Punakha was Bhutan's capital until 1955, and its dzong is generally agreed to be the finest building in the country. It stands on a spit of land at the confluence of the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu — the 'father' and 'mother' rivers — which means it is approached across a bridge with water on both sides and a wall of whitewashed stone rising ahead.
The dzong
Built in 1637 by the Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, the unifier of Bhutan, Punakha Dzong remains the winter residence of the central monastic body, which moves down from Thimphu each year to escape the cold. It holds the country's most sacred relics and was the site of the coronation of the first king in 1907 and of the current king's wedding in 2011.
The interior courtyards are lined with intricately carved and painted woodwork, and a vast jacaranda tree flowers purple against the white walls in spring. The assembly hall contains one of the largest gilded statues in the Himalaya.
The dzong has been damaged repeatedly by flood — most seriously in 1994, when a glacial lake burst upstream. Those glacial lake outburst floods remain one of the country's real climate risks, and monitoring stations now sit on the lakes above.
The suspension bridge
Downstream, one of the longest suspension footbridges in Bhutan crosses the Pho Chhu, hung with prayer flags and swaying convincingly underfoot. It takes a few minutes to walk and is a favourite with visitors who thought they were fine with heights.
Chimi Lhakhang
A short walk across rice fields from the road leads to Chimi Lhakhang, the temple of Drukpa Kunley — the 'Divine Madman', a fifteenth-century saint who taught through obscenity, drunkenness and outrage, and who is credited with subduing demons by unconventional means. It explains the phalluses painted on house walls throughout this valley, which are protective symbols rather than a joke, though the shops have understandably leaned into it. The temple is a pilgrimage site for couples seeking children.
Getting there
The road from Thimphu crosses Dochula pass at about 3,100 metres, marked by 108 memorial chortens built in 2004. On a clear winter morning the pass gives a panorama of the eastern Himalaya, including Gangkhar Puensum (7,570 m) — the highest unclimbed mountain in the world, closed to mountaineering out of respect for local belief. Punakha itself lies at only 1,200 metres and is noticeably warm.