General Travel Information about Bhutan
Everything you need to know about traveling to and from Bhutan:
Travel to Bhutan
Travel to Bhutan by Plane
The governmental airline operating in Bhutan is called Druk Air.
There are five international connections to and from:
Singapore (Singapore)
Bangladesh (Dhaka)
Thailand (Bangkok)
Nepal (Kathmandu)
India (Bagdogra, Delhi, Gaya, Guwahati, Kolkata, Mumbai)
Please note: Connection flights should always be booked with a generous time buffer.
Travel to Bhutan Overland
There are only three land borders with India to enter Bhutan:
Gelephu (South)
Phuentsholing (Southwest)
Samdrup Jongkhar (Southeast)
Cost and accomodation
Bhutan has a set tariff per person and day, which is US$ 250 per person in high season and US$ 200 per person in low season (January, February, June, July and August).
If you are traveling in a group of less than 3 people, there is a surcharge of US$ 30 per person per day when traveling with 2 people, or US$ 40 per day when traveling solo.
Included in the daily rate are: meals, government taxes, accommodation (in good middle class hotels, higher standard subject to surcharge), tour or trekking, sightseeing, English speaking guide, driver, land transport within Bhutan, entrance fees.
Not included: drinks and beverages, tips, insurance, any personal expenses.
Visa for Bhutan
All traveler require a visa for entering Bhutan. The visa has to be processed through a travel agent and has to be issued in advance. It costs approximately US$ 40 per person and is valid for duration of the booked journey.
Our Cancellation Policy
If the customer / partner withdraws from the travel contract Red Lion has the right to demand an appropriate compensation for the preparation of the services and can charge the customer / partner for that,hereby the amount of compensation is complying with the travel price, deducting the amount which Red Lion can save and what it can earn with the use of the service for other purposes. Red Lion can choose to calculate this claim specifically or can set a flat rate for the compensation. Red Lion can demand a flat rate compensation depending on the timing of the withdrawal of the customer as follows:
For individual tours and group tours
- earlier than 30 days before the start of the tour program: 20%
- between 30 and 22 days before the start: 30%
- between 21 and 14 days before start: 40%
- between 13 and 8 days before the start: 50%
- less than 8 days before the start or cancellation without notice: 90%
- after arrival in Bhutan: 100%
For Flights
Different to our terms and conditions depending on the specific air faredifferent payment-, rebooking- and cancellation-conditions may apply. The terms and condition of the relevant airline apply. Please notice that the cancellation fees may be up to 100 percent.
Refund
If you cancel your tour after you have sent payment we will process your refund in accordance with the above list of charges.
To return fund to you from Bhutan we have to request permission from the Royal Monetary Authority to send foreign currency outside Bhutan. Once we have done this, we have to ask the Tourism Council of Bhutan to return the funds to you, as they are still holding them at that point since your tour has not yet run.
This process of arranging the refund can take some time at busy periods even 6 to 8 weeks.
Please note also that when you transfer your money to Bhutan, it is booked to Bhutan Red Lion Travels account in local currency at the prevailing rate of exchange. When we return the money to you, the cost of the refund will be booked to us again at the prevailing rate of exchange. If there has been significant fluctuations in exchange rate between the date when funds were received in Bhutan and the date the payment is refunded, we reserve the right to return no more than the current US $ equivalent of the amount originally received by us in local currency, to avoid incurring a loss as a result of currency fluctuations when returning your fund for the cancelled trip.
We advise you take out insurance to cover the risk of have to cancel your trip for medical or other reason.
Hotels
Finally note that if you have booked any nights in luxury accommodation then the cancellation terms differ according to the hotel. Generally speaking once full payment is due on these hotels (around 30 days to 45 days before the date of stay) then no refund is available on cancellations after this point we can provide further details of the precise terms on request.