Western Valleys Discovery

Arrive at Paro and drive to Thimphu

The approach into Paro is the part of the journey people remember before they have seen anything else — the aircraft banks between forested ridges and the valley floor appears at around 2,235 metres. We meet you in the arrivals hall and drive down the Paro Chhu, then up the Wang Chhu into Thimphu.

The rest of the day is deliberately unstructured. Most people arrive tired, and Thimphu sits a little higher than Paro, so the afternoon is best spent walking the main street, looking at the weekend market if the timing falls right, and eating early.

Thimphu — the capital at close range

Thimphu is a capital of roughly a hundred thousand people that still closes for archery tournaments. The morning starts above it, at Kuensel Phodrang, where the bronze Buddha Dordenma — just over fifty metres — looks down the length of the valley.

Then the National Memorial Chorten, built in 1974 in memory of the third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck; the Motithang preserve, home to the takin; and the Folk Heritage Museum, a restored three-storey farmhouse that explains rural life better than any display case could.

We finish at Tashichho Dzong in the late afternoon, when the government offices close and visitors are admitted. It houses the throne room and the secretariat, and the courtyard at that hour is worth planning the day around.

Over Dochu La to Punakha

The road east climbs steadily out of Thimphu to Dochu La at about 3,100 metres, where 108 chortens stand in three tiers on a knoll in the middle of the pass. On a clear morning the eastern Himalaya is laid out along the northern horizon, including Gangkhar Puensum at 7,570 metres, widely described as the highest unclimbed mountain on earth.

From the pass the road drops nearly two kilometres of altitude into the Punakha valley, and the vegetation changes with it. We stop at Sopsokha and walk about twenty-five minutes through the rice terraces to Chimi Lhakhang, built in 1499 and associated with Drukpa Kunley, whose irreverence is still painted on half the houses in the valley.

Punakha Dzong and the Mo Chhu

Punakha Dzong stands on the spit of land where the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu meet, and it is the building most people leave Bhutan thinking about. Built in 1637–38 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, it is the second oldest dzong in the country and remains the winter residence of the Je Khenpo and the central monastic body.

In the afternoon we drive up the Mo Chhu valley and walk about forty-five minutes uphill through rice terraces to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten, completed in 2004. The climb is gradual, the interior murals are unusually fine, and the view back down the valley from the top storey is the best in Punakha.

West to Paro, and the dzong above the river

The long drive of the trip, back over Dochu La and through Thimphu to Paro. We break it at the pass and again for lunch, and arrive in Paro with the afternoon intact.

Rinpung Dzong — 'the fortress on a heap of jewels' — was built in 1644 and sits above the Paro Chhu, reached across a traditional cantilever bridge. Above it, the round watchtower known as Ta Dzong houses the National Museum, the clearest introduction to Bhutanese textiles, thangka painting and natural history in the country.

The climb to Paro Taktsang

An early start, because the mountain is cooler and quieter before nine. The trail leaves the valley floor at about 2,600 metres and climbs through blue pine to the cafeteria at roughly the halfway point, where almost everyone stops for tea and the first proper view of the monastery across the gorge.

Above the cafeteria the path continues to a viewpoint, then descends a long flight of stone steps to a waterfall before climbing again to the monastery entrance at around 3,120 metres. The complex was built in 1692 around the cave where Guru Padmasambhava is said to have meditated in the eighth century. It was badly damaged by fire in 1998 and rebuilt.

In the afternoon, Kyichu Lhakhang — one of the oldest temples in Bhutan, its original hall attributed to the seventh century — which is a quiet place to end a long day.

Chele La, Drukgyel and a farmhouse afternoon

We drive up through hemlock and rhododendron to Chele La at 3,988 metres, one of the highest motorable passes in Bhutan and the divide between the Paro and Haa valleys. The pass is a forest of prayer flags, and in clear weather Jomolhari stands to the north.

On the way back, Drukgyel Dzong at the head of the valley — built in 1649 to mark a victory, destroyed by fire in 1951, and the subject of a long restoration.

The last afternoon is spent at a farmhouse: lunch cooked on a wood stove, and, if you want it, a traditional hot-stone bath, in which river stones are heated in a fire and dropped into a wooden tub of water and artemisia. It is a long-standing Bhutanese custom and a good way to end a week of walking. We make no medical claims for it.

Departure from Paro

Most departures from Paro leave early, so breakfast tends to be quick. The airport is fifteen minutes from most Paro hotels and we see you through check-in.

If your flight is later in the day, there is time for the Sunday market or a last walk along the river — tell us and we will build it in.