Western valleys
Paro
The valley the kingdom opens from.
Overview
Every journey to Bhutan begins in Paro, because the country's only international airport sits among its rice fields. The descent is one of the great arrivals in aviation: the aircraft banks between forested ridges, and then the valley floor appears, patterned with paddies, farmhouses and the white walls of Rinpung Dzong above the river.
Paro is a wide, gentle valley at around 2,200 metres, threaded by the Paro Chhu and ringed by passes that lead on to Thimphu and Haa. Willow-lined lanes, a single main street of painted shopfronts and an unhurried rhythm make it the easiest place in Bhutan to slow down on the first day.
Above it all is Taktsang, the Tiger's Nest, pinned to a cliff 900 metres over the valley. Most travellers walk up on their final morning, when the altitude has settled and the legs are ready. It is the image everyone arrives with, and it does not disappoint.
- Altitude
- 2,200 m
- From Paro
- You are already here. Thimphu is about 1.5 hours by road.
- Best months
- March, April, May, October, November
- Region
- Western valleys
Best time to visit
Four seasons, two of them famous.
Spring and autumn are peak. Monsoon is green and quiet. Winter is cold, clear and empty.
Spring
March to May
Peach and apple blossom in the orchards, clear mornings, and the Paro Tshechu filling the dzong courtyard. Our busiest and most beautiful season.
Monsoon
June to August
Warm, green and quiet. Showers mostly fall in the afternoon and night; the paddies are planted and the valley glows. Expect cloud on the peaks.
Autumn
September to November
Harvest gold in the fields and the sharpest views of the year. Chomolhari often shows from the top of the valley. Peak season, with good reason.
Winter
December to February
Cold, dry and brilliantly clear. Frost on the paddies at dawn, empty trails to Taktsang, and lodges warmed by bukhari stoves.
Festivals here: Paro Tshechu (March / April). Dates follow the lunar calendar; verify yearly.
Highlights
What Paro does better than anywhere.
The walk to Tiger's Nest
Three hours up through blue pine and prayer flags to a monastery that seems to have been painted onto the rock. Tea at the halfway cafeteria, then the last steps down and up across the gorge.
The National Museum
Set in Ta Dzong, the round watchtower above Rinpung Dzong, the museum holds thangkas, ritual objects and a gallery of festival masks that explain what you will see in the courtyard below.
A farmhouse hot stone bath
River stones heated in a fire and dropped into a wooden tub, the water releasing minerals and steam as you sink in. The best possible answer to the Taktsang hike.
Dzongs & temples
Whitewashed walls, red roofs, and the people still inside them.
Rinpung Dzong
The Fortress of the Heap of Jewels, built in 1646 on the orders of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal. A covered wooden bridge leads up to it from the river; inside, the courtyard hosts the Paro Tshechu each spring.
Long sleeves and trousers in the dzong; no photography inside shrine rooms.
Kyichu Lhakhang
One of the two oldest temples in Bhutan, said to date from the seventh century and the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo. Two orange trees in the courtyard fruit year-round, and the inner shrine keeps a hush that older pilgrims come a long way for.
Long sleeves and trousers in the dzong; no photography inside shrine rooms.
Taktsang Goemba
The Tiger's Nest. Guru Rinpoche is said to have flown here on the back of a tigress in the eighth century and meditated in the cave the temple is built around. Rebuilt after a fire in 1998 and still an active place of retreat.
Long sleeves and trousers in the dzong; no photography inside shrine rooms.
Stays
Where to sleep in Paro.
Placeholder names until partner agreements are signed. Prices per person per night, SDF included.
Journeys
Journeys that pass through Paro.
Questions
Before you go.
Yes. Paro has the kingdom's only international airport, with flights from Delhi, Kathmandu, Bangkok, Singapore and a handful of other cities. Domestic airstrips at Bumthang, Gelephu and Yonphula connect onward. Verify against https://www.bhutan.travel before launch.
Verify against bhutan.travel before travelling. Fees verified as of 2026-10-14.
It is a steady climb of about 900 metres over roughly three hours up, two down, on a good trail. Most reasonably fit travellers manage it comfortably; we schedule it at the end of your journey once you are used to the altitude, and ponies are available for part of the ascent.
Two at the start and one or two at the end is our usual shape. The first days are for settling in, the dzong and the museum; the final morning is for Taktsang, with the valley's hot stone baths waiting afterwards.
Begin
Build a journey around Paro.
One specialist, one conversation, and a first sketch of your journey within two working days.