Five days through the valley that gates the road to the east, anchored on the Ta Dzong, Bhutan's only museum.
Highlights
Ta Dzong, the only museum in Bhutan
Trongsa Dzong and its four-storey watchtower
The painted ceiling and carved columns of the Chendebji temple
The ancient Taoist temple, older than Buddhism in Bhutan
What is included
Licensed cultural guide throughout
Private vehicle and driver for all five days
Four nights in heritage lodges and a restored farm house
All breakfasts, lunches and dinners
All permits, SDF and entry fees, including the Ta Dzong
A monk-host afternoon in the Deep Valley
Day-by-day itinerary
Day 01 — The road east to Trongsa Follow the Mo Chhu south from Punakha to Wangdue and then climb the winding road to Trongsa, arriving under a dzong with a four-storey tapering watchtower rather than the usual two, built to see the road that feeds the far east. Evening walk below town, where the valley is quiet and the air is alre…
Day 02 — The Ta Dzong: Bhutan's only museum The Ta Dzong was built as a guard post above the road and now holds the country's folk art museum, so the country's only museum is a dzong. A slow, careful morning with a curator, looking at the domestic objects, the agricultural tools and the ritual pieces that a national museum tends to under-dis…
Day 03 — Chendebji and the ancient Taoist temple Down to the Chendebji temple in the Deep Valley, one of the finest carved and painted wooden ceilings in Bhutan, and to the small Taoist temple above town with its painted beams and columns — evidence of a layer of Bhutanese religious life that predates Buddhism in the valley. A day on the older hi…
Day 04 — A monk's afternoon in the Deep Valley A day below the dzong, where lamas' houses and workshops are still being built in traditional form by the people who use them, rather than restored for visitors. You are hosted by a lama household, and the afternoon is traditional carpentry, weaving, butter tea and a long conversation about what th…
Day 05 — Back west to Paro A last morning in Trongsa, then the road back the way you came, over the passes to Paro for the flight home. The alternative, given a day more, is to continue east into Bumthang and the Golden Thumb itself — the stretch that justifies the name of the valley you have been travelling through.