Bhutan Wellness Retreat: Hot Springs, Spa & Mountain Yoga
Destination: Punakha
Duration: 7 days / 6 nights
Difficulty: Easy
Best season: Year-round
Price: from 5,100 USD per guest
Seven slow days in Bhutan's thermal valleys — hot springs at Bumthang and Trongsa, herbal treatments, mountain yoga and enough silence to hear it.
Highlights
Geothermal hot springs at Bumthang and Trongsa
Traditional herbal hot stone bath in Punakha
Sunrise yoga above the Mo Chhu river
Three nights with nothing scheduled at all
What is included
Wellness practitioner and licensed guide throughout
Private vehicle and driver for all seven days
Six nights in spa lodges and one valley hotel
All breakfasts, lunches and dinners, vegetarian on request
Hot stone bath, herbal treatment and two traditional massages
Daily yoga and guided meditation sessions
All permits, SDF and spa treatments
Day-by-day itinerary
Day 01 — Paro to Punakha, and the first hot stone bath Drive from Paro over the Dochula and down to Punakha, arriving with the afternoon free and the river audible from the veranda. The evening is the first of two traditional herbal hot stone baths, laid out on a private terrace, with a view of the dzong and nothing else on the schedule.
Day 02 — Sunrise yoga and an unhurried Punakha Yoga on a terrace above the Mo Chhu as the sun comes up over the ridge, then breakfast and a long walk along the riverside at whatever speed suits you. The afternoon is a herbal treatment and a massage, and the evening meal is the first of several where the conversation with other guests is the mai…
Day 03 — To Trongsa: hot springs and the ancient temple A slow drive south to Trongsa, where the thermal spring below town is set into the rock and open year round, and the Taoist temple above it is older than Buddhism in the valley. Afternoon soaking, evening firelight, and the longest, quietest night of the week.
Day 04 — Into Bumthang: the blue lake and Takerthing East into Bumthang for the valley's blue lake walk, a pilgrimage circuit around a lake that fills and empties with the seasons, and the great red-trunked Takerthing Lhakhang above Jakar. The afternoon is given over to rest, because the days are meant to be restful and not merely described as such.
Day 05 — A day with nothing in it at all The day people ask about afterwards. No drive, no guide, no session: a full day in Bumthang with breakfast, lunch and dinner, a spa hour if you want one, a garden, a book and the best light in the kingdom around five o'clock. Rest here is not a gap in the itinerary; it is the point of the itinerary.
Day 06 — Back to Punakha, and the closing treatment Return west to Punakha at a leisurely pace, stopping for red rice terraces and for a walk along the river, with a final massage and a candlelit dinner on the terrace. The evening is the one evening with a dress code, which in Bhutan means a kira rather than anything formal.
Day 07 — Punakha to Paro and departure A final slow morning, tea on the terrace, and the drive back over the Dochula to Paro for the flight home. Nothing is added to the last day on purpose: the week has been built around not being hurried, and that includes the end of it.