Bumdra Trek

Your guide meets you at the airport and takes you to your hotel. In the afternoon we visit Ta Dzong, the watchtower that holds the National Museum, and walk down to Rinpung Dzong. A quiet first day helps: Paro is at 2,200 m and tomorrow you go higher.

A short drive brings us to Sangchen Choekhor, a Buddhist college at 2,800 m, where the ponies are loaded. The trail climbs through blue pine and oak, passing Chhoe Tse Lhakhang after about two hours, and comes out onto open yak pasture below Bumdra monastery. Lunch is waiting in camp.

The afternoon is free. If you have the legs for it, the ridge above camp is two to three hours there and back and reaches 4,378 m, with a wide view of the peaks to the north.

The path drops through forest hung with lichen, past small temples and hermitages, until Taktsang appears below you on its cliff. We visit the monastery, then follow the main trail down to the valley, where the vehicle is waiting. The walk takes five to seven hours with the visit.

From the trailhead it is about an hour and a half by road to Thimphu and a hot shower.

A day for the capital. We start at the National Memorial Chorten, where people from the city walk their morning rounds, and go up to the Buddha Dordenma. Changangkha Lhakhang, the Takin Preserve and the National Institute for Zorig Chusum fill the middle of the day. Tashichho Dzong opens to visitors once the offices close, and the evening is yours in town.

The road east climbs to Dochu La at 3,100 m, where 108 chortens stand on the pass and, on a clear morning, the eastern Himalaya fills the horizon. Then it winds down into the warm Punakha valley.

We walk through rice fields to Chimi Lhakhang and spend the afternoon at Punakha Dzong, built in 1637 where two rivers meet. If time allows we finish with the short climb to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten above the river.

Before leaving the valley we cross the long suspension bridge near the dzong, strung with prayer flags, and stop at Wangdue Phodrang. Lunch is back at Dochu La. In Thimphu there is time for the Postal Museum and, with luck, an archery match at Changlimithang.

An early drive back to Paro airport for your flight. Your guide stays until you are checked in.