The best of Bhutan: what to see on a first journey

The first question we are asked is almost always the same: how long, and where. The honest answer is that Bhutan is small on the map and large on the ground. Roads curl over passes at three thousand metres, a hundred kilometres can take four hours, and the best moments tend to happen when nothing is scheduled. Ten days is the number we return to. Seven is possible. Fourteen is better.

What follows is how we would spend a first journey, valley by valley, west to centre. It is not a checklist. It is an argument for going slowly.

Paro: the valley you fly into

Every international flight lands at Paro, Bhutan's only airport, threading between ridges in a descent that pilots train for and passengers remember. The valley is broad and farmed, scattered with whitewashed farmhouses, and watched over by Rinpung Dzong and the round watchtower above it that now holds the national museum.

Spend the first day low. Walk the riverside path to the dzong, cross its cantilevered bridge and stand in the courtyard while the afternoon light drops down the carved galleries. Kyichu Lhakhang, one of the oldest temples in the Himalaya, is a ten-minute drive away: two orange trees in the courtyard, a seventh-century statue inside, an old woman turning the prayer wheels in the corner.

The Tiger's Nest can wait a day or two. Your lungs will thank you, and so will the view.

Thimphu: a capital without traffic lights

Thimphu is the only capital city in the world without a traffic light; a white-gloved policeman directs the roundabout instead. It is a town of perhaps a hundred thousand people that has grown fast and still closes for the archery match. Go for the weekend market, the giant Buddha Dordenma above the valley, the Royal Textile Academy and the National Institute of Traditional Medicine, where physicians still read the pulse.

Tashichho Dzong, which houses the throne room and the central monastic body, opens to visitors in the late afternoon once the offices close. The monks walk the courtyard at dusk. It is the right time to be there.

Punakha: two rivers and a dzong

Over the Dochula pass, through 108 chortens and, on a clear morning, a wall of Himalayan peaks, the road drops into the Punakha valley. At 1,200 metres it is warm, subtropical even, with rice paddies to the river and bougainvillea on the farmhouses.

Punakha Dzong sits where the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu meet, the male and female rivers, and is the most beautiful building in the kingdom. We say that without hesitation. Jacaranda trees bloom purple against its walls in spring. Inside, the great assembly hall holds a hundred painted pillars and a quiet that makes you lower your voice without being asked.

Walk to Chimi Lhakhang through the rice fields, or climb to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal chorten for the view back down the valley. Stay by the river. Listen to it at night.

Phobjikha: the valley of cranes

A few hours further east the road climbs again to the Phobjikha valley, a wide glacial bowl at 3,000 metres where the black-necked cranes come to winter from late October. Gangtey Monastery stands on a spur above the marsh and the farmhouses still burn wood. There is no better place in Bhutan for a hot stone bath and a long, cold, starry night.

If you are travelling between November and February, give it two nights. If you are not, give it two nights anyway. The nature trail along the valley floor, the monastery at prayer time and the silence of the place are worth the drive.

Bumthang: the spiritual heartland

Bumthang is really four valleys, high and pastoral, with buckwheat fields, apple orchards and a density of ancient temples unmatched anywhere in the country. Jambay Lhakhang dates from the seventh century. Kurjey Lhakhang holds the imprint of Guru Rinpoche's body in the rock. Tamshing has murals from the fifteen hundreds that nobody has retouched.

This is where we send travellers who want the kingdom as it was. Farmhouse stays, a walk between the temples, the Jambay Lhakhang drup with its fire ceremony in autumn. It is a long way from Paro, nine hours of road, and you will be glad of every one of them on the way back.

Festivals, if you can

If you can align your dates with a tshechu, do. Paro in spring and Thimphu in autumn are the grandest; Punakha's drubchen in February or March re-enacts a seventeenth-century battle with the whole valley in costume. Dates follow the lunar calendar and move every year, so we confirm them before you book a flight. Verify yearly.

How we would do it

Three nights in Paro, bookending the journey so the Tiger's Nest comes when you are acclimatised. Two in Thimphu. Two by the river in Punakha. Two in Phobjikha. If you have the days, three more in Bumthang. One guide, one driver, one unhurried arc.

Bhutan's high-value, low-volume approach to tourism, funded by the Sustainable Development Fee, is why the courtyards are quiet and the trails are empty. It is also why a first journey here feels like the first journey anywhere felt, before the world got crowded. Go slowly. The kingdom opens its doors at its own pace.