Terms & Conditions
How we work, in writing
Booking, payment, cancellation, changes and the practical details of travelling with us. Written to be read, not to be got past.
Aether Bhutan Tours and Travel
Thimphu, Bhutan | +975 77391059 | somfinsoguide@gmail.com
Welcome
Thank you for choosing Aether Bhutan
A journey through Bhutan should feel effortless, meaningful and personal. From the moment you begin planning to the day you return home, our job is to take care of the details so you have the freedom to experience the country at your own pace.
These Terms explain how we handle bookings, payments, cancellations, changes and the other practical parts of travelling with us. We have written them plainly, so that you know what to expect before you travel rather than afterwards.
Our standard cancellation scale, and a fuller explanation of insurance and unexpected circumstances, are on the Travel & Booking Information page.
Contents
Thirty sections
Booking & payment
01
Your Booking
Once you have chosen your journey we send you a detailed quotation and itinerary. Your booking is confirmed when all four of these have happened:
- The itinerary and services have been agreed
- We have received the information and documents we asked you for
- The deposit or payment set out in your quotation has reached us
- We have sent you written confirmation
Until that written confirmation goes out, availability and prices can still change. Once it does, we begin booking the hotels, guides and vehicles your journey depends on.
02
What Is Included
Every journey is planned individually, and your quotation states precisely what it covers. Depending on the journey, that normally includes your accommodation, private transport, a professional guide, the meals named in your itinerary, the sightseeing and experiences in your programme, and the permits we arrange for you.
It also includes the government charges that apply to your stay: your visa and the Sustainable Development Fee for every night you are in Bhutan. These are stated as included throughout this website, and they are included in the price we quote you.
What is not included is listed just as plainly: international flights to and from the region, travel insurance, personal spending, alcoholic drinks, laundry, tips, and any activity not named in your programme.
Government fees are charged at the rates in force on your travel dates.
03
Prices & Quotations
You receive a clear quotation before you commit to anything. It is based on the services described in it, and on the dates you have given us.
Before a booking is confirmed, government charges, airfares, hotel rates, exchange rates and supplier costs can all move. After confirmation we hold the arrangements we agreed.
If a government charge or a supplier raises a cost in a way we cannot absorb, we will explain exactly what has changed and why before anything is added to your invoice.
04
Payment
Your quotation sets out the deposit and the payment schedule.
Some things have to be paid for earlier, sometimes in full: festival-period hotels, flights, and any arrangement that must be secured well in advance. Where that applies to your journey, the quotation says so.
Bank charges, currency conversion and payment-processing fees are payable by you where they arise.
Before you travel
05
Visa, Entry Permit & SDF
Entry formalities are more straightforward here than people expect, and we handle them for you. We apply for your visa or permit, tell you exactly which documents we need, and chase the paperwork through.
Approval itself rests with the Bhutanese authorities, not with us. We cannot guarantee a decision, only that your application is complete and submitted properly.
Your visa and the Sustainable Development Fee are included in the price we quote. What they cost depends on your nationality, your passport, your age and your dates, and the rates are set by government policy. If anything changes between your booking and your arrival, we will tell you.
06
Your Passport & Travel Details
To arrange a journey properly we need a few things from you:
- Your full name exactly as it appears in your passport
- Date and place of birth, and nationality
- Passport number, issue and expiry dates
- Contact details and an emergency contact
- Your travel dates and any accommodation booked either side
- Anything else the visa or permit application requires
Please check these carefully before sending them. A wrong passport number or a misspelled name causes real delays, and the cost of fixing one late is likely to fall to you.
07
Flights
Where you ask us to, we will arrange your flights into Paro and any domestic sector your itinerary needs.
Flights are governed by the airline’s own conditions, not ours. Schedules, fares, routes and baggage allowances can all change, and in this region weather moves flights more often than anywhere else we know.
If an airline changes or cancels on you, we will explain your options and rebuild the affected days. Costs the airline imposes are not ours to waive.
08
Accommodation
You stay in the properties named in your itinerary, chosen for comfort, position and character rather than for a star rating.
Occasionally a property becomes unavailable for reasons outside anyone’s control. When that happens we find you something of comparable standard and tell you before you travel, not on arrival.
Requests for a particular room, a view, twin beds or connecting rooms are passed to the hotel and usually met. They are requests, though, and no hotel will guarantee them.
On the ground
09
Roads & Journey Times
Bhutan is a mountain country and the driving is part of the experience rather than an interruption to it.
Road works, weather, landslides and traffic all affect how long a drive takes. The times in your itinerary are honest estimates, not promises.
Your driver and guide will always choose safety over schedule, and we would rather you arrived late than tense.
10
Changes We May Need to Make
We design each itinerary carefully, and we also leave it room to breathe.
Weather, road closures, a site shutting for a ceremony, a change in government instructions or a transport problem can all mean the day has to be rearranged.
When that happens we explain the position and offer you the best alternative we can reach. The aim is always to protect the character of the journey, not simply to fill the hours.
11
Changes You Ask For
We are glad to consider changes. People often want an extra night somewhere, a slower pace, a different hotel, or a day added at a monastery they have grown fond of.
We will do what we can, subject to what is available at the time.
Changes can carry costs — supplier cancellation charges, a difference in room rate, extra transport, guide time or entrance fees. We will tell you what a change costs before we make it, never after.
Cancellations & changes
12
Cancellation
Plans change, and our policy tries to be fair to you while honouring what we have already committed to hotels, guides, drivers and local partners on your behalf.
The standard scale is published in full on our Booking Information page: the earlier you tell us, the more we can return. Where your journey carries different terms — a festival departure or a specially chartered arrangement, for example — your quotation says so plainly, and those terms apply instead.
What we can return also depends on what has already been spent: services secured, supplier terms, non-refundable government charges, and anything arranged specifically for you. Where a supplier or a government body has already taken a non-refundable amount, we cannot recover it.
This is the clearest argument we know for taking out travel insurance the day you book.
13
Refunds
Where a refund is due, we work out the eligible amount, deduct the costs that cannot be recovered, and show you the arithmetic.
How long the money takes to arrive depends on banks, card processors and the suppliers involved. If it is going to be slow, we will say so rather than leave you wondering.
14
If We Have to Change or Cancel
Our intention is always to run the journey you booked.
Very occasionally a journey, or part of one, cannot safely or reasonably go ahead. If that happens we tell you as early as we possibly can.
We will then work through the options with you: rearranging the affected days, moving your dates, or refunding what is appropriate in the circumstances.
Insurance, health & safety
15
Travel Insurance
We strongly recommend comprehensive travel insurance for every guest, bought at the time you book rather than the week you fly.
Your policy should cover at least:
- Medical treatment and emergency evacuation
- Cancellation and curtailment
- Travel delay and missed departure
- Lost, delayed or damaged baggage
- Personal accident
- Any trekking or activity in your itinerary, at the altitude it reaches
Read the exclusions, not just the headline cover. We do not sell insurance, and we cannot check that a policy is right for you — but we will happily tell you what your itinerary involves so you can check it yourself.
16
Health & Fitness
We want you to enjoy Bhutan comfortably, which sometimes means being honest about what a day asks of you.
Some days involve walking, steep stairs, uneven ground, long mountain drives or real altitude. Tell us in advance about mobility, dietary or accessibility needs, and about anything that affects how far or how high you can comfortably go.
If you have any doubt about your fitness for a particular activity, speak to your doctor before you travel. Where it helps, we will suggest an alternative so that you are enjoying the day rather than enduring it.
17
Trekking & Outdoor Days
The walking here is one of the great reasons to come, and it carries the ordinary risks of terrain, altitude, weather and distance from a road.
Please follow your guide and the activity operators. They know the ground, the weather signs and the turnaround times.
Make sure your insurance covers the activities and altitudes in your itinerary. We will tell you what preparation and equipment a trek needs well before you pack.
Respect & responsibility
18
Respecting Bhutan
Bhutan’s cultural and spiritual life is lived, not preserved for visitors. We ask our guests to travel with respect and curiosity in equal measure.
- Monasteries, temples and anything inside them
- Religious practice, and people at prayer
- Local custom, and dress that covers shoulders and knees at religious sites
- Photography restrictions, which are real and are enforced
- The privacy of the communities you pass through
- Wildlife, forest and the rules that protect them
- Bhutanese law
Your guide will tell you what is expected anywhere it is not obvious. In our experience the guests who ask the most questions have the best time.
19
Photography, Filming & Drones
Photography and filming are restricted inside many religious, cultural and government sites. Some allow the exterior but not the interior; some allow nothing at all.
Follow your guide and any posted notice. Being asked to delete images is an unpleasant way to learn the rule.
Drones are governed by Bhutanese regulation and generally require permission in advance. Obtaining it is your responsibility, and it is not quick — talk to us early if you intend to fly one.
20
Food & Dietary Requirements
Tell us about allergies, intolerances and preferences when you book, not when you arrive.
We pass them to every hotel and restaurant on your itinerary, and in most places they are handled well.
Because the cooking is done by independent kitchens, we cannot promise an allergen-free environment. If an allergy is serious, please also speak to the staff directly at each meal — your guide will interpret.
21
Your Belongings
Please take ordinary care of your passport, money, cameras, phones and luggage.
We take reasonable care in coordinating your transport and accommodation, and our drivers and guides are careful people.
Your belongings nonetheless remain yours to look after, and your insurance rather than ours is what covers them.
The unexpected, and our partners
22
The Unexpected
Travel occasionally produces circumstances nobody could have planned for.
Severe weather, landslides, road closures, flight disruption, government restrictions, civil disturbance and health emergencies can all affect a journey, and in the Himalayas the first three are not rare.
When something like that happens, your safety comes before the itinerary. We will communicate clearly, stay reachable, and find the best practical alternative.
Costs that arise from events outside our reasonable control, and which no supplier or insurer will cover, may fall to you. We will always try to reduce them first.
23
Our Local Partners
We work with a small group of hotels, drivers, restaurants and activity operators we have used for years and would send our own families to.
Each has its own operating conditions, and some aspects of their service remain theirs to govern.
We coordinate them, we check on them, and if one lets you down we would like to be the ones who hear about it.
24
If Something Is Not Right
We would genuinely rather know.
If something is not as expected, tell your guide or call us while you are still in Bhutan. Almost everything can be fixed on the day it happens, and almost nothing can be fixed from another continent a fortnight later.
If it cannot be resolved while you are here, write to us afterwards with the detail and we will deal with it properly.
Your information & practicalities
25
Your Information
To arrange your journey we collect passport details, contact information, travel dates, accommodation details, dietary requirements and an emergency contact.
We use that information to:
- Arrange and deliver your travel services
- Complete the visa, permit and registration procedures the government requires
- Communicate with you before, during and after your journey
- Brief the hotels, guides and operators looking after you
- Meet our legal and administrative obligations
We take reasonable steps to keep it secure, we use it only for your journey and our obligations, and we do not sell it to anyone.
26
Special Requests
Every guest is different, and most of the best days we arrange started as a request someone was slightly embarrassed to make.
- Birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations
- Meditation, blessings and time with a monk
- Wellness, hot stone baths and days with nothing in them
- Photography, weaving, cooking and other particular interests
- Dietary preferences and accessibility needs
- Room and bedding preferences
Ask. We will tell you honestly whether it can be done well, and we would rather decline than arrange something disappointing.
27
Travelling with Children
Children are welcome, and Bhutan treats them kindly.
Parents and guardians are responsible for the children travelling with them, including their documents, their behaviour at religious sites and their safety on mountain roads and walks.
Some activities carry minimum ages or safety limits. We will tell you which, and suggest alternatives for the rest of the family.
28
Information & Government Requirements
We work hard to give you accurate information when you are planning.
Even so, visa rules, SDF rates, airline schedules, hotel policies and opening hours all change, sometimes at short notice.
Where an official requirement applies, the current rule of the relevant Bhutanese authority takes precedence over anything written here or elsewhere on this site.
If your nationality, passport or route is at all unusual, please confirm the requirements independently before you depart as well as with us.
Responsibility & agreement
29
Our Responsibility
We take reasonable care in planning and coordinating every service in your confirmed journey, and we take that seriously.
Some things are genuinely outside our control: the independent acts of airlines, hotels, transport operators, government authorities and other third parties.
Nothing written here removes or limits any responsibility that cannot lawfully be excluded under Bhutanese law.
30
Your Agreement With Us
By confirming your journey and making the payment set out in your quotation, you confirm that you have had the chance to read and understand these terms.
Your quotation and your confirmed itinerary are part of the agreement between us, and they carry the detail specific to your journey.
Where something written into your confirmed booking differs from these general terms, the specific arrangement in your booking is the one that applies.
Our promise
You take care of the journey.
We take care of the details.
We would rather you did not feel you were following an itinerary. We want you to have time to pause, to notice things, and to experience Bhutan in a way that stays with you. From the first conversation to the final farewell, we are here to coordinate the details and answer the questions.
Last updated 13 October 2026. Aether Bhutan Tours and Travel, Thimphu, Bhutan.
Questions first
Ask before you commit
We would much rather answer an awkward question now than have you discover something after you have paid.