Bhutan’s best festivals

Festivals are a big deal in Bhutanese life. They're steeped in tradition and many last for a few days. They're annual, crowded, super colourful, and exciting affairs. And what's extra fabulous is that tourists are welcome to attend!

Bhutan's festivals are generally vibrant, colourful and loud affairs. There are masks, dancing, singing, storytelling and more.

Dance of the Masters of the Cremation Grounds (Durdag)

Dances are performed by both the laity and monks. In the past, masked dances were solely the domain of the monks, but the third king of Bhutan changed this tradition, without compromising the holy nature of the ritual.

Dances are mostly performed in the courtyards of the country’s many fortress monasteries. Each dance tells a story. Guru Padmasambhava is the inspiration behind many of the dances. He's also known as Guru Rinpoche in Bhutan, or the Second Buddha.

A depiction of Guru Rinpoche

The Bhutanese believe that by simply observing the dances, they will be blessed, enlightened and purified.

Dances are accompanied by folk songs and other traditional music. Instruments commonly include cymbals, drums, flutes and yak-horns.

After days of dancing and music and fun, the festivals usually culminate with the unfolding of a giant thangkha (religious painting) during the wee hours of the morning on the final day. The unveiling of the thangka usually draws a large crowd of devotees hoping for a top-up of religious blessing.

The locals attending festivals do so in the belief that they will gain ‘merits’ or favour in their ascension towards Buddhist enlightenment. To mark the occasion, they wear their finest clothing. So when you visit as a tourist, please be respectful by not dressing too casually.

Most festivals are organised according to the Bhutanese lunar calendar. The Thimphu Tshechu, for instance, starts on the tenth day of the eighth month of the lunar calendar.

For the majority of visitors, lunar dates need some translating to mean anything. So in our descriptions below of our favourite festivals, we give you the date for each festival in 2023 (and 2024 where its available) to help you to plan your visit.

Masked dances are a highlight of Bhutanese festivals

Right, let's get to the meat.

Here's our pick of the nine best festivals in Bhutan ...

Thimphu's tshechu takes place in the courtyard of Tashichho Dzong

The Thimphu Tshechu is a very popular and well-attended festival in Bhutan. And since most tourists spend time in Thimphu, the gathering is often especially large.

One of the most sacred dances performed at the festival is the cham. For this, some monks play traditional Tibetan instruments while others, dressed in ornate costumes, perform dances with titles like:

The very popular Thimphu Tshechu

Dancers usually wear wooden masks that represent animals, fearsome deities, and various manifestations of Guru Rinpoche. They're quite ugly (by standards of pretty), and would probably make the average child tourist cry.

Not so for the locals though! This is a way of life – a respite from their daily toils and sins. The deities of the Tantric teaching are invoked during these dances and it's through their power and benediction that all misfortunes are annihilated so that peace and happiness can once again reign.

In between dances, the clowns (atsaras) joke with the crowd and liven up the festival with their witty behaviour and exaggerated movements. Atsaras wear red wooden masks with hawkish noses, naughty grins and big phalluses on top.

Beautiful woodwork of Jambay Lhakhang Monastery

Different from other festivals, the Jambay Lhakhang Drup includes naked dancing, and fire dancing. But as with all festivals, the Jambay Lhakhang Drup also involves lots of traditional dances and music. Dances are performed to celebrate the foundation of the Jambay Lhakhang Monastery as well as to honour Guru Rinpoche.

The naked dance – known as the Tercham or ‘Dance of Treasure’ – takes place in the middle of the night. Monks dance naked, but wear traditional masks.

The fire ceremony usually attracts thousands – and features locals dancing under a flaming structure made of dry grass. It's a wonderful spectacle, especially for uninitiated foreigners!

A twirling dancer at Wandgue Phodrang Festival

The region of Wangdue Phodrang in central Bhutan is famous for its ornamental speeches and songs known as lozeys. This annual festival was introduced after the completion of the Wangdue Phodrang Dzong (fortress) in 1639.

Much like other festivals, locals and tourists gather together to celebrate life and merriment. The ‘Dance of Ox’ is a major attraction, where people dance to ensure a peaceful afterlife.

Similarly to the Thimphu Tshechu, the celebrations are concluded with the unfurling of a gigantic scroll of various paintings, known as the Guru Tshengye Thongdrol. This is the moment when the Buddhist blessing is believed to be imparted and received.

Punakha Dzong is Bhutan's second oldest and second biggest fortress

Of all the festivals in Bhutan, the Punakha Drubchen is the most unique. It focuses on recreating scenes from the 1656 to 1657 Tibetan War. Local Bhutanese military officials recreate battle scenes while dressed in full military gear (not forgetting the sword).

This festival commemorates the Bhutanese victory, and pays tribute to the villagers who came forward to drive the Tibetan army out of their country. It shows gratitude to these lay people, many of whom would've been untrained and unprepared.

Today, Bhutan is a very peaceful country. The Bhutanese strive for peace and neither seek to conquer nor destroy other countries.

A masked dancer at Paro Tshechu

This festival is held each spring, from the 11th to the 15th day of the second month of the Bhutanese calendar (usually late March or April). It’s one of the largest and most popular festivals in the country and if you’re lucky, you may see the King in attendance!

Again, this festival is decked out in colour. Monks and laymen alike don multi-coloured costumes. Together, they mingle and dance while wearing masks that represent the deities.

Rinpung Dzong lit up at night

Instead of depicting war, dancers reenact scenes from legendary Bhutanese tales and historical anecdotes.

But the highlight of the festival is the moment when blessing-seekers get a much-awaited glimpse of the 350-year-old thangkha. It is one of the oldest Buddhist religious scrolls, and so is very sacred. The scroll contains important historical narratives, many of which celebrate the good deeds of Guru Rinpoche.

The beautiful Haa valley

The Haa Valley is nestled in the southwest of Paro District and is one of the most beautiful valleys of Bhutan (filled with paddy fields and the accompanying bugs that go with it).

The Haa Summer Festival is slightly different from other festivals in that attendees can participate in activities such as yak-riding, folk dancing, and food tasting. You can also try ara, a local alcoholic drink made from native barley, rice, maize, millet or wheat that's been fermented or distilled.

Side thought: instead of hurrying back to wherever it is that you came from, consider spending the night with a local family by way of a homestay. This will really help you to immerse yourself in the culture and get to know some locals.

Dance of the 16 Drum Beaters at Haa Tshechu

If you really want go big, you could also attend the Haa Tshechu that happens just before the summer festival – usually about a week before.

Matsutake mushrooms are at the heart of this festival

Unlike the other festivals, the Matsutake Festival actually takes place in two different locations:

This festival is one of the most famous harvest festivals in Bhutan. It aims to create awareness around the sustainable harvesting of the local matsutake mushroom. It also lets attendees taste and enjoy the organic flavours of nature.

Each celebration is hosted by the locals during their mushroom season. During The Matsutake Festival, visitors go on mushroom-picking excursions in the forested hills and are taught how to identify and pick the mushrooms.

Locals then cook delicious dishes using the mushrooms, and visitors get to taste. The mushrooms are sometimes cooked with chilli and local cheese, but these days they're more commonly added to a simple soup of boiled mushrooms, salt and a little butter.

The sacred Mt Jomolhari (or Chomolhari)

The Jomolhari Mountain festival takes place – surprise, surprise – at the base of Mt Jomolhari (7,326 m). Magnificent themes mark the event, and there's even a snow leopard show (which aims at spreading awareness of the declining number of snow leopards in Bhutan).

A snow leopard

It's also very special to celebrate a festival in the company of semi-nomadic yak herders, and eat meals seasoned with the deliciousness of hard exercise and mountain air. So if you aim to arrive in Bhutan by the eighth of October, that will give you time to hike the Jomolhari Trek and attend the festival!

During the festival there's plenty of singing and dancing. The dances are beautiful, and the performers wear brightly coloured costumes – usually a yellow-orange colour, which is symbolic of the power of the king.

The black-necked crane is an endangered species

Every autumn, endangered black-necked cranes fly south for several hundreds of kilometres from their summer breeding grounds on the Tibetan Plateau. The migration path takes the birds over the Himalayas – in fact, they fly at a height of over 6,000 m to make the journey!

The cranes like to settle in paddies and wetlands across Bhutan, including in the beautiful Phobjikha Valley.

Overlooking this valley and high on the mountain is the Gangtey Goemba (one of the oldest and largest Nyingmapa monasteries in Bhutan). Nyingma means 'old school'.

Gangtey Goemba | Photo by R. GLOD

And it's in the courtyard of this monastery that this one-day festival is celebrated with masked folk dances and songs in an attempt to raise awareness surrounding conservation issues of this sacred and beloved bird. In fact, dancers dress up as black-necked cranes!

Meanwhile the cranes themselves, none the wiser, would be feeding on dwarf bamboo plants far below – in the valley’s wetlands.

Again, all this ties into the Bhutanese philosophy of Gross National Happiness, which emphasises a harmonious and sustainable balance between economic growth and the all- important non-material aspects of human and animal well-being.

If you'd like to know more about black-necked cranes, visit the Royal Society for Protection of Nature (RSPN) while in Phobjikha, as it has informative displays about the bird as well as as spotting scopes. You can also visit Crane Karma, an injured black-necked crane who lives in an enclosure.

So go on – pick a festival and include it in your itinerary to add some true cultural immersion and community involvement in your Bhutan trip!