Druk
Path Trek

All meals on trek are freshly prepared each day by your camp cook. Each morning begins with a wake-up call, hot washing water, and tea or coffee delivered to your tent. Trekking starts around 8:30–9 am at a comfortable pace with a packed lunch eaten on trail. Camp is fully set up on arrival each afternoon. Pack horses carry all equipment — you trek with only a day pack.

You meet your trekking crew, horsemen and pack animals at the National Museum in Paro before setting off. The trail climbs almost without a break for over 1,000 m through blue pine forest and past farmhouses and apple orchards, crossing a dusty road used mainly during harvest. After passing Kuenga Lhakhang, the climb continues through fir and bamboo, past a mani wall and a giant hemlock tree, to a small pass below Jele Dzong. Camp is a short way down from the pass, within earshot of the monks' evening prayers.

A gentler day that starts with a visit to Jele Dzong itself — an impressive, wind-battered fort hung with prayer flags, with views back over Paro and, on a clear day, Jhomolhari (7,315 m) in the distance. From the dzong the trail follows the ridge north, crossing to its eastern side and climbing gradually past a possible campsite at Dorjo Lakha before reaching Tshokam, just beyond a small saddle.

The ridge walk taken by trekkers runs about two hours longer than the pack-animal route, but it is the more spectacular of the two, with sweeping views north to snow peaks and down into the valleys on both sides. The trail climbs gently to a small pass near 4,070 m, then continues along the ridge with Jhomolhari visible to the north and several monasteries — Dop Gensakha Gompa, Sharadango Gompa and Ragyo Chiwokha Gompa — visible far below in the Paro valley. The route then descends to camp at Jimilang Tsho (also called Bimelang Tsho), a large sacred lake stocked with trout.

An easier day of high-mountain walking. The trail circles Jimilang Tsho to its western end, then climbs through rhododendron bushes on an exposed cliff trail to a small saddle, passing two more lakes — regarded locally as a male and female pair — before a final ridge climb to a viewpoint above Simkotra Tsho, tonight's camp, which has some old stone ruins nearby.

Seven minor climbs to small passes lead eventually to a view down over Phajoding monastery and Thimphu beyond. From the fifth pass, Gangkar Puensum (7,546 m) — the world's highest unclimbed peak — becomes visible on clear days, and a short side climb to a rocky outlook once used for sky burials offers the best panorama of the Bhutan Himalaya on the whole trek. The final pass, windy Dochu La (4,095 m), gives way to a steep descent to camp at Phajoding, a sprawling monastery complex founded in the 13th century by the Tibetan yogi Togden Pajo.

The final, short descent from Phajoding follows a gentler trail past Chhokhortse Gompa and down through forest hung with prayer flags to the radio transmission tower above Thimphu. From there it's a drive down through Motithang, past the Thimphu Zoo and its resident takins, to the city below — a satisfying, low-effort close to six days of wilderness walking.