Punakha is the exhale on the Amankora circuit. At around 1,200 metres the valley is warm, green and abundant where Thimphu and Gangtey are austere: rice terraces, banana palms and orange orchards line the Mo Chhu river. Arrival sets the tone, too. You cross the river by suspension footbridge, prayer flags snapping overhead, and walk up through the trees to the lodge.
The heart of the property is a traditional Bhutanese farmhouse, rammed earth and carved timber, which now holds the sitting and dining rooms; the ten suites occupy quieter wings among the trees, with the usual Amankora kit of bukhari stoves, window seats and deep tubs. Meals move outdoors more than at any other lodge, breakfast in the orchard, dinner set among the rice paddies by lantern light.
Downstream sits Punakha Dzong, for our money the most beautiful building in Bhutan, moored like a ship where the Mo Chhu and Pho Chhu meet. Go early, before the day trippers arrive from Thimphu. The walk up to Khamsum Yulley Namgyal Chorten through farmland is the valley’s other essential, and gentle rafting on the Mo Chhu suits paddlers with no appetite for white water. Save this lodge for the middle or end of the loop, when its warmth means most.
