Bhutan trip from India costs ~Rs 63,000 budget or ~Rs 1,13,000 mid-range for 6 days: Rs 1,200/night SDF, flights, guide-car unit, hotels and food broken down.
Cover image: Punakha Dzong beside the river with jacaranda trees in bloom in Bhutan — photo by Bernard Gagnon, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
A 6-day Bhutan trip from India typically costs ₹60,000-70,000 per person on a budget, or ₹1,00,000-1,15,000 mid-range, for two people travelling together. The one fixed cost is Bhutan's Sustainable Development Fee: ₹1,200 per person per night for Indian nationals (other foreigners pay $100 a night), so six nights add ₹7,200 before anything else. Flights, a licensed guide with transport, and hotels make up the rest. Solo travellers pay notably more, since guide and car costs are not split.
All figures below assume a 6-night Paro-Thimphu-Punakha circuit booked through a licensed operator, which is how most Indian visits are arranged. Entry paperwork is covered in our Bhutan visa guide for Indians.
Bhutan trip cost from India: the full budget table
| Expense (per person, 6 nights, twin-sharing) | Budget | Mid-range |
|---|---|---|
| Return flights (Delhi/Kolkata/Bagdogra to Paro) | ₹20,000 | ₹28,000 |
| SDF: ₹1,200 x 6 nights (fixed by policy) | ₹7,200 | ₹7,200 |
| Hotels (6 nights) | ₹12,000 (₹2,000/night) | ₹30,000 (₹5,000/night) |
| Licensed guide + private car (share of 6 days) | ₹15,000 | ₹30,000 |
| Food and drink (7 days) | ₹7,000 | ₹14,000 |
| Monastery and museum entry fees | ₹2,000 | ₹4,000 |
| Trip total | ~₹63,000 | ~₹1,13,000 |
The SDF is the only non-negotiable line: ₹1,200 per night for Indian nationals, unchanged when the dollar fee was cut from $200 to $100 in August 2023. Children and the exact permit mechanics are detailed in the visa guide linked above.
Flights: fewer options, so book early
Only Drukair and Bhutan Airlines fly into Paro, from a small set of Indian cities including Delhi, Kolkata, Bagdogra, Guwahati and Gaya. Returns booked six to eight weeks out typically price at ₹20,000-30,000, with festival weeks in spring and October the dearest. Overland entry via Jaigaon-Phuentsholing (for west Bhutan) or Samdrup Jongkhar (for the east) avoids the airfare entirely and suits budget travellers from West Bengal and the Northeast. Air India's Drukair interline agreement now lets you book single-ticket connections from more Indian cities.
Guide, transport and hotels: where the money goes
Licensed guides are required for most sightseeing, and operators bundle the guide with a car and driver. Expect roughly ₹5,000-8,000 a day for the guide-car unit on a budget or group-shared basis, rising for premium vehicles. Split between two travellers over six days, that is the ₹15,000-30,000 per-person line in the table. Solo travellers absorb the whole unit, which is why Bhutan punishes travelling alone. A group of three or four changes the maths dramatically: the same daily unit split four ways roughly halves the per-person guide-car line in the table above, which is why operators push fixed-departure group tours for the October and spring festival weeks.
Hotels are the swing factor. Thimphu and Paro have clean ₹1,500-2,500 guesthouses, solid ₹4,000-6,000 three-star hotels, and luxury lodges that start above ₹25,000 a night and climb steeply. October and festival weeks sell out the mid-range tier first. Compared with the region, Bhutan costs roughly double a similar-length trip: our Cambodia cost breakdown from India lands at ₹47,000-80,000 for the same six nights, mostly because it has no SDF or mandatory guide.
Money-saving rules that actually work
Travel in a group of three or four to split the guide-car unit. Enter overland if you live near the border. Pick March or late November instead of October for lower room rates with nearly identical weather. Eat Bhutanese set meals (ema datshi with red rice) at local restaurants for ₹300-500 rather than hotel buffets. And count SDF nights precisely: arriving a day late or leaving a day early saves ₹1,200 a head per night with no downside.
Frequently asked questions
What is the SDF for Indians visiting Bhutan in 2026?
₹1,200 per person per night. It applies to every night spent in Bhutan and is separate from hotel, guide and transport costs.
How much does a 5-day Bhutan trip cost from India?
Roughly ₹55,000-60,000 budget or ₹95,000-1,05,000 mid-range per person sharing, scaling from the 6-day table above with one fewer SDF night and hotel night.
Is Bhutan expensive for Indian tourists?
Yes, relative to Southeast Asia. The SDF plus the mandatory guide-car setup puts a floor of about ₹10,000 a day per person on any itinerary before hotels.
Can Indians visit Bhutan without a package?
Indians can arrange permits independently at the border, but licensed guides are required for most sightseeing areas, so in practice nearly all visits run through an operator or a guide.
