Asia Adventure Travel » China, India, Bhutan, Thailand

Family and Festivals

Experience Bhutan and its people by staying in family homes or small hotels and sampling their regional foods. This trip is a blend of festivals - Wangdi Tsechu in the fall and Ura Yakchoe in the spring. Perhaps you can learn to make butter tea, Hontay, vegetable dumplings; Mengay, a Bhutanese Pizza, made from mashed rice, eggs, spring onions, mushrooms and other ingredients. Traveling toward Bumthang, you will talk with monks and sip tea with them, meet farmers, explore giant dzongs and small gompas and truly get a special “taste” of the culture of this country!

ACTIVITY: Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: Bhutan, ASIA
AVAILABILITY: April, September
FROM: $3,395.00 pp based on 3-10 people
DURATION: 11 days
AUDIENCE: Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: More Details...

READ Bhutan: Mongar and Trashigang Tsechus

Experience the Himalayas, Textiles, Festivals and People.

A trip for those who want to understand the diversity of Bhutan and truly get inside the culture of the country!

Join READ Global Founder, Dr. Antonia Neubauer in Bhutan, not only to sightsee, but to meet and talk with the local people involved in building Community Library Resource Centers (CLRCs) throughout the country, visit the new CLRCs to see how they are operating, and understand the history and culture of this country, where “Gross National Happiness” instead of “Gross National Product” is the marker for success.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: Bhutan, ASIA
AVAILABILITY: November
FROM: $4,130.00 per person
DURATION: 13 days
AUDIENCE: For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Find out more here...

Across Bhutan

A trip for those who want to understand the diversity of Bhutan! Where most people go half way across the country to Bumthang, you will travel from Paro in the west, all the way across the country to Mongar in the east, and into India at Guwahati. Along the way you can stay with families or in small hotels, visit monasteries and holy sites, sip tea with monks, explore markets, and meet with the artisans and local people. In the fall, you have the opportunity to see both the Mongar and Trashigang Tsechus – quite a special way to get inside the culture!

ACTIVITY: Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration, Wildlife, Safaris and Photography Vacations
WHERE: Bhutan, ASIA
AVAILABILITY: March
FROM: $3,895.00
DURATION: 12 days
AUDIENCE: Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!

The Lake Guardian and the Potato Farmers

Trek the Himalayas, experience local life, and shop local markets.

Trek untraveled tourist routes to a village that is home to many of the Bhutanese with whom we work, a village that has seen minimal westerners to date.

In April the hills are covered with rhododendrons, and in October see people harvesting their crops. Tour Paro, the largest city in Bhutan, then drive towards Thimphu and the old Dagala trail for 6 nights of trekking through forests, beside alpine lakes, across high altitude tundra, and along ridges with views of the Himalayas, up to tiny Shelmakha. Then drive down to Thimphu in time for the weekly market.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: Bhutan, ASIA
AVAILABILITY: April, October
FROM: $2,995.00
DURATION: 11 days
AUDIENCE: For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Find out more here...

Sikkim, Darjeeling and Bhutan: Bengalis to Buddhists

Welcome to an extraordinary kaleidoscope of festivals, cultures, foods, and scenery!

Fly into Calcutta and visit the Missionaries of Charity, drink at the Tollygunge Club and pray at the Ramakrishnam Center. Drive to Gangtok in eastern Sikkim, spend time in temples and monasteries, wander local bazaars and hike along trails beneath sacred peaks.

Continue through snow-covered mountains to the monasteries and tea gardens of Darjeeling, then onto Thimphu in Bhutan.

During the spring you will be in Paro for the Tsechu Festival, and in the fall, you’ll be in Bumthang for the opening of Jambay Drup for the masterful art of the Fire Dance.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: Bhutan, ASIA
AVAILABILITY: March, October
FROM: $7,995.00 per person
DURATION: 22 days
AUDIENCE: For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Find out more here...

The Sacred Chomolhari Trek

Trek Bhutan’s Himalayas – wildflowers, white peaks and magnificent Bhutan.

The trek to Chomolhari is a sacred one. In Bhutan, people look at the mountains as some sort of divine power. In Bhutanese, Chomolhari is pronounced Jumolhari and means the heavenly deity of animals. The nomads in the region will not allow any climbing on the mountain. They believe that the deity could be upset and their yaks, sheep and other livestock might perish.

We recommend this trek for alpine flower lovers in the months of June to August. The only disadvantage is some mountain rain. Paro and Thimphu are also part of this journey.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: Bhutan, ASIA
AVAILABILITY: May, October
FROM: $3,595.00
DURATION: 12 days
AUDIENCE: For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Find out more here...

Festivals and Textiles

Myths and Mountains offers this colorful insiders journey focused on the art of Bhutanese textiles, and highlighted by the Punakha Dromche Festival in the spring and the Wangdi Tsechu Festival in the fall where you’ll see fine clothes and costumes come to life. Learn how fabrics are woven, dyed, and loomed, and visit ancestral homes of medieval nobility to see their textile collections which have been passed down through generations. In Thimphu, you’ll visit the textile museum, National Library, the Tashicho Dzong, handcraft schools, and the home of a renowned weaver.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: Bhutan, ASIA
AVAILABILITY: February, October
FROM: $2,825.00 pp based on 3-10 people
DURATION: 9 days
AUDIENCE: Family Vacations & Adventure Travel, For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!

Trekking the Old East-West Trade Route

The ancient east-west trade route – walking through history!

Beginning in Paro, you will travel the old east-west trade route, visit the capital of Thimphu, sightsee, and tour the Traditional Indigenous Hospital with Dr. Dungtso.

You’ll enjoy several days of hiking and driving, stopping at dzongs, village temples, and even attending a special shamanic ceremony in a local village. Lobeysa, Longtey, the Gangtey Valley, Jakar, Punakha, and Bumthang are all on this journey. And you’ll stay in small country hotels, charming local mountain lodges, and campsites along the way.

ACTIVITY: Walking & Hiking Vacations, Eco-Travel & Cultural Exploration
WHERE: Bhutan, ASIA
AVAILABILITY: April, November
FROM: $4,395.00
DURATION: 10 days
AUDIENCE: For Groups: Adventure Travel With the Experts!
MEMBER'S WEBSITE: Click HERE For More Information...