Punakha Drubchen and Tshechu Festival Tour

Winter flights into Paro often have the best mountain views of the year. Your guide meets you at the airport and we drive to Thimphu, where the afternoon takes in the National Memorial Chorten and the Buddha Dordenma. Evenings are cold in February, so keep a warm jacket to hand.

We visit the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, the Textile Museum and Changangkha Lhakhang, and drive up to the Takin Preserve. Tashichho Dzong is quieter than usual at this season, because the monastic body has moved to Punakha for the winter.

We leave early. Dochu La may have snow on the ground in February, and the view north is usually sharp. By late morning we are at Punakha Dzong for the last day of the Drubchen.

The pazaps gather in the courtyard in battle dress and act out the defence of the dzong against the Tibetan army. The day ends with a procession down to the Mo Chhu. Your guide tells the story as it unfolds.

The Tshechu opens the morning after the Drubchen ends. We watch the masked dances in the dzong's courtyard, among families who have come down from the hill villages for the day.

In the afternoon we walk across the fields to Chimi Lhakhang and drive upstream to the suspension bridge.

We walk up to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten in the morning. The fields are bare at this time of year and the view up the Mo Chhu is wide. Then we drive back over Dochu La to Paro and visit Rinpung Dzong before dinner.

Winter is a good season for Taktsang. The air is cold and clear, the path is quiet, and there may be ice on the upper steps, so we take them carefully. After lunch we visit Kyichu Lhakhang and the National Museum.

Your guide and driver take you to the airport after breakfast.