Bhutan Wellness Retreat: Hot Springs, Spa & Mountain Yoga
Destination: Punakha
Duration: 7 days / 6 nights
Difficulty: Easy
Best season: Year-round
Seven slow days in Bhutan's thermal valleys — hot springs at Bumthang and Trongsa, herbal treatments, mountain yoga and enough silence to hear it.
Highlights
Geothermal hot springs at Bumthang and Trongsa
Traditional herbal hot stone bath in Punakha
Sunrise yoga above the Mo Chhu river
Three nights with nothing scheduled at all
What is included
Wellness practitioner and licensed guide throughout
Private vehicle and driver for all seven days
Six nights in spa lodges and one valley hotel
All breakfasts, lunches and dinners, vegetarian on request
Hot stone bath, herbal treatment and two traditional massages
Daily yoga and guided meditation sessions
All permits, SDF and spa treatments
Day-by-day itinerary
Day 1 — Arrival, and the first silence Paro to Thimphu, two hours, and a check-in designed around doing very little. The rest of the day is yours: a first session of mountain yoga on the terrace, an early dinner, and an early night. There is no itinerary pressure anywhere in the next seven days, and the schedule below is a suggestion yo…
Day 2 — Thimphu: herbal steam and mountain yoga A morning practice on the valley-facing terrace, with the view running from the capital's rooftops up to the ridge. The afternoon is a traditional Bhutanese herbal treatment: a warm poultice of juniper and local herbs steamed over the body, followed by a massage using mustard-seed oil, which is the…
Day 3 — Over Dochula to the thermal south The drive to Punakha over the Dochula Pass, arriving in a valley that is lower, warmer and softer than the capital. Punakha is where this journey is based for three nights. The afternoon is a walk on the Mo Chhu river path, flat and shaded, followed by a second treatment. Thermal water is the theme…
Day 4 — Punakha hot springs and a slow day The morning is given to the springs above Punakha, where the water runs hot from the hillside through a set of stone pools in a wooded gorge. Three hours, no agenda, no phones. Back in town for lunch, an afternoon nap, and evening yoga. Day four is intentionally the emptiest of the week; if you wan…
Day 5 — The long road to Bumthang Six to seven hours north by the old road through Thongla, over the Pichu Pass at 3,572 metres, and down into the Trongsa valley — the reason the day's length is justified. The hot springs at Trongsa are the reward at the end of it, a series of clear pools at the confluence that have been used for c…
Day 6 — Bumthang springs and the Golden Thumb The Bumthang hot springs, where the hot and cold rivers meet and you can stand in the current where one ends and the other begins. An afternoon that is either entirely free or a walk to Jakar Dzong, depending on what the week has done to you. Evening practice, then a farewell dinner in the valley.
Day 7 — Return and departure A last practice at dawn and a slow breakfast. An afternoon flight from Bathpalathang to Paro connects you with your onward travel; if the timing does not work, the road back to Thimphu is eleven hours and we would not suggest it. Depart from Paro.