New Bhutan Tour Cost 2022 Update

Now Bhutan is fully open for tourism with no quarantine from 23rd September 2022, the quarantine will be lifted off and upon arrival in Bhutan, you can directly start your Bhutan tour. This applies to those who have two doses of vaccination against covid-19. For partially vaccinated or no vaccination, they will still have to stay for 5 days quarantine. All quarantine costs like hotels, food, medical test needs to be paid extra but SDF charge is exempted during the quarantine period.

New tourism policy for Bhutan has replaced the old rule where daily rate of US$250 in high season and US$200 was applicable. The SDF (Sustainable Development Fee) now amounts to US$200 per person per night where previously was US$65 per person per night. The new travel policy aims to promote quality tourism in the country with the motto ‘high volume, low impact’. Besides SDF there are other costs involved like hotels, food, guide, transfers, entrance fees etc.

New Bhutan Tour Cost for 2022/2023

With the new Bhutan tourism policy applied now the tour cost for traveling to Bhutan comes to as below.

The above rates include and exclude following services.

Cost Includes:

– Accommodation at 3 star hotels.
– Sustainable development fund $200 per person per night
– Visa fee US$40 per person
– Lunch at Local Restaurant/Breakfast & Dinner at Hotel or Restaurant
– Experienced English Speaking Tour Guide licensed by Tourism Council of Bhutan
– Private Transport within Bhutan as per itinerary
– Bottle water per day during the tour

Cost excludes:

– Air Ticket (flight connects from Delhi, Nepal, Thailand,Singapore,Bangladesh)
– Museum, Monuments entrance fee, Sightseeing & all applicable taxes
– Travel Insurance.
– Gratuities, Bar, Telephone Bills, Personal Expenses and Laundry.
– Pony Charges for Tiger Nest
– Bhutanese Traditional hot stone bath or Archery

Why Bhutan is so expensive?

It’s due to the new tourism policy of Bhutan where SDF charge has been increased by the Bhutanese government starting from the new season of 2022. Now SDF is US$200 per person per night for anyone visiting Bhutan. There’s no daily rate of US$200 (low season) or US$250 (high season) and on top of SDF other costs are applicable like hotels, foods, guide, transfers, entrance fees.

What is Sustainable Development Fee – SDF in Bhutan?

Known as Sustainable Development Fee, it is to be paid to the Bhutanese government by anyone visiting Bhutan for travel. The fee is for the overall development of Bhutan and goes towards providing free education, medical service to the Bhutanese population. Currently SDF charge is US$200 per person per night for any foreigners and INR 1200 per person per night for Indian travelers.

Bhutan Visa processing time

The visa processing time normally is 5-5 days. In order to process the visa, we will require full tour payment before your arrival in Bhutan. To apply for the visa we will require the following documents. Upon submitting these, TCB (Tourism Council of Bhutan) will issue a visa clearance letter which we will send via email. A printed copy of this letter needs to be shown at entry point to Bhutan (Paro International Airport) in order to get your passport stamped with original Bhutan visa. To process visa, one individually can’t apply for Bhutan visa and must come through a registered travel agency in Bhutan or it’s travel partner outside Bhutan.

Require documents

1. Passport copies (with a validity of 6 months or more)
2. Travel insurance with covid-19 coverage
3. Passport size photograph
4. Covid-19 vaccine certificate for (2 doses)

Bhutan tour cancelation policy

Upon full tour payment received and visa processed as well as hotels booked then there will be no refund. After applying the visa and visa clearance letter already issued by TCB, they won’t refund back if in case anyone wish to cancel their Bhutan tour.

Hotel upgrade or downgrade in Bhutan
To upgrade your hotel from 3 star to 4 star or 5 star when you have already arrived in Bhutan, there will be extra cost for which you need to send us an email. Since the already booked 3 star hotels need to be canceled and they don’t refund, so there will be extra cost for the hotel upgrading. Likewise, if you wish to change to 3 star hotels from 4 or 5 star hotels then extra cost of 3 star hotels is applicable. There won’t be adjustment with cost for changing 4 or 5 star hotels to 3 star since all hotels already booked won’t refund us back.

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Read also:

1. Bhutan tour cost
2.Do’s and Don’ts in Bhutan