India by road, most visitors enter at Phuentsholing.

For autumn, six to nine months. For a festival, longer. For February or June, a few weeks is usually enough.

Yes. Travel insurance is not included and you should not travel without it. If you are trekking, check that your policy covers you to the altitude you will actually reach: the Druk Path crosses passes above 4,200 metres. We cannot refund your international airfare if weather closes Paro, so choose a policy that covers delays and missed connections.

Everything for the days you are here: the Sustainable Development Fee, hotels, all meals, transport, a licensed guide and a licensed driver, entry fees, and 5% GST.

Not included: international flights to Paro, travel insurance, alcohol, and anything you buy for yourself. The visa is a separate USD 40 per person, paid to the government when we apply for it; we do not mark it up. See what it costs.

No. Tell us your dates and we will come back with a real itinerary and a total price, usually within a day. No deposit until you are happy with it.

A 25% deposit confirms your dates and lets us apply for your visa. The balance is due 30 days before you arrive. For bookings made inside 30 days, the full amount is due on confirmation.

You can pay by card, from an invoice we email you, by bank transfer to our account at Bhutan National Bank, or through Wise. Non-Indian visitors pay in US dollars; Indian nationals pay in Indian rupees. How to pay.

Yes. Solo travellers pay a supplement, because the vehicle, guide and driver cost the same for one as for four. We will tell you what it is before you decide.

Tell us as early as you can: we will always try to move your dates rather than cancel them, and moving a booking costs nothing if you tell us more than 30 days out. If you do cancel:

• More than 60 days before arrival: full refund less USD 150 per person and the USD 40 visa fee, which the government does not return
• 60 to 30 days: 75% refunded
• 29 to 10 days: 50% refunded
• 9 to 2 days: 25% refunded
• Within 48 hours, or no-show: no refund

The Sustainable Development Fee is refunded in full by the government for any night you do not stay, at every stage, and we pass that straight back to you. The full terms are in our cancellation policy.

You receive a 100% refund, including the deposit. That is the law and we agree with it. If we know in advance that we cannot deliver part of what we agreed, we will tell you without delay, say what we propose instead, and let you decide whether to accept it, take a fair reduction, or cancel without a fee.

Paro closes in poor visibility and domestic flights are cancelled more often than people expect. Where a delay or cancellation is outside anyone's control, you may move your dates at no additional charge, subject to availability. Where it happens four or more days before your trip, you may take a full refund of the agreed tour cost instead.

We cannot refund your international airfare or compensate for onward flights you miss, which is the strongest argument for travel insurance and for not booking a tight connection out of Paro. Full terms.

Yes. A licensed Bhutanese guide accompanies you: it is a legal requirement, not an upsell, and one guide is assigned per vehicle. We hire licensed guides for each journey and pay them Nu 3,000 a day, the full licensed rate. A good deal of the industry does not pay it, and the difference shows.

For the cultural journeys, no. The one walk people worry about is Taktsang, and there are horses for the first stretch. Tell us honestly what you can manage and we will build around it. The Druk Path Trek is different: four days of walking at altitude.

The currency is the ngultrum (Nu), pegged one-to-one with the Indian rupee, and Indian rupees are accepted almost everywhere. Cards work in hotels and larger shops in Thimphu and Paro and almost nowhere else, and ATMs are limited and not always stocked.

Because your tour is paid in advance, you need cash only for tips, drinks and anything you buy for yourself. Bring a few hundred dollars and change it on arrival.

Wifi is in every hotel, and it is mostly fine. Mobile data works in the valleys and stops on the passes.

Before you travel you will have the name and mobile number of the guide who will meet you, and a number that reaches a person in Bhutan for the whole time you are here. Tell your guide first: most things can be fixed the same day. If that does not resolve it, write to us and we will reply within one working day with what we intend to do. If you are still not satisfied, the Department of Tourism mediates between visitors and licensed operators, and we will give you its details. How we handle complaints.