Licensed Bhutanese tour operator · Thimphu
WhatsApp
Rafting the Mo Chhu beneath Punakha Dzong, riding down from the Dochula on a mountain bike, and a night camped high above Taktsang so you reach it from above, and early.
The Mo Chhu below Punakha is a straightforward grade II–III river with a rare distinction: you finish the run directly beneath the walls of the most beautiful dzong in the Himalaya. It is the best introduction to rafting in Bhutan and needs no previous experience.
The descent from the Dochula is the other set piece. You start at 3,140 metres on the pass and ride down — on tarmac if you prefer, or on the forest track that shadows it — losing nearly two thousand metres into subtropical Punakha in a morning. Good hardtails and helmets are provided, and a support vehicle follows the whole way.
We finish with the best idea on the itinerary: a night camped on the ridge above Taktsang. You walk up in the afternoon, sleep high, and come down to the monastery early the next morning — arriving from above, before anybody else has started climbing.
This journey is quoted for your dates, your party size, your accommodation preference and anything you want changed. Government fees are shown as separate lines.
Written itinerary and full quotation usually within 24 hours. Nothing to pay to ask.
Written the way we would actually run it — with the drives, the walking hours and the altitude you sleep at, so you can judge the days for yourself. Anything here can be changed before you travel, and most of it can be changed on the morning.
Met at the airport and into the valley. Bike fitting and kit check in the afternoon, then Kyichu Lhakhang and an easy walk by the river.
East to the capital, with the afternoon at an archery ground. Bhutan’s national sport is shot at a target 145 metres away, with singing and dancing at each hit; you will use recurve bows rather than compound, and you will not hit anything for a while.
Driven to the pass at first light for the mountains, then on the bikes. Roughly 1,900 metres of descent over 40 kilometres into Punakha, with a support vehicle behind you and as many stops as you want. Riders who prefer can take the vehicle down and ride the flat valley section only.
Safety briefing and the put-in upstream, then ten kilometres of grade II–III water through the valley, finishing under the dzong walls. Afternoon: the walk up to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten.
The dzong in the early quiet, the Pho Chhu suspension bridge, and then the drive back over the Dochula to Paro. Evening: repack for a night out.
Walk up in the afternoon past the monastery viewpoint and on to the ridge, where camp is already pitched. Dinner cooked at altitude, prayer flags, and the whole Paro valley below you as the lights come on.
Down to the monastery from above, arriving as it opens and before the valley has started walking up. The long descent afterwards, and the rest of the day off. Hot stone bath and a farmhouse dinner in the evening.
Transfer to the airport for the morning flight.
Photographs from the valleys this itinerary passes through. Ask us for more — we have a great many, and we would rather send you real ones than stock.
If yours is not here, send it — we answer properly and we will tell you if the trip is wrong for you.
No for the rafting — grade II–III with certified guides is beginner water, and the briefing covers everything. For the Dochula descent you should be a confident cyclist comfortable braking on a long sustained gradient; it is downhill, not uphill, so fitness matters less than control.
Yes, with the permits we arrange in advance and a designated site on the ridge above the monastery. It is the single best thing on this itinerary and the reason most people book it.
In heavy monsoon years the Mo Chhu can run above safe levels, in which case we move the section or substitute a day of kayaking on the calmer Pho Chhu. Your guide decides on the morning, and safety is not negotiable.
Read these before you enquire. Everything here is written so that nothing on the page above reads as a promise we cannot keep.
Hot stone baths, farmhouse meals, archery, rafting, meditation sessions and monastery visits are arranged locally and are subject to availability, weather, river conditions and the monastic calendar. Where something cannot run on the day, your guide will offer an alternative.
Distances, walking hours and pass altitudes shown are planning figures and vary with conditions, group pace and camp availability. Snow can close a high pass outside the main seasons and the route may be shortened or reversed on safety grounds. Travel insurance covering the maximum altitude on this itinerary and emergency evacuation is required for participation — this is our own booking condition, not a government visa requirement.
You sleep between the altitudes shown at the top of this page. Take the first day slowly, drink more than feels necessary, and tell your guide immediately about headache, nausea or unusual breathlessness.
Hotels are named in your final itinerary and quotation rather than on this page. Properties are certified by the Department of Tourism and are confirmed once your dates are held; if a substitution becomes necessary we will tell you before you travel and will not move you to a lower grade without asking.
International flight routes, frequencies and schedules vary by season and change at short notice. Current connections will be confirmed during trip planning. Leave a night either side of your Paro flights rather than booking a same-day onward connection.
The visa application fee is US$40 per person, one-time and non-refundable, and the Sustainable Development Fee applicable to your dates will be identified as a separate line in your quotation. Comprehensive travel insurance, particularly medical and emergency evacuation cover, is strongly recommended; it is not a government visa requirement.
Roads, weather, monastic calendars and local events can all move a day around. Your guide will discuss any change with you at the time, and the shape of the trip is yours to adjust before you travel and, for most days, on the morning.
Every journey is individually quoted. Tell us your travel dates, the number of travellers, your accommodation preference and anything you would like changed about the Raft, Ride & Ridge itinerary, and we will prepare a detailed quotation for your trip.
Fields marked * are required. Prefer to write directly? evergreentcpf@gmail.com · +975 77439181
Your details are used to answer this enquiry and nothing else — no mailing list and no resale.
7 Days · Nature 
6 Days · Wellness 
12 Days · Luxury