Thimphu
Western Bhutan

Thimphu

A capital without traffic lights, where government, monkhood and market share one small valley.

Altitude 2,320 m Best season Year round; autumn for the tshechu Worth 1 to 2 nights Getting there One hour from Paro airport

Thimphu is the only capital city in the world without a single traffic light, and it guards that fact with a white gloved policeman and evident pride.

It is Bhutan at its most contemporary — cafes, studios, a young crowd in kira and jeans — yet the monastic body still winters in the dzong and the weekend market still smells of dried fish and mountain cheese. Our own office is here, in Changangkha, below the city’s oldest temple.

Give it a day on either side of the valleys. It is the easiest place to understand how the kingdom balances what it keeps with what it lets in.

While You Are Here

Things worth your time

  1. 01 Buddha Dordenma at first light The great bronze Buddha above the valley, before the day's visitors — the whole city below in woodsmoke.
  2. 02 Tashichho Dzong at flag lowering The seat of government and the summer seat of the Je Khenpo, gentlest at dusk when the courtyards empty.
  3. 03 Centenary Farmers Market Chillies by the sack, fern fronds, yak butter — the whole agricultural kingdom under one roof each weekend.
  4. 04 Changangkha Lhakhang The city's oldest temple, where Thimphu parents bring newborns for naming. Come quietly; this one is lived in.
  5. 05 The national animal, unbothered The takin preserve in Motithang — a creature that looks assembled by committee and belongs entirely to Bhutan.

Thimphu Tshechu, each autumn, is the kingdom's largest gathering — three days of masked dance in the dzong courtyard. Read about Thimphu Tshechu

Where You Stay

Rooms we trust here

Druk Hotel Thimphu Le Méridien Thimphu Six Senses Thimphu

All stays

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