Amankora Bumthang

Bumthang is where Bhutanese pilgrims come. The Jakar valley holds more sacred sites per square kilometre than anywhere else in the kingdom — the Jambay Lhakhang, built in the 7th century by the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo; the Kurje Lhakhang, where Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated; the Tamshing Monastery, whose painted walls are among the oldest surviving religious art in Bhutan. Amankora Bumthang sits adjacent to the Royal Wandichholing Palace, which was the primary royal residence before Thimphu and which still holds the quiet authority of that history.

The lodge is stone and timber in the Amankora manner, whitewashed outside with dark wooden shutters, and the interior has a monastic register that the other lodges in the circuit do not quite reach: stone-floored corridors, low platform beds, large windows set in thick walls, valley views from upholstered chairs in each suite. Sixteen rooms. A fire pit seating area outdoors. The altitude is  2,600 metres — that the air is perceptibly thinner than Punakha, and the sky at night, away from any city, is very bright.

Guests who reach Bumthang have usually been in Bhutan for at least a week. The valley rewards that slower arrival: it is not a place that gives itself up on the first day.