Bhutan — Thimphu, Punakha & Paro

The fortress-monastery on the north edge of Thimphu that houses the throne room and the offices of government, alongside the central monk body. Visitors are let in only after office hours on working days, which is why it sits at the end of the day.

• Walk the whitewashed courtyard
• See the flag lowering in the evening
• Look across the river to the parliament building

A gilded bronze Shakyamuni seated on a hilltop at Kuenselphodrang, more than fifty metres tall and visible from most of the valley. Thousands of smaller Buddha figures are housed inside the throne hall beneath it. The terrace gives the widest view over Thimphu.

• Walk the full terrace for the valley view
• See the smaller Buddha figures inside
• Stroll the nature park paths below

A white stupa with a golden spire built in memory of Bhutan's third king. It is a working shrine rather than a monument, and there is a steady flow of people turning the prayer wheels and circling it clockwise through the day.

• Walk a circuit with the local worshippers
• Turn the large prayer wheels
• Watch the butter lamps being lit

A fenced patch of forest above Thimphu holding the takin, a heavy goat-antelope found in the eastern Himalaya and Bhutan's national animal. The herd was once a small zoo that was released on religious grounds, but the animals stayed nearby and the preserve was made for them.

• Spot the takin along the fence line
• Walk the short forest loop
• Read up on the herd's history

Thimphu's weekend market on the west bank of the river, where growers come in from across the country. Two levels of chillies, ferns, red rice and datse cheese, with a handicraft bridge across to the far bank.

• Taste the dried chillies and red rice
• Cross the handicraft bridge
• Buy prayer flags or a hand-woven textile

A pass at just over 3,100 m on the road east, marked by 108 chortens built on a mound in memory of soldiers killed in a 2003 operation. On a clear winter morning the eastern Himalayan peaks are lined up along the northern horizon; by late morning cloud usually closes in.

• Walk the chorten mound
• Look for the peaks on the north skyline
• Stop for tea at the café by the road

Bhutan's second-oldest and arguably finest dzong, built in 1637 on the spit of land where the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu join. Coronations are held here and the monk body still winters in it. Jacaranda trees line the courtyard and flower purple around late spring.

• Cross the wooden cantilever bridge
• See the carved assembly hall
• Photograph the dzong from the river bank

One of the longest suspension footbridges in the country, strung with prayer flags across the Pho Chhu just downstream of the dzong. It is the daily crossing for villagers on the far bank, and it moves underfoot.

• Walk the full span
• Photograph the dzong from mid-bridge
• Follow the path into the village on the far side

A small hilltop temple near Lobesa associated with Drukpa Kunley, the fifteenth-century lama known as the Divine Madman for his unorthodox teaching. Couples come here to ask for a child. The walk out to it crosses open fields and passes through a village whose houses are painted with the phallus motif linked to him.

• Walk out through the paddy fields
• Receive the blessing inside the temple
• See the painted village houses on the way

Bhutan's best-known monastery, built into a granite cliff above the Paro valley on the site where Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated after arriving on the back of a tigress. The present buildings date from 1692 and were largely rebuilt after a fire in 1998. Inside are several small linked shrines on different levels.

• Hike the forest trail from Ramthangkha
• Stop at the halfway cafeteria for tea
• See the shrines inside the monastery complex
• Photograph it from the viewpoint across the gorge

A single main street of traditional shopfronts by the river, easy to walk once you are down from the hike and the natural place to buy textiles or a hot bowl of ema datse.

• Walk the main street
• Look at hand-woven kira and gho fabric
• Try ema datse at a local restaurant

The fortress that administers the Paro valley, reached over a traditional roofed cantilever bridge across the river. Its courtyard hosts the Paro Tshechu each spring, when a giant applique thangka is unrolled down one wall before dawn.

• Cross the Nyamai Zam covered bridge
• See the wall paintings in the entrance passage
• Walk the upper courtyard

Housed in the Ta Dzong, the circular watchtower built above Rinpung Dzong to defend it. The collection runs through thangkas, festival masks, textiles, armour and natural history, and the building itself is worth the climb.

• See the mask and thangka galleries
• Look at the old armour and weapons
• Take in the valley view from the terrace

One of the oldest temples in Bhutan, traditionally counted among the 108 built across the Himalaya by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo in the seventh century. Two orange trees in the courtyard are said to fruit all year.

• See the seventh-century inner shrine
• Turn the prayer wheels along the wall
• Sit in the quiet courtyard