The Kingdom, District by District

Twenty dzongkhags. One kingdom.

Bhutan is divided into twenty districts, each with its own dzong, its own dialect of landscape, and its own reasons to linger. Most travellers see three. These pages are for those who want to know what the rest hold.

Western Bhutan

The valleys most journeys begin in — the airport at Paro, the capital, and the old winter seat of Punakha.

Paro The valley every journey begins in, and the cliff where most hearts are lost. 2,200 m valley floor · 2 to 3 nights See this district

Thimphu A capital without traffic lights, where government, monkhood and market share one small valley. 2,320 m · 1 to 2 nights See this district

Haa The valley over the highest pass, opened to travellers only in 2002 and still barely visited. 2,670 m · 1 to 2 nights See this district

Punakha The warm rice valley where two rivers meet at the most beautiful dzong in the kingdom. 1,240 m · 2 nights See this district

Gasa The kingdom's high north — hot springs, the highland village of Laya, and the road's end. 2,850 m; Laya at 3,800 m · 2 to 4 nights, mostly on foot See this district

Wangdue Phodrang A vast district of ridge and valley, holding Phobjikha — the winter home of the black necked cranes. 1,300 m; Phobjikha at 3,000 m · 2 nights See this district

Central Bhutan

Across the Black Mountains the country slows again — Trongsa's great dzong and the four sacred valleys of Bumthang.

Trongsa The hinge of the kingdom — the vast ancestral dzong every king must govern before the throne. 2,200 m · 1 night See this district

Bumthang Four sacred valleys of buckwheat, apples and the oldest temples in the kingdom. 2,580 m at Jakar · 3 nights See this district

Zhemgang Deep forest country of the Kheng — golden langurs, bamboo craft and birdsong from dawn to dark. 1,900 m, dropping to subtropical valleys · 2 nights See this district

Eastern Bhutan

Far from the airport and better for it. Weaving villages, hidden lhakhangs, and days where you meet no other travellers.

Mongar The gateway to the east — lemongrass hills, a young dzong built the old way, and the road's great descent. 1,600 m · 1 to 2 nights See this district

Lhuentse Ancestral valley of the royal house and home of the kingdom's most precious weaving. 1,450 m · 1 to 2 nights See this district

Trashigang The east's great crossroads — and the trailhead for Merak and Sakteng, land of the Brokpa herders. 1,150 m · 2 to 3 nights See this district

Trashiyangtse A crafts valley around a great white stupa, with cranes wintering in its northern marshes. 1,750 m · 1 to 2 nights See this district

Southern Bhutan

The subtropical belt along the Indian border — warm, green, and almost entirely unvisited.

Chhukha The kingdom's front door by land — where the Himalaya drops to the Indian plain in an afternoon. 300 m at Phuentsholing, rising past 2,000 m · 1 night in passing See this district

Samtse Cardamom country along the southwestern border, as far from the tourist trail as Bhutan gets. 380 m · 1 night See this district

Dagana Orange groves and one of the kingdom's oldest dzongs, on ridges nobody photographs. 1,460 m · 1 night See this district

Tsirang The gentlest district — mild ridges, model farms and the kingdom's quiet organic heartland. 1,400 m at Damphu · 1 night See this district

Sarpang Grassland and river country beside Royal Manas, where the kingdom now imagines its future city. 300 m at Gelephu · 1 to 2 nights See this district

Pemagatshel The Lotus Garden of Happiness — small, steep and devoted to its weaving and its songs. 1,700 m · 1 night See this district

Samdrup Jongkhar The southeastern door — where journeys through the whole kingdom step down onto the plain. 200 m · 1 night in passing See this district

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