How to Reach Thimphu From Lucknow

Visitors from Lucknow who yearns to visit the Thimphu city in Bhutan, often asks the question: ‘how to reach Thimphu from Lucknow?’. If you too have the same question in mind, you must know that you can plan a trip to Bhutan’s capital city without any such hassles as Lucknow has a remarkable air, train and roadway connectivity with the rest of India and several other foreign destinations.

Let’s explain how you can book your flights, or from where you should start your train journeys, or which city should you drive to in order to reach Thimphu from Lucknow. Just sit back and relax as we curate all the details for you; happy holidaying in Thimphu!

How to Reach Thimphu from Lucknow by Air

The only airport in Bhutan – Paro International Airport, has limited flight connectivity with foreign countries. Though India has flight connectivity with this airport, the Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow do not have any connectivity with Paro. However, as Lucknow has regular flights to almost all the major Indian cities, you can book flights tickets for a break air journey to reach Thimphu from Lucknow.

Here is a list of Indian airports that have regular fights by Druk Air and Bhutan Airlines flight to Paro International Airport:

Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport in Guwahati (Assam)

Indira Gandhi International Airport in Delhi

Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose International Airport in Kolkata

Bodhgaya Airport in Gaya (Bihar)

Bagdogra Airport in Siliguri (West Bengal)

You can book your first flight to Chaudhary Charan Singh International Airport in Lucknow to any of these airports. Following this, you can book your flight to Paro from these airports. And once you reach Paro Valley in Bhutan, you can take bus rides or hire local cabs to reach Thimphu.

NOTE: For international travellers, there are several other destinations that offers direct flights to Paro International Airport in Bhutan. Singapore, Bangkok in Thailand, Kathmandu in Nepal, and Dhaka in Bangladesh are some of the international destinations that also have flight connectivity with Paro.

How to Reach Thimphu from Lucknow by Train

Lucknow city has a well spread railway network across India. However, since Bhutan doesn’t have any railway linkage with any of the foreign countries, you won’t be able to book a direct train ride to Thimphu from Lucknow. However, you can surely book train tickets to some of the railway stations in West Bengal, and make your way to Thimphu from there.

Since West Bengal is one of the closest Indian states to Bhutan, it serves as an ideal pitstop for the Thimphu enthusiasts. Kolkata, New Jalpaiguri, New Alipurduar, Siliguri, and Hasimara railway stations in West Bengal are some of the closest railway stations to the Land of Thunder Dragons; Hasimara Railway Station is the closest among all.

From Lucknow, you can book train tickets to any of these railway stations. Post this, once you are there, you can take a roadway journey to reach Jaigaon town along the Indo-Bhutan border. From Jaigaon, you can enter Bhutan through Phuentsholing town, and make your way to Thimphu by buses or local taxis.

Here is a list of trains that would take you from Lucknow to all the mentioned railway stations in West Bengal:

Amritsar Junction Kolkata Superfast Express (12358)

Haridwar Junction Kolkata Superfast Special (03116)

Jaisalmer Howrah Junction Superfast Express (12372)

Haridwar Junction Howrah Junction Special (03016)

Lal Kuan Howrah Junction Express (12354)

Upasana Express (12328)

Doon Express (13010)

Delhi Sealdah Express (13120)

New Jalpaiguri Sealdah Express (02504)

New Delhi Guwahati Superfast Special (02236)

New Delhi Dibrugarh Rajdhani (12236)

Chandigarh Dibrugarh Express (15904)

Jammu Guwahati Express (15654)

Guwahati Express (15635)

How to Reach Thimphu from Lucknow by Road

Kolkata being the closest Indian metropolitan city to Bhutan, serves as a befitting option to embark on a Lucknow-Thimphu roadway journey. To begin with, you can first plan a road trip between Lucknow and Kolkata by following this route: Lucknow – Sultanpur – Allahabad – Varanasi – Kolkata.

Following your arrival in the ‘City of Joy’, you can board any of the Royal Bhutanese Government run buses that plies from Esplanade Bus Stand to reach Thimphu over 18 hours’ road journey. In Case, you don’t want to go with these buses, you can plan out another road trip from Kolkata to Jaigaon town in the Alipurduar district of West Bengal. This journey will take around 17 hours to cover a total of 705km roadway distance.

Upon arrival in Jaigaon, you can step onto the Land of Thunder Dragons through Phuentsholing town. Here onwards, you can board local buses or hire private vehicles to reach Thimphu by driving along the Thimphu-Phuentsholing Highway; this journey will cover around 147km (4 hours).

Well, since that Assam also offers direct as well as connecting flights to Paro International Airport in Bhutan, you should also get know about how you can reach Thimphu from Assam if you are flying form Lucknow to Assam.
The state of Assam has two entry points to Bhutan – Gelephu and Samdrup Jongkhar. To reach Thimphu via Gelephu point, you should start your roadway journey from Bongaigaon town, which is only 50km away from Gelephu. On reaching Gelephu, you can get onto the local buses or rent out a private vehicle to traverse another 243km (7 hours) to reach Thimphu.

The Samdrup Jongkhar point is around 150km (3 hours’ drive) away from Guwahati. From this point, you can avail enough of local transportation to reach Thimphu city after covering 419km (11 hours) roadway journey.