Cultural Tour in Bhutan with Three Days Bumthang Trek

The flight into Paro is one of the most spectacular commercial approaches anywhere, banking between forested ridges to a runway in the valley floor; on a clear morning from Kathmandu you see Everest, Kanchenjunga and Jomolhari on the way. Only a small number of pilots are certified to fly it.

Your Bhutanese guide meets you at the airport. In the afternoon we visit Rinpung Dzong, the fortress-monastery above the river, and the National Museum in the old watchtower above it.

Altitude: 2,250 m.

The hike everyone comes to Bhutan for. Taktsang clings to a cliff face 900 m above the Paro valley, built around the cave where Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated after arriving on the back of a flying tigress in the 8th century.

The climb takes two to three hours through blue pine forest hung with prayer flags, with a cafeteria viewpoint about halfway that makes a good turnaround point for anyone who would rather not do the full ascent. The final approach descends a staircase into the gorge, crosses a waterfall and climbs to the monastery itself. Cameras must be left at the entrance.

In the afternoon we drive to Thimphu, the capital.

Walking: 4 to 5 hours round trip. Altitude gain: 930 m. Drive: 1.5 hours.

A full day in the only capital city in the world with no traffic lights. We visit the Buddha Dordenma, a 51 m gilded statue looking out over the valley; the National Memorial Chorten, where people circumambulate throughout the day; the Folk Heritage Museum; and Tashichho Dzong, the seat of government and the summer residence of the Je Khenpo.

There is also the Takin preserve, home to Bhutan's improbable national animal, and time in the craft market and the weekend market if your dates line up.

Walking: 3 to 4 hours of sightseeing.

The drive crosses the Dochu La at 3,100 m, where 108 chortens stand on a knoll and, on a clear morning, the eastern Himalaya including Gangkhar Puensum, the highest unclimbed mountain in the world, forms the entire northern horizon.

The road then drops 1,800 m into the warm, semi-tropical Punakha valley. We visit Punakha Dzong at the confluence of the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu rivers, the most beautiful building in Bhutan and the winter home of the central monastic body. A short walk through rice fields leads to Chimi Lhakhang, the fertility temple.

Drive: 3 hours. Altitude: up to 3,100 m, then down to 1,250 m.

A long and beautiful drive east across central Bhutan, crossing the Pele La at 3,420 m and passing the Chendebji Chorten and the town of Trongsa, where the dzong sprawls along a ridge above a gorge and was the ancestral seat of the royal family.

Over the Yotong La at 3,425 m and down into the Bumthang region, four wide glacial valleys that form the spiritual heartland of the country. Overnight in Jakar.

Drive: 8 to 9 hours over two passes.

The trek begins. An easy first day following the Chamkhar Chhu upstream through the Choekhor valley, walking on farm tracks and trails between villages, past water-driven prayer wheels and fields of buckwheat.

Ngang Lhakhang, the Swan Temple, is a 16th-century private temple with a resident caretaker family. Camp or village lodging beside it, and if the caretaker is willing, a look inside at the old masks used in the temple's annual festival.

Distance: 8 km. Walking: 2 to 3 hours. Altitude gain: 45 m.

The long day of the trek. The trail climbs through blue pine and rhododendron forest to the Phephe La at around 3,360 m, then descends into the Tang valley, the most remote of the four Bumthang valleys.

Ugyen Choling is a restored manor house on a bluff above the valley, now a private museum of Bhutanese noble life with the family's furniture, weapons, kitchen and chapel preserved as they were. It is one of the best places in the country to understand how people actually lived.

Distance: 15 km. Walking: 6 to 7 hours. Altitude: up 465 m over the pass, then down.

A short walk out of the Tang valley to the road head, then a drive back to Jakar with a stop at Mebar Tsho, the Burning Lake, a pool in a gorge where Pema Lingpa is said to have dived in holding a butter lamp and emerged with treasure and the lamp still burning. It is a genuinely atmospheric place, hung with prayer flags.

Walking: 1 to 2 hours. Drive: 1.5 hours.

A day among the oldest religious sites in Bhutan. Jambay Lhakhang was built in the 7th century, one of 108 temples founded by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo on a single day. Kurjey Lhakhang holds the rock with the body imprint of Guru Rinpoche. Tamshing Lhakhang has 15th-century murals said to have been painted by Pema Lingpa himself.

We also visit Jakar Dzong, and, in the afternoon, the Red Panda brewery and the Swiss cheese factory, both unexpected and both worth it.

Walking: 3 to 4 hours of sightseeing.

The long drive west again, back over the Yotong La and Pele La with a stop in Trongsa to visit the dzong and the Ta Dzong museum properly, which there was no time for on the way east.

Overnight in Wangdue Phodrang or Punakha depending on road conditions.

Drive: 7 to 8 hours.

Back over the Dochu La to Thimphu and on to Paro, with a second chance at the Himalayan view from the pass if the first was clouded. Afternoon free in Paro town for shopping: textiles, wooden bowls and hand-made paper are the things worth carrying home.

Farewell dinner with your guide and driver in the evening.

Drive: 4 to 5 hours.

Transfer to Paro airport for your onward flight. If you are connecting through Kathmandu we can arrange your onward Nepal itinerary, whether that is a trek, a Chitwan safari or a few days in Pokhara.