Remote & eastern Bhutan
Lunana
The last valley before the sky.
Overview
Lunana is the most remote inhabited valley in Bhutan, a chain of villages above 4,000 metres beneath Gangkhar Puensum, at 7,570 metres the highest unclimbed mountain on earth. It is reached only on foot, across passes above 5,000 metres, on the Snowman Trek that is counted among the hardest in the world.
The Lunaps herd yaks and grow barley and potatoes in the short summer, and their villages, Thanza, Chozo, Tshochena and Thega, sit beside glacial lakes that are both sacred and, as the glaciers retreat, closely watched. A small, ancient dzong at Chozo once guarded the valley from Tibet.
No one comes here lightly. The Snowman takes three to four weeks, crosses eleven passes, and in a good year perhaps a few hundred travellers complete it. For those who do, Lunana is the heart of the journey: the silence, the lakes, the kindness of people at the end of every road.
- Altitude
- 4,000 m
- From Paro
- No road. Eight to twelve days on foot from Gasa or Laya, on the Snowman Trek.
- Best months
- September, October
- Region
- Remote & eastern Bhutan
Best time to visit
Four seasons, two of them famous.
Spring and autumn are peak. Monsoon is green and quiet. Winter is cold, clear and empty.
Spring
March to May
The passes are still under snow and the valley is cut off. Trekking does not start before late May and even then conditions are uncertain.
Monsoon
June to August
The valley's short summer: barley growing, wildflowers on the pastures, but rain, mud and cloud on the approach trails. Some expeditions go in late August to reach Lunana as the weather clears.
Autumn
September to November
The only reliable window. Clear skies, frozen nights and the passes open until the first big snow, usually by early November. Book a year ahead.
Winter
December to February
Snowbound and inaccessible. Lunana's people winter in the valley or walk out before the passes close.
Highlights
What Lunana does better than anywhere.
Thanza and the glacial lakes
The largest village in Lunana sits beneath the moraine of Raphstreng and Thorthormi lakes, where Gangkhar Puensum rises from the ice. The lakes are monitored and partly drained to protect the valleys below.
The passes of the Snowman
Gophu La, Rinchen Zoe La, Karakachu La: names that trekkers whisper. Each above 5,000 metres, each a morning of hard breathing and a view of the whole Himalaya.
Nights at altitude
Camp beside a lake at 5,000 metres and watch the Milky Way come out over Gangkhar Puensum. There is nothing between you and the sky.
Dzongs & temples
Whitewashed walls, red roofs, and the people still inside them.
Chozo and its dzong
A small village with a tiny, half-ruined dzong built centuries ago to guard the route from Tibet, now a shrine tended by the villagers. It is the only fortress in Bhutan that can be reached only on foot across high passes.
Long sleeves and trousers in the dzong; no photography inside shrine rooms.
Thanza village
The largest of the Lunana settlements, a scatter of stone houses and yak walls under the glacier moraine, where trekkers rest a day and the village school stands at the roof of the world.
Long sleeves and trousers in the dzong; no photography inside shrine rooms.
The Lunana lakes
Raphstreng, Thorthormi and Lugge Tsho lie beneath the glaciers of the Gangkhar Puensum range. Sacred to the Lunaps, they are also the most closely studied glacial lakes in the Himalaya for their flood risk, and the trail skirts their moraines.
Long sleeves and trousers in the dzong; no photography inside shrine rooms.
Questions
Before you go.
Very. The Snowman Trek covers around 300 kilometres over eleven passes above 4,500 metres, with camps at over 5,000 metres, and takes 25 days. You should be a strong, experienced trekker with recent multi-day high-altitude walking behind you.
No. All trekking in Bhutan requires a licensed trekking guide and support team, and the Snowman is run as a full expedition with cooks, horsemen and camp staff. Verify against https://www.bhutan.travel before launch.
Verify against bhutan.travel before travelling. Fees verified as of 2026-10-14.
Late September to mid October is the only dependable window, between the monsoon and the first winter snow on the passes. Even then, a weather day or two is built in, and a helicopter evacuation plan is part of every expedition.
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