How to Book?

Further know, How to book!

Visas

Your passport needs to have at least 6 months’ validity calculated from the date on which you leave Bhutan. You will also need to make sure that you have a spare page for a visa for Bhutan, as well as space for the visas for any countries you are visiting en route. If you need to get a new passport please do so well before your planned trip so that there is no delay in applying for your Bhutanese visa.

You will need to fill in a form for us with some personal information, and send us a scanned copy of the identity page of your passport (preferably in colour) and then we will apply for your visa for you once your funds have arrived in Bhutan. Visas are usually authorised in the month before your trip, so long as funds have been received in full at that point.

We will send you a copy of the visa clearance showing that your visa has been authorised and you will need to carry this with you as you will need to produce it both to the airline on check in and then again when you reach Paro where the actual visa will be stamped into your passport on arrival. Please note that if you are not carrying a copy of the visa clearance you will not be able to board the plane to Paro. Please make sure you remember to take it with you to avoid disappointment.

If you come in overland the process is similar and you need advance clearance of your visa in the same way.  Your actual visa will be stamped in your passport when you arrive at the border at Phuntsholing or Samdrup Jongkhar.

Don’t forget to make enquiries about visa requirements for any countries you are passing through en route even if you are only in transit, but you don’t need visas if your Bhutan flight has a stopover as you will not be disembarking.

Payments

Payment for your trip is usually made in US$ via Online-payment-option
transfer to the Bhutan National Bank, with Resa Tours and Travel's links, (Your tour operator).  On receipt the payment is transferred to the government account, as explained further below.

We will provide you with all the information needed to make the transfer once your choice of trip is confirmed. We ask for payment 90 days in advance of the tour to give us plenty of time to finalise the arrangements for your booking. We don’t require payment of a deposit, but if you are visiting in peak season we may need to issue your flight tickets as much as 6 months or more beforehand (if the flight has filled up) and in that case we will ask you to send payment for the flight tickets only at an earlier stage.

Online-payment-option
we can offer the option to make payment for your trip by Visa, aster Card, American Express, Discover, JCB, Diner's Club, Amex Express, Checkout,  Masterpass by, Master Card to the Bhutan payment Gateway via an online payment gateway.  Please let us know if you wish to use this facility and we can provide details. Please note that in place of the US$30 administration fee applicable if you send funds to Bhutan by bank transfer, there is a 5% service fee charged to cover the costs of arranging access to this service.

Security

Your Payment is secured through Bhutan payment Gateway (online transiction) which is secure payment powered by Stripe. Your payment information is never at risk. It is integrated techonology suit that offers a trusted based platform to facilitate convenient, secured and faster paymen. Bhutan Payment Gateway ensure our commitment to provide service secure, reliable and fast payment world wide that accepts foreign payment over 135 courrences using Visa, aster Card, American Express, Discover, JCB, Diner's Club, Amex Express, Checkout,  Masterpass by, Master Card. No need to bother with wire transfer. 

Once we receive from the Bhutan payment Gateway that your payment has arrived we will send you a formal trip confirmation and receipt.

Whether you make payment by bank transfer or via the online payment gateway, your funds will be held in the government account and will not be released to Resa Tours and Travel until after your tour has taken place. This provides you with the security of knowing that your money is safe until your holiday takes place. If for any reason the trip doesn’t go ahead then the government will not give your money to Resa Tours and Travel but will return it to you (subject to any cancellation charges which apply if you have cancelled the trip). So in the unlikely event that we do not run your trip for you, you would not be out of pocket.

Please note that if you decide to book with Resa Tours and Travel you will be booking with us as a local Bhutanese tour operator, licensed and registered in Bhutan, subject to regulation by the Bhutan Ministry of Economic Affairs and a member of ABTO (the Association of Bhutanese Tour Operators). Any disputes regarding your booking are to be resolved by arbitration under the laws of Bhutan. Our office will  acts purely as facilitator in corresponding with you regarding your booking on behalf of Resa Tours and Travel in Bhutan.

Delays

Although delays on Bhutanese airlines are not uncommon, it is quite rare for a flight to be cancelled altogether. However in extreme circumstances the flight may be delayed until the following day. In that case the airline will be responsible for making arrangements for board and lodging for you for that night.

If you are unfortunate enough to miss a day of your trip we will do what we can to assist by refunding you what we can from that day’s payment, based on whatever is not yet spent and what we can recover for you. For example, we would apply to the government to waive the sustainable development fee for the lost day and we would also do what we can to minimise the charges for the hotel for the lost night. Other costs such as provision of a guide, driver and vehicle will already have been incurred and it will not be possible for us to cancel these at the last minute, so we will not be able to refund your payment for that day in full, but we will do our best to return you as much as we can in the circumstances.

If your return flight is delayed then you are in a better position! Usually the airline will arrange the additional accommodation for you and if you want to keep your guide and driver for the additional time you are in Bhutan we will do our best to arrange this (if they are not already booked elsewhere) and we will make these additional arrangements at the best price we can for you, which we will discuss and agree at the time.

You will be responsible for arranging any necessary changes to your onward international flights. Please note that we cannot be liable for any additional costs or expenses you may incur in relation to your onward travel arrangements by reason of a delay with your Druk Air or Tashi Air flights.  We can also not take responsibility for any impact on your planned schedule for your Bhutan trip as a result of any changes in the airline schedules or timing changes for your Druk Air or Tashi Air flights.

You should bear in mind that it is not at all uncommon for Bhutanese airlines to change their schedules at short notice, with a consequent impact on international connections, so it is advisable to leave plenty of time (at least three to four hours, but preferably an overnight) between your Bhutan flight and your international flight at each end of the trip.

Flights

There are now two airlines that operate flights in and out of Bhutan.  Druk Air (also known as Royal Bhutan Airlines) is Bhutan’s national carrier and Tashi Air (also known as Bhutan Airlines) is a private airline which started operating in 2013 and has brought in some much needed competition. There is one international airport at Paro, about an hour’s drive from the capital, Thimphu. There are also some new domestic routes in operation with domestic airports at Batpalathang in Bumthang, Yongphula in eastern Bhutan (close to Tashigang Province) and Gelephu in the south of the country.

You can have a look at the schedules on the Druk Air website and the Tashi Air website to help you plan your trip.

Druk Air and Tashi Air flights can now be booked directly yourself online, but it is usually preferable for you to ask us to make the booking for you and we don’t charge for this service. If you buy the tickets from the airline websites you have to pay for them on purchase, whereas we can hold the seats for you for a period without commitment while we discuss your itinerary with you and you take the time to finalise your travel plans. Also, if we book the seats for you we get advance notice of timing changes, we can assist you with ticketing changes and we will also reconfirm your flights for you automatically as long as we have made the booking for you. Finally we often have access to discounts which are available only to agents and not for direct bookings – we will tell you if these are on offer at the time of your trip.

You will need to arrange your own international flights to your chosen point of entry to Bhutan. You should wait until we have confirmed your reservations with Druk Air/Tashi Air before you make long haul bookings. Bear in mind also that the airline schedules for Bhutan flights are subject to frequent change, and often at very short notice, so if you can arrange flexible long haul tickets it is advisable to do so.  We advise that you leave 5 to 6 hours connection time if possible and if you can plan an overnight stay each end of your trip before and after flying to Bhutan then so much the better.

These airlines do not take any responsibility for the impact of timing changes or cancellations on any other flight reservations, and we also cannot do so, which means that you will have to bear the cost of any changes to your travel plans caused by changes to the Bhutan airline schedules.

Routings
The main international routings used to fly in to Paro are Delhi, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Singapore and Calcutta. There are also flights from Dhaka, Gaya, Bagdogra and Guwahati and Mumbai.

Bangkok flights come in and out every day with both airlines (and at busy times there are two or three flights a day) but flights on the other routings are not as frequent. Delhi and Kathmandu flights tend to be daily (or sometimes twice daily at the peak of the season). Calcutta flights run around 5 times a week with Druk Air and daily with Tashi Air and Singapore flights are twice a week with Druk Air. Flights from Dhaka, Bagdogra and Guwahati are usually twice a week in each direction.

Druk Air uses an airbus which seats 114 passengers with 20 business class seats and an ATR that seats around 40 passengers with no business class available.  Tashi Air has two airbuses with 122 seats (including 20 business class seats).

Flight timings
Timings vary depending on whether the flight is direct or has a stopover but are broadly as follows:

• Bangkok – Paro: 3 hours 15 minutes (or 4 to 4 and a half hours with stopover)
• Bagdogra – Paro: 30 minutes
• Calcutta – Paro: 55 minutes
• Delhi – Paro: 2 hours 20 minutes (or 3 hours 20 minutes with stopover)
• Dhaka – Paro: 55 minutes
• Guwahati – Paro: 55 minutes
• Kathmandu – Paro: 55 minutes
• Singapore – Paro: 5 hours 55 minutes (with stopover)

If you would like more precise information about flight timings or options please ask and we will be happy to explain further.

Prices 
The price of Druk Air and Tashi Air flights is charged on top of the tour price. Current rates for return flights are around US$430 (Kathmandu), US$660 (Delhi), US$780 (Bangkok), US$465 (Calcutta) and US$965 (Singapore). However the seats are priced in local currency but must be paid for in US$, so the price fluctuates daily and the final price can only be confirmed on issuing the tickets. As a result the initial quote we give you for the flights will always be indicative only.  Discounted fares are available at certain times of year and for children and students.

Ticketing
The ticketing system used by the airlines allows us to hold seats for a period so you have time to decide on your dates and organise your international flights before we have to issue the tickets. For travel dates which are more than 45 days away, the ticketing date will be between 30 to 90 days from the date of booking, depending on availability. If seats are still available on the flight we can keep extending the reservation for further periods of 30 days until the flight fills up and we have to issue the tickets. For travel dates less than 45 days but more than 14 days away the ticketing date will be 7 days from the date of booking. For travel dates within 14 days, no ticketing date will be available and the flights must be paid for on booking to secure the seats.

Baggage allowance
The baggage allowance is usually 30 kg in economy class and 40 kg in business class, although this may differ depending on the routing so you should check your ticket.   

Travelling overland
It is also possible to enter or leave Bhutan by road via Phuntsholing on the Indian border in the south-west or at Samdrup Jongkhar in the south-east. This allows you to combine a trip to Bhutan with some time in Darjeeling or Sikkim or Assam. Phuntsholing is three or four hours’ drive from the nearest Indian airport in Bagdogra in West Bengal, and about seven hours’ drive from Thimphu. From Samdrup Jongkhar it is about a three hour drive to Guwahati which has flights to and from a number of Indian cities.

To start planning your tour call +975 17 630494 or email resatours@gmail.com

Tours Cancellation terms

Once booked, Resa Tours and Travel Tours that are cancelled are subject to the following cancellation charges:

• Earlier than 30 days before the start of the tour programme: 10% of the rates
• Between 30 and 21 days before the start: 20% of the rates
• Between 21 and 14 days before the start: 25% of the rates
• Between 14 and 7 days before the start: 40% of the rates
• Less than 7 days before the start or cancellation without notice: 60% of the rates
• After arrival in Bhutan: 100% of the rates.

If you cancel your tour after you have sent payment then we will process your refund in accordance with the above list of charges. To return funds to you from Bhutan we have to request permission from the Royal Monetary Authority to send foreign currency outside Bhutan. Once we have this we have to ask the Tourism Council of Bhutan to return the funds to you, as they are still holding them at that point since your tour has not yet run. This process of arranging the refund can take some time – at busy periods even 6 to 8 weeks.

Please note also that when your currency arrives in Bhutan it is booked to Resa Tours and Travel in local currency at the then prevailing rate of exchange. When we come to return funds to you the cost of the refund will be booked to us again at the then prevailing rate of exchange. If there has been significant fluctuation in exchange rates between the date when funds were received in Bhutan and the date the payment is refunded we reserve the right to return no more than the current US$ equivalent of the amount originally received by us in local currency, to avoid incurring a loss as a result of currency fluctuation when returning your funds for the cancelled trip.

We advise you take out insurance to cover the risk of having to cancel your trip for medical or other reasons – every year we have two or three groups who end up having to cancel after they have already paid for their trips, sometimes as little as a day or so before they fly, and it is an expensive venture if you don’t have insurance to cover the costs incurred.

Sometimes it may be possible to postpone the tour instead of cancelling – we can discuss the options with you if this idea appeals. Note however, that once postponed past the date of the original trip the above cancellation conditions will no longer apply and the payments you have made for the tour and flights will no longer be refundable on the same basis, so you should not take this option unless you believe that you will go ahead with the trip on the new dates.

Finally, note that if you have booked any nights in luxury accommodation then the cancellation terms differ according to the hotel. Generally speaking, once full payment is due on these hotels (around 30 days to 60 days before the date of stay) then no refund is available on cancellations after this point – we can provide further details of the precise terms on request.

Flights Cancellation terms

The airlines’ refund policies vary depending on the type of ticket you choose. Note that time periods for assessing refunds are calculated from when notification is received at the airline, so there may be delays depending on opening times for their office.

When we first reserve seats for you we will be given a ticketing date.  We can continue to extend this for further periods until the flight is full at which point we need to issue the tickets to maintain the reservations for you.  Until the tickets have been issued there is no penalty if you decide to release the seats.

Changes
Once tickets have been issued, date changes can be made up to 7 days beforehand on payment of a US$10 administration charge. There is no charge for date changes in business class. Rerouting of full fare tickets is permitted once, but the ticket will then be stamped non-reroutable and non-refundable. Route changes to a sector with a lower airfare attract a US$25 administration fee.  No fee applies to route changes to a sector with a higher fare.

Please note that both Druk Air and Bhutan Airlines (Tashi Air) reserve the right to make changes to the timing of flights at short notice and take no responsibility for any impact such changes have on either international flight tickets or connection times for your Bhutan flights. You need to bear this in mind when selecting a non-refundable and non-reroutable flight option.

Refunds
Please note that in the unfortunate event that you have to cancel your flight tickets we will do what we can to facilitate any rebooking or processing of a request for a refund, but we are reliant on the airline to action any requests.  While we will do our best to assist you, we cannot commit to do more than what the airline will agree to according to their rules.  The basic rules are as follows:

Full fare tickets
If you ask us to cancel the reservation altogether the refund available will be calculated according to the policy of the relevant airline as at the issue of the tickets.  Please ask us if you want up to date details as it changes regularly.

The current refund policy for Druk Air as of June 2017 is as follows:

• 90% refund for tickets cancelled 30 days or more before the date of travel
• 75% refund for tickets cancelled between 29 days and 10 days before the date of travel
• 50% refund permitted for tickets cancelled between 9 days and 4 days before the date of travel
• No refund for tickets cancelled 3 days or less before the date of travel
• In each case an administration charge of US$25 applies

The current refund policy for Tashi Air as of June 2017 is as follows:

• 100% refund for tickets cancelled 30 days or more before the date of travel
• 75% refund for tickets cancelled between 29 days and 10 days before the date of travel
• 50% refund permitted for tickets cancelled between 9 days and 4 days before the date of travel
• No refund for tickets cancelled 3 days or less before the date of travel
• In each case an administration charge of US$25 applies

Low season reduced fare tickets
Low season is June to August and December to February. Discounted fares are sometimes available. The rules vary from season to season, but most recently the following discounts were available:

• 30% discount on the seat price (plus taxes) for return tickets (except Kathmandu and Bangkok routings)
• 20% discount on the seat price (plus taxes) for one way tickets in to Paro and for any tickets on Kathmandu or Bangkok routing
• No discount available for one way tickets out from Paro

Different terms may apply in respect of changes and cancellation for tickets issued with the benefit of the low season discount

Delays

Although delays on Bhutanese airlines are not uncommon, it is quite rare for a flight to be cancelled altogether. However in extreme circumstances the flight may be delayed until the following day. In that case the airline will be responsible for making arrangements for board and lodging for you for that night.

If you are unfortunate enough to miss a day of your trip we will do what we can to assist by refunding you what we can from that day’s payment, based on whatever is not yet spent and what we can recover for you. For example, we would apply to the government to waive the sustainable development fee for the lost day and we would also do what we can to minimise the charges for the hotel for the lost night. Other costs such as provision of a guide, driver and vehicle will already have been incurred and it will not be possible for us to cancel these at the last minute, so we will not be able to refund your payment for that day in full, but we will do our best to return you as much as we can in the circumstances.

If your return flight is delayed then you are in a better position! Usually the airline will arrange the additional accommodation for you and if you want to keep your guide and driver for the additional time you are in Bhutan we will do our best to arrange this (if they are not already booked elsewhere) and we will make these additional arrangements at the best price we can for you, which we will discuss and agree at the time.

You will be responsible for arranging any necessary changes to your onward international flights. Please note that we cannot be liable for any additional costs or expenses you may incur in relation to your onward travel arrangements by reason of a delay with your Druk Air or Tashi Air flights.  We can also not take responsibility for any impact on your planned schedule for your Bhutan trip as a result of any changes in the airline schedules or timing changes for your Druk Air or Tashi Air flights.

You should bear in mind that it is not at all uncommon for Bhutanese airlines to change their schedules at short notice, with a consequent impact on international connections, so it is advisable to leave plenty of time (at least three to four hours, but preferably an overnight) between your Bhutan flight and your international flight at each end of the trip.

Travel Info

Travel Info

Bhutan is best known to the world today as the last Shangrila. The few visitors who make the rare journey into this extraordinary kingdom will discover that there is no other destination like this land of pure and exotic mysticism. In this country known as Druk Yul, or the ‘Land of the Peaceful Dragon’, the fortunate visitor will find a rare combination of harmony and accord, amidst a landscape of incredible natural beauty.

The Royal Government of Bhutan recognizes that tourism is a world-wide phenomenon and an important means of achieving socioeconomic development particularly for developing countries like Bhutan. It also recognizes that tourism, in affording the opportunity to travel, can help in promoting understanding among peoples and building closer ties of friendship based on appreciation and respect for different cultures and lifestyles.


Towards achieving this objective, the Royal Government, since inception of tourism in the year 1974, has adopted a very cautious approach to growth and development of the tourism.. The Bhutanese tourism industry is based on principle of sustainability that is ‘tourism must be environmentally and ecologically friendly, socially and culturally acceptable and economically viable’.