Druk Path Trek

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 afternoon, an easy walk to Rinpung Dzong and the National Museum helps your body start adjusting to the altitude.

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.

Today doubles as acclimatisation for the trek. In the evening, your trekking guide checks your gear and briefs you on the days ahead.

Overnight: A certified hotel in the Paro valley

Hike: about 4–5 hours · Camp: about 3,450 m

Drive a short way up from the National Museum to the trailhead. The path climbs steadily through blue pine and fir forest, with the Paro valley falling away behind you.

Camp is just below Jele Dzong, a small fortress on the ridge that is now a temple. On a clear evening the view stretches west towards the snow peaks of Jhomolhari.

Overnight: Camp near Jele Dzong

Hike: about 4 hours · Camp: about 3,770 m

Climb through thick rhododendron forest — in flower from about April to May — along the ridge. You may meet yak herders in the high pastures.

Camp in a clearing at Jangchulakha. Evenings are cold; the crew will have hot tea and soup ready as you arrive.

Overnight: Camp at Jangchulakha

Hike: about 4 hours · Camp: about 3,880 m

The trail follows the ridge with views of the Himalaya on clear days, then drops to Jimilang Tsho, the Lake of the Sand Ox. Legend says a bull emerged from the lake and joined the cattle of a nearby village.

Camp beside the lake. The afternoon is free to rest or walk along the shore.

Overnight: Camp at Jimilang Tsho

Hike: about 4 hours · Camp: about 4,100 m

Pass Janetso lake and yak herders’ camps as the trail climbs gently over open high ground. The landscape opens out, dotted with dwarf rhododendron, and on clear days the snow peaks line the northern horizon.

Camp near Simkota lake, the highest night of the trek. Wrap up warmly.

Overnight: Camp near Simkota

Hike: about 5–6 hours · Highest point: Labana La, about 4,200 m

A short climb to Labana La, the highest pass of the trek, gives a final, wide view over the Thimphu valley. From there the trail descends to Phajoding, a monastery complex where young monks study.

From Phajoding the path drops steeply through forest to the edge of Thimphu, where your vehicle waits. A hot shower and a real bed at Thimphu Residency have rarely felt so good.

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.

A gentle day after the trek: the drive over Dochula and a soft evening in the warm valley.

Overnight: Punakha Residency, Khuruthang

Drive: Punakha to Paro, about 4 hours

A slow morning and a riverside walk before the drive west.

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.

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.

We hope you leave with a few new friends and a reason to come back. Kadrinchhey la — thank you.