A Travel Guide To "THIMPHU"
About Thimphu
Known for its breathtaking natural beauty and unique culture, Thimphu is the administrative capital and largest city of the scenic kingdom of Bhutan. Being the most modern city of Bhutan with numerous restaurants, cafes, nightclubs and shopping centres, Thimphu has retained its cultural identity. The presence of spirituality in the air blends well with the Buddhist traditions, and fills the atmosphere with serenity. The cultural focus remains on maintaining traditions in every aspect of life here. \n\nThimphu is credited as the only capital city in the world that does not use traffic light system. Bhutan has a lot of religious sites and places of heritage to visit such as the Buddha Dordenma Statue, Tashichho Dzong monastery and fortress, the National Memorial Chorten, National Folk Heritage Museum, National Textile Museum, Changangkha Lhakhang monastery, Motithang Takin Preserve and a host of other sites. Most of the tourism revolves around the holy sites of Buddhism, both modern and ancient ones. However, nature related tours, treks, hikes and trail walking are very popular here as well due to the natural beauty of the surrounding areas of Thimpu and the region in general.
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Best Time To Visit Thimphu
Surrounded by hills of the Himalayan mountain range on all sides and situated high up in the mountains, it has a temperate climate. Winters can be very cold with temperatures regularly plunging below zero. The best time to visit is thus the warmer months of summer, from March to May. Thimphu also receives a lot of rainfall during the monsoon reason from late May to August and can be disruptive for travel. Another window before Winter is autumn or fall, from September to November and is also a busy tourist season.
- How To Reach Thimphu
- By Flight -Thimphu has a very hilly terrain which doesn’t allow the city to have an airport. The closest airport is the Paro International airport. This also happens to be the only international airport in the country. Paro is serviced primarily by Druk Air, the state owned airline. Druk Air has routes to and from Bagdogra, Bangkok-Suvarnabhumi, Delhi, Dhaka, Singapore, Kathmandu, Guwahati, Kolkata, Mumbai, among others. It has domestic destinations within Bhutan as well, like Gelephu and Jakar. Bhutan Airlines, a privately owned airline started operations to and from some of the same routes as mentioned above. Another charter airline that services this airport is Buddha air which runs services from Kathmandu only.
Nearest Airport: The nearest airport by distance is the Paro International Airport in the city of Paro, which is about 52 Kilometers away.
Safety Suggestion: Paro is located in hilly terrain and allows aircraft operations under visual conditions only. Night landing facilities are not available here and flights only operate here during the day time. Inclement weather during the monsoons may cause some turbulence but this has never resulted in any mishaps and is safe to travel to.- -------------------------------------------------------------
- By Bus Thimphu is well connected by buses, especially from the cities across the border in India. Bhutan government runs buses from the Esplanade depot in Kolkata to Phuentsholing which takes about a day and costs around 400 rupees. Another popular route is from Siliguri to Phuentsholing that takes about 6 hours. Phuentsholing is a compulsory stopover and buses have to be changed from here. Bhutan government has buses from Siliguri to Phuentsholing as well along with local private operators. Another option to reach Phuentsholing by bus is from the Hashimara station which is only a few kilometers away. Buses for Thimphu leave every half an hour from Phuentsholing after the entry procedure formalities are completed by the visitors and necessary permits obtained from the Bhutan government officials.
Journey Suggestion: Taxis or cars can be availed to Phuentsholing from Kolkata, Siliguri or any of the local towns within the Indian border. However, barring some of the national or state highways, road conditions can be quite treacherous and may slow the journey down due to repair work or patchy roads. The road conditions from Phuentsholing to Thimphu are quite good. 
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