Himalayan Kingdom Bhutan Bike

Bhutan · Bhutan

Challenging7 daysAsia~£3,500 est.

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Overview

Cycling Bhutan is a staircase ridden in the sky. From the Indian border at Phuentsholing the national highway climbs out of banana-palm lowlands and never really stops: to Thimphu, over the Dochula with its 108 chortens and a horizon of Himalayan snow, down through rice terraces to Punakha's great riverside dzong, and finally up the pedalling crux - the Chele La at 3,988m, Bhutan's highest road pass, a 35-kilometre climb through blue pine and rhododendron between the Paro and Haa valleys, with Jomolhari's snow pyramid rising behind. The rules are the variable, not the roads: Bhutan's Sustainable Development Fee (US$100 per day) plus mandatory tour arrangements mean you ride with an agency support vehicle - which, on 1,500-metre climb days at altitude, you will not resent. Traffic is sparse and courteous, and the descents are enormous; check your brake pads daily. Build in a rest-day hike to Taktsang, the Tiger's Nest monastery on its cliff. March-May brings rhododendron bloom, October-November the clearest air. Around £3,500 all-in for the week, fees included - expensive, and worth it for roads this empty through a landscape this intact.