Straight answers from the people who plan the trips

International visitors pay USD $100 per person per night, and the Royal Government sets the rate through 31 August 2027. Indian passport holders pay the regional rate of INR 1,200 per person per night. Our team files the SDF for you before arrival, and every quote shows the exact number of nights and the total fee in dollars or rupees.

Every international visitor except Indian, Bangladeshi, and Maldivian passport holders needs a visa. The fee is USD $40 per person, one time. We submit your application to the Department of Immigration once your SDF payment clears, and approval normally arrives within three to five working days. You only need to send us a clear passport photo page and confirm your arrival date.

A passport valid for six months, or a voter ID card for overland entry, plus an Entry Permit issued at Phuentsholing or Paro. Send us your document scans ten days before arrival and our team pre-clears the permit so you walk through in twenty minutes rather than two hours. Children need a birth certificate and a passport photo.

You message us on WhatsApp or send the enquiry form on any tour page. A planner in Paro replies with a written itinerary, an all-in price for your dates and group size, and the payment options we accept by bank transfer. Nothing is charged on this website, and there is no card field anywhere on it.

Every quote covers the SDF, visa fee, licensed guide, private vehicle and driver, accommodation, all meals on international packages, monument entry fees, and route permits. International airfare, personal insurance, alcohol, laundry, tips, and single room supplements sit outside the quote, and we list both sides line by line.

No card is taken anywhere on this site. Once we agree the itinerary you settle by bank transfer to our Bhutanese company account, and we issue a written receipt carrying your booking reference. Some guests send the transfer in two parts, and we hold your hotel rooms while the first part clears.

Three to six months is comfortable for spring and autumn, and festival departures often sell their hotels eight months out. Peak Paro Tshechu rooms can disappear a year ahead. If you are planning inside six weeks, message us anyway: cancellations open rooms constantly and our team checks daily.

Sixty days or more before arrival, land payments are refunded in full minus bank charges. Thirty to fifty-nine days returns 85 percent or a free date change. Inside twenty-nine days we follow the hotel and vehicle commitments already locked for you, and unused SDF nights remain fully refundable under government rules. The full table lives on our cancellation policy page.

Yes. Glide Into Happiness Tour & Travel holds Department of Tourism licence 1054820, registered in Paro. The team plans and runs journeys from Bhutan and works online with travellers in other time zones. You can check the licence on the Bhutan Tourism Services Portal, and the link sits in the footer of every page.

Almost always. Extra nights in a valley, a hotel upgrade, a private cooking morning, or a different festival are simple edits for our planners. Use the tailor your trip builder or send a WhatsApp message with the tour name and what you would like changed, and we will send a revised itinerary within a day or two.

March to May brings rhododendrons, clear peaks, and the Paro Tshechu. September to November offers crisp air, harvested fields, and the Thimphu and Bumthang festivals. December to February is cold but quiet and clear, and June to August is green monsoon country with fewer visitors. We will tell you honestly if your dates fall in a wet window.

The Tiger's Nest trail climbs about 900 metres over roughly four kilometres of switchbacks, and most guests take two to three hours up with rests at the cafeteria viewpoint. Ponies can carry you as far as that halfway point, and our guide walks at your pace with water and a walking stick. Guests with heart or knee concerns often enjoy the viewpoint and return from there.

Most of our routes stay between 1,200 and 2,400 metres, which suits nearly everyone. Passes reach 3,100 to 3,900 metres for a few hours only. We build gentle first nights, keep water and snacks in the car, and carry a pulse oximeter on trek departures. If a guest feels unwell we descend, which is the treatment that always works.

Yes, solo departures are our quietest and most rewarding trips. Hotels charge a single room supplement, and we show that number openly in the quote rather than folding it into the headline price. Solo guests also pay the same SDF and visa fees as anyone else.

It is, when the driving is kept short. Our family routes stay in the warm Paro, Thimphu, and Punakha valleys, add archery, farm animals, and hot stone baths, and avoid long high passes. We fit child seats on request and keep a box of snacks and colouring books in the vehicle.

The mandatory insurance check was lifted in April 2024, so it is no longer required at immigration. We still strongly recommend a policy that covers hospital treatment, altitude evacuation, and flight delays into Paro, because mountain weather can move a departure by a day at any time of year.

Drukair and Bhutan Airlines decide on the morning of departure using visual flying rules, and cancellations are common in monsoon months. We reshuffle your first day, hold your hotel rooms, and can move an internal transfer to the Phuentsholing road route if you prefer to keep moving. Our team watches your flight status from Paro.

Bhutan has good 4G in every town on our routes. We can arrange a local SIM before you land, and most hotels and lodges offer WiFi, though mountain farmstays sometimes rely on a shared connection in the dining room. Trekking camps have no signal, which many guests count as a feature.

Bhutanese cooking is warm and gentle: red rice, mushrooms, dried chilli, river fish, and plenty of vegetables from valley gardens. Our kitchens cook without chilli for guests who prefer that, and we routinely plan vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, and Jain meals. Tell us in the enquiry and we brief every hotel on the route.

Tipping is not expected and never built into our quotes. Guests who want to thank the team usually hand the guide a single envelope at the end of the trip, with half again for the driver, and we will suggest a sum in writing before you fly. Our guides are salaried and insured, so a tip stays a thank you rather than a wage.

Layers, a warm fleece for evenings above 2,000 metres, broken-in walking shoes, a rain shell, modest clothing that covers shoulders and knees for monastery visits, sunscreen, and a power bank. Prescription medicine should travel in your hand luggage. We send a season-specific packing list after your dates are confirmed.

Drones need a permit from the Bhutan Information and Communications Authority before arrival, and we cannot arrange one at short notice. Inside dzongs and temples, photography is usually allowed in courtyards and often forbidden in inner shrines. Our guide will tell you where to put the camera away, and always asks the monks first.