Day 5: Hike to Tiger’s Nest Monastery – 5 hours
After breakfast drive to the base of Taktshang(Tiger’s Nest) Monastery which will take about 20 minutes from your hotel and start hiking the famous Taktshang Monastery perched on the hanging cliff at about 3100 meters. Guru Rinpoche (spiritual master) is said to have flown on the back of a tigress to meditate in a cave where Taktshang monastery now stands. The monastery is situated at about 900 meters above Paro valley. We will walk back the same way and the lunch will be served in Taktshang cafeteria or walk down to valley floor and enjoy lunch in the town.
Zuri Dzong Hike From National Museum
Distance: 7.5km, Ascents: 300m, 1 ½ Hours, Standard: Easy to Medium, Elevation at Temple: 2600m.
The Zuri Dzong is located in an ideal place above Paro Rinpung Dzong and one can have a bird eye view of the whole Paro valley. The Zuri Dzong is said to be one of the oldest fortress in the country which dates back to 1352 and is the home to the valleys local protector. It is five storied building well protected with double walls around the structure even today. The fortress has a fine collections of murals in the upper chapel dedicated to the protector zaa Rahulla. Apart from rich ancient history, the fort is famous for being a spot for a bird eye view of whole valley. Many tourists hike up to the fortress to get the view of entire valley. The hike takes about 30 minutes from national museum (Ta dzong) to the Zuri Dzong and another 1 hour descends if you wish to exit from Uma Resort.
Jele Dzong Hike
Distance: 10km, Ascents: 1110m, 3-4 Hours, Standard: easy to medium, Season: February-June, September-December
Your hike starts from above national museum (2450m) after 20 minutes drive from the museum on unpaved farm road which connects to Damchena village (2880m). Your hike is all uphill climb through blue pine forest to mani chorten Dangrim (horizontal stone carved stupa) in the clearing known as Damche Gom (3020m).
Your trail leads through the forest of hemlock and rhododendrons. After 2 to 3 hours climb you will reach Jele Dzong (3560m) passing through the Jele la marked by a cairn at 3540m. After reaching Jele the view of Paro valley is spectacular including the 2nd highest mountain of Bhutan Jomolhari (7314m) and other snowcapped peaks on clear weather.
Jele Dzong sits on the hilltop overlooking Paro valley and it was the residence of lama Ngawang Chhogyel (1465 – 1540), the cousin of Lama Drukpa Kuenley (Divine Madman). The Zhabdrung(Unifier) is said to have meditated here and met with Bhutan’s protective deity Mahakala and guided him how to overcome invading Tibetan army.
Chumphu Ney Hike
Distance: 7.5km, Ascents: 850m, 5 – 6Hours, Standard: easy to medium, Elevation at Temple: 3100m.
Chumphu Ney is a holy retreat center located in the northern part of Paro town. It takes about 30 minutes drive to the start point of our hike. It is about 5 to 6 hours hike to the temple and back to the road point following the same trail.
The main figure in the temple is Dorji Phagmo (Vajravarahi) statue commonly known as mother of all goddesses. The famous thing that we have in the Chumphu temple is the floating statue of goddess Dorji Phagmo. This statue is said to be very sacred and ancient and it is believed that the goddess Dorji Phagmo flew from Tibet to this place and stayed on in a form of statue. She is in standing posture with her one leg crossed at the knees of other leg which is in the form of standing but does not touch the ground.
The caretaker of the temple shows us his profound beliefs on this floating statue, as most devotees does by sliding the money note below her feet and it passes through smoothly without touching.
Besides temple there are several meditation caves used by Guru Rinpoche himself and some caves used by his two main consorts Khandro Mendharawa and Yeshey Tshogyel.
