Complete Western Bhutan

From the airport we drive straight to Thimphu, an hour down one valley and up the next. It is a good first afternoon for something gentle. We visit the Buddha Dordenma, the great bronze statue above the town, and then Changangkha Lhakhang, where families bring newborn babies to be named and blessed.

You will feel the altitude a little on the stairs tonight. Drink plenty of water and it passes within a day.

The morning is for the crafts. We visit the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, where the thirteen traditional arts are taught, then the National Postal Museum, which tells the country's story through its stamps and its mail runners.

In the afternoon we stop at the National Memorial Chorten and walk through the craft bazaar on Norzin Lam. If a match is on at the Changlimithang ground we watch the archers shooting at a target 145 m away. Tashichho Dzong opens to visitors once the offices close for the day.

Dochu La, at 3,100 m, is 45 minutes out of Thimphu. Its 108 chortens stand on a knoll in the middle of the pass, and in clear weather the mountains along the Tibetan border fill the view. The road then winds down through changing forest to the Punakha valley.

We walk out to Chimi Lhakhang before lunch. The afternoon belongs to Punakha Dzong, with its covered bridge, its steep entrance stairs and the courtyards where Bhutan's first king was crowned in 1907.

We start with the walk to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten, across the river and up through the rice terraces. Back at the road we drive south past Wangdue Phodrang, whose dzong was founded in 1638 and rebuilt after a fire in 2012, and then climb steadily for two hours. Bamboo and rhododendron replace the rice, and the road crosses a ridge into Phobjikha.

Gangtey Goenpa stands on a spur at the head of the valley. We visit the monastery in the late afternoon and reach the hotel as the light goes.

The valley is at its best in the first hours of the day. We walk the Gangtey nature trail, about two hours and nearly all downhill, from the monastery through pine forest to the edge of the marsh. From November to March the cranes are feeding here, and the Crane Information Centre has telescopes trained on them.

Then comes the long drive west, back over Dochu La and on to Paro. We break it for lunch and for tea at the pass.

After five days at altitude the walk to Taktsang is easier than it would have been on arrival. The trail climbs through blue pine to a teahouse, then on to a viewpoint level with the monastery, and finally down and up a staircase cut into the cliff.

In the afternoon we visit Kyichu Lhakhang, and then Rinpung Dzong, the fortress above the river that houses Paro's monks and its district offices.

Your guide and driver take you to the airport, a few minutes from the hotel, and wait until you are checked in.