Royal Highland Festival

The Royal Highland Festival is one of Bhutan’s newest and most extraordinary cultural events: a two-day celebration held each October at Laya, a remote semi-nomadic settlement at 3,800 metres in Gasa district, accessible only by a two-to-three day trek from the road. The festival was established under royal patronage to celebrate and preserve the unique highland nomadic cultures of northern Bhutan, which risk gradual erosion as younger generations move toward settled life.

The festival brings together highland communities from Laya, Lunana, and Merak-Sakteng, peoples whose cultures, languages, dress, and livelihoods differ markedly from lowland Bhutan and from each other. Layap women arrive in their signature conical bamboo hats; Lunap herders bring their enormous dzo cattle; the highlanders of Merak wear distinctive yak-hair cloaks. Seeing these communities gathered together in their festival dress against a backdrop of Himalayan peaks is an image of extraordinary power.

The programme includes yak racing on the alpine meadows (one of the most thrilling spectacles in Bhutan), highland archery competitions using traditional techniques, traditional sporting contests like stone lifting and tug-of-war, highland music and dance performances, and a vibrant market where highland products (yak cheese, butter, medicinal herbs, handwoven textiles) are sold directly by their producers.

The journey to reach the Royal Highland Festival is itself a major part of the experience: the two-day trek from Gasa passes through pristine Himalayan forest, crosses rushing glacial streams, and arrives at Laya’s extraordinary high-altitude plateau as dawn breaks over the peaks. It is a festival that rewards those willing to earn it.