Day Trips from Bhutan

The highest paved pass in Bhutan (3 988 m) gives you a 180-degree white-on-blue panorama of the Paro and Haa ranges without the multi-day trek. Prayer-flagged trails thread through dwarf rhododendron, and the cliff-hugging Kila Goemba lets you watch nuns chant while clouds boil up the valley.

Drop 1 300 m into sub-tropical Punakha where the Mo Chhu glints jade-green and the 17th-century dzong's cypress beams still smell of pine resin. Add a suspension-bridge swing, riverside lunch, and a 20-minute climb to Chimi Lhakhang where the 'Divine Madman' temple hands out fertility blessings.

Only opened to outsiders in 2002, Haa feels like Paro 30 years ago, timber houses painted with eight lucky symbols, wheat fields humming with grasshoppers, and a pair of 7th-century temples that pre-date Buddhism in Bhutan. A short ridge walk above the valley floor gives you nomad yak pastures without the altitude headache.

A vast glacial bowl where 21 000 ft peaks reflect in winter marshes and the black-necked cranes arrive late October with wings that 'whoosh' like silk sheets. Walk the Gangtey Nature Trail through dwarf bamboo, then climb the hilltop monastery where young monks bang drums that echo across the valley.

North-end of the Thimphu Valley feels suddenly wild: pine resin scents the air, the Thimphu river roars over boulders, and two 13th-century cliff monasteries guard the entry to the alpine ridge. Tango's scholar monks might invite you to butter-tea if you time the midday prayer break.

Overnight camping is banned for day visitors. But you can still climb to the 3 800 m Bumdra ridge meadow, picnic above the clouds, and drop back to Tiger's Nest by sunset. The trail cuts through moss-draped oak and emerges onto alpine turf scattered with miniature rhododendron.