Quiet valleys most visitors miss

Most first-time visitors see Paro, Thimphu and Punakha — and they’re wonderful. But Bhutan’s quieter corners are where the kingdom really slows down.

Phobjikha Valley

A wide glacial valley where endangered black-necked cranes arrive each winter. Walk the Gangtey nature trail at dawn when mist hangs over the marshland.

The cranes arrive in late October and leave in mid February, feeding on a dwarf bamboo that grows in the valley’s wetlands. A festival for them is held every November in the courtyard of Gangtey Monastery, soon after they arrive.

Two black-necked cranes on dry winter grassland, one with its head down feeding and the other standing behind it, with brown hillsides blurred in the background. — Black-necked cranes feeding in the Phobjikha Valley in winter. Photo: Phuentsho, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

Haa Valley

Just over the Chele La pass from Paro, Haa opened to tourists only in 2002. Farmhouse stays, alpine meadows and almost no other travellers.

Traditional Bhutanese houses and green fields at the foot of a forested, cone-shaped hill under a blue sky with a large white cloud. — Traditional houses and fields below the forested hills of the Haa Valley. Photo: Vinayaraj, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

Bumthang

The spiritual heartland, with some of Bhutan’s oldest temples, a local brewery and buckwheat pancakes you won’t find anywhere else.

The whitewashed temple buildings of Jambay Lhakhang, with red bands and golden roof finials, on a lawn as a monk in red robes walks past. — Jambay Lhakhang, Kurjey Lhakhang and a buckwheat field flowering in September, all in Bumthang. Photos: Arian Zwegers, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab); Christopher J. Fynn, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab); Mario Biondi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

The three white temple buildings of Kurjey Lhakhang against a forested slope, with tall prayer-flag poles standing on the grass courtyard in front. — Jambay Lhakhang, Kurjey Lhakhang and a buckwheat field flowering in September, all in Bumthang. Photos: Arian Zwegers, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab); Christopher J. Fynn, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab); Mario Biondi, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab)

Tour

Bumthang Heartland Journey

10 days · from $2,150 per person

Trashigang and the east

A long drive rewarded with textile villages, the Merak-Sakteng highlanders and the country’s most authentic festivals.

Sakteng Wildlife Sanctuary, in the far east of Bhutan, is home to the Brokpa, a semi-nomadic people whose herds give butter, cheese, yak meat and wool. Trashigang’s district administration calls it the only reserve in the world dedicated to protecting the habitat of the yeti, the subject of this film from Tourism Bhutan.