Western Valleys Discovery

The flight into Paro comes down between forested ridges, and your guide is waiting outside arrivals. The drive to Thimphu takes about an hour, following the Paro river to its meeting with the Thimphu river at Chuzom and then turning north.

After lunch we visit the National Memorial Chorten, where older residents spend much of the day walking round the stupa with their prayer beads, and go up to the Buddha Dordenma for the view over the valley. Tashichho Dzong, where the King and the government have their offices, opens to visitors once the working day ends.

We leave early to reach Dochu La while the air is still clear. The pass stands at 3,100 m, and on a good morning the snow peaks of the eastern Himalaya line the northern horizon behind its 108 chortens. From there the road drops for more than an hour through oak and rhododendron into the warm Punakha valley.

A 20-minute walk through rice fields brings us to Chimi Lhakhang, the small temple of the saint Drukpa Kunley. After lunch we cross the covered bridge into Punakha Dzong, built in 1637, and take our time in its three courtyards before the drive back to Thimphu.

At the National Institute for Zorig Chusum students learn the thirteen traditional arts, and you can walk through the classrooms while they paint, carve and embroider. The Textile Museum nearby explains the weaving you will have seen people wearing all week. Before leaving town we stop at the Takin Preserve to meet Bhutan's unlikely national animal.

Paro is an hour away. Ta Dzong, a round watchtower on the hillside, holds the National Museum, and a path leads down from it to Rinpung Dzong and the wooden bridge below.

We start before the path gets busy. From the car park the trail climbs through pine forest to a teahouse with the first clear view of Taktsang across the gorge, about an hour up. A second hour brings you level with the monastery, and a flight of stone steps leads down past a waterfall and up to its gate at 3,120 m.

You are back in the valley for a late lunch. In the afternoon we visit Kyichu Lhakhang, a temple from the 7th century with two orange trees in its courtyard, and call on a farming family for tea.

Your guide and driver take you to the airport after breakfast and see you through to check-in.