From when people knew that I paid a visit to Bhutan, they kept asking me about the plan and the budget. This post if for all of them.
The entire amount spent on our Bhutan trip, calculating from Calcutta to Calcutta, including food, transport and accommodation is ₹8000 per person for 5 days.
This is how it was possible.
There are two ways into Bhutan. You either fly into Bhutan, in Bhutan's flag carrier - Druk Air from Delhi or Calcutta and land at Paro airport, or you enter by road from the Indian town of Jaigaon into the Bhutanese town of Phuentsholing.
The Kanchankanya express runs from Sealdah station in Calcutta to Hasimara Station,which is 20 km from the Indo-Bhutanese border. The sleeper ticket costs ₹380 per person.
After reaching Hasimara station, we took an auto who charged ₹200 for the trip. As were 5 members, it came to ₹40 per person.
The auto drops you off at the Indo-Bhutan friendship gate, through which you can walk and check into hotels in the Bhutanese town of Phuentsholing. Our hotel room - a 5 bed room, costed us ₹1000 which is ₹200 per person.
The next day, after getting our permits (free of cost), we took the bus to Thimphu, which was ₹245 per person.
The taxi from the bus stand in Thimphu to the hotel was ₹200 for the group which is ₹40 per person, and the hotel - another 5 bed room was a total of ₹2500, amounting to ₹500 per person.
The next day, permit extension does not cost you anything, but the taxi from Thimphu to Chinuma village, the trek start point did: ₹140 per person.
The next two days were expense free as we were trekking. The next expense came as a taxi from the trek end point to Khuruthang which costed ₹3500 = ₹700 per person. Accommodation in Khuruthang costed us ₹400 per person.
Taxi from Khuruthang to Paro was ₹400 per person, and accommodation in Paro was ₹300 per person. Taxi to Tiger's Nest and back was ₹150 per person, and finally, taxi from Paro to Thimphu was ₹600 per person.
TLDR:
Train to Hasimara from Calcutta and back = ₹760 (sleeper)
Accommodations = ₹1400 (approx. of ₹500 per day)
Taxi and bus = ₹1835
Food = ₹1000 per day approx = ₹4000
This is what costed us for a trip of 5 days including a day trek. You can have a slightly higher or lower cost based on your plan. My suggestion would be to have a budget limit of ₹500 per room per day, ₹1000 per food per day, and the let the rest take care of itself.
