Review: Village Tours & Treks, Bhutan

We didn’t do a lot of research when we selected Village Tours & Treks to arrange our trip to Bhutan. The May/June 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler magazine listed them in their 50 Tours of a Lifetime article. Despite, the lack of research, our decision to book our trip to Bhutan through Village Tours and Treks could not have turned out better. Our guide and driver were fantastic, the company was organized and responsive, and our trip was absolutely amazing.

After reading the article in National Geographic Traveler, I immediately contacted VT&T about arranging a tour. I heard back very quickly from the woman who represents them in the United States. She was extremely helpful in deciding on an itinerary and making suggestions. I told her what our main interests were (photography, animals, short hikes, archaeology), and she came up with a schedule incorporating these things. It was very quick and easy and she was great to work with.

The most complicated part was transferring the money for the tour to Bhutan’s Department of Tourism (which is necessary no matter which tour company you select). The woman at my bank didn’t seem one hundred percent sure what she was so I had a couple nail biting days where I wasn’t completely sure that the money actually went through. Once I had confirmation that the money went through, VT&T bought our Bangkok to Bhutan plane tickets and applied for our visas. We had to make our own arrangements to get to Bangkok. We selected Bangkok because it was necessary to stay overnight and Americans do not need to obtain a visa in advance before visiting Thailand.

Once we arrived in Bhutan, we were met at the airport by Pema, our guide, and Ugyen, our driver. I don’t know if we are just lucky, but we have always had great guides on vacation. However, Pema was even better than the best guides we have had – by the end of the trip, he felt like a friend. Obviously, he was extremely knowledgeable about all the things tourists might be interested in, or he wouldn’t be a guide. But what I liked he that he was very flexible, making adjustments to our schedule based on his knowledge and upon circumstances (such as torrential rains, or my upset stomach). He brought me cough syrup for my cold and a mask so I wouldn’t ingest dust and further inflame my throat. He made sure we didn’t make any cultural faux pas (ones which I did see other tourists make). One of the best parts was that we had so many interesting conversations about a wide variety of topics. Instead of us just asking him questions, he asked us questions too, and that made it as much a cultural exchange as a tour, which is much more interesting in my opinion.

Our driver, Ugyen, was pretty quiet, which is a necessity for concentrating on narrow, winding roads. He turned out to be a really nice guy too. I was pleased when he ended up hiking to the Tiger’s Nest with us near the end of our trip, so we got to talk to him a little bit more. Most importantly, he was an excellent driver in sometimes poor road conditions. He also won extra points with me for spotting monkeys on our drive back from Phobjikha Valley. If it weren’t for him, I wouldn’t have gotten to see a whole family of monkeys leaping through the trees.

If we have the chance to return to Bhutan, we would definitely book through Village Tours & Treks again. Thanks to them, we really did have the trip of a lifetime, and I would recommend them without hesitation to anyone planning a trip to Bhutan.

Village Tours and Treks can be contacted at:
P.O. Box 1184
Thimphu, Bhutan
00975-02-336384 Telephone/Fax
Email: info@villagetoursandtreks.com
http://www.villagetandt.com/

Check out more of Stephen’s pictures of Bhutan.

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