Going off the beaten path in Bhutan with an inspiring Punakha experience

It's the 19th of December, and I’ve just arrived at Kila Goemba, Bhutan’s oldest nunnery. Known as the Day of the Nine Evils, it is Bhutan’s most inauspicious day of the year.

Despite the risk of negative karma, I’ve driven up here from Paro with my guide, Sonam Rinzin, on a two-hour journey through scenic alpine roads to the snow-covered Chele La Pass, the highest point in Bhutan accessible by car. At 3,988m, it offers panoramic views of Kanchenjunga, the world’s third-highest peak.

The harsh winters at Kila Goemba, a 9th-century nunnery clinging dramatically to the mountainside, have driven most nuns to a newer facility in the valley. However, a few, like 35-year-old Tshering Pem, remain. 

Clad in monastic red, the soft-spoken Pem came here eight years ago because of chronic ailments that left her unable to walk or sit normally. At the nunnery, her routine involves waking at 4am, long hours of prayer, and a monthly allowance of 1500 Ngultrum ($24), just enough to buy necessities like salt and toothpaste. 

“I’ve regained my health here,” she tells me, saying she can walk normally again without discomfort. “In the community, there is a lot of love and hate. In the nunnery, there is only love.”

Normally, I might have scoffed at Pem’s tale of miraculous healing. But Bhutan’s rarefied atmosphere — over 70 per cent is covered in forest — has a way of opening even the most cynical minds.

Change is underway in the remote kingdom known primarily for its Gross National Happiness Index. Last December, Bhutan announced the Gelephu Mindfulness City project, a 1,000sq km-wide initiative spanning new neighbourhoods and a hydroelectric dam.

Traditional practices are slowly being discarded as Bhutanese embrace global trends. Pricey foreign-made compound bows are replacing bamboo bows for archery. As we drive past a school in Paro, two girls in traditional kira twirl for TikTok. Scores more fly out every week to seek their fortunes in Australia, Canada, and the Middle East.

A new Punakha experience

On a brighter note, these same planes (Drukair flies from Singapore to Paro twice weekly) will also bring in new visitors, thanks to Bhutan’s recent halving of its daily tourist tax (now US$100 a night until August 2027). Many of them will likely head to Bhutan’s most-anticipated new opening, Punakha River Lodge.

AndBeyond’s first lodge in Asia is situated on the banks of the Mo Chu River in Punakha, a fertile subtropical zone known as Bhutan’s “food basket.” It has six tented suites (from US$890 per night) and a riverfront one-bedroom villa with a private swimming pool ideal for honeymooning couples.

The largest offering is the two-bedroom Family Suite. Prices include accommodation, meals, and selected activities.

Fox Browne Creative created the artful interiors, which were inspired by traditional Bhutanese style and the lodge’s pristine surroundings. My safari-style tented suite contains a private verandah, an ensuite bathroom with an indoor and outdoor shower, a butler hatch, and a “star bath” (a large skylight overlooking a brass-clad bathtub). 

Plush seating, snacks, and complimentary full-sized bottles of vodka, gin, and K5 (the first whisky blended and bottled in Bhutan) in the room’s bar ensure comfort, while a foldout guide provides useful information from simple Bhutanese greetings to the area’s “star birds” like Ruddy Shelducks, Pallas’s Fish Eagles and — if you’re really lucky — rare White-bellied Herons.

South African Rudolf van der Westhuizen curates the largely plant-based menu of locally sourced quinoa, red rice, root vegetables, and fresh trout from nearby Haa valley. These are best enjoyed outdoors, as I learn during the many “destination-dining” surprises the lodge arranges for us.

The most memorable is a lavish brunch outside Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten, a golden-spired stupa with sweeping views that leaves my group in appreciative silence.

A just-opened spa offers massages and Bhutan’s famed hot-stone baths, while the boutique offers US$18 yak-wool scarves to intricate US$1,317 dragon-embroidered wool capes by Bhutanese artisan Chuni Dorji.

Beyond the lodge

Farmhouse visits allow guests to try iconic foods like chili cheese, momos, and arra, a local moonshine. You can also raft, hike, or walk through rolling fields and forests. Tiger’s Nest, Punakha Dzong, and fertility temple Chimi Lhakhang are a drive away. 

For those travelling around Bhutan, andBeyond collaborates with other luxurious resorts to ensure their guests’ comfort throughout their journey. I stayed with The Postcard Dewa in Thimpu and Amankora in Paro, an elegant wood-and-stone property accessed via a stroll through a blue pine forest.

Days into my stay, I feel mentally refreshed and undeniably more “present.” This feeling is explained perfectly by a lodge staff member when I ask why he thinks so many visitors return. “Bhutan is a unique place where you can truly disconnect to reconnect,” he says. It allows you to look beyond yourself.”