Jambay Lhakhang Drup Festival Tour

Your guide meets you at the airport and we drive to Thimphu. After lunch we visit the National Memorial Chorten and the Buddha Dordenma.

We visit the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, where mask carving is one of the thirteen arts taught, and then the Textile Museum and Changangkha Lhakhang. Tashichho Dzong opens once the offices close.

Late autumn usually gives a clear view from Dochu La. We come down to Punakha, where the rice harvest is under way, and visit Chimi Lhakhang and Punakha Dzong.

We drive up to Phobjikha and visit Gangtey Goenpa. The black-necked cranes arrive from Tibet at about this time of year, and we walk down to the edge of the marsh in the late afternoon to look for them.

We cross Pele La, stop at Trongsa for the dzong and lunch, and reach Bumthang in the late afternoon.

After dinner we go to Jambay Lhakhang for the first evening of the festival. For the Mewang, a gateway of dry grass is set alight on open ground near the temple and people run through it, in the belief that the fire cleanses them of misfortune. You can watch from a safe distance or join in. The Tercham comes later, at midnight. Photography of it is forbidden, and we ask you to respect that.

We return to Jambay Lhakhang in the morning for the masked dances, performed in the courtyard a few metres from where you sit. Villagers from across the valley come in their best clothes and stay for the day.

In the afternoon we walk on to Kurjey Lhakhang and cross the river to Tamshing Lhakhang.

A quieter day. We drive into the Tang valley to see Mebar Tsho, the Burning Lake, and walk up to the manor house and museum at Ogyen Choling. If you would rather see more of the festival, we stay in the Chokhor valley instead. In 2027 a second festival, the Prakhar Duchhoed in the Chumey valley, is listed for the same days.

The flight to Paro takes about 25 minutes. In the afternoon we visit the National Museum and Rinpung Dzong.

We walk up to Taktsang in the morning and visit Kyichu Lhakhang in the afternoon. Kyichu and Jambay Lhakhang are said to have been built on the same day in the 7th century, so the trip ends where its story began.

Your guide and driver take you to the airport after breakfast.