A Day in Thimphu: My Personal Guide to the Best Tourist Attractions

Note: If you want to see this experience in Visual Format, feel free to checkout this episode from our Bhutan Series.

The day Starts: 

The night was cozy and comfortable in the hotel. Though it was freezing cold outside, we slept comfortably with a room heater. We got ready and went straight for breakfast! The complimentary breakfast was excellent and we filled our tummy! Because a long day was ahead! Soon our guide Norbu reported and briefed up about the day’s plan. 

A country without traffic signals!

National Memorial Chorten, Thimphu.

A chorten is a Buddhist reliquary or monument, typically a square or circular structure with a pyramidal roof. This beautiful monument was built in 1974 to commemorate Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, the 3rd King of Bhutan! Located in the picturesque backdrop of hills, this white stupa with gold spires and intricate designs is a must-visit place in Thimphu!

It’s a really really nice place and I saw so many people here,  not only elders but also the Young Folks encircling the stupa along with their prayer beads. We could feel so much calmness and positivity in the place!

The National Memorial Chorten is a ticketed venue and we paid Rs 1000 per adult for buying tickets ( now reduced to Rs 500). If you are on a budget and don’t want to pay for tickets, there is an elevated road next to the Choten, from which you can get a beautiful view of the complex! But I would recommend going inside if possible!

After spending a nice time here, we proceeded towards our next destination. But before that stopped at the local market to enjoy some tea! Here we met Mr. Meghraj who is a national volunteer under Desun Programm. We could find many such personnel around Bhutan during this trip! From him, we came to know that most of the volunteers join the scheme due to seer love and respect for their king! The programme is the brainchild of High Highness Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck.

It appears that the people of Bhutan have extreme respect for their King and the royal family! We could see pictures of the King and Queen everywhere, including private buildings!

Buddha Dordenma!

Buddha Dordenma is a gigantic Shakyamuni Buddha statue located on a hill overlooking Thimphu City. It was built in 2015 and happens to be the largest sitting Buddha statue in the world! 

We had to climb around 300 hundred steps to reach the top! But it was worth the effort! Not only the beautiful huge bronze and copper Buddha statue, but the view of the Thimphu city and the valley is something that should not be missed. 

Note:

It gets very cold and windy up here, so please carry caps and jackets, especially during winter!

National Postal Museum of Bhutan:

In the world of philately, the stamps of Bhutan are very famous! Even though the postal services started as late as 1964 in the country, Bhutan is well known for issuing many unique postal stamps! Like the first 3rd stamp, scented stamps, stamps with holograms, including stamps with moving images, stamps that change colour when exposed to light, and stamps that can be used to make phone calls. Bhutan also issued the first vinyl record stamp, which could acutely be played on a gramophone for the national anthem of the country!

The National Postal Museum of Bhutan has a large collection of stamps, including some of the rarest and most valuable stamps in the world. The museum also has a collection of postal history, including letters, postcards, and other documents that tell the story of Bhutan’s postal system. The museum also has a collection of philatelic literature, including books, magazines, and other publications about stamps and postal history. The museum is a great place to learn about Bhutan’s history and culture through its stamps and postal history.

We spent a good time in the museum! It was a very informative tour. And from the souvenir shop, we bought some customized stamps, created using our family picture 🙂

From the postal museum, our next destination was a place, which you absolutely can not miss during your visit to Thimphu! By this time the weather became very comfortable! The initial morning chill was gone and it turned out to be a very bright and sunny day!

Simply Bhutan Museum of Thimphu!

Simply Bhutan is a living museum that brings traditional Bhutanese life to life. Visitors can learn about Bhutanese culture, history, and arts through interactive exhibits and demonstrations.

Here we could have a sneak peek of Their Life, culture, religious practices and their traditions  Here each group is accompanied by a guide!  Our guide explained everything very well! It was an amazing experience for us! We could also try traditional archery, which is the national sport of Bhutan! Obviously, none of us could hit the target and we blamed it on the strong mountain wind 😁

The inspiring story of Pema Tshering

The tour ended with beautiful performances of folk music and dance. We were served with traditional butter tea ( Suja, often pronounced as Shu-cha) and rice crackles! One could also enjoy the traditional Bhutanese lunch as a set menu!  But we gave it a pass because there was a better plan for the food!

We spent 2 beautiful hours inside Simply Bhutan and it was already afternoon and all were feeling very hungry!  So we headed to a special palace to have a traditional Bhutanese meal. I did some research on the internet the previous day and found this restaurant which is known for its food and traditional ambience!

Lunch at Babesa Village Restaurant, Thimphu

This place is located on the highway on the outskirts of  Thimphu! The building itself is very interesting! They claim the mud house is actually reconstructed on a 600-year-old village home! It still holds the traditional multistoried mud construction! 

We chose the traditional searching section, where we need to sit on the mattress on the floor and food is served on low height table. The temperature started to drop again and we requested to put heaters to beat the cold! We ordered all traditional foods from their menu like Ema Datshi ( Chilly Chese), Pork Sumday ( fried rice with pork) , Brangnye (a kind of Pizza of sticky rice-based ) etc.

The food was quite good and freshly cooked and we all liked the way those were served in wooden bowls and spoons!

They also provided some rice soups as complimentary, which was blunt for my taste but nice to have in the cold weather! But the green chilly and onion salad completely knocked me off! It was so hot, that I had water from my eyes and nose!

Trivia:

Bhutanese people like to eat meat and poultry but there is no slaughterhouse in the country and such items are imported from India. Vegetables are grown here and they are amazingly fresh and tasty!

After the sumptuous lunch, we headed towards the Tashichho Dzong. But only from outside! Because, number one, it was almost the closing time to enter the fortress and we did not have enough time. Also, Norbu told us since we are going to visit Punakha Dzong later in the trip, we may skip going inside this one to avoid paying Rs 1000 ( now reduced to Rs 500) per head.

Tashichho Dzong Viewpoint, Thimphu

 The Dzong was built in the 17th century by Ngawang Namgyal, the founder of Bhutan. It has been rebuilt several times since then, most recently in the 1960s.

By this time it became very cold and kids were not feeling comfortable! So some from the group decided to go back to the hotel, while we stopped by the Centenary Farmers Market. 

Centenary Farmers Market, Thimphu

The Centenary Farmers Market is a vibrant and bustling market located in the heart of Thimphu, Bhutan. The market is open daily and is a great place to find fresh produce, meat, fish, dairy and other local goods. The market is also a great place to people-watch and experience the local culture.

Norbu gave us nice explanations of how farming activities happen in Bhutan and how people live their lives in agriculture! We hopped from stall to stall and interacted with people, bought some items, eat some local food! 

The farmers market was our last destination of the day! After that, we went to our hotel and had dinner there!  Since the temperature was nearing zero, we did not feel like going out for food!

The day was long and we had to pack out stuff because the next day we were going to Punakha via Dochula Pass! So we had to sleep early!

I hope you join us there as well!

You can find the other blogs of the series here!

https://theurbannomad.co.in/travelogues/the-ultimate-guide-traveling-to-bhutan-from-india-in-2023/
https://theurbannomad.co.in/travelogues/phuntsholing-to-thimphu-by-road/

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