Eastern Circuit: Trashigang, Lhaki & the Wild East
Destination: Trashigang & the Eastern Circuit
Duration: 9 days / 8 nights
Difficulty: Moderate
Best season: Mar 2027 — May 2027
Nine days through Bhutan's least-visited valley, from the Lhaki plain to Trashigang Dzong, with village homestays and a dawn on the Aru range.
Highlights
Lhaki plain at the edge of Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Park
Trashigang Dzong, one of the largest fortresses in the country
Kharchu and Ritsha Ha gorges and the roads that cross them
Two nights of village homestay in the east
What is included
Licensed guide and private vehicle with an experienced eastern driver
Eight nights in a mix of heritage lodges and village homestays
All breakfasts, lunches and dinners, including homestay meals
All permits, SDF, entry fees and the Lhaki park fee
Community visit arranged in Ritsha Ha village
Airport transfers and all internal road transfers
Day-by-day itinerary
Day 1 — Fly to Bumthang The eastern circuit is a long road, so you start at the top of it: a flight from Paro to Bathpalathang, landing above the Bumthang valley. The afternoon is spent walking out to Jakar and around the base of the dzong, which is as good an introduction to the east as any — this is where the old roads…
Day 2 — Over the passes to Lhaki A long driving day east over the road's high points, climbing through the forests of the Bumthang valley and over the passes that separate it from the Lhaki plain. The landscape changes noticeably as you go: drier, more open, more pine, fewer farms, and eventually no farms at all. You reach Lhaki a…
Day 3 — Dawn on the Aru range The reason to be in Lhaki is the light. Before dawn you walk up behind the town for the view east across the Aru range, a wall of peaks that catches the first light while everything below is still in shadow. Then a slow morning, the Lhakpa temple above the town, and an afternoon walking the Lhaki p…
Day 4 — Chorten La to Trashigang Down and across the Chorten La into the Trashigang valley, and the change in temperature is dramatic. The road runs along the slope above the river through pine forest, with the great S-shaped Trashigang Dzong visible for much of the approach. Arrive in the late afternoon, in time to walk into the…
Day 5 — Trashigang Dzong and the eastern market A full day in the largest town in eastern Bhutan. The dzong is unusual: built in 1679 and shaped like an S to follow the ridge, with watchtowers at four corners rather than the two of most dzongs. You walk its length, then the town itself — the market on the main square, and the shopfronts, which a…
Day 6 — Radi and the far valley Into the villages south and east of Trashigang: Radi, the weaving village with its small museum, and Khuruthang, a scattered settlement in a wide valley. This is Bhutan at its quietest — farm roads, terraced fields, children walking to school, and almost no other visitors in the entire valley. Most…
Day 7 — The road to the Tawang border The southern leg of the circuit, following the road toward the border at Samdrup Jongkhar. The landscape here is broad and dry, with the low forest and orange soils of the far south, quite unlike anything in the west. You will not reach the border post, but the road runs close enough to see the ten…
Day 8 — Return north The long return leg north through Trashigang and back up to the Bumthang valley, a full day of driving with two or three stops. Fly back to Bathpalathang in the late afternoon if the schedule allows, which turns tomorrow's return into an hour rather than eleven.
Day 9 — Departure Flight from Bathpalathang to Paro to connect with your onward travel. If you would rather extend the circuit, the Tawang road is the obvious place to add two or three days, and we can arrange it.