The Royal Highland Festival
The Royal Highland Festival is two days of highland games at Laya, a village at 3,820 metres in northern Gasa — yak and horse racing, a yak beauty contest, and the 25 km Laya Run. It runs 23–24 October every year. There is no road to Laya: you drive to the road head and walk in, four to five hours, or come by helicopter.
Getting there, which is the part to plan first
Laya is about a kilometre higher than Gasa Dzong, and the last stretch has no road.
You drive north past Gasa to the road head, and from there it is four to five hours on foot, with pack ponies carrying the bags — that is how our own journeys run it. Some accounts of the older route from Koina describe a longer day, closer to 19 kilometres and seven to eight hours with over a thousand metres of ascent, so ask us which walk applies to the year you are coming: the road has been advancing for years and the trailhead keeps moving.
A helicopter is possible and has to be arranged well in advance; seats are few.
This is worth being blunt about. People come to Bhutan for this festival and arrive expecting to drive to it. You cannot. If a multi-hour walk at altitude is not realistic for you, tell us early and we will talk about the helicopter or a different trip.
What actually happens?
Highland games, in the proper sense. Yak and horse racing, mastiff competitions, traditional songs and dances, and stalls of highland produce that does not come down the mountain often.
The yak beauty contest is the one everyone remembers: herders present their finest animals and they are judged on health, appearance and strength. There is also the 25 kilometre Laya Run, starting from Ponjothang where the motor road ends.
His Majesty the King often attends, which tells you how the country regards it.
It is also the one occasion these communities gather. The people of Laya and Lunana speak Layakha and Lunanakha — languages distinct enough from Dzongkha to be named separately — and they do not otherwise meet in one place.
Why does it exist?
It was first held on 16 October 2016, and it marked three things at once: the birth of the Gyalsey, Prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck; 400 years since the Zhabdrung reached Bhutan in 1616; and the Rabjung, the sixty-year cycle, birth year of Guru Rinpoche.
When, exactly?
23–24 October, and it does not move. Unlike a tshechu, whose dates follow the lunar calendar and shift every year, this is a fixed Gregorian date — so it is one of the few festivals in Bhutan you can book flights around a year ahead.
See things to do in Gasa for the district, and the Royal Highland Festival journey for how we run it.
Tours that visit Gasa
Frequently asked questions
Where is the Royal Highland Festival held?
At Laya, a highland village in Gasa district at 3,820 metres — not in Gasa town and not at the dzong. There is no road to Laya. You drive as far as the road head beyond Gasa, then walk in — our own journeys allow 4–5 hours on foot with pack ponies — or take a helicopter, which must be booked well in advance.
When is the Royal Highland Festival?
23–24 October, every year. Unlike a tshechu, this is a fixed Gregorian date rather than a lunar one, so it does not drift from year to year — which makes it one of the few Bhutanese festivals you can plan flights around with confidence.
What happens at the festival?
Yak and horse racing, mastiff competitions, highland produce, songs and dances — and a yak beauty contest, where herders present their best animals to be judged on health, appearance and strength. There is also the 25 km Laya Run, which starts from Ponjothang where the motor road ends. His Majesty the King often attends.
Why was the festival started?
It was first held on 16 October 2016, marking three things at once: the birth of the Gyalsey, Prince Jigme Namgyel Wangchuck; 400 years since the Zhabdrung's arrival in Bhutan in 1616; and the Rabjung — the sixty-year cycle — birth year of Guru Rinpoche.
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