Locked away towards the Eastern end of the Himalayas is this pristine country called Kingdom of Bhutan. Culturally Preserved and Happy are two terms that will define this country and its people best. In spite of its proximity to India, not many Indian tourists seem to be traveling to this country yet. And when planning my own travel, my first major agenda was to sort out my road entry to this country. After much research online over travel forums and blogs I was able to figure out my route plan. And I am sharing all details in one comprehensive piece for those who might be interested in travelling there.
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Indians DO NOT require any Bhutanese tour operator or any entry fee to travel this country. Only permits are required and those are issued free of cost by the Immigration authorities. However Indians do need to carry their passport or voter ID cards in original and in photocopy + couple of passport size photos. There are primarily two routes to enter: by Air or by Road.
a) By Air: Druk Air (Bhutan’s National Carrier) is the only airline operating out of Bhutan and has flights at regular intervals from New Delhi, Kolkata, Bagdogra, Kathmandu and Bangkok. Druk Air flies to Paro and immigration formalities are taken care of at airport itself. Indian citizens need to carry either their passports (preferred) or voter ID cards. The flight tickets are quite a bit on expensive side.
b) By Road: Entry to Bhutan is through border towns of Jaigaon (Indian side) and Phuentsholing (Bhutanese side). Depending where you are traveling from within India, routes mentioned below can be opted for.
i- Fly to Bagdogra, West Bengal. From airport itself hire a reserved taxi to Jaigaon which will cost approx Rs. 1900 and about 3 hours. The roads are bad but you will still get to glance at tea estates on flat lands.
ii- Fly to Bagdogra, West Bengal. From airport hire a taxi for Siliguri town and get off at its bus station, which will take you about 30 minutes (17 Kms). From bus stand, book a bus for Jaigaon which ofcourse does’nt cost more than Rs. 60 or so, but buses are quite rickety and to top it, as already mentioned above, roads are bad. Time taken by bus will also be about 3 to 3.5 hours.
iii- Train to New Jalpaiguri Jn., Siliguri, West Bengal. This railway station can also be reached from Bagdogra airport within 30 minutes by taxi as it is situated within city centres of Siliguri. From this station, there are regular passenger as well as reserved trains to Hasimara. The train ride takes approx 3 hrs and is very comfortable and cheap. But yes, you need extra time on hand to match the schedule of trains. Upon reaching Hasimara, one can take shared or reserved auto/ tempo to Jaigaon. Ask for Bhutan border in Jaigaon and Rs. 100 is enough to get entire auto/tempo reserved for you- ofcourse after negotiating, time taken will be about 25 mins. Below is the daily train schedule between New Jalpaiguri & Hasimara.
http://indiarailinfo.com/search/new-jalpaiguri-njp-to-hasimara-hsa/444/0/448
PERMITS TO TRAVEL IN BHUTAN
Jaigaon to Phuentsholing
Upon reaching Jaigaon, one can simply walk through the border gate to Phuentsholing. The gates are open only till about 10 pm in the night and one can walk through without any permits or paper work formality. If making a night halt at border town, it is advisable to stay in Phuentsholing instead of Jaigaon because of its cleanliness. Hotels are basic at both these border towns. Just walk around Phuentsholing and one can find hotels all around. On a comfortable side Hotel Druk is recommended, on budget basic side one can opt for Hotel Peljorling which is just opposite the Immigration Office.
Tourist Permit from Phuentsholing
Indian tourists do require Tourist Permit to travel beyond checkpost of Phuentsholing located a couple of kilomteres away from the border gate . The tourist permit is provided by the Immigration Office centre issuing permits, located in a building next to the petrol pump. The process is easy and hassle free. I’ts advisable to reach the office at 9:am sharp to avoid general rush. A photocopy of passport and one colored passport size photo needs to be submitted along with the filled permit form. After crosschecking details and taking your photograph through webcams, officials will ask you to collect the permits after 30 minutes to 2 hours- depending on how busy they are. Permits are issued ONLY for 7 days and ONLY allow you to visit Paro and Thimphu. Other areas of Bhutan fall under restricted zones for tourists and special route permits are required which are issued ONLY in Thimphu.
Phuentsholing to Thimphu
From Phuentsholing one can hire reserved taxi, shared taxi or equally comfortable shared mini buses (Japanese Costers) to Thimphu. Both stands are adjacent to each other and are 10 minutes walk away from Immigration Office. Reserved taxi will cost approx Rs. 2500, Shared taxi Rs. 500 and buses approx Rs. 240. Journey will take about 5.5 hours and ride is smooth and scenic with good road condition. On way to Thimphu, the permits are checked and stamped at two check points.
Route Permit from Thimphu
In Thimphu, yet again its advisable to reach the immigration office (opposite Taj Tashi Hotel) by 9: am Monday- Friday to avoid rush (weekends are off). If the planned travel in the country is for more than 7 days then first and foremost one needs to apply for extension of permit by filling and submitting a simple form along with the original permit issued in Phuentsholing. Once again, officials will ask you to come back in 1 hour or so. Once extended tourist permit is in hand, one can apply for Route Permit which allows travels in restricted areas beyond Paro and Thimphu. For route permit a photocopy of original ‘extended tourist permit’ will be submitted along with a form. And once again you will be asked to come back in about 1 hour. It is to be noted that there is no photocopier machine in the premises, so, one has to walk down a bit to the town to just get photocopies done.
This entire process of getting extended tourist permit followed by route permit is simple and friendly but does take away almost half of your day. So keep good 4-5 hours of a weekday morning in hand to get all this done.
Foreign Tourists other than Indian Nationals
It is mandatory for all foreign tourists to make bookings through a Bhutan based tour operator. They take care of stay, permits, travels, daily tourist fee etc.
Map
Here is also the most clear and large enough tourist map which which I could find on Internet. Link to download actual size (can be zoomed after downloading and saving): http://www.bhutangayul.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Bhutan-tourist-map.jpg
So this is pretty much the information required to travel to Bhutan via road from India and without any travel operator. It is simple and not as complicated as it all sounds. Moreover, once you are on the move things always start falling into place on their own.
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Richa Gupta is based in Mumbai, is an avid traveller and also passionate about writing and encouraging responsible and alternative travel ideas. After having worked in the fashion industry for over six years, she decided to quit and started with a little not-for-profit initiative to help people with travels which not only help support local culture, economy and environment but also offer life changing experiences. Her work and blog can be found at http://thebluedawn.com