Bhutan's only airport valley — Taktsang Tiger's Nest monastery on a sheer 3,000-metre cliff, ema datshi chilli cheese hotpot, and fortress dzongs at every bend
Paro is the only international entry point to Bhutan — the valley containing Bhutan's sole commercial airport (one of the most challenging airport approaches in the world, with pilots required to navigate by visual reference between mountain peaks at 2,235 metres altitude) and the country's most famous sight: Taktsang Palphug Monastery ('Tiger's Nest'), a cluster of white-and-gold dzong buildings clinging to a 3,120-metre-high sheer cliff face that is the symbol of Bhutan. The Paro Dzong (Rinpung Dzong) is arguably the most photogenic fortress monastery in the Himalayas. Bhutan's national dis…
Paro has been a major centre of Bhutanese Buddhism since the 7th century CE, when the Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo reportedly built two temples here (Kyichu Lhakhang, one of the 108 temples built simultaneously across the Himalayas to pin down a demoness) — making it among the oldest Buddhist sites in the Himalayan region. Taktsang Monastery was built in 1692 at the site where the Indian master Padmasambhava ('Guru Rinpoche') is said to have flown on the back of a tigress to meditate in the cave below in 747 CE. The Paro Dzong (1646) served as the seat of Bhutanese government during the pre-mo…