Are you eagerly researching Bhutan and on the hunt for a luxurious hideaway? Read on to discover a detailed Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary review before booking your trip to the magical Kingdom.
The 5-star luxury boutique hotel—a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World—is located in Satsam Chorten. This tranquil rural community is located a short drive north of downtown Paro, just 15 minutes from the airport, and within an hour of the famed Tiger’s Nest monastery.
I spent three nights in a peaceful suite at the boutique Himalayan retreat. My Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary hotel review features info on the hotel’s accommodation options, wellness programs, restaurant, and other unique on-site amenities.
Book a Luxurious Holiday at Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary in Paro
Nestled in a beautiful valley and surrounded by the dramatic Himalayan mountain range, Paro is an utterly picturesque town in the Kingdom of Bhutan.
A quick 20-minute drive from Paro, Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary more than lives up to its name. The journey up a winding road, where you’ll spot the occasional cow and rice farmer, gives you the sense you’re headed somewhere particularly serene. As you exit your vehicle, a seemingly innocuous large red door is flung open to reveal a courtyard and the hotel beyond. And it is a wow.
All guests get a special greeting from a parade of staff as they enter the property. Then, you proceed across a bridge and enter the main building where you encounter a gilded temple and light a butter candle before entering the sunkissed reception area.
Guests are also guided to select their own scented soap, which is ideal for couples who have different scent preferences.
Architecturally speaking, Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary has much in common with a Bhutanese dzong, given its fort-like appearance, symmetrical courtyard garden, and entryway temple. It also complements the Eutok Samdrupcholing Goenpa Monastery, visible from every point of the hotel.
Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary was founded by Dutch hotelier Louk Lennaerts, and built by his sons Lorenz and Thomas Lennaerts. The hotel opened its doors in 2018. Perched on a mountain flank surrounded by both forest and rice fields, it’s the only hotel in the valley.
Both Bhutanese culture and nature inform the interior design. As you explore the space, you’ll only encounter natural building materials—like plenty of wood accents. These marry well with a soothing colour palette and plenty of Bhutanese art.
If you’re not familiar with the Bhutanese royal family, you will be the moment you arrive in the Kingdom, ‘cause they’re everywhere. And nobody’s complaining as, thankfully, these royals are quite handsome indeed. Find all the kings in the lobby space—which also does double-duty as a cozy library with plenty of tomes for guests to flip through.
Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary Hotel Review Highlights
Before booking your trip, here are a list of major draws that make Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary the perfect place to escape:
- Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary is the Kingdom’s first and only 5-star wellness-inclusive luxury resort
- The hotel is a member of Small Luxury Hotels of the World
- The intimate 24-room property boasts both Balcony and Terrace rooms, all of which offer spectacular valley views
- No child will interrupt your chill as guests must be over the age of 12
- Lunch and dinner are four- and six-course farm-to-table meals
- Your room includes one spa treatment per day at the onsite Wellness Centre
- Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary also has an onsite Bhutanese Traditional Doctor available for visits
- The hotel has an indoor heated pool with a spacious deck for mountain-gazing
- Guests can also enjoy activities including archery, pottery, and hiking to the nearby Eutok Samdrupcholing Goenpa Monastery
- Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary also has two guides affiliated with the hotel, so you’re not totally reliant on your own guides for, say, a quick trip to Paro
Accommodation
Located in the stunning Nephyu Valley, it would be a shame for Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary to not delight its guests with views, views, views, baby! As it turns out, nobody needed a reminder, for each room does an excellent job at delighting guests with the great Himalayan expanse, both mountains and valley stretching out as far as the eye can see.
Returning to the Himalayas brought all my buried memories back from time spent in Leh Ladakh, years and years ago. The air is shatteringly fresh; the welcome silence puts you at ease. Ask yourself how you’d best like to enjoy it—from either a Balcony room or a Terrace Room.
All of the boutique hotel’s 24 rooms boast comfortable layouts and feature dreamy views across Neyphu Valley and towards the Eutok Samdrupcholing Goenpa Monastery. Guests can choose from either a Balcony or Terrace room. Regardless, all rooms open up into a bedroom area, which then leads down into a sunken living room and out to the patio or balcony.
Ornate wooden bed frames carved from wood anchor the bedrooms. When you’re sleeping, your feet will never face the monastery as this would be disrespectful. Naturally, this was taken into account during the build. The Terrace rooms let you be one with nature while the Balcony rooms are perfect for those who wish to have a touch more privacy. It’s that peaceful. Every room comes with a copy of Gyalwa Dokhampa’s The Restful Mind for you to take home.
For those who are working remote, there’s an adjacent office zone with a mini bar and coffee and tea nook. Good coffee is admittedly hard to find in Bhutan, so discovering a French press was a moment worth celebrating. My morning coffee on the terrace was accompanied only by the sound of distant cows mooing.
Our Terrace suite included a roomy bathroom with a separate waterfall shower, WC, jet tub, and two sinks! It’s worth noting that each bathroom boasts white marble accents and comes complete with bamboo toothbrushes, toothpaste tablets, and heated floors, should you be a barefooted morning creature. Plush robes and slippers for winding down in are also provided.
The rooms also feature smart walk-in closets. It’s always great to have your suitcase out of sight to enhance that home-away-from home feeling. Speaking of home, each guest can take the hotel up on the offer of four pieces of laundry a day. Simply toss your dirty clothes in the basket and they’ll be returned to you the next morn. Folded perfectly, I might add. And, since this is a true sanctuary, you won’t find any children under the age of 12 on the premises.
Wellness
You couldn’t call a hotel a ‘sanctuary’ without a spa, could you? Absolutely not. Thankfully the hotel environs are on-brand, and the on-site Wellness Centre offers guests free use of all facilities. You read that correctly; all Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary guests can enjoy one traditional treatment per day!
There are six treatment rooms for guests to book themselves into. Signature treatments are herbal compression, hot oil compression, moxibustion, herb-infused hot stone bath, and various traditional Ku Nye massages. Depending on the diktats of your body, you can enjoy full body, neck, feet, or back massages.
Obviously I wasn’t going to shy away from this opportunity, so over the course of my three-day stay I experienced a massage, some moxi, and a hot stone bath dotted with fresh herbs to ease my weary muscles following our Tiger’s Nest trek.
I highly recommend the stone bath as it’s a unique experience. The rocks are heated to high temperatures in an outdoor stove, carefully pushed down a chute and dropped into the bath, which is located indoors. My bath was the perfect not-too-hot, not-too cold temperature, and the water was adorned with fresh herbs. If you love a long, leisurely bath and the water cools, simply ring a bell and more stones will be added to your bath.
Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary also specializes in Traditional Bhutanese Medicine, and guests are offered private, complimentary consultations with the in-house doctor to ensure your mind, body, and spirit are in balance. If you’re keen, the doctor can teach you about the benefits of over 60 original Bhutanese herbs before experiencing plant- and herb-based treatments.
While consulting my pulse, Doctor Kezang Dorji informed me that I should drink less coffee (true), observed that my body has a Phlegm consistency and that I should eat more warm foods and more protein. A Chinese Traditional Doctor recently told me the same thing, so I’m glad everyone’s on the same wavelength.
The Wellness Centre opens up into the heated indoor pool should you want to do some laps. Or, you could tuck into a good book on the adjacent terrace dotted with lounge chairs. The choice is yours.
Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary Restaurant
Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary encourages a convivial dining experience for its guests. The sole restaurant, located just down from the lobby, faces an expansive terrace and fire pit. After the sun disappears behind the mountains, a nightly fire is lit for guests to enjoy.
When it comes to the food itself, the hotel serves a variety of Bhutanese, Indian, and Western dishes, with four-course set lunches and six-course set dinners served to all guests as part of your room fee. Dietary restrictions, of course, are taken into account.
Additionally, there’s an on-site greenhouse and garden brimming with vegetables and herbs, allowing the culinary team to use as many local products as they’re able.
For those who love indulging in a spot of tea, there’s a a tea bar with over 20 herbal teas available. (The trad doctor might even prescribe you some.)
Breakfast
Each morning an inviting breakfast spread sets the tone for the day. Tables feature mason jars filled with the likes of tasty homemade granola, local honey, and homemade blueberry jam. Upon your arrival, servers deliver fresh fruit and croissants tableside. Like the aforementioned French press coffee, croissants aren’t a thing in Bhutan. Thankfully, these croissants blew all other croissants we had in the country right out of the water.
Guests are also able to order à la carte bites. There are lots of North American brekkie faves, such as a hearty egg and sausage fry-up, or fresh yogurt and dried fruit.
Tasting Menus
Both lunch and dinner at Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary are set menus that the chef whips up based on what’s fresh and available. Farm-to-table is the name of the game here. Lunch is four courses; dinner is six. Thankfully, chef has clearly decided to not overwhelm guests with too much food and each meal was just the right amount.
One meal was all northern Indian fare; others took a more global approach. Think: chicken noodle soup starring glass noodles, carrot, and daikon. A take on a Niçoise salad. An innovative beetroot ravioli where the beets replaced the pasta itself. Some pumpkin and mushroom truffle tortellini with white wine reduction.
And, for those who have a sweet tooth, there’s always a dessert. My fave? A chocolate lava cake. The perfect mountain food.
Oh, did I mention the Bhutanese wine? Guests can enhance their dining experience with local wine at no extra cost. There’s a peach sipper made from locally-grown peaches, in addition to a Shiraz and Cab Sauv both featuring…South African grapes! It’s all rather stellar wine, if unconventionally produced.
International wines and spirits muddled and shaken into cocktails require an additional charge.
Fun Things to Do in Paro
All foreign visitors to Bhutan must coordinate their itinerary and visas with a local tour operator or hotel. Since you can’t rent a car in Bhutan and organize a solo road trip, it’s important to do your research and hire a professional company that can create a bespoke itinerary for you based on your unique interests and needs.
Our two-week trip was organized by MyBhutan, an award-winning boutique luxury tour operator. We highly recommend planning your trip with MyBhutan as they employ knowledgeable guides and friendly drivers who know Paro, Thimphu, and beyond like the back of their hands.
The experience was seamless as MyBhutan organized airport transfers, day tours, guided hikes, and pick-up and drop-off at each of the hotels we stayed. MyBhutan’s team went the extra mile, providing hiking poles, sustainable water bottles, and portable Wi-Fi so you can share your travel experience live without having to pay for an international SIM card.
During our stay at Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary the MyBhutan team took us to visit these top attractions, which are must-dos when visiting Paro:
- Tiger’s Nest Monastery: Also known as Paro Taktsang, this sacred Vajrayana Himalayan Bhuddist site is uniquely located on the cliffside of the upper Paro Valley. It is one of 13 Tiger’s Nest caves in historical Tibet in which Padmasambhava practiced and taught Vajrayana. It is the most photographed attraction in Bhutan and a must-see when visiting The Kingdom.
- Rinpung Dzong: This is a large dzong, Buddhist monastery, and fortress of the Drukpa Lineage of the Kagyu school in Paro. It houses the district Monastic Body as well as government administrative offices. Just below the dzong is a traditional Bhutanese covered cantilever bridge.
- Bhutan National Museum: This cultural museum was originally established in 1968 and houses over 3,000 works of Bhutanese art, covering more than 1,500 years of cultural heritage.
- Jangtsa Dumtseg Lhakhang: A notable temple that’s in the form of a chorten, which is very rare in Bhutan. It is located on the edge of a hill between the Paro Valley and the Dopchari Valley.
- Kyichu Lhakhang: One of Bhutan’s oldest and most beautiful temples is a must-visit for any visitor. The main chapel has roots as far back as the 7th century, with additional buildings and a golden roof that was added in 1839. Elderly pilgrims shuffle around the temple spinning its many prayer wheels, making this one of the most charming spots to visit in the Paro Valley.
- Dochula Pass: This mountain pass between Thimphu and Punakha features 108 memorial chortens overlooking the Himalayas. The memorial honours the brave 108 soldiers who lost their lives in 2003 battling Assamese insurgents from India.
Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary Hotel Contact
Neyphu Valley, Shaba Paro BT 12001, +975-827-2224
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