Honeymoon in the Himalayan Valleys

Drive: airport to hotel, about 15 minutes

The flight into Paro is part of the welcome: on a clear day the Himalaya slide past the windows before the aircraft threads down a forested valley to land. Your guide and driver meet you outside the terminal, dressed in gho, with a white khadar scarf of welcome.

Paro is the place to slow down after the journey. After checking in there is time for a short walk along the river or through the small main street, where the shopfronts are painted with lotus and cloud designs.

In the evening, light butter lamps together at Kyichu Lhakhang, one of the oldest temples in the country — a quiet way to begin.

Overnight: A certified hotel in the Paro valley

Drive: Paro to Thimphu, about 1.5 hours with stops

On the road to Thimphu, stop at Tamchog Lhakhang, where an iron chain bridge in the style of the fifteenth-century bridge-builder Thangtong Gyalpo crosses the Paro Chhu, its chains hung with prayer flags.

Arrive at Thimphu Residency in time for lunch. The afternoon is for Buddha Dordenma at golden hour and an evening stroll along the main street, with a stop for butter tea or coffee in the hotel café.

Overnight: Thimphu Residency, Thimphu

Sightseeing in and around Thimphu, mostly short drives

Start above the city at Buddha Dordenma, the great gilded Buddha that watches over the valley, then come down to the National Memorial Chorten, where elderly residents walk their circuits with prayer wheels from first light. The Folk Heritage Museum shows how a farmhouse worked, from the grinding stones to the altar room.

After lunch, visit the textile museum and the Institute for Zorig Chusum, where students learn the thirteen traditional arts — painting, carving, embroidery. At about five o’clock Tashichho Dzong, the seat of government, usually opens its courtyard to visitors as the flag is lowered.

For the evening, a private dinner can be arranged at the hotel on request.

Overnight: Thimphu Residency, Thimphu

Drive: Thimphu to Punakha, about 3 hours with stops · Highest point: Dochula, about 3,100 m

Leave Thimphu after breakfast and climb to Dochula Pass, about 3,100 m, where 108 memorial chortens stand on a ridge hung with prayer flags. On clear mornings, mostly from October to February, the eastern Himalaya line the northern horizon. Tea at the pass, then the long, winding descent into a warmer world of rice and orange trees.

Punakha Dzong sits at the point where the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu rivers meet, and for many travellers it is the most beautiful building in Bhutan. Cross the cantilevered bridge into its courtyards, then walk the long suspension bridge upstream, swaying gently over the river. Check in at Punakha Residency in Khuruthang.

On the pass, your guide can help you raise a string of prayer flags together — a Bhutanese tradition for good fortune.

Overnight: Punakha Residency, Khuruthang

Hike: about 1.5 hours return · Optional rafting

A late breakfast, then an easy walk through rice fields to Chimi Lhakhang, where couples traditionally ask the temple’s lama for a blessing. The wooden phallus symbols painted on nearby farmhouses are a good-humoured nod to the Divine Madman.

After a riverside picnic, climb through the terraces to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten for the view up the Mo Chhu valley — or, in season, drift down the river by raft. The evening is yours at Punakha Residency.

Overnight: Punakha Residency, Khuruthang

Drive: Punakha to Paro, about 4 hours

A slow morning in the valley, with a last look at Punakha Dzong from the riverbank.

The drive back west recrosses Dochula and descends to Chuzom before turning up the Paro valley. In the late afternoon, walk down through Rinpung Dzong to the covered cantilever bridge below it — the light is at its best on the whitewashed walls at this hour.

Dinner tonight can be in a Paro farmhouse, finishing with a hot-stone bath if you wish.

Overnight: A certified hotel in the Paro valley

Hike: about 5–6 hours return, about 500 m of ascent · Highest point: about 3,100 m

This is the day many travellers come for. The trail to Taktsang, the Tiger’s Nest, starts in pine forest at the foot of the cliff and climbs steadily for about 2–3 hours to a viewpoint opposite the monastery. Legend says Guru Rinpoche flew here on the back of a tigress in the eighth century and meditated in the cave the temples now enclose.

From the viewpoint, a stone staircase drops into a gorge beside a waterfall and climbs up to the gate. Cameras and bags stay in lockers; inside, butter lamps flicker in the cave shrines. The cafeteria halfway makes a good lunch stop on the way down, and most people are back at the road by mid-afternoon.

Overnight: A certified hotel in the Paro valley

Drive: Paro hotel to the airport, about 15 minutes

After breakfast your guide and driver take you to the airport for your flight onward. Window seats on the left side heading west often give the best mountain views, so it is worth checking in early.

Safe travels — and congratulations. Tashi delek!