Paro: the Tiger's Nest above the valley

In the center of Paro, the Rinpung Dzong, a fortress-monastery from 1646 still serving as a religious and administrative center today, was the set for Bernardo Bertolucci's film 'Little Buddha'.

Just above, the circular tower of the Ta Dzong, an ancient seventeenth-century watchtower, has housed the National Museum of Bhutan since 1968.

From here departs the path, along several hours, that climbs toward the Paro Taktsang, the Tiger's Nest: a monastery built in 1692 around the cave where tradition says Guru Rinpoche meditated, about nine hundred meters above the valley floor.

Returning to the valley in the evening, the main street of Paro, with its painted wooden houses and craft shops, offers a much calmer pace than the climb just completed.

There are no roads or cable cars to Taktsang: those unable to complete the entire trek can pause at an intermediate viewpoint, from which the monastery is still nearly visible in full.

The houses of Paro still follow a building code that mandates traditional decorative motifs even on the newest buildings, including the city's airport itself.