Six days in the festival courtyards, with the market food and the walk home after dark
A tshechu runs for three or four days and the courtyards fill early, so this route stays in one town for the festival rather than arriving for a single afternoon. The mornings are for the masked dances with seats arranged through the festival committee, and the afternoons and evenings are for the food, which in Bhutan means momos, chilli cheese, noodles and the stalls that only appear while the festival is on.
Travellers who want a festival properly rather than a photo stop, and anyone travelling for the food
Land, meet the guide and drive east along the river. Check into a guesthouse near the festival ground, then walk to the food lanes behind the market for the first dinner.
Be in the courtyard before the first dance, with your guide explaining each cham as it comes. The afternoon is for the craft studios and the memorial chorten, and dinner is at a family restaurant.
The longest day of the festival, with the blessing of the thongdrel and the crowds at their fullest. Lunch comes from the stalls outside the gate, and the evening is free to sit by the river or hear music at a cafe.
Shop the market with your guide and cook a set of Bhutanese dishes in a home kitchen, then take the short climb to the Buddha Dordenma for the long view down the valley. Dinner is at a stall on the way back.
Cross Dochula in the morning and drop into Punakha for the dzong and a riverside lunch, then take the pass road back to Paro for the last night.
Walk to the Taktsang tea house early if the festival week has left you with legs, or take a slow breakfast in town. Then lunch and the transfer to the terminal.
Travel insurance strongly recommended: cover mountain medical care, altitude evacuation, and Paro weather flight delays. Read the travel insurance note
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