Bhutan by Road — Four Nights to Thimphu and Paro

West from Bagdogra or New Jalpaiguri across the tea plain to Phuentsholing, about 170 km and four hours. The town sits at around 300 m directly at the foot of the hills, and the border runs through the middle of it — an ornate gate on one side of a street that is India, and on the other Bhutan. It is a commercial town rather than a scenic one, and the interest is in watching Indian, Bhutanese and Nepali life mix in it. Evening walk through the centre.

Immigration formalities first thing, and then the climb — about 165 km and close to five hours, rising from 300 m to Thimphu at around 2,320 m through cloud forest and switchbacks. Thimphu is a capital of roughly a hundred thousand people and famously has no traffic light: an attempt to install one was withdrawn after public objection, and a white-gloved policeman directs the main junction instead. The afternoon takes Coronation Park by the river and the handicrafts emporium for textiles, thangkas and woodcarving.

A short drive west, about 50 km and an hour, and then the walk that defines a Bhutan itinerary. Taktsang Palphug — the Tiger's Nest — clings to a cliff about 900 m above the Paro valley floor, built in 1692 around the cave where Guru Rinpoche is said to have meditated for three months after arriving on the back of a tigress. It is roughly two hours up through blue pine and rhododendron for a reasonably fit walker, longer if not, and there is a cafeteria at the halfway point. Photography is not permitted inside. Overnight at Paro.

The morning is Paro town: Ta Dzong, the round watchtower above the valley that now holds the National Museum with its thangkas, armour and textiles, and the walk down to Rinpung Dzong below it — the fortress of the heap of jewels, with painted galleries around the inner courtyard illustrating the wheel of life and the four harmonious friends. Then the long descent to Phuentsholing, about 160 km and four and a half hours, back down to the foothills for the night.

Exit formalities at the border and then west across the plain to New Jalpaiguri station or Bagdogra airport, around four hours. The tour ends here. Departures from early afternoon onwards are comfortable; a morning flight would mean leaving Phuentsholing before the immigration office opens, which is the one timing constraint on the whole itinerary.