[saildrive]

@ananair

I consider myself extremely fortunate for having done Mumbai to Bhutan last year. I absolutely gorged on every travelogue on T-BHP prior to starting my trip. It was just two of us traveling in an i20 for a 15 day trip.

Even today, I think about how we surpassed all hurdles that came and managed this trip. I am glad you are doing this in a X3 which is a beast of a ride. The only grouse I have is the choice of vehicle, had we a car which had a good ground clearance; this trip's worth would go up a notch!

By X drives, I am assuming you will be having a bunch of cars with you and your car will have SATNAV which may or maynot work. Few must haves would include a dashcam which will help you capture every detail of your trip.

We drove on 13th March and reached Jaigaon on 16th March 2017, stayed the night there and early morning reached P'ling with car papers and other documents, remember to carry a few photocopies of all documents. They somehow did not accept the form available on the website; we had to refill this all over again.

Day 1: Siliguri arrival (assuming by flight) should be fine. Have some cash handy, as sometimes, accessing an ATM is a pain.
Day 2: Siliguri to P'ling route is truck laden and the two lane road usually has vehicles piled on both sides. Suggest you start early morning. Absolutely scenic drive. Coronation bridge onwards you will find very narrow roads
Day3: P'ling to Thimpu should be fine. Depending upon your choice of activities; Thimpu has few places to wind down, maybe you can look at a day extra there. There is a Gold Buddha Temple, forgotten the name now though.
Day4/5: Thimpu Punaka is a good drive, we had snowfall and rains, but amazing roads absolutely empty too
Day 5/6: Punaka to Paro is fine too. We had done P'ling to Paro; the roads are absolutely off the cliff and the trucks from the opposite side just revv in
Day6/7: Tiger's Nest is some climb up and walk down. Good cardio with possibly the cleanest air (oxygen) you will ever breathe
Day7: Paro to Siliguri is the same as we had taken driving into the country. Great landscapes to take images too.

Remember driving at night could be a tense affair and there are absolutely no lights. We drove into Gelefu, Bongaigon and then through Siliguri. Suggest you can give it a try too. Gelefu is somewhat modern, not very cultural city and absolutely small town. They have one or two party places which are absolutely shut on Tuesday's. No alchohol is served on Tuesdays.

Roads from Gelefu are a nightmare to drive, but you should be fine, if you decide to take that route. It's just that we wanted to enter and exit from two different points and we wanted to have the feel of the country as much as we could. We then drove from Siliguri to Mumbai via (Bhubaneshwar, Vizag)

I really want to do this atleast once again in my lifetime with my family. Similar to you, send the car to Siliguri and drive through Bhutan and back. I have my mind fixed on first buying a AT SUV and then I will surely visit the country again!

Hope this is of some help to you. Lemme know if you would like to know more...

[Rudra Sen]

Mod note: Thread moved from Travelogues to Route / Travel Queries.