How To Reach Paro

There is a daily Kolkata to Paro flight operated by Bhutan’s national carrier Druk Air. Kolkata being the closest Indian metro-city to the country, this flight remains quite packed. There are frequent Mumbai to Paro and Delhi to Paro flights as well. The only other airport with direct flights to Paro is Bagdogra near Siliguri. However, some of these flights except the daily one from Kolkata are often layover flights. The flight, instead of being a straight 3-4 hours to Paro, becomes an extended one because of a stop-journey at Kathmandu or Bangkok, which are two other airports from where Paro receives international flight. So here’s how to reach Paro by flight if your itinerary schedule clashes with such a flight, the easier option is to take a flight to Kolkata and from there fly for only 1.5 hours to Paro airport without any hassle.

Since Bhutan is literally landlocked on three sides by India, many people wonder how to reach Paro via train. But one cannot reach Bhutan directly via Indian Railways. However, the best deal is travelling to Hasimara from Sealdah station of Kolkata or NJP station near Siliguri-Jalpaiguri. This station is only 17 km away from the Bhutan border at Phuentsholing. There are taxis, auto rickshaws and buses available from this station to the border. There, one has to show their identity and documentation, and then take another bus to Paro. Those travelling by road need to remember that even though an individual does not need a visa to enter Bhutan, to travel to places like Paro or Thimphu, they will need permission. If there is a private or hired car, it will require proper papers as well, which can be arranged by Indian agencies easily.

Going from India to Bhutan using the roadways is not very difficult. But to make the whole journey from distant cities like Mumbai or Delhi to Paro will be a very time-consuming thing to do. Instead one can fly to Kolkata and from there take the long-distance luxury buses to Bhutan. These buses go to Thimphu, from where one can take a 1.5-hour car ride to Paro. It takes a little more than 4 hours to travel from Kolkata to Paro. There are road routes from Siliguri and Bagdogra and some other North Bengal cities as well. All of these finally lead to the Jaigaon-Phuentsholing border, from where it takes 4.5 hours to drive to Paro. On the Assam side, the two places where the border is open for entry are Samdrup Jongkhar and Galephu. Samdrup Jongkhar is the one closer to Guwahati, 2.5 hours’ drive away.