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 with cafes, studios, a young crowd in kira and jeans and 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.

Thimphu works best as a day or two between the valleys, whether you are arriving or leaving. Spend a morning at the Buddha Dordenma and Tashichho Dzong, then give an afternoon to the weekend market or a museum, where you can see the craft and village life behind what you pass on the road. Autumn and spring are mild, winter is cold and clear, and summer is wetter. The Thimphu Tshechu in autumn is the busiest time of year, so we plan those journeys early.

While You Are Here

Things worth your time

01 Buddha Dordenma at first light The great bronze Buddha above the valley, before the day's visitors, with the whole city below in woodsmoke.
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.
03 Centenary Farmers Market Chillies by the sack, fern fronds, yak butter. The whole agricultural kingdom under one roof each weekend.
04 Changangkha Lhakhang The city's oldest temple, where Thimphu parents bring newborns for naming. Come quietly; this one is lived in.
05 The national animal, unbothered The takin preserve in Motithang. A creature that looks assembled by committee and belongs entirely to Bhutan.
06 Memorial Chorten Built in 1974 in memory of the third king, and circled by locals every morning with prayer wheels in hand. The easiest place to see everyday devotion.