Royal Highland Festival Diaries

Royal Highland Festival Diaries

Guide holding a Little Bhutan welcome sign with two scarf-draped guests

Day 1: Picked up guests from the airport for the Royal Highland Festival tour.

Land Cruiser with Little Bhutan sign parked beneath rocky mountain peaks

Selfie with guide, two guests and a highlander woman in a conical bamboo hat

Day 2: After arriving in Punakha the night before, we made our 7-hour drive to Taktsimakhang above Gasa, the last point for driving before you reach the festival location in Laya.

Stone welcome gate with Royal Highland Festival banner and colorful flags

Blue tents pitched below traditional houses on a mountainside

Man in gho holding a 7th Royal Highland Festival photo-frame poster

Rice and a drink held up before the festival grounds and snowy peaks

Man in traditional dress riding a decorated grey yak

Day 3: At 3820 meters above sea level, we thoroughly enjoyed the Royal Highland Festival. Guests spent the night at a local’s home.

Guests enjoying a home-cooked meal at a low wooden table

Day 4: Lunch at the farm house in Gasa.

Two guests with arms crossed in front of Punakha Dzong

Day 5: On our way to Thimphu (Punakha Dzong in the background).

Hikers flashing peace signs on a grassy trail among autumn larches

Haa Panorama Hiking Trail signboard listing distance, time and altitude

Stone cairn on a ridge overlooking a forested valley

Selfie at a prayer-flag-draped stone hut high above the valley

Day 6-7: Haa and Paro.

Couple with trekking poles among saddled pack horses below misty cliffs

Three people in prayer pose with Tiger’s Nest monastery behind

Day 8: Tiger’s Nest Hike (Paro)

Two guests posing playfully before a painted Bhutanese landscape mural

Day 9: Departure

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