Gelephu Town

Gelephu is Sarpang’s main town: a thromde of 9,858 people at the 2017 census, on the Indian border at 220 metres, and the night-stop on our southern itineraries. It is the site of Gelephu Mindfulness City. It is not the same place as Sarpang town, which is the district headquarters, about 30 km west.

What is Gelephu for?

Trade, mostly. It is one of Bhutan’s border markets and one of the road crossings from India, with the core market sitting close to the gate. Sarpang Dzongkhag calls the district the commercial centre for Trongsa, Zhemgang, Tsirang, Dagana and Bumthang, and Gelephu is where that happens. It has been a thromde since July 2010, and Drukair flies between Paro and Gelephu — see getting to Bhutan for how often.

For us it is one night, between the forest districts and the road west. What you get for it is the hot spring and a flat, hot, working town, which is a real change of scene after a fortnight of dzongs at 2,000 metres.

Two things worth knowing before you ask

On an ordinary third-country passport you cannot start a Bhutan trip here. Which land crossings that passport may actually use is the part that changes, and our guide to entering Bhutan by road is the page we keep current on it.

Day visits to Gelephu are exempt from the Sustainable Development Fee, under rules with conditions attached; our SDF guide has them, and they are not the same thing as being allowed to cross.

Come between November and March. This is the hot end of Bhutan, the monsoon runs June to August, and winter is when Bhutanese travel here themselves. See things to do in Sarpang for the rest of the district.