Most visitors to Bhutan begin in Paro. The country's only international airport lies on the valley floor, a few minutes from the town and from Rinpung Dzong, the fortress consecrated in 1646 above the Paro Chhu. Paro town runs along a single main street of painted wooden shopfronts. High above the upper valley, Taktsang, the Tiger's Nest, holds to its cliff, and the walk up to it is the reason many people come.
The valley repays a slower week. Kyichu Lhakhang, among the oldest temples in the country, traces its core to the seventh century; the old watchtower above the dzong now houses the National Museum; and each spring the Paro tsechu fills the dzong with masked dances, ending at dawn on the last day with the unveiling of a vast thongdrel. Westward, the road climbs to the Chele La, close to 4,000 metres, before dropping into the Haa valley. Spring and autumn bring the clearest skies; summer brings afternoon rain and the greenest terraces. The side valleys keep the quiet.
Explore 1 exceptional boutique hotel hand-picked in Paro. Click a pin to discover each property.
Bhutan, Paro
Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary
A 24-room hotel built on the dzong pattern in Paro's Neyphu Valley, where every meal and one traditional treatment a night come with the room.
Price for 1 night from
€967.80
Bhutan Spirit Sanctuary keeps to the Neyphu Valley, a side valley a quarter of an hour from the airport, built on the pattern of a dzong with all 24 rooms looking across to Eutok Goenpa on the ridge opposite. Meals and a nightly treatment from Bhutan's own medicine come with the room, and members book at rates we hold for the Club. The hotel's car and guide make the town and the dzong an easy half-day out, and the Tiger's Nest trailhead is under an hour away.
Walk to the Tiger's Nest first, and early. The path climbs about five hundred metres through blue pine from the trailhead north of the town, two to three hours up at an easy pace, with a teahouse halfway that looks straight across at the monastery; ponies take riders as far as the teahouse. Inside, as in every temple, photography stops at the door.
Rinpung Dzong and the National Museum above it fit a morning, and Kyichu Lhakhang is a short drive north. For a full day out, cross the Chele La early, when Jomolhari is most often clear of cloud; cloud tends to gather later in the day.
Because Bhutan begins here. Paro holds the country's only international airport, so it is the natural base for a first visit, and its sights sit within a short drive: the walk to Taktsang, the Tiger's Nest; Rinpung Dzong and the National Museum above it; Kyichu Lhakhang; and, in spring, the Paro tsechu. The side valleys stay quiet, which makes Paro a good place to stay put for a week.
