Darjeeling & Bhutan - The Last Himalayan Kingdom

Day 1

Fly to Kolkata via Dubai.

Day 2

Arriving in the morning, meet your tour manager and transfer to the luxurious Oberoi Grand Hotel. Enjoy the chance to rest and relax, and a first dinner at the hotel. You'll land in Kolkata in the mid-afternoon. Your tour manager will meet you at the airport, and you'll be transferred to the luxurious Oberoi Grand Hotel. Take the chance to rest and relax, and, later, enjoy your first dinner at the hotel.

Day 3

Today's tour will introduce the city, known as Calcutta throughout its time as the headquarters of the British Raj. See the majestic domed General Post Office, the Marble Palace, the Victoria Memorial beside the green expanse of the Maidan, and other remnants of Empire around Dalhousie Square. See Howrah Bridge (one of the world's longest cantilever bridges) and explore the vast bustle of the Malik Ghat flower market just beyond, and the Mother House - final resting place of Saint Teresa.

Day 4

Landing in Paro, Bhutan's only international airport, you'll enter a landscape unlike any you've experienced before. Brightly coloured prayer flags flutter on the hillsides, temples and white-walled dzong fortresses rise from the slopes, and the people around you wear colourful robes, embroidered jackets and long, sash-like scarves whose colour denotes social standing. Your Bhutanese tour manager will meet you at the airport and you'll follow the valley roads to Thimphu, the nation's capital. Relax or explore the city, then join your guide for a sunset drive to 'Buddha Point' in Kuensel Phodrang Nature Park above the city, where a serene 51-metre-high Golden Buddha sits overlooking the southern approach to Thimphu.

Day 5

A fascinating day in Thimpu includes private visits to a weaving centre, a handicrafts emporium and the hilltop Zilukha Nunnery. See the golden-spired National Memorial Chorten (a shrine commemorating the life of Bhutan's third Dragon King ruler) and the monumental Tashichho Dzong, the country's seat of government since 1968.

Day 6

Journey over the 10,000ft Dochula Pass, past its 108 ceremonial Buddhist chortens, and from which the clear-weather views of the Himalayan range are spectacular. Take a short hike to Chimi Lhakhang, a 15th-century Buddhist monastery dedicated to Bhutan's "Divine Madman" Lama Kunley and famous for its vivid (even graphic) decorations and unique fertility blessings. In the afternoon, you'll arrive in the former capital, Punakha, which stands in a beautiful valley dominated by the striking Punakha Dzong.

Day 7

Head back through the breath-taking Himalayan scenery to the Paro Valley. We'll spend two nights here, exploring a landscape dotted with temples, dzongs and elegant wooden houses. After lunch, enjoy guided tours of the National Museum of Bhutan, the fascinating Rinpung Dzong and the Seventh-century Kyichu Lhakhang monastery - one of the oldest temples in Bhutan.

Day 8

One of your tour’s most indelible memories will come on today's hike to see Taktsang Lhakhang, the Tiger’s Nest. Clinging impossibly to the cliffs, 900 metres above the forested valley, the monastery is Bhutan's most iconic, sacred landmark, and was built on the spot where the Guru Rinpoche, who introduced Buddhism to Bhutan, is said to have meditated after arriving on the back of a flying tigress. As we descend back into the valley you'll stop at a nearby farm for the chance to take traditional butter tea with a Bhutanese family.

Day 9

Spend another day travelling through Bhutan's verdant, mountainous countryside. We'll stop for lunch before continuing south to Phuntsholing, where the ornately carved and coloured Bhutan Gate marks the border between the mountain kingdom and India.

Day 10

Crossing back into India, we'll wind our way through the foothills of the Lesser Himalaya to Darjeeling. Here, amid the green patchwork of tea-plantations and beneath the distant vastness of some of the world's highest mountains, this elegant, genteel, Victorian watering hole continues to welcome visitors from across the globe. Check in to your hotel, then perhaps take a stroll around Chowrasta, Darjeeling's traffic-free mall, before dinner.

Day 11

Weather permitting, you'll have the chance to take an early morning trip to Ghum, this morning, to round of your tour of the Himalayas with the astonishing sight of the sun rising above distant Everest, Lhotse and Kanchenjunga from Tiger Hill. After breakfast, we'll board the Toy Train and ride to Ghum's ancient monastery, before returning to Darjeeling for the afternoon. Why not finish your time here by paying your respects to the grave of Sherpa Tenzing at the Himalayan Mountaineering Institute, or shop for local handicrafts at the Tibetan Refugee Self-Help Centre, where you can buy handicrafts from crafts-folk or simply take tea in an elegant garden?

Day 12

Today we'll head to Bagdogra Airport and fly west across India to Delhi where we'll spend our final night in a comfortable overnight hotel close to the airport.

Day 13

Transfer to the airport to board your day-time flight home via Dubai, arriving back in the UK late this evening.