Paro

Paro is where almost every trip to Bhutan begins: the only international airport in the country sits on the valley floor, hemmed in by ridges that pilots have to fly between.

The valley itself is broad, farmed and unhurried. Rinpung Dzong stands above the river with the old watchtower above it, now the National Museum. Most people walk up to Taktsang, the monastery pinned to a cliff nine hundred metres above the valley, on their first or last full day.