Best time of visit – The park is decorated with lots and lots of variety of Rhododendron across the park. The spring marks the beginning of this beautiful occurrence. So, visiting from Mid-March to early August will be the best decision.
HOW TO REACH – Tips to ease your trip
Hiring a taxi in Bhutan is not at all troublesome. Taxi fare in Bhutan is fixed specifically by the government and on a per km basis. As Bhutan taxi fare is controlled by the management, you should always check their tourism site for Bhutan taxi booking and Bhutan taxi service. As per the rate, a Bhutan taxi will be charging approximately Rs. 2142 for a distance of 35 km but due to tough completion among the taxi services in Bhutan, a Bhutan taxi will never charge you more than the estimated price. So be updated and check the rates before booking a taxi in Bhutan.
More about the Rhododendron festival
This year the festival is to be held from 21 to 23 April
The famous annual Rhododendron festival takes place in Dochula, at the Royal botanical park. The festival celebrates the occurrence and abundance of rhododendron flower. It falls under the Thimphu city. The Royal or Lamperi botanical park is also home to highest species of rhododendron. There are around 29 species of Rhododendron here out of the total 46 species, that are grown in Bhutan.
The Nature Recreation with the help of Ecotourism department and Tourism Council of Bhutan is responsible for organising the annual rhododendron festival. The schedule for this year’s annual Rhododendron festival is scheduled to be held from 21 to 23 April, three days. With few days remaining, you can start planning on visiting Bhutan during the festival and be a part of it. It witnesses participation from the community and involvement of schools and students from Kawang Gewog, Dagala, Toeb and Chang etc.
The festival is spiced up through several activities like rhododendron garden walk, arts and crafts, exhibition, local culture, cuisines, traditional games and other activities. The festival also displays the colourful art created by naturally growing Rhododendrons and other different species that are in full bloom during the valleys spring season. You can enjoy traditional Zhungdra and Boedra songs relating to nature, spring and abundance are performed by the local community here. Also part of the festival here is the different stalls depicting livelihood of local communities who live around and their dependence on the park and the gift of beauty that they are gifted which allures tourist from around the country and abroad to their beautiful kingdom.
After you’re done with the festival you can also plan and take up hiking in the botanical park to see different rhododendron species all by your own and also witness and engage yourself in the ecological richness. Such festivals as this one are therefore important as it serves as an important platform for local communities to rise up to the opportunity provided by nature. Their livelihoods are eased while they take advantage and take up the potential activities in the area.