Eight days in the Golden Thumb of the Kingdom for the two-day Jakar Tsechu, the most widely celebrated festival in Bumthang.
Highlights
Two full days of cham dances at the Jakar Tsechu
The thongdrel of Guru Rinpoche on the main festival day
Kurjey Lhakhang, three temples on a single cliff
Ura valley, the quietest of the Bumthang valleys
What is included
Licensed festival guide and a local festival host
Private vehicle for all eight days
Seven nights in heritage lodges, festival-week Jakar rooms held
All breakfasts, lunches and dinners
All permits, SDF and entry fees
Reserved seating at the cham dances and the kora
Airport transfers and a farewell blessing in Bumthang
Day-by-day itinerary
Day 1 — Paro to Thimphu Arrival and the drive east to the capital, two hours across the Chhuzom junction. The afternoon is left open because you are going to be spending three days watching masked dances and will want the first one to be something ordinary. Thimphu in late autumn is clear and cold and empty, and a good pl…
Day 2 — The old road to Bumthang The single longest drive in the country: seven hours from Thimphu through Thongla, over the Pichu Pass at 3,572 metres, and down the Trongsa valley into Bumthang. Stops at Ta Dzong in Trongsa and the hot springs if you want to break it, and you arrive in the Golden Thumb by late afternoon. This roa…
Day 3 — The Bumthang valley A day of orientation before the tshechu begins. Jakar Dzong, where the festival will be held; Jamba Lhakhang, the 7th-century salt-and-butter temple upstream; and the walk across the old bridge to M Bumthang, the village that gives the valley its name. The afternoon is for finding the courtyard whe…
Day 4 — Jakar Tshechu — first day The first day of the tshechu, and the day the maskers appear at the courtyard of Jakar Dzong. The cham dances run through the morning and early afternoon, with a break at midday and a second round of dances for the older maskers later in the day. Bhutanese tshechu dates follow the lunar calendar, s…
Day 5 — Jakar Tshechu — second day The second day brings a different programme, with different maskers and the great slow dances at the end of the afternoon. Bumthang's tshechu is the widest-attended in the kingdom and the least choreographed for visitors: the dances are religious, not theatrical, and the crowd is mostly families fr…
Day 6 — Jakar Tshechu — third day The final day, which includes the procession of the maskers through the streets of Jakar in the early morning and the burning of the ceremonial structure at the close. After that the valley exhales, and the afternoon is yours: the Kurjey Lhakhang cliffs above the road, a walk to the hot springs at…
Day 7 — The Golden Thumb at your pace A day in Bumthang valley proper, unhurried and unstructured. The Sh brewery above town makes a genuinely good pale ale from Himalayan barley and is worth the detour; the apple orchards at Pema Ling are a two-hour walk above Jakar; the Pangdatsang weaving centre has been producing kira textiles in t…
Day 8 — Departure Flight from Bathpalathang to Paro to connect with your onward travel. If you have room in your schedule for a night in Thimphu, the road is seven hours and we can add it; otherwise the flight is the sensible way out of this valley.