Mindful Bhutan: Monasteries & Meditation

Drive: Paro to Thimphu, about 1 hour

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.

The road follows the Paro Chhu to its meet with the Wang Chhu at Chuzom, where three chortens — Bhutanese, Nepali and Tibetan in style — mark the confluence, and then climbs gently to the capital. Check in at Thimphu Residency, take tea in the café and settle in.

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.

Start the day early at the National Memorial Chorten, joining the residents who walk clockwise around it from first light. Later, where it can be arranged, a monk or teacher offers a short introduction to meditation.

Overnight: Thimphu Residency, Thimphu

Hike: about 2–3 hours return to Cheri or Tango

Drive about half an hour north of Thimphu to the end of the valley road. From here, a trail climbs through forest to either Cheri Goenpa, founded by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal in the seventeenth century, or Tango Goenpa, a monastic college. Monks study and chant here, and the views back down the valley are wide.

Return to the city for a quiet afternoon — perhaps a visit to the Centenary Farmers’ Market, or simply rest at the hotel. In the evening, your guide can talk you through Bhutanese Buddhism over dinner.

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.

Before Punakha, walk through the fields to Chimi Lhakhang, the temple of the Divine Madman.

Overnight: Punakha Residency, Khuruthang

Hike: about 1.5 hours return · Short drives

Drive up the valley to Sangchhen Dorji Lhuendrup, a nunnery on a ridge above the river with a large bronze statue of Avalokiteshvara. The nuns learn philosophy, ritual and meditation here, and the courtyard is a peaceful place to sit.

In the afternoon, cross the river and walk up through rice terraces to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten. Its upper floors are painted with protective deities, and the roof looks straight up the Mo Chhu valley.

Overnight: Punakha Residency, Khuruthang

Drive: Punakha to Paro, about 4 hours

An unhurried breakfast, then a final walk along the river below Punakha Dzong.

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.

In the evening, light butter lamps at Kyichu Lhakhang, one of the oldest temples in the country.

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.

Many Bhutanese walk this trail as a pilgrimage, and so can you: your guide will explain the shrines and the stories behind each cave as you go.

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.