Pemako Thimphu

Pemako is a real place — a remote, largely inaccessible valley in the far southeast of Bhutan, considered a sacred beyul, a hidden land preserved in its wildness by the difficulty of reaching it. The hotel takes that name as a kind of promise: that there is something worth finding inside if you know to look. The building is Bhutanese-owned, built in elaborate traditional architectural style, and the interiors move between that tradition and a contemporary precision that the Bhutanese luxury hospitality group has been refining across its properties.

The Lotus Realm Spa draws on Sowa-Rigpa — the traditional Tibetan medicine system practiced in Bhutan — and offers treatments with medicinal herbs, hot stone therapy, and Bhutanese healing practices that are not available at the internationally branded properties. The indoor heated pool and infrared saunas run below. Above, the four dining venues include Chig Ja Gye, which serves refined Bhutanese cuisine in the formal register, and the Ara Bar, which specialises in the local spirits and cocktails that are rarely on menus elsewhere.

The Duplex Suites connect two levels by a spiral staircase, with a sitting room below and the bedroom above; the Corner Luxury Rooms on the upper floors have elevated valley views that look out over Thimphu at a remove from the street noise below.