7-Day Authentic Bhutan: An itinerary through valleys, monasteries and mountain quiet

You pause at Tamchog Lhakhang, crossing its historic iron chain bridge above the river before continuing into the capital. In Thimphu, ease into Bhutanese life at the great seated Buddha Dordenma, where the view stretches the length of the valley, then meet the takin, the country's improbable national animal, at the Royal Takin Preserve, in the only capital city in the world without traffic lights.

As evening settles, enjoy your first Bhutanese meal before driving up to the Sangaygang viewpoint to watch the city lights come on below.

Descending into the warmer Punakha Valley, walk out through rice fields to Chimi Lhakhang, the fertility temple set among houses painted in the frank imagery of the Divine Madman's legend. Then on to Punakha Dzong at the meeting of two rivers: the palace of bliss, and the finest surviving expression of Bhutanese architecture.

Should time and weather permit, cross the long suspension bridge downstream, or climb to Sangchhen Dorji Lhuendrup Nunnery for the view across the Punakha and Wangdue valleys. The evening is subtropical and unhurried, spent among rice terraces at the water's edge.

Visit Gangtey Monastery on its low ridge above the marshland, one of the valley's oldest seats of learning, before understanding the migration itself at the Black-Necked Crane Centre.

As the afternoon light flattens across the wetlands, there is little to do but notice the silence, the quality that makes Phobjikha the valley travellers remember longest.

After lunch, the scenic drive to Paro begins. Along the way you stop at Lamperi Botanical Park, a quiet reserve of forest trails, birdsong and a small still lake. Walk the shoreline, take a boat out should one be available, or simply sit with a cup of Bhutanese roasted coffee and let the afternoon pass.

You reach Paro in the early evening, with the hours that follow left entirely to you: a cosy café on the main street, the handicraft shops, or a slow drink somewhere warm before an early night.

Begin at Ta Dzong, the round watchtower of 1649, now home to the National Museum and the clearest introduction you will find to Bhutanese history and belief. Just downhill stands Paro Rinpung Dzong, the fortress on a heap of jewels, rising above the Paro Chhu and still shared between the district administration and its monastic community.

After lunch, continue to Kyichu Lhakhang, among the oldest and most venerated temples in the country, raised in the seventh century as one of a network of 108 built by the Tibetan emperor Songtsen Gampo. Return to town in the late afternoon for cafés, craft shops and an early evening, before tomorrow's climb.

Continue to the monastery, or pause at the viewpoint café where the whole valley falls away beneath you; either way, the moment lands. Inside, butter lamps and the smell of juniper mark the caves where Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated for three years, three months and three days.

Back in Paro, the evening is yours to recover in: a mineral hot stone bath in the traditional manner, then a final Bhutanese table of ema datshi, red rice, buckwheat and butter tea, and a performance of masked and folk dance under the pines.

As the aircraft turns between the peaks, the valleys fall behind: monasteries on their ridges, villages at the river's edge, the long quiet of Phobjikha. You leave with the measure of a country that counts its success differently.