Bhutan Motorbike Tour - Land of the Thunder Dragon

Ten nights through Bhutan, guided, from Delhi by way of Bagdogra, on a Royal Enfield.

Bhutan admitted its first tourists in 1974, limits numbers with a daily fee and cannot be ridden independently, so a guided tour with the paperwork handled is the only way in with a motorcycle.

Delhi opens it, with a flight to Bagdogra as the gateway to the eastern Himalaya and the border crossing beyond. Thimphu follows, the only capital in the world with no traffic lights, with the Buddha Dordenma, a fifty-metre bronze seated figure above the city. The Dochula Pass carries the route to Punakha and its dzong, a fortress monastery on a spit between two rivers, then the glacial valley of Phobjikha where black-necked cranes winter, and Bumthang in the central valleys, which holds the oldest temples in the country. The Thrumshing La is the hardest pass on the route. Paro closes it, with the walk up to the Tiger’s Nest, a monastery fixed to a cliff nine hundred metres above the valley, or a ride up the Chele La instead.

All the overnight stays, the Royal Enfield and its fuel, an English-speaking road captain, a dedicated mechanic, a backup vehicle for the luggage and a fully stocked first aid box are all included; the Bhutanese daily fee is worth clarifying at booking. Spring and autumn are the seasons, since the monsoon brings landslips to the eastern passes. Eleven days covers far more of Bhutan than the standard Paro and Thimphu circuit, and the Thrumshing La is the part riders tend to remember: a long climb to over three and a half thousand metres on a road cut into the hillside.