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Travel with Darter Photography on an unforgettable photography tour to Bhutan! We take you to the mystic land, known for its beautiful mountains, gurgling rivers, rice fields, happy people and Buddhist monastic traditions.
Bhutan’s mountainous landscapes, river valleys, summer slopes filled with colourful flowers and the charming traditional culture come together to provide photography opportunities like nowhere else. The slow pace of life in Bhutan will charm you. On this mentored photography tour, you will make some amazing images of a week well-spent in this Himalayan kingdom!
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Darter ‘HIMALAYAN EXPERIENCES’ are photography holidays in the picturesque Himalayan highlands with rich immersive experiences of landscapes and culture. -
Tour Dates
May 04-11, 2024
Tour Price – ₹ 1,49,950(Shared Occupancy)Group Size “8” Pax Only (Trip Full)
Jump to section ◆ Itinerary ◆ Tour Highlights ◆ Is this tour for you? ◆ Tour Price ◆ Tour Mentor ◆ Detailed Itinerary ◆ Sign Up
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Bhutan photos and stories on our blog
Here is a collection of stories and photos from Bhutan by participants and mentors of this tour.
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Bhutan Photo Tour – Testimonials
Here is what people on this tour had to say about their experience:
This was a fabulous trip for us and probably the most engrossing where we learnt a lot on photography. At the end of the day it was really worth it!! Hats off to you and your team for putting this together. – Prashant K
the arrangements were fantastic and you are a great resource person to teach photography – Jyotsna B
My experience was completely super, and I would most definitely be looking out for more tours in the near future. The organisation was close to flawless, and you evidently had lots of information on the place which helped us get great pictures. I cant imagine too many people who would have had your level of preparedness. – Priya E
It was a very enjoyable trip and a wonderful learning experience – Ashish G
Beautiful landscapes of Bhutan
Images of Bhutan
Below are images of Bhutan, from the location we visit during this tour. Click on any photo to see larger version.
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The magnificent Paro Dzong, Bhutan
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A monk in Bhutan
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Tiger’s Nest Monastery, Bhutan
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Young monks play football, Bhutan.
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Rural Bhutan – stupa and prayer flags
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Landscapes of Bhutan
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Punakha Dzong, Bhutan
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A Buddhist monk in Bhutan
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Thimphu Dzong, Bhutan
Bhutan Photography Tour – Dates & Itinerary –
The itinerary below begins from Paro, the airport in Bhutan where you can fly into. Scroll down to see an option to arrive in Bagdogra/Siliguri in India and travel by road to Paro. Go to ‘reaching Paro‘ section below for more information on reaching Paro,
Dates: May 04 to 11, 2024.
Travel by road from Bagdogra
If air tickets to Paro (Bhutan) get sold out, you may also opt to do the journey by road from Bagdogra (India). This itinerary begins two days earlier and ends one day later than the above itinerary. Travel and stay during the trip will be charged extra on actual.
Bhutan Tour Highlights
Learning Photography with Darter
Every Darter Photography Tour is led by an experienced professional photographer, who has a good understanding of the region and photography opportunities. Throughout the tour, your photography mentor will assist you to learn photography on and off the field. The mentor will help improve your technique and composition skills. All our tours include several mentoring activities which include:
With these programs, every photography enthusiast on the tour will go back with beautiful images in their camera, and a lot of experiential learning.
With limited number of participants on our tours, we will ensure that every participant gets individual time with the mentor. This ensures that no matter what is your expertise in photography – a beginner or a regular photographer – you will go back with plenty of learning from our tours.
Is This Tour For You?
This tour is intended for amateur as well as serious photography enthusiasts, who have an interest to visit and photograph the beauty of Bhutan. No prior expertise or experience in photography is necessary, as our photography mentor will be there to assist you at every level. You may carry any camera, like a simple aim-and-shoot or a DSLR. Travel enthusiasts, who are not photographers but keen to experience the multiple facets of Bhutan, can also benefit from the tour.
Can I bring my non-photographer partner with me?
Yes, you can. We visit many beautiful places in Bhutan. Having a good time during the trip is as much on the agenda as photography is. Your partner will enjoy the journey with the group.
I am not a keen photographer. But I want to visit Bhutan with your group. Can I still join?
You can. The answer is exactly same as in the case of previous question. We visit many beautiful places in Bhutan, and having a good time during the trip is as much on the agenda as photography is.
Is there a lot of walking or trekking involved? Is this a difficult tour? What is the fitness level required?
Not really. We will be travelling in Bhutan in four-wheelers. All the places we are going to are connected by road. We will be doing a few short hikes that are easy to moderate level of difficulty. A basic level of fitness is good to have. The trip is meant to be easy on your legs.
Also refer to our tours faq for more information.
A beautiful sunrise over Dochula Pass, Bhutan
Tour Price
Tour Price (for tour starting from Paro): Rs.1,49,950/- per person (Indian Nationals only; other travellers please scroll down for pricing).
If you wish to take the road to Paro from Bagdogra / Jaigaon / Phuentsholing as given in the road-based itinerary mentioned above, please get in touch for the pricing.
The cost includes
The cost does not include
Tour Price (for tour starting from Bagdogra): Please get in touch with us if you wish to arrive in Bagdogra / Jaigaon / Phuentsholing and take the road to Paro.
The prices above apply to Indian Nationals only. The price applicable to other nationals is US$ per person for this tour. This is a requirement based on minimum tariff requirement imposed by local government. Also, please note that this price refers to arrival and departure from Paro by flight. If you intend to travel to Bhutan overland, please contact us for more information.
Cancellation Policy
-Cancellation within 45 days from tour start date – we refund 75% of total tour fee
-Cancellation within 44 to 21 days from tour start date – we refund 50% of total tour fee
-Cancellation within 20 to 11 days from tour start date – we refund 25% of total tour fee
-No refunds will be made on cancellation within 10 days of the tour start date or later.
Reaching Paro, Bhutan
You can reach Paro by two ways – land route or air.
Reaching Paro By Air
Two Bhutan based airlines – Druk Air & Bhutan Airways fly to Paro. Druk Air has connections from Kolkata, Guwahati, Bagdogra and Delhi. Bhutan Air flies from Kolkata and Delhi. Even if you live in Delhi, sometimes it may be less expensive to take a flight from Kolkata instead of flying direct.
Do note that Indian Nationals may have a discounted fare available on these flights. To avail the discount, please select your nationality as ‘SAARC’ when you book your tickets.
If you plan to travel by air, we recommend that you get your tickets at the earliest, as tickets often get sold out months in advance.
Most flights depart early in the morning, which means that you may have to reach your departure city a day earlier.
Reaching by Land
Please visit the itinerary section to see the road-travel option. You may join the group starting from Bagdogra on Day zero. If you intend to travel by road independently, do find necessary travel information below.
The road entry to Bhutan is from a place in norther part of West Bengal, called Phuentsholing. The Indian side of the border town is called Jaigaon.
To get to Jaigaon, you can –
1) fly into Bagdogra or take a train to New Jalpaiguri.
2) take a taxi or train to Jaigaon. Jaigaon is about 150km from Bagdogra/New Jalpaiguri.
3) At the border, you need to get your entry permits at the Bhutanese immigration office, which is open between 10am and 2pm. So you may have to stay in Jaigaon for a night and proceed to Paro next day. The rules for this keep changing constantly. Please get in touch with us for latest updates.
4) Once you get immigration clearance, you can take a bus or hire a taxi to reach Paro. This will be a simple affair where you can get an awaiting taxi across the border. Paro is 130km from the border.
You can also get to Jaigaon by taking (a) a train from Kolkata to either Hashimara (10km) or New Alipur Duar (60km) stations (b) taking a direct bus from Kolkata to Jaigoan.
Photography Mentor: Manish Lakhani
Few people can boast of having travelled the high Himalayas like Manish has. For more than 15 years, he has explored these mountains extensively on foot, on bicycles and on two and four wheels, often making his own path. He is a versatile photographer with a history of creating brilliant images of culture, heritage and landscapes.
He is renowned for his unique portrayal of remote cultures and traditions. He has photographed the cultural heritage across all the four corners of India, including the Changpa shepherds of the Himalayan Highlands, the native tribes of Nagaland, the nomads of Kutch and the rich traditions of Kerala.
He is Sony Artisan (Ambassador) in India for mirrorless camera system and Skylum Global Brand Ambassador for Asia. His works have been regularly featured in magazines across the world. He contributes to Adobe, BBC, WWF, CNN, Lonely Planet and many others regularly.
An avid cyclist, he has done an incredible solo bicycling trip of 15,000 kilometers across India. He visited many states of India, meeting different people, experiencing the diverse cultures and making some incredible photographs along the journey. He has since led many expeditions in the high altitude regions of Ladakh.
He has been mentoring photography enthusiasts for several years now and is known for his exuberant personality, in-depth knowledge of the terrain, expedition organization skills and, of course, his keen eye for photography.
You can follow him on Instagram,Facebook and on his website.
Bhutan Tour – Detailed Itinerary
Travellers opting to join the group from Bagdogra will arrive in Bagdogra on May 03 and stay at the Phuentsholing border. On May 04, drive to Paro and stay over. On May 04 travellers flying into Paro join the group and the itinerary below follows.
Day 1 – The excitement begins today, as you arrive in the small Bhutanese town of Paro. If you arrive by flight, you will see some lovely views of the mountains as the aircraft reaches Paro. If it is a clear day, we will get a good view of Mt.Jhomolhari from the town itself. We check in at our hotel and take the day easily. Later in the day, your lead photographer will introduce you to the action that is lined up for the next one week. In the evening, we will visit the beautiful Paro Dzong.
Day 2 – This morning, a winding drive up the hills through alpine vegetation and carpeted flower decked fields will take us to the Chele-la pass(3810m). Chele la is a windy pass, filled with white prayer flags fluttering in the breeze. En-route, we may encounter yak-herder huts and grazing yaks. Further, we drive down to the picturesque Ha valley, where bridges, green hills and a charming river await your camera.
On our way back at Chela La, we will have good light to photograph the prayer flag and Jhomolhari range of snow peaks, if the day is clear. We return to Paro in the evening.
Day 3 – We head out early after breakfast towards Thimphu, the capital of Bhutan. It is perhaps the only capital city in the world that doesn’t have traffic lights! It is a picturesque drive along Paro Chu River. We drive past terraced rice fields and old houses along the way, before we reach Thimphu.
Later in the day, we go to Thimphu dzong, a large complex that houses the central monastic body of Bhutan. In the evening, we will wander the town with our cameras for interesting sights in the city. Pious people circumambulating National Memorial Chorten in the evening are a photogenic sight.
Day 4 – We start early this morning on a drive to Punakha valley. Today, we pass through some of the most scenic landscapes that Bhutan can offer. A one hour drive up winding hilly roads will bring us to Dochu-la pass, where we can see the snow-capped mountains at a distance on a clear day. At Dochu-la is a very photogenic monument of 108 chortens, packed together densely in a green surrounding. You will never be tired of photographing this monument from all possible angles.
After a leisurely lunch on the way, we drive downhill and come across the terraced fields and homesteads of the Punakha valley. Much of it is a beautiful drive through pleasant rural landscapes. In the evening, we walk through paddy fields in a small village to visit a small temple on a hillock dedicated to Drukpa Kunley, a much revered monk dear to the people of Bhutan. A short walk will give us insights to rural life and agricultural activities in Bhutan.
The temple itself is a charming place on a hillock, where you may get to see young monks playing football, surrounded by a thick line up of vertical prayer flags. It’s a sight that is guaranteed to make your cameras drool.
Day 5 – We will visit Punakha dzong this morning, crossing a lovely wooden bridge lined with prayer flags. Inside the dzong are the quarters of the monks and prayer hall with peaceful courtyards. We will spend some time exploring and photographing the dzong for most of the morning hours.
In the later half of the day, we will drive up to a mountain village, offering panoramic views of the Punakha valley below. In this small quaint village, you can interact with local villagers busy tending to their fields of corn and maize. The quiet of the pine forests enveloping the landscape are soothing to the soul, and you will be transported to an elevated state of mindfulness. This is as picturesque as rural Bhutan can get. A nunnery is perched on a hill below nearby, which we will visit in the second half. Bhutan has many nunneries, locally known as Ani Gompas, and the nuns play an important part in the religious life of Bhutan.
In the evening, your photography mentor will take you through an intense drill of photographing Punakha Dzong in different kind of lighting, from different angles and perspectives. Beware, you may be amazed of what you may produce with your camera today, weather and light permitting.
Day 6 – We make a slow and leisurely drive from Punakha back to Paro, retracing our steps and stopping along the way. This is your day to wander the streets of Thimphu to shop for souvenirs. Overnight stay at Paro.
Day 7 – This is our day to visit and photograph one of the iconic sight of Bhutan – Paro Taktsang, also called Tiger’s Nest Monastery. The monastery is sticking out from a steep vertical cliff. We begin the day easy, and make the picturesque drive through farms and villages in the hills. Taktsang monastery is perhaps the most famous and most photographed of Bhutan’s monasteries, perched on a cliff above the Paro valley. We exercise our legs today, as we slowly make the three-hour walk up the hill to the monastery, photographing the landscapes along the way.
We take our time to climb up slow and easy as the day progresses. We will have plenty of time to see and shoot from a high ground, and near the monastery before we head back. We time our visit here in a way that we make the best of opportunities to shoot the monastery, in best possible light.
Day 8 – Breakfast and checkout.
Travellers who have opted for ground transport to Bagdogra will drive from Paro, reach the hotel in Bagdogra by evening and check-out next day.
Registration
Contact us at the email/numbers or fill in the contact form below for queries and registration.
Like all our tours, the tour of Bhutan will have a limited number of participants. We recommend booking early, which also helps you get cheaper flight tickets.
Email: photography@darter.in
Tel: 97400 83260 (Shreeram) / 99988 66669 (Manish)
Please fill in the following form to get in touch with us regarding the tour.
As air tickets to Bhutan often get completely sold out, please ensure that you book this tour as early as possible.