Western Bhutan

The western circuit takes in six districts (Thimphu, Paro, Haa, Wangdue Phodrang, Punakha and Gasa) and holds most of what Bhutan is known for: the capital, the only international airport, Taktsang on its cliff, and the finest dzong in the country at Punakha.

In Haa, the Alpine Summer Festival each July opens up the living culture of the Haaps, the people of the valley. Shamanic rituals and folk dances sit alongside the usual games, the rare Himalayan flowers are in bloom on the slopes, and the harder walkers can take the trek towards Nob Tshonapata, a high lake wrapped in local legend.

Thimphu has the widest choice: temples, dzongs and museums, meditation and wellness centres, and a weaving scene that brings Bhutanese textiles to life. In Punakha, the Dromchoe festival re-enacts the seventeenth-century defence of the country, with local militiamen in period dress rather than monks in masks, and runs straight into the Punakha Tshechu.

The valleys themselves keep farming time: rice is planted in early summer and cut in autumn, when the golden fields under crisp skies are a photographer's delight. The museums here are the country's finest: the old Ta Dzong watchtower above Paro holds the National Museum, and the Folk Heritage Museum in Thimphu shows what a farming household's life actually involved.