trashiyangtse
Eastern Bhutan

Trashiyangtse

A crafts valley around a great white stupa, with cranes wintering in its northern marshes.

Altitude 1,750 m Best season October to April Worth 1 to 2 nights Getting there Two hours north of Trashigang

Chorten Kora was built in the Nepali style, its whitewashed dome unusual among Bhutan’s fortress temples, and the story of the Dakini princess who entered it willingly is still danced at its festival each spring.

Trashiyangtse, the district around it, is the kingdom’s workshop: home of the national institute for the thirteen traditional arts and crafts, and famous for dapa, turned wooden bowls burnished to a deep glow. In the Bumdeling marshes to the north, a small population of black necked cranes winters far from Phobjikha’s better known flock.

It is a gentle, self contained valley, the kind of place a journey ends well.

Trashiyangtse is about two hours north of Trashigang. One to two nights is enough for Chorten Kora, the wood turners and the Zorig Chusum institute. Come between October and April to see the cranes at Bumdeling, and in spring for the Chorten Kora festival. It is a good last stop on a journey through the east.

While You Are Here

Things worth your time

  1. 01 Chorten Kora Walk the kora at dusk with the valley's grandmothers as the white dome takes the last light.
  2. 02 The wood turners Watch dapa bowls turned from knotted burls. The east's most understated souvenir and its best.
  3. 03 Bumdeling cranes A quieter crane wintering ground than than Phobjikha. Often just you, the marsh and the birds.
  4. 04 Zorig Chusum institute Students at work on the thirteen traditional arts, from painting to sculpture to embroidery.
Festival Season

Festivals in Trashiyangtse

Chorten Kora's festival each spring draws pilgrims from both Bhutan and Arunachal, circling the stupa together.

Fold Trashiyangtse into your journey.

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