Honeymoon in Bhutan

Known For : Tiger's Nest Monastery (Paro Taktsang) Rinpung Dzong Paro National Museum of Bhutan

Paro has Bhutan's main international airport, so almost every honeymoon begins and ends in this valley at 2,200 metres. The landing is memorable in itself, because the approach between the ridges needs specially certified pilots. Give the first two days to the altitude and spend them lightly: the one main street, Rinpung Dzong above the river, and the National Museum in the old watchtower. Farmhouse stays around Paro are also where couples find the traditional hot stone bath, the closest thing Bhutan has to a spa. Two nights at the start and one at the end, for the flight, is the usual shape.

Best Time: October to April

37 Paro Attractions

Paro Taktsang is the image on every Bhutan brochure: a monastery built onto a cliff face high above the Paro valley. Reaching it is a steep walk rather than a technical climb, about four to five hours up and back, with a teahouse at roughly the halfway point where most couples stop for the view across to the buildings. It is hard work at altitude, so it goes better on your third or fourth day in Bhutan than your first. Photography is not allowed inside, and shoulders and knees need to be covered.

Known For : Buddha Dordenma Tashichho Dzong Memorial Chorten

An hour from Paro by road, Thimphu is a small capital you can cross on foot in an afternoon, and it is the practical stop on a Bhutan honeymoon: money changed, warm layers bought, the widest restaurant choice in the country, and the weekend market if your dates line up. The Buddha Dordenma statue on the ridge above town is the set piece and is best in the last hour of daylight, with Tashichho Dzong down by the river. Two nights is enough before the drive on to Punakha.

Best Time: March - May, September - November

45 Thimpu Attractions

You do not really plan a stop at Dochula, you cross it: the pass sits at about 3,100 metres on the Thimphu to Punakha road, roughly an hour out of Thimphu. On the rise stand the 108 Druk Wangyal Chortens, and behind them, on a clear morning, a long line of Himalayan peaks. Ask your driver to stop on the way out rather than the way back, because cloud builds through the day and by afternoon the view has usually gone. There is a cafe for tea if you want to wait it out.

Known For : Punakha Dzong Punakha Suspension Bridge Chimi Lhakhang

Punakha is the relief stop on a Bhutan honeymoon. At 1,200 metres it is a good 1,000 metres lower and noticeably warmer than Paro or Thimphu, which matters if you are travelling between November and March and have had enough of cold evenings. The capital until 1955, it lies where the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu rivers meet, with terraced rice on the slopes and riverside lodges that are the most comfortable places to stay in Bhutan outside Paro. Rafting the Mo Chhu is gentle enough to count as sightseeing.

Best Time: October to April

13 Punakha Attractions

Built on the spit of land where the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu rivers join, this is the building most people picture when they picture Bhutan: whitewashed walls, a red roof, and jacaranda flowering purple along the approach in late spring. It is still the winter seat of the country's central monastic body, so parts are closed to visitors and dress is enforced at the gate. Royal weddings have been held here, which is one reason it turns up on so many honeymoon itineraries. Cross the wooden cantilever bridge on foot for the photograph.

A twenty minute walk through mustard and rice fields off the Punakha road brings you to a small hilltop temple that couples come to specifically to ask for a child. It is associated with Drukpa Kunley, a lama remembered for unorthodox teaching, and the fertility symbols painted on houses in Sopsokha village below belong to that same tradition rather than being aimed at visitors. Blessing aside, the walk across the valley floor is one of the gentlest and prettiest half hours in Bhutan.

Known For : Gangtey Goemba Black Necked Crane Information Centre Kuenzang Chholing Shedra

Phobjikha, which many itineraries still call Gangtey after the monastery above it, is a wide glacial bowl at about 3,000 metres and the quietest night on a standard Bhutan honeymoon. Black-necked cranes fly in from the Tibetan plateau and are usually in the valley from late October into February, which is the one strong argument for a winter trip. Outside that season the draw is the Gangtey nature trail, an easy couple of hours downhill through farmland and pine. Nights are cold all year and some lodges still heat with wood stoves, so make this one or two nights rather than a base.

Best Time: October to December

9 Phobjikha Attractions

At roughly 3,900 metres Chele La is the highest motorable pass in Bhutan, about two hours up from the Paro valley floor. On a clear morning you get Jhomolhari, Bhutan's sacred peak, and views down into both the Paro and Haa valleys from the same spot. The slopes are covered in rhododendron and poppy in spring and in prayer flags all year. Take it as a half day out of Paro if you are not carrying on to Haa, and go early, because the cloud wins by lunchtime.

Haa lies over Chele La from Paro and takes a fraction of Bhutan's visitors, which is the whole reason to go. It is a narrow farming valley with the Haa Chhu running through it, the two small shrines known as the black and white temples, and very little built for tourists. That cuts both ways, because the beds here are homestays and simple guesthouses rather than lodges. It suits couples who would rather have a valley to themselves than a good bathroom. Give it a night if you have seven or more, or a long day trip from Paro if you do not.

Best Time: October to November

1 Haa Valley Attractions

Known For : Wangdue Phodrang Dzong Jigme Singye Wangchuk National Park Phobjikha Valley

Wangdue Phodrang is the large central district that Phobjikha sits inside, and most couples cross it without stopping on the drive from Punakha to Gangtey. If you do break the journey, the dzong on the ridge above the river junction is the reason, and half an hour there is enough. The villages below it are known for slate and stone carving and for bamboo work, which makes a better souvenir than anything on sale in Thimphu. Treat this as a stop on a drive rather than a night on the itinerary.

Best Time: March to May, September to November

7 Wangdue Phodrang Attractions

Known For : Bhutan Gate Zangto Pelri Lhakhang Amo Chhu Crocodile Breeding Centre

Phuentsholing is a border trade town on the West Bengal line, not a honeymoon destination, and it is on this list only because many Bhutan trips still start on this road: it is the entry point from Bagdogra, Siliguri and Kolkata, and where overland permits are processed. Couples driving in usually spend one night and leave for Thimphu in the morning. Worth knowing: Bhutan's tourism department currently waives the Sustainable Development Fee for stays of up to 24 hours that keep inside the designated border zone here, and charges it once you pass the Rinchending checkpost. Confirm the current terms on bhutan.travel.

Best Time: April to June

5 Phuntsholing Attractions

Known For : Trongsa Dzong Jigme Singye Wangchuk National Park Chendebji Chorten

Trongsa sits in the geographic middle of Bhutan, and that is the catch: it is a long day's drive east of Punakha on mountain road, so fitting it into five to eight nights costs you two days in a car for one town. At ten nights or more it earns its place. The dzong is enormous, strung along a ridge above a gorge, and the watchtower museum above it explains the Wangchuck dynasty better than anywhere else in the country. Come here if you like history enough to sit in a car for it.

Best Time: November to February

7 Trongsa Attractions

Known For : Kurjey Lhakhang Jakar Dzong Mebar Tsho, The Burning Lake

Bumthang is four valleys east of Trongsa and the oldest religious ground in Bhutan, with Kurjey Lhakhang, Jambay Lhakhang and Tamshing Lhakhang all within a short drive of one another. It is a rewarding place and it is a long way off: two days each way from Paro by road, which is why it appears in almost no one week honeymoon itinerary. The domestic airstrip at Bathpalathang changes that arithmetic if flights suit your dates. Add it at ten nights or more, or save it for a second Bhutan trip.

Best Time: September to November, March to May

13 Bumthang Attractions