Mushroaming Bhutan
Mushrooms, Mountains & Monasteries
The clouds lifted and allowed a peek at the most stunningly located Taktsang Goenba, the Tiger's Nest (3050m / 9970ft).
Cheri's wooden cantilever bridge decorated with Five elements prayer flags.
Mushroaming Bhutan 2025 Itinerary - still under construction
6-Jul Sun Arrival Paro 7am & drive to Thimphu
check in into amazing Druk Hotel, visit vegetable market to check for mushrooms and afternoon visit to see Takins and other wildlife at the Takin Wildlife Park.
7-Jul Mon Thimphu Genekha
Mushroom hunt in Genekha, 1h drive from Thimphu, where the locals collect commercially matsutake and we helped starting a porcini collection. Druk Hotel
8-Jul Tue Thimphu
Several options for walks or more demanding hike to one of the monasteries around Thimphu like Phajoding, Chagri or Tango. Druk Hotel
9-Jul Wed Thimphu to Tsirang
5 h drive via Dochula Pass with its famous 108 stupas to Tsirang. Overnight at Damphu Resort
10-Jul Thu Tsirang
We will be joined mushroom hunting by Sabitra Pradhan from the National Mushroom Center who comes from Tsirang. Damphu Resort
11-Jul Fri Tsirang
Mushroom walk in deciduous forest on the "360-degree track", below the Royal Guesthouse in Kilkhorthang Gewog. Damphu Resort
12-Jul Sat Tsirang to Phobjikha
Scenic drive to Phobjikha valley, a high-altitude wetland the wintering ground for Black-necked crane (Grus nigricollis).
Visit Gangtey gonpa, Bhutan's biggest Nyingma tradition monastery founded in 1613 and listen to the monks chanting their evening prayers. Overnight at Gangtey tent resort
13-Jul Sun Phobjikha
Great options for scenic short- and day hikes as well as for mushroaming excursions. In the open meadows the Po Sha, Agaricus campestris (po sha in Dzongkha) grows. It is widely consumed by the people either cooked or roasted. Gangtey tent resort
14-Jul Mon Phobjikha to Tang
Drive with stops on the way including the gorgeous and tasty Waterfall Willing Café and the impressive Trongsa Dzong castle - Ogyen Choling Guest House
15-Jul Tue Tang
Many options for hikes of varied length with the possibility to roam the forest for mushrooms (towards Phokpey 7hs, Thowadrak 5hs, for non-hikers Langmalung Lhakhang.
Visit Ogyen Choling palace museum. Ogyen Choling Guest House
16-Jul Wed Tang to Jakar via Tangsibi
Hunting for king boletes, matsutake and other spruce forest mushrooms, Overnight Rinchenling lodge
17-Jul Thu Flight or drive
Hopefully we can take the 30 min flight from Jakar to Paro, otherwise 8h drive with some nice stops. With flight we will spend the afternoon in gorgeous woods below Chelela Pass, 1 hour above Paro. Lunch being served in the woods as well! Overnight at Tiger's Nest Camp
18-Jul Fri Paro - Taktsang / Tiger's Nest
Hike up to the incredible and world famous Tiger's Nest temple built into a sheer granite rock face. Tiger's Nest Camp
19-Jul Sat Paro - 4 pm Departure
Morning packing and transfer to Paro, with its cozy restaurants and cafes and the ultimate souvenir & Bhutanese art shopping town.
In addition travel in Bhutan can be strenuous, one factor being altitude, furthermore the roads can be challenging, especially during mushroom season, which is of course during the summer monsoon. So rain ponchos and umbrellas are a good thing to bring along. Also, hunting for mushrooms can include walking up steep slopes with no trails. You must be well on your feet since we will do some hikes as well, but we always offer alternative programs when the hikes a strenuous.
2018 Participant comment:
Daniel, I was just talking with a friend about our Bhutan trip and it occurred to me how meaningful the trip was
-- not just the mushroom hunting (beyond awesome), the scenery (gorgeous) and the culture; and not just the people individually (what a great group) but the entire package was really so much more than the parts. I have been in the Himalayas a few times and this was the first time I felt profoundly connected to them.
Thank you for putting together an incredible experience.
Jerry Nickelsburg, PhD
Adjunct Professor of Economics - Anderson School of Management, UCLA
Links: Druk Hotel Ogyen Choling Bangpa Heritage farmstay Rinchenling lodge Trogon Villa - Hotels can also be found on trip advisor
Our guide Karma with delicious Himalayan Caesar mushrooms (Amanita hemibapha)
Costs
Land Costs: $ 5250 [with 10 to 13 participants]
[$5650 with 8-9 participants]
includes all accommodations, meals, overland transport, visa & entrance fees
Single room supplement: $450
for registration after Jan. 15, 2025 add late fee $400
Not included:
Flights
to Bangkok: $600 - 1200 rt; International tickets to Bangkok need to be purchased individually by participants.
However, we need to coordinate the flight to Paro, Bhutan from Bangkok (or Delhi). Costs of flights to Bhutan from Bangkok are around $900 rt and Delhi around $700 rt.
One flight within Bhutan on July 17th from Jakar to Paro is about $190, is not included in the tour price. Tickets will be purchased by our agent in Bhutan.
Other expenses:
Souvenirs, alcoholic beverages, hotel bar, phone & laundry, herbal hot baths etc, tips for Bhutanese guides
A nice haul of Boletus reticulceps, the Netcap King bolete, a spruce-associate common in subalpine forests in Bhutan and Eastern Tibet
Dances at the Ura matsutake festival. Note the food stands in the back!
Bhutan's inviting capital Thimphu is populated by about 100,000 people. In front Thimphu Chu running at 2250 m / 7400 ft.
Super tasty chanterelle pizza enjoyed at Druk Hotel in Thimphu!
A stone relief seen at Dochu La of Ngawang Namgyal or Zhabdrung Rinpoche (1594–1651) who unified Bhutan as a nation-state and also sought to create a distinct Bhutanese cultural identity separate from the Tibetan culture from which it was derived.
Sese Shamu as Cantharellus cf cibarius is known in Dzongkha. The Chanterelle is highly esteemed and very popular in Bhutan and most are found in oak forests.
The Buddha Mushroom - Tricholoma matsutake. We will participate in a matsutake Festival in Ura, Eastern Bhutan.
Yeshe Tsogyal's retreat house in Tiger's Nest / Tak Tsang.
Allium wallichii, a wild Himalayan onion seen near Thowdrak, Bumthang
The 2019 Mushroaming Fungal Fellowship. During a short stop at an old-growth spruce forest we found Netcap King boletes (Boletus reticuloceps), Ochre Himalayan Caesars (Amanita hemibapha var ochracea or now A. ochracea) and Blewits (Lepista cf nuda). The next mushroom meal was secured!
Trongsa Dzong is the largest dzong fortress in Bhutan, located in the centre of the country. Built on a spur overlooking the gorge of the Mangde River, a temple was first built here in 1543 by Ngagi Wangchuk. In 1647, his great-grandson Shabdrung Ngawang Namgyal (Shabdrung or Zhabdrung being his title) built the first dzong to replace the temple, which was added on through the Centuries. Photo: ©Bhutan Homestay.
It is an excellent edible, but is not often eaten in Bhutan because of its dark color. We cooked it up and it was wonderful.
Chanterelles, corals and matsutake are the most common commercial mushrooms.Also visible in this picture in the lower center are "Ripongkar", a Lyophyllum.
A young sulfur shelf (Laetiporus sp.), a very tasty and unusual textured edible mushroom.
Check out Bhutan Network USA, a small, but great NGO working on supporting rural Bhutanese making a living off the land, where I am serving on the board and working on their mushroom projects, like teaching people that their porcini are choice edibles and not poisonous as the local knowledge believes.
We support Bhutan Network Austria and BN USA project work in Bhutan
Farmhouses above rice fields near Paro.
