10 Days Bhutan Tour - Central Bhutan & the Bumthang Valleys

Your flight into Paro drops between forested ridges onto one of the most talked-about airstrips in the Himalayas, and our representative meets you the moment you clear customs. From there it's a scenic hour or so up the valley to Thimphu (2,334m), Bhutan's capital and, at a few hundred thousand people, a capital that still feels like a market town.

You'll begin at the Memorial Chorten, the white stupa built in 1974 for the third King, Jigme Dorji Wangchuck, where elderly Thimphu residents walk slow clockwise laps and turn the prayer wheels well into the evening. Then a gentle walk from Kuensel Phodrang across to Changangkha Lhakhang, with the valley opening up beneath you, before some free time in Thimphu town to find dinner and adjust to the altitude.

A full day in the capital, starting high above it. The Buddha Dordenma sits on a ridge south of the city — 51.5 metres of gilded bronze, with 125,000 smaller Buddha statues housed inside the throne it rests on — and the terrace around it gives you the best single view of Thimphu you'll get.

From there the day is deliberately varied: the Wangditse trail, an easy pine-forest path lined with prayer flags; the Motithang Takin Preserve, home to the national animal, an animal so odd that legend credits a 15th-century saint with assembling it from a goat and a cow; Simply Bhutan, a living museum where staff walk you through village houses, dress, archery and butter tea; and the National Institute for Zorig Chusum, where students spend years learning the thirteen traditional Bhutanese arts. You'll finish at the viewpoint over Tashichho Dzong, the fortress-monastery housing the throne room and the government, floodlit after dark.

You leave the capital and climb east into the mountains. At around 3,100m the road reaches Dochula Pass, where 108 Druk Wangyal Chortens are arranged in tiers on a bend — built in memory of Bhutanese soldiers — and on a clear morning the eastern Himalaya lines the whole horizon behind them.

The descent into the Punakha valley is a change of climate as much as scenery: down to roughly 1,240m, into rice terraces, banana trees and a soft warmth the capital never has. You'll walk out across the fields to Chimi Lhakhang, the 15th-century temple of Drukpa Kunley — the 'Divine Madman' — still visited by couples hoping for a child, and reached through a village whose walls are painted accordingly.

Then Punakha Dzong itself, built in 1637 where the Pho Chhu (father) and Mo Chhu (mother) rivers converge, whitewashed and vast, with jacaranda flowering purple against its walls in spring. It remains the winter residence of the Je Khenpo, Bhutan's chief abbot, and served as the country's capital until the seat of government moved to Thimphu in the 1950s. Finish by crossing the Punakha suspension bridge — at around 160m, the longest of its kind in Bhutan — swaying high above the Pho Chhu.

Today you climb again, driving via Wangdue Phodrang — its dzong, first built in 1638 and lost to fire in 2012, has since been rebuilt and reconsecrated — and up over the Pele La Pass at 3,420m, the traditional dividing line between western and central Bhutan.

Beyond it opens Phobjikha, a wide glacial valley with no trees in its centre and a floor of open marshland, sitting at around 3,000m. Gangtey Goenpa, founded in 1613, looks down over the whole bowl from a low hill. There's an easy nature walk through the valley in the afternoon and, if the light behaves, a long slow sunset across the grass.

From late October to mid-February this is the wintering ground of the black-necked crane — several hundred birds fly in from Tibet, and the crane information centre keeps scopes trained on the marsh. Outside those months the valley is quiet and empty, which has its own appeal.

The long drive east, and one of the great road days in the Himalaya. You follow mountain roads through Wangdue Phodrang and climb towards Trongsa, where the dzong appears across a gorge long before you reach it — a whitewashed fortress strung along a ridge, the largest in Bhutan and the ancestral seat of the royal family. Every king of Bhutan has served as Trongsa Penlop before taking the throne.

Above it stands Ta Dzong, the old round watchtower, now a museum devoted to the Wangchuck dynasty. From Trongsa the road runs on to Jakar, the main town of the Bumthang valleys, arriving in time for an evening walk through town.

Bumthang is where Buddhism took root in Bhutan, and the day is spent among the buildings that prove it. Jakar Dzong — the 'castle of the white bird' — sits above the valley on a ridge chosen, so the story goes, by a roosting bird. Kurjey Lhakhang is built around the cave where Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated and left the imprint of his body in the rock; three temples now stand in a row against the cliff, behind a line of 108 chortens.

Jambay Lhakhang is older still — tradition holds it to be one of 108 temples founded across the Himalaya in a single day by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo in the 7th century. Tamshing, across the river, was built by Pema Lingpa himself and keeps a coat of chainmail he is said to have forged; pilgrims carry it three times around the temple. You'll finish at a cheese factory or a weaving centre, and there's time to walk.

A slower day, and a welcome one this far into the trip. A short village hike opens the morning, on paths between farmhouses and buckwheat fields, before the drive out to Mebar Tsho — the Burning Lake — a deep green pool in a narrow gorge, hung with prayer flags and small offerings. It is one of Bhutan's most sacred sites: Pema Lingpa is said to have dived in holding a lit butter lamp and surfaced with a chest of hidden treasures and the lamp still burning.

Lunch in Jakar town, then the handicraft shops — Bumthang is known for its yathra, the thick patterned wool weaving of this valley — and a free afternoon.

You return west to Paro today, either on the short domestic flight from Bumthang's Bathpalathang airstrip or by road, retracing the passes — your guide will confirm which when the schedule is set. If you drive, there's a stop at Tamchog Lhakhang, the temple of the 15th-century iron-chain bridge-builder Thangtong Gyalpo.

In Paro you'll visit the National Museum, housed in the round Ta Dzong watchtower above the valley, where the collection runs from festival masks and thangkas to armour and Bhutan's postage stamps. Below it stands Rinpung Dzong — 'fortress on a heap of jewels' — reached across a traditional covered bridge, and then Kyichu Lhakhang, believed to have been founded in the 7th century and among the oldest temples in the country. The evening is yours to stroll Paro's main street.

An early breakfast, then a twenty-minute drive to the base of Taktsang Monastery. This is the day the whole trip is built around.

Tiger's Nest is a steady uphill walk rather than a technical climb, but it earns its reputation: five to six hours round trip at a comfortable pace, through pine forest hung with prayer flags, past a cafeteria at the halfway point, then a staircase down and back up across a waterfall to the monastery buildings themselves. Ponies can be hired for the uphill section as far as the cafeteria. Standing at the top, looking back down 900m of cliff at the valley you drove through that morning, is the moment people come to Bhutan for.

On the way back you'll stop at Drugyel Dzong, built in 1649 to mark Bhutan's victory over Tibetan invaders, lost to fire in 1951 and rebuilt — its restoration reconsecrated in 2022. Then into Paro for a traditional hot-stone bath if you'd like one, and time among the handicraft and souvenir shops.

Please note: shoes, bags and cameras must be left outside before entering the monastery.

After breakfast and hotel check-out, you'll be transferred to Paro International Airport in good time for your onward flight. If your schedule allows a late departure, your guide can suggest a last stop in Paro town on the way.