What are the various places in Bhutan Indians can visit. Are there roads leading into the greater Himalaya?
Comment to your point no.3: it is only when one does not have a passport that he visits the indian embassy who then verifies your other IDs and prepares a letter of guarantee which is submitted to the Bhutan authorities. Now the Indian embassy prefers the Voter's ID but they also accept Driver's License provided you have another ID to support, which in my case was a PAN card. They may create hassles but in our group they also let one person go with only a Driver's License. So I would say its a case by case basis and probably also depends on the mood of the embassy guy.
I did Bhutan ride last year in March. Here is a blog of my experience with the Bhutaneese authorities for getting the permit for me and my bike, Plus some other related informations. Bhutan on two wheels
Tanveer, there is no restriction on movement as such for Indians. Since all tourists (except Indians) have to be at all times accompanied by a tour guide, they obviously see only the tourist circuit. Where as since we can roam around independently, we can choose to explore any place. - - - Updated - - - That is right. I also did not have my passport and managed to enter after a lot of trouble with just my DL. But yeah, you'd not want to take a chance on a trip and be involved in pleasing babus. So best to have passport and have a hassle free entry.
the embassy guy didnt let ajay only on licence he also took ajay's bike RC as address proof. If you have passport, voter's id card or aadhar card then u dont need to go to indian embassy, just goto immigration office and you are done which saves a heck lot of time.
Not sure if it's too late to answer this: but as to my belief, you can directly go to the Bhutan immigration office *only* if you have your passport. For the other 2 mentioned above, you will still need to visit the Indian immigration office for a verification of authenticity. (I could be wrong of course). Dimitrz: If you've not already left, just cross-check the election scene. We weren't allowed to go to most of Eastern Bhutan due to elections & it won't be any different yet. I've written a bit about my experiences this April with the babus of Bhutan, but it's a tad bit long .
Dimitriz is already back from his Bhutan trip Manan. And like you, he too got stuck due to election in Samdrup and had to exit through Gelephu.
That's bad. We should have some place where we can see this 'Travel Advisory' for Bhutan. Would save a lot of people a ton of hassle. (similar to the superb 'pass status' on the first page which lists the current status of the most popular passes)
Somehow missed this post, Tintin is right I came back around mid of April. Then based on my experiences I converted the query post into an information post . As Tintin said we came out from Gelephu after touching Ura valley Good idea but then I guess there is less inflow to Bhutan compared to Ladhak. Ladhak road status reports is a major proactiviness on part of Yogesh- If we can get someone on same lines to do Bhutan road status reports I think its feasible
thanks dimitriz for the info. plan to do a trip to bhutan in may 2014. could you pleas tell m about the various plces that need to be visited and those that can be skipped.
