Bhutan Ultimate Enduro

Bhutan Ultimate Enduro is our main mountain-biking tour - an exclusive offering designed to give you an unparalleled all-mountain MTB adventure combined with culture, nature, its people and the Bhutanese way of life, all on the thrills of riding your mountain bike. On this tour we invite you on a road of self-discovery as you pedal through the best kept secret trails of Bhutan. The trip starts with an easy acclimatizing ride in the capital Thimphu valley along with some major cultural highlights. Continue to Punakha to ride the scenic valley and some technical DH in Khotokha valley, and then ride up to the mountains on the Phobjikha valley to enjoy some nice ridge rides and drop down to one of the most beautiful valleys in Bhutan. From here, drive to an off-the-beaten path Jemina valley for an overnight camping experience at Jela fortress at 3600m, and drop down to Paro valley to ride some of the most amazing single-tracks of your trip before visiting the famous Tiger’s Nest monastery. Every stop is laden with attractions that will enliven your senses and will leave you with an indelible feeling of having ridden through the soul of Bhutan. Our most valuable asset is our tour guides and our biking tour leader is one of the most experienced riders in Bhutan.

Trip Duration

9 Nights / 10 Days

Skill Level

Intermediate +/ Advanced

Transport

4x4 pickup truck.

Day 1 - Arrive in Bhutan

Enjoy the landing, and once we meet, we’ll shuttle you to your hotel. Freshen up, assemble the bikes assisted by our crew, and we’ll go for an afternoon spin for some first impressions of Bhutan. We'll take a stroll around town and enjoy a welcome dinner with trip briefing.

Day 2 - Best of Thimphu’s XC/Enduro trails to get Acclimatized.

We are gonna make use of those pedals and start flexing your muscles and open your lungs to acclimatize to the altitude. Start with a morning warm-up ride of 4 km to the Buddha Statue and take the 6km KC trail with some wonderful views of the city and switchback that will make you grin like a cat. After lunch at the Folk Heritage Museum, we'll hike a bike for one hour towards Phajoding monastery and enjoy a long descent of 8km on a beautiful ridge with amazing views of the underlying city.

Shuttle the bikes up to Radio tower and shred one of the best trails in the country. A 6 km MTB trail is a dream. Head to Mojo Park to try some craft beers on the tap.

Ride time 6-7 hours/ 25 km

Day 3 - The Madman trail

Big day of riding. Shuttle to Dochula pass and we’ll hike-a-bike to Lungchutse temple for about an hour and half. From there we’ll enjoy a nice flowy descent to Hongtsho down on a 8 km trail. Ride to Dochula, and dive into the famous Madman trail down to Lobesa village in Wangdue valley on some amazing singletrack. This trail descends from 3600m to 1200m all the way down to Wangdue valley for more than 20km, thus making it a sweet ride.

After lunch, shuttle the bikes to Talo village and enjoy riding on one of the best downhill singletrack natural trails in the valley stretching 9 km.

Day 4 - Punakha Gravity and FLOW

After breakfast, shuttle to Tshochhasa village for an hours drive and shred the groomed downhill trail of 10km from 2200m to 1300m. This ride mostly winds through chripine forests and ends at the paddy fields near the fortress.

After crossing the longest suspension bridge in Bhutan, we’ll visit the Punakha Dzong – the most beautiful fortress in Bhutan situated at the confluence of two rivers. After lunch, we’ll ride on the scenic Pho-chu trail for 7km on a technical undulating single-track. Exit at the Samdingkhar bridge where our shuttle will be waiting for you.

Shuttle the bikes to Sewla trailhead for about an hour and half and enjoy one of the most beautiful trails in the country. The Sewla trail is 10 km of exhilarating flowy singletrack and you can shred fast on this!

Day 5 - Hidden Valley, Technical DH. WorldClass Trail

After breaffast, drive to Khotokha valley for two hours – a high glacial valley that is so beautiful and away from civilization. Once we reach the pass, we’ll ride down to the beautiful valley. After lunch hike a bike for about an hour to reach Moleyla pass at 3000m, you are about to be rewarded with one of the most technical and exciting trails we know. The Khotokha trail is 40% rock-gardens and then it comes to a beautiful forests ride where riders can just shred. The flowy trials are full of roots, leaves, switchbacks, natural berms, jumps and very fast sections allowing riders to shred to their limits. Brice Minnigh - former editor of Bike Mag and current editor of Freehub Mag said - its one of the best trails he has ever ridden.

Ride time 5 hours, hike-a-bike 1 hour, shuttle time 2 hours. 25km

Day 6 - Ridge Rides of Heaven

Let's visit the 'The Divine Madman’ at the Chhimi Lhakhang – also called the fertility monastery.

Then we’ll drive to Phobjikha valley – which is one of the most beautiful meadow valleys in Bhutan. After driving for 2 hours, once we reach the pass before entering Phobjikha valley, we’ll unmount the bikes and hike-a-bike for about 30 mins and that will bring us to beautiful highland meadows. From here we’ll ride down the ridges for 8 km to bring us to one of Bhutan’s famous monasteries called the Gangtey Gonpa. Continue riding down to Phobjikha valley on beautiful country side trails. Riders will love teh beautiful views of the the bowl-shaped marshland and meadows. As we have been cycling through beautiful rhododendron forest on most of our travels, the contrast of descending into the unique open meadows of the valley is striking.

Day 7 - Off Saddle Day, 4x4 Day and camp in the Mountains

After breakfast, we’ll drive to Thimphu and onwards to Jemina valley. Continue driving in our 4x4 pick-up truck to reach Jele Dzong temple that lies on a beautiful ridge at 3400m. By now, you should be well-acclimatized to camp here at 3400m above the clouds. Camp for a night in the serene atmosphere and enjoy some great food that our trekking team will prepare. Tonight we’ll sleep in the monastery for a unique Bhutan experience!

Day 8 - World-class Single-tracks of Paro.

Enjoy a nice serene morning up in the mountains. After breakfast, we’ll hit the famous Jela trail which is a 15 km downhilll ride on one of the best trails in Bhutan. Now you are beginning to think with passing day the trail keeps getting better!

After lunch in Paro town, shuttle the bikes for about an hour and a half to reach the distant Kila Goenpa nunnery at 3800m. Once we reach the temple, we’ll enjoy a long descend down to Paro valley for 12 km. The trail starts to get nice loamy on a beautiful fast-flowing trail through rhododendron and Oak forests and gradually . starts to get loose with hardpack dirt with a number of rock gardens, making it awesome ride. The entire DH section is close to 12 km. This trail is pure ecstacy with very interesting features.

Visit a farmhouse to try a traditional herbal hot-stone bath and some local food.

Day 9 - Tiger’s Nest Ultimate DH

We want to get you knackered on this trip. Today is a big day, but we promise you the rewards are sweet. We’ll hike-a-bike (50% ridable for strong legs) to Bumdra campsite for 3 hours. The hike itself is a beautiful one offering spectacular views over Paro valley.

After lunch, we’ll ride Bhutan’s ultimate downhill with a pit stop at the famous Tiger’s Nest monastery. It’s a 2000 m descend on some spectacular trails. Switchbacks, off-camber, downhill, rock gardens, flowy trails, enduro stye of riding – you name it and its all there. Dan Milner – famous MTB photographer says with a big smile on his face – that trail was better than the finest trails of “Finale Ligure”. Not our words! After visiting this spectacular Tiger's Nest temple, we’ll enjoy some proper downhill type of riding to end a spectacular MTB adventure in Bhutan. Tonight its chill time with some beers and some good times together.

Day 10 - Farewell

After breakfast at your hotel, your driver will take you to the airport for your onward journey.