Thimphuculture & etiquette

Gho and kira are mandatory in government offices, schools, dzongs and formal occasions. If your work touches government at all — and in Thimphu most work does — you will need to own proper formal dress, including the kabney or rachu scarf whose colour signals rank. Get it tailored locally rather than guessing.

Thimphu sits at roughly 2,320 m. Most people are fine, but the first days bring headaches, broken sleep and breathlessness on the city's steep streets. Go easy on alcohol and exertion initially, and treat any hike above the valley as a serious ascent rather than a stroll.

Walk clockwise around chörtens, prayer wheels and monasteries. Never point your feet at an altar or a monk, remove your hat and shoes where indicated, and ask before photographing inside temples. These are not tourist niceties — getting them wrong reads as genuine disrespect.

Card acceptance is limited outside hotels and larger shops, and foreign cards work in fewer places than you'd hope. ATMs exist but can be unreliable. Keep ngultrum on hand; Indian rupees circulate at par, though some larger denominations have been restricted in the past.

Thimphu is famously the only national capital without them — a white-gloved police officer directs the main junction by hand. Traffic is genuinely light, but pedestrian crossings are treated loosely, so don't assume a car will stop because you've stepped out.

Bhutan has among the world's strictest tobacco regimes, with restrictions on import and sale and heavy duties. Rules have shifted in recent years, so check the current position before bringing anything in rather than relying on what a guidebook said.