Nine days through Bhutan's spiritual heartland — the jacaranda valleys, the Four Sacred Mountains and the cliff temples of Kurjey.
Highlights
Punakha Dzong and the jacaranda season
Wangdue suspension bridge
The three Kurjey Lhakhang cliff temples
The Four Sacred Mountains of Bumthang
What is included
Licensed cultural guide throughout
Eight nights in heritage lodges and farm stays
All meals, including a Bumthang cheese and red rice dinner
All monastery fees, permits and SDF
Private vehicle with driver and a local tea-house stop
Traditional Bhutanese dinner and folk music evening
Day-by-day itinerary
Day 1 — Arrival and the capital Paro to Thimphu, two hours, and a first afternoon above the city: the Buddha Dordenma on the hill, then the Tashichho Dzong at the end of the day when it is lit. Dinner early, because tomorrow is the longest drive in the country and it is better met rested.
Day 2 — Dochula Pass to Punakha Over the Dochula Pass at 3,010 metres, where 108 chortens face Gangkar Puensum, and down into the warm Mo Chhu valley at Punakha. Punakha Dzong is the afternoon, entered at roof level — one of the few in Bhutan where you can walk the top of the building — and the riverside below it at dusk, when th…
Day 3 — The south Punakha temples South through the valley past the suspension bridge over the Pho Chhu and up to Zangto Pelri, the hermitage of the Divine Madman above the river, then north to the fertile Chimi Lhakhang in the pines above town. Two temples of quite different characters in one day, the second of which has a fertili…
Day 4 — The Four Sacred Mountains The day Bhutan reserves for this valley. Punakha sits below four sacred peaks, and the tradition is to make an offering at each one — Gangkhar Puensum to the south, Jampayeli to the west, Jichu Drakye to the north, and Khamchhaka to the east. A local guide knows the sites: some are a walk up throug…
Day 5 — Trongsa, the gate to the east The old road north, climbing to Thongla with a stop at the Chortens of the Drukpa school, then to Trongsa, the valley that has guarded the only road into eastern Bhutan since the 15th century. Ta Dzong is the day's centre: built 1642, the oldest dzong in the country, and now a museum of the state a…
Day 6 — Over the passes to Bumthang North over the Kuichar Pass into the Bumthang valley — the Golden Thumb, and the most isolated of the four valleys, which is why its festivals remain the most local and its culture the most intact. Afternoon at Jakar Dzong, and then the walk across the old wooden bridge to M Bumthang, the village t…
Day 7 — Kurjey and the Jamba temples The cliff temples of Kurjey first: three separate 13th-century shrines on a rock face 30 metres above the road, built by a Tibetan princess and lama, and still in use. Then Jamba Lhakhang, the 7th-century salt-and-butter temple upstream, and the walk to the hot springs at the river confluence. An a…
Day 8 — The Bumthang valley in full A slow day at altitude in the best valley in the kingdom: the Kurjey cliffs again in morning light, the tangbi mangdei across the river, the weaving centre at Pangdatsang where kira has been made in the same valley for two centuries, and an afternoon in the hot springs doing nothing. The walking da…
Day 9 — Departure Flight from Bathpalathang to Paro to connect with your onward travel, which turns an eleven-hour road journey into an hour. If you have a night to spare in the schedule, the seven-hour road back to Thimphu is worth it for the return over the Pichu Pass.