The short answer: seven days for a first visit, if you can. Four is the least that is worth the flight, and ten or more takes you beyond the part of the country most visitors see.
The reason the question matters more for Bhutan than for most places is that every night has a fixed cost. The government's Sustainable Development Fee is US$100 a night for each adult, before hotels and everything else. So it pays to know what each extra day buys.
At a glance
| Days | Nights | What you see | Fee for one adult |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 3 | Paro and Thimphu | US$300 |
| 5 | 4 | Adds Punakha | US$400 |
| 7 | 6 | Adds the Phobjikha valley | US$600 |
| 8 | 7 | Adds Haa | US$700 |
| 10 | 9 | Adds Trongsa and Bumthang | US$900 |
| 14 | 13 | Crosses to the east | US$1,300 |
The last column is the Sustainable Development Fee alone. The visa adds US$40 once.
Why Bhutan takes longer than its size suggests
Bhutan is small, but there is one main road and it crosses a mountain pass between every pair of valleys. Paro to Thimphu, 54 km, takes an hour. Thimphu to Punakha, 76 km, takes two to three. From Bumthang in the centre to Mongar in the east is 198 km and a full day of seven to eight hours.
A good itinerary keeps most drives under three hours and never puts two long ones back to back. That, more than the list of sights, decides how many days a route needs.
Four days: Paro and Thimphu
The two valleys nearest the airport hold the capital, the National Museum and the walk to the Tiger's Nest. Four days suits a stopover on a longer journey through Asia. You will have seen Bhutan's most famous sight, though not much of its countryside.
Five days: add Punakha
One more day takes you over Dochu La, at 3,100 m, and down to Punakha, a warm valley more than 1,000 m lower, with the dzong many visitors remember best. If you are choosing between four days and five, choose five.
Seven days: the trip we suggest
A week adds the Phobjikha valley, high, wide and quiet, where black-necked cranes spend the winter. It also gives Thimphu two nights and puts the Tiger's Nest at the end, when you have had six days to get used to the height. This is the itinerary we would plan for our own friends.
Eight days: add Haa
An eighth day crosses Chele La, at 3,988 m the highest point most visitors reach by road, to the Haa valley, which sees few travellers.
Ten days: the centre of the country
Ten days carries on east over Pele La to Trongsa, with its great dzong, and to the temples of Bumthang. The return is by a short domestic flight, or by road in two days.
Fourteen days: across to the east
Two weeks crosses the whole country, through Mongar to Trashigang, and leaves by road into India. The east has the longest drives and the simplest hotels in Bhutan, and very few other visitors.
If you want to trek
A trek needs days on either side, to adjust to the height before and to recover after. The shortest, the Bumdra trek, fits into a week. The Druk Path needs ten days door to door, and the Jomolhari trek twelve.
If you are coming for a festival
Plan the trip around the festival's main day and work outwards. Our festival tours run from seven to ten days.