Bhutan Starts Building a Timber Airport for Its Mindfulness City

Bhutan broke ground on its second international airport on 8 July 2025, at a ceremony attended by the King and Queen. Gelephu International Airport is being built on the subtropical plain in the south of the country, close to the Indian border, and is scheduled to open in 2029. It is the first large piece of Gelephu Mindfulness City, a new city announced by King Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck in December 2023.

Why it matters

Almost every visitor to Bhutan arrives at Paro, where the runway lies in a narrow valley between high mountains. The terrain limits both the number of flights and the size of the aircraft. Gelephu is on flat ground. The new airport is planned to handle up to 123 flights a day and about 1.3 million passengers a year in its first phase, with larger aircraft and longer routes.

The design

The terminal, of 68,000 square metres, was designed by Bjarke Ingels Group with the aviation engineers NACO. Its structure is a diagonal grid of glued timber, modular so that it can be extended, and carved and painted by Bhutanese craftsmen in the manner of the country’s temples and fortresses. From a distance the row of peaked frames is meant to recall a mountain range. A planted courtyard, called the Forest Spine, divides the building into domestic and international halves. The plans include lounges, indoors and out, for yoga, meditation and gong baths.

The design was shown at the Venice Architecture Biennale in 2025 and was named Future Project of the Year at that year’s World Architecture Festival. BIG also drew the masterplan for the city, working with Arup and Cistri. The same practice designed the Suzhou Museum of Contemporary Art, which opened in 2026.

The city

Gelephu Mindfulness City is planned as a zone with its own laws, covering more than 1,000 square kilometres between two rivers, intended to draw investment while following the country’s principles of Gross National Happiness. The plans describe neighbourhoods separated by rivers and wildlife corridors, linked by inhabited bridges, with a hydroelectric dam that incorporates a temple. Figures for its size and population are projections by the project’s promoters, and the timetable runs over decades.

For travellers

Until 2029 nothing changes: flights arrive at Paro, and the classic journey runs through the western valleys to Punakha and on to Bumthang. When Gelephu opens it should make the little-visited south and centre of the country easier to reach, including the eastern end of the Trans Bhutan Trail.