What does a week in Bhutan cost? Three all-in budgets for two

The totals

The budget and mid-range levels use three-star rooms for the same six nights; what separates them is the operator's package: the budget level is Byways' fixed week, which splits Thimphu around Punakha and spends a day driving to Phobjikha, while the mid-range level is Guided Bhutan's week, with two unbroken nights in each town and its hotels named when you book. The comfort level keeps the mid-range route and moves to four-star rooms.

These estimates cover the priced items on the ground for seven days and six nights: the Sustainable Development Fee and the visa, rooms, all meals, a guide, a driver and car for the whole week, entry to the dzongs, temples and Tiger's Nest on the route, tea, water and snacks between meals, two tourist SIM cards, tips for the guide and driver, and a 10% buffer for small extras. The flight to Paro is the one cost kept apart; it is priced in the flight section below. Per person that is about USD 270 a day on a budget, USD 300 mid-range and USD 360 in comfort. Operators and the larger hotels quote in US dollars; prices in ngultrum (Nu) are converted at the Bank of Bhutan's TT buying rate, USD 1 = Nu 94.72 for 31 October to 2 November 2026.

The week behind the numbers

Two adults share a double or twin room for seven days and six nights, on ordinary dates outside festival weeks and before 31 August 2027; prices were checked on 2 November 2026. The route is the classic first week that our 7-day itinerary follows: land at Paro International Airport (PBH) and drive to Thimphu for two nights, cross Dochula to Punakha for two nights, then return to Paro for two nights, with the Tiger's Nest hike on day 6 and the flight out on day 7. Little Bhutan, a licensed operator, gives the drives as 47 km and 1-1.5 hours from Paro to Thimphu, 74 km and 2-2.5 hours from Thimphu to Punakha, and 115 km and 3.5-4 hours from Punakha back to Paro via Dochula.

Each priced level is a private week with the same nights in each town. The budget price is Byways' published week, which runs them in a different order: one Thimphu night before Punakha and one after, and a day trip from Punakha to the Phobjikha valley, 78 km and about 3 hours each way by Byways' figures, instead of a free Punakha day.

Entry fees are included in both packages. The Department of Tourism lists adult fees of Nu 1,000 for Tiger's Nest, the monastery on its cliff 900 m above the Paro valley, and Nu 500 each for Punakha Dzong, built in 1637 where the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu meet; Chimi Lhakhang, the fertility temple of the Divine Madman, Drukpa Kunley; Tashichho Dzong, Thimphu's fortress of 1641, rebuilt in 1961; and the National Memorial Chorten in Thimphu. Rinpung Dzong and Buddha Dordenma are free.

A certified guide must be with you at all times; the packages here include a driver, so the guide and car are the heart of every Bhutan budget; our entry guide sets out the rules. A guide and car alone are quoted per trip, so each level starts with an operator's published price for two on a private trip, with tips, drinks, SIM cards and a buffer added. Operators do not split that price into rooms, meals, guide and car, so the tables show it as one line. The first-trip guide weighs a package against arranging the trip piece by piece.

The fixed part: SDF and visa

For travellers paying the standard US-dollar rate, two charges are the same whoever arranges the trip: a tourist visa (USD 40), applied for online before you travel, and the Sustainable Development Fee (SDF): USD 100 per adult per night until 31 August 2027, USD 50 for children from 6 to under 12, nothing under 6. The fee is charged per night, not per day, so six nights cost USD 600 per adult; with the visa that is USD 640 per person and USD 1,280 for two. Both are paid with the visa application, which is reviewed within five working days, and both trips below already include them.

The USD 100 rate is a 50% discount on the full SDF of USD 200 and runs until 31 August 2027; the government may end the discount after that date, so budget nights from 1 September 2027 at USD 200 per adult unless an extension is announced. Indian nationals travel on a permit instead of a visa and pay an SDF of Nu 1,200 per adult per night (about USD 13), so their week costs far less than the figures here; the entry guide walks through both applications.

By land, tourists enter at Phuentsholing, the usual crossing from West Bengal, and pay the same visa and SDF once they travel beyond the border town; the guide and car meet you at the border gate, and Thimphu is 165 km and five to five and a half hours away, so the first day is spent on the road. Travel insurance is no longer required for the visa, but the Department of Tourism strongly recommends it; it is the one cost besides the flight that the totals leave out, because its price depends on your age, cover and home country.

Budget: about USD 3,770 for two

A private week in three-star hotels from Byways Tours and Travels, a Thimphu operator in the Department of Tourism's register, at its published price for two travellers. For two, it adds up like this:

• Package, USD 3,120 for two (USD 1,560 per person). Three-star rooms on twin sharing; breakfast, lunch and dinner, with lunch in a local tourist restaurant; the guide, driver and private car from arrival to departure; museum and monument fees; bottled water in the car; the visa and the SDF.
• Drinks, snacks and SIM cards, about USD 30. Tea, water and snacks between meals for two, which Byways leaves out, priced from the Thimphu, Punakha and Paro menus below with their taxes, plus two Bhutan Telecom tourist SIMs at Nu 200 each.
• Tips for the guide and driver, about USD 280. No package includes them. Guided Bhutan, another licensed operator, calls USD 10-15 a day from each traveller typical for the guide and USD 5-10 for the driver; this counts USD 20 a day each for seven days.
• Buffer, about USD 340. 10% of the lines above, for laundry, a beer with dinner or a souvenir.

Mid-range: about USD 4,170 for two

Guided Bhutan Tours sells the same week as the Essential Bhutan Journey: two nights each in Paro, Thimphu and Punakha in three-star hotels, at USD 1,740 per person for two adults sharing. Its trip-cost calculator shows the split for two: USD 1,280 of SDF and visa and USD 2,200 of tour services, which it also gives as USD 290 per person a night for hotels, guide, driver, meals, SDF and visa. Against Byways it costs USD 180 more per person: it keeps two unbroken nights in each town, with no long Phobjikha day trip, and names its hotels when you book; both include the monument fees and the Tiger's Nest hike.

• Package, USD 3,480 for two. Hotels for six nights, all meals, a licensed guide and driver, a vehicle for the whole trip, the visa, permits and SDF, entry to all monasteries and dzongs, and the Tiger's Nest hike. The hotels are named when you book.
• How it fits the recommended week. Guided Bhutan's published route puts Thimphu first, Punakha second and Paro last, with Tiger's Nest on day 6 and the airport transfer on day 7.

Comfort: about USD 5,050 for two

Access Bhutan Tours & Treks, a Thimphu operator in the Department of Tourism's register, publishes its private-trip prices per person per night by hotel category. For two or three travellers in four-star hotels it charges USD 250 a night from March to May and September to November and USD 195 in the other months, with the SDF and the visa added on top; it offers discounts on trips of six nights or more, so a written quote may come in lower. This level prices the mid-range route, two nights in each town, at the spring and autumn rate:

• Package, USD 4,280 for two (USD 2,140 per person). USD 250 a night for six nights is USD 1,500 per person of tour services: selected four-star hotels, breakfast and dinner at the hotel and lunch at restaurants or traditional farmhouses, an English-speaking licensed guide, a private car, airport transfers, all monument fees, mineral water and government taxes. The SDF and the visa add USD 640 per person.
• Four-star rooms on the route. In Thimphu, The Sevā Hotel's deluxe king double costs USD 182 with breakfast; in Punakha, Dhensa Boutique Resort charges USD 385 plus taxes. Both are four-star hotels in the Department of Tourism's register; their rates are in the table below.
• In the other months, at USD 195 a night, the same week comes to about USD 4,320 for two (USD 2,160 per person), close to the mid-range level in three-star rooms.

Hotel rates in Thimphu, Punakha and Paro

The hotels' own rates below show what a room costs if you book it yourself alongside a guide and car. All eight are in the Department of Tourism's register; rates are for two people per night, checked on 2 November 2026, with US dollars rounded to the nearest 5.

Drinks, SIM cards and a Punakha day

Both trips include breakfast, lunch and dinner, so what you buy yourself is mostly tea, water and snacks between meals. The drinks line counts, for each of you, a milk tea and a bottle of water a day in Thimphu, tea with two snacks a day in Punakha and tea, snacks and water on three days in Paro: Nu 1,870 for two before taxes. The menu prices, per person:

• Thimphu. Pelbu Suites' café lists milk tea at Nu 60, mineral water at Nu 20 and suja, butter tea, with biscuits at Nu 120, plus GST; ema datshi, the chilli-and-cheese stew, is Nu 120 if you eat there outside the plan.
• Punakha. Tashi Tagye Hotel serves tea with two snacks at Nu 200, plus taxes.
• Paro. Hotel Paro Grand lists evening tea and snacks at Nu 100 and mineral water at Nu 25, plus 10% BST and a 10% charge.
• SIM cards. Bhutan Telecom's tourist SIMs cost Nu 200 (1 GB of data and Nu 100 of calls and texts, valid 7 days), Nu 300 (2 GB, 14 days) or Nu 1,100 for an eSIM with unlimited data for 7 days. They are sold at BT counters and distributors or booked at bookyoursim.bt.bt, against a copy of your passport.
• A day in Punakha on the mid-range trip, about USD 300 per person. Guided Bhutan's package averages about USD 250 a day (USD 1,740 over seven days) and already pays for the room, three meals, guide, car and the Nu 500 entry to Punakha Dzong. Tea with two snacks at Tashi Tagye adds about USD 2.10 before taxes, tips USD 20 and the 10% buffer about USD 27.
• Paying for extras. Tips go in cash at the end of the trip. The ngultrum is pegged 1:1 to the Indian rupee; banks and cash machines accept Visa and Mastercard, cards are widely used in the towns but may not work elsewhere, and cash in US dollars and Indian rupees is widely accepted. The goBoB and MyPay wallet apps can be linked to an international card.

The flight from London

From London, fly to a gateway such as Delhi, Kolkata, Kathmandu or Bangkok, then on to Paro with Drukair or Bhutan Airlines. On the Delhi route, checked on 3 November 2026, Turkish Airlines showed economy returns from London to Delhi from GBP 569 to GBP 870 for December 2026 to April 2027 (from GBP 969 in November), and Bhutan Airlines listed Delhi-Paro from USD 246 and Paro-Delhi from USD 223 one way. Together that is about USD 1,250-1,650 per person, so the week with flights comes to about USD 3,130-3,530 per person on the budget level, USD 3,330-3,730 mid-range and USD 3,770-4,170 in comfort.

Weather regularly affects flights in and out of Paro, so leave a spare day before an onward long-haul flight. A spare night in Paro adds USD 100 of SDF per adult as well as the room and meals.

Guided Bhutan suggests booking 4-6 months ahead for March to May, September to November and festival weeks, when Paro and Thimphu hotels fill early, and 2-3 months ahead at other times. Its written quote fixes the price for your dates, and the hotel tariffs in the table above are higher in those spring and autumn months. Its terms ask for a 20% deposit by card for trips more than 60 days away and the balance by bank transfer in US dollars 60 days before arrival, or full payment at booking inside 60 days; cancelling at least 45 days before departure costs no administration fee. The government refunds the SDF for cancelled or shortened trips, less bank charges, through the visa portal; the USD 40 visa fee is not refunded (see the entry guide).

Ways to spend less, or more

Travelling alone costs more per person, because nobody shares the guide and car: Byways charges USD 1,890 for its week and Guided Bhutan USD 325 a night, USD 1,950 for six nights, which with tips, drinks, a SIM and a buffer comes to about USD 2,250 and USD 2,310 before flights. A third traveller lowers the price per person, because the guide and car are shared: Byways charges USD 1,510 each for three or more, and Guided Bhutan from USD 265 per person a night for parties of three or more. Guided Bhutan also runs small-group departures on a similar route at fixed dates, listed at USD 1,490 per person. Hotels are the other lever: the three-star rooms in the table start at about USD 45 a night for two, and one- and two-star hotels and homestays are allowed too, although the guide and car still have to be priced with an operator.

Spending more mostly means better hotels. The comfort level above prices four-star rooms; at the top end, Six Senses Bhutan is a five-star hotel in the Department of Tourism's register, with lodges in Thimphu, Punakha and Paro. For a longer stay including Phobjikha, Guided Bhutan's 10-day Culture & Nature Escape, with a full day in the valley, starts at USD 2,610 per adult, and each extra night before 31 August 2027 adds USD 100 of SDF per adult paying the standard US-dollar rate. Festival weeks fall in the hotels' high season, March to May and September to November, when Jambayang's standard double costs about 11% more and Udumwara's villa room about 6% more than in other months; our festival guide prices a Paro Tshechu week and an October Thimphu week.