Thimphu, Paro & Western Bhutan

The western valleys were the stage on which Bhutan was created. Buddhism came early: Kyichu Lhakhang in Paro is traditionally dated to the 7th century and linked to the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo, and Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated at Taktsang in the 8th. For centuries the valleys were held by rival lamas and local lords.

In 1616 Ngawang Namgyal, a Drukpa lama from Tibet known as the Zhabdrung, arrived and began to unite the west under his rule. He built Simtokha Dzong near Thimphu in the late 1620s, then Punakha Dzong in 1637–38, Wangdue Phodrang and Rinpung Dzong at Paro, turning the dzongs into strongholds against Tibetan armies and the seats of his dual religious and civil government. Punakha was the winter capital, and the Zhabdrung's remains are still kept there. Drukgyel Dzong in upper Paro commemorated a victory over Tibetan invaders.

The west also shaped the modern kingdom. Ugyen Wangchuck was crowned the first king at Punakha in 1907, and Thimphu became the permanent capital in the 1950s and 1960s, when Tashichho Dzong was rebuilt. The hydropower plants at Chhukha and Tala, built with Indian help, became Bhutan's largest earners. In the late 1980s and 1990s, the Lhotshampa of the southern districts were hit hard by the citizenship campaign described on the Bhutan page.

The west is the land of the Ngalop, whose speech is the basis of Dzongkha, the national language, and whose dress, architecture and etiquette became the national norm under the "one nation, one people" policy. Houses here are typically of rammed earth with carved and painted timber upper storeys, and archery matches in Thimphu and Paro bring out singing, dancing and teasing between teams.

The religious calendar is dominated by the tsechu festivals. At the Paro Tsechu in spring, a giant thongdrel, an embroidered religious scroll, is unrolled at dawn on the last day; the Thimphu Tsechu in autumn fills the courtyard of Tashichho Dzong; and the Punakha Drubchen re-enacts a 17th-century battle against Tibetan forces. Chimi Lhakhang near Punakha is dedicated to the saint Drukpa Kunley, the "Divine Madman", and couples come to it seeking children.

Thimphu is the centre of the thirteen traditional arts, taught at the National Institute for Zorig Chusum: painting, carving, embroidery, weaving and more. In Gasa, the herders of Laya keep a distinct identity. In the south, Samtse and Chhukha have large Nepali-speaking, largely Hindu communities, and Dashain and Tihar are celebrated.

Thimphu, the capital, is Bhutan's largest city: a place of civil servants, students, monks and shopkeepers, of new apartment blocks up the valley sides and a weekend market by the Wang Chhu. Traffic is directed by hand at the main junction, office workers wear the gho and kira, and evenings are spent in cafes, karaoke bars and at archery ranges. Rising prices, housing costs and youth unemployment are daily concerns, and many young people have emigrated in recent years.

Paro is a quieter valley town of farmhouses, hotels and the airport, growing red rice, apples and potatoes. Punakha and Wangdue farm rice, oranges and vegetables in their warmer valleys. Phuentsholing, the main border town and commercial centre, sits directly against Jaigaon in India and handles much of Bhutan's trade; Samtse and Chhukha have industries, factories and hydropower plants.

In the high valleys of Haa, Phobjikha and Gasa, families raise yaks and cattle, grow buckwheat and potatoes, and in Laya gather cordyceps in spring.

The west eats Bhutan's classic dishes, and the local markets show where they come from. Paro's valley is known for its red rice, and the Centenary Farmers' Market in Thimphu sells dried chillies, fresh cheese, butter wrapped in leaves and the hard, chewy chugo, dried yak cheese sold on strings.

Haa has its own speciality, hoentay: buckwheat dumplings filled with turnip greens, cheese and chilli. Other everyday dishes include kewa datshi, potatoes in cheese; shamu datshi, mushrooms in cheese; and dried beef or pork cooked with chillies and radish. Phobjikha, with its cool climate, is potato country, and Punakha grows oranges and vegetables for Thimphu.

Butter tea and sweet milk tea are drunk throughout the day, and homemade ara, made from rice or other grains, is offered at festivals. Thimphu has a small but growing restaurant scene, from Indian and Nepali canteens to cafes serving coffee and pastries, while bottled beer is widely drunk.

Paro has the Tiger's Nest, Paro Taktsang, set on a cliff above the upper valley, as well as Rinpung Dzong, the National Museum in the old Ta Dzong watchtower above it, Kyichu Lhakhang and the ruins of Drukgyel Dzong near the start of the Jomolhari trek. Over the Chele La, the Haa valley has the White and Black temples, Lhakhang Karpo and Lhakhang Nagpo, and a summer festival of local culture.

Thimphu has Tashichho Dzong, the giant Buddha Dordenma statue above the valley, the Memorial Chorten where residents walk circuits all day, the takin enclosure at Motithang and the old Simtokha Dzong at the valley's southern end.

East over Dochula and its 108 chortens, Punakha Dzong stands where two rivers meet, reached by a covered cantilever bridge, with Chimi Lhakhang and the Khamsum Yulley Namgyal chorten nearby. Wangdue Phodrang Dzong, rebuilt after a fire in 2012, overlooks the road to Phobjikha, where Gangtey monastery looks down on the cranes' winter marshes. Gasa, to the north, has hot springs, the village of Laya and Jigme Dorji National Park.

In the south, the road in from Phuentsholing climbs from the plains through forest, waterfalls and the Chhukha hydropower zone to the cool valleys around Thimphu.