The Dragon Kingdom Drive, Bhutan Himalayan Expedition

Twelve nights from Gorakhpur in India into Bhutan and back, driven in convoy, over three high passes.

Bhutan admitted its first tourists in 1974, limits numbers with a daily fee and cannot be driven independently by foreigners, so a supported convoy with the paperwork handled is the only practical way to take a car in.

Gorakhpur opens it with a briefing and a welcome dinner, then the plains to Siliguri and the border crossing to Thimphu, the only capital in the world with no traffic lights, with a day there. The Phobjikha Valley follows over the Dochula Pass, a glacial valley where black-necked cranes winter, then Bumthang over the Pele La and Yotong La, the religious heart of the country, with a day there and a farmhouse lunch. Punakha comes next, where a fortress monastery sits on a spit between two rivers, then Paro, with the walk up to the Tiger’s Nest, a monastery fixed to a cliff nine hundred metres above the valley floor, or a gentler day instead.

Twin-share accommodation is included and the full inclusions were not published, so they are worth settling at booking, as are the taxes and the Bhutanese daily fee; a chauffeur-driven option costs extra. Guests bring their own car or rent through the operator. The price shown is per person sharing. Spring and autumn are the seasons. Thirteen days with two full rest days is a comfortable pace for a route with this much altitude in it, and the Indian legs at either end are long days on busy roads rather than scenic ones, which is worth knowing before setting off.