Walking Into The Cloud: A Trekker's Guide To The Dochula-Laya Trail

Sonam Dorji · 18 Apr 2026 · 8 min read

The road ends, the walk beginsMost people meet the Dochula Pass by car. You see the 108 chortens through a windscreen, photograph Gangkar Puensum, and carry on to Punakha. The trail that begins here goes the other way — up and north, over three passes, to Laya, the last settlement on the map before the high country.It is only about four walking days and it is the best short trek in Bhutan. The distance is not what makes it: it is that you cross from a landscape of dzongs and rice terraces into one of snowfields and larch forest, and then drop into the Nu river valley in Punakha. Four days, three passes, and a completely different country at either end.How the trail actually goesDay one climbs out of Thimphu, crosses Dochula at 3,100 metres and follows the ridge past the Jangthang chorten to the Yaks Arang La pass. The first day is the hardest in terms of altitude, not distance — you gain height quickly and the effort is real. The teahouses at Jangthang and Shitchena are the first of many that make this trek possible without carrying a tent.Jangthang to Shitchena: 5–6 hours, 580m ascent, two passesShitchena to Laya: 4 hours, the real forest sectionLaya to Jongsho La: 5 hours, the h…