Paro

Most journeys into Bhutan begin here, because Paro holds the country’s only international runway — a single strip of tarmac laid along the valley floor, where pilots bank between the ridgelines on one of the more demanding approaches in commercial aviation. Step off the plane and the valley opens quietly around you: terraced rice fields, whitewashed farmhouses, and the Paro Chhu running clear and cold down the middle.

The valley’s great pilgrimage is Taktsang — the Tiger’s Nest — a monastery that clings to a sheer cliff some 900 metres above the floor, built where Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated after flying in on the back of a tigress. The walk up takes two to three hours through blue-pine forest hung with prayer flags, with a teahouse at the halfway point and the cliff face revealing itself only at the last turn.

There is more to Paro than the climb. Rinpung Dzong stands fortress-square above the river, its courtyard the stage for the spring Paro Tshechu; the old watchtower above it now holds the National Museum. Kyichu Lhakhang, one of the oldest temples in Bhutan, dates to the seventh century, and the ruined walls of Drukgyel Dzong look north toward the snows of Jomolhari on a clear morning.

Spring, from March to May, brings the rhododendrons and the masked dances of the tshechu; autumn, from September to November, brings settled skies and dry trails. Paro is also the natural staging point for the Jomolhari and Druk Path treks, so many travellers spend a day here acclimatising before walking higher.