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My wife and I have wanted to go to Bhutan for a while. We have some friends who've gone (and met the King!), but traveling and planning a trip there is not easy (or cheap honestly). While it's unavoidable to spend some substantial money ($100 daily SDF fee per person, flights in and out of Bhutan, and your required tour guide), points are still viable for some lodging, and of course getting in the general vicinity of Bhutan from the US (hopefully on Qsuites!)
I'll touch on more once we complete the trip and will do my best to do a little bit of reviews of the properties we're staying – if I remember to take pictures of course.
Booked via Hilton, this SLH hotel is considered one of the nicest ones in the entire country. The rooms look absolutely stunning, and so does its location in the Phobjikha Valley. We are staying 3 nights here for 150k Hilton points per night – the cash cost is around $1300 a night for our dates. I think this will be the highlight of the trip as far as lodging for us. I've heard from multiple people it's considered one of the nicest places to stay in the country, which is saying a lot.
Le Meridien is obviously a Marriott brand and the Thimphu location looks like a fantastic spot to stay in Bhutan's only true "city". Rooms are only 30k points a night while cash is over $700 a night! The hotel doesn't look like anything spectacular, but the location is perfect for our one night in Thimphu and will allow us to wander around the town. Thimphu's main urban area is really the only place you can really wander around without your guide in Bhutan. Of course there are plenty of Dzongs and other sites in the vicinity you'll still need your guide to check out.
Another SLH property we booked via Hilton, Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary in Paro will be our final stop on our Bhutan trip. While it doesn't look as nice as Gangtey Lodge, BSS has been around longer and still looks like a fantastic property. There's also a Le Meridien in Paro bookable with points, but Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary just seemed to be much more our vibe, as well as considerably smaller, which is a huge plus in my opinion.
I think that's it? Your best options are obviously going to be the SLH properties and the 2 Le Meridien if you're wanting to stay on points. That amount of IHG points for Six Senses is going to be much harder to procure. Now this is for solely booking with points, Amanokora and Six Senses Bhutan are also available on American Express' FHR program valid for a $300 discount with a Platinum card. That doesn't really put a dent in the exorbitant prices for these amazing properties, but it's better than nothing.
Now we're also staying a couple nights in Punakha at Lobesa Boutique Hotel. The only points property in this area is Six Senses, which we're not doing.
Getting to Bhutan is really a pain in the ass, especially from the US. Thankfully, if you give yourself enough time Qatar Flexi tickets are fairly available. We booked SFO->DOH->DEL on the way there for 160k points per person. Flying into Bhutan is impossible on points (unless for some reason you fly Drukair often and have a stash of HappinesSmiles 😂) so we were stuck paying cash for our flights from DEL to PAO, which cost around $350 each way per person in Y via Drukair. Looking forward to the Himalayan views on this one.
After Bhutan, we are spending a few days in the Middle East (2.5 days in Bahrain and about 20 hours in Doha), so I was able to get BAH->DOH->SEA via Qatar for 150k per person. What's nice is the BAH->DOH is marketed as First, and since our DOH->SEA flight is in business we will get access to the fantastic Al Safwa lounge due to that ticket combination.
This trip is in early March of 2026, so stay tuned for updates. I'll be sure to post a debrief after the trip either here, or my other travel-focused, personal blog.
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