འབྲུག་ཡུལ
Druk Yul
Bhutan
Usage
Kingdom in the eastern Himalaya; the local name is Druk Yul, "Land of the Thunder Dragon". Independent travel is not permitted — the visa is arranged through a licensed Bhutanese tour operator and a flat Sustainable Development Fee is charged for every night of the stay, with a guide required outside Thimphu and Paro
ཐིམ་ཕུ
Thimphu
Thimphu
Usage
Capital of Bhutan and the dzongkhag of the same name, at about 2320m. The largest town in the country, seat of government and site of Tashichho Dzong; about 1 hour 15 minutes by road from Paro airport
སྤ་གྲོ
Paro
Paro
Usage
District and town in western Bhutan at about 2200m. Home of the country's only international airport, so nearly every visitor arrives here; base for Taktsang and Rinpung Dzong
སྤུ་ན་ཁ
Punakha
Punakha
Usage
District that served as Bhutan's winter capital until 1955. At about 1200m it stays mild in winter; roughly 3 hours from Thimphu by road over the Dochu La pass
དབང་འདུས་ཕོ་བྲང
Wangdue Phodrang
Wangdue Phodrang
Usage
District in west-central Bhutan, its administrative town at about 1350m. The east–west highway runs through it, so all road traffic from the west to central and eastern Bhutan passes here
ཧཱ
Haa
Haa
Usage
Westernmost district of Bhutan, its valley at about 2670m. Closed to foreigners until 2002; about 2 hours from Paro by road over the Chele La pass
ཆུ་ཁ
Chhukha
Chhukha
Usage
District in southwestern Bhutan. The main road from Thimphu to the Indian border at Phuentsholing runs through it, dropping from 2000m to 300m; the centre of the country's hydropower
བསམ་རྩེ
Samtse
Samtse
Usage
District at Bhutan's southwestern corner, subtropical lowland around 300m bordering West Bengal in India. Well off the usual tourist circuit
རྩི་རང
Tsirang
Tsirang
Usage
District in southern Bhutan, its seat Damphu at about 1600m. Gentle farming hills on the road running south from Wangdue Phodrang
དར་དཀར་ན
Dagana
Dagana
Usage
District in southern Bhutan; its seat at about 1500m holds the 17th-century Daga Dzong. Roads are narrow and few visitors come this way
གསར་སྤང
Sarpang
Sarpang
Usage
Subtropical district in southern Bhutan at about 250m. Its town Gelephu has a domestic airport and a border gate into India
མགར་ས
Gasa
Gasa
Usage
Bhutan's northernmost district, its seat at about 2770m. The least populated dzongkhag, known for the treks to Laya and Lunana and its hot springs (tshachu)
ཀྲོང་གསར
Trongsa
Trongsa
Usage
District at the centre of Bhutan, the town at about 2200m. The midpoint of the east–west highway, dominated by Trongsa Dzong, the ancestral seat of the royal family; about 4 hours from Wangdue Phodrang
བུམ་ཐང
Bumthang
Bumthang
Usage
District in central Bhutan made up of four valleys — Chokhor, Chhume, Tang and Ura — between 2600m and 4000m. The religious heartland, with the densest cluster of ancient temples and a domestic airport
གཞམས་སྒང
Zhemgang
Zhemgang
Usage
District in south-central Bhutan, its seat at about 1900m. Dense broadleaf forest, best known as a birdwatching destination
མོང་སྒར
Mongar
Mongar
Usage
District in eastern Bhutan, the town at about 1600m. Site of the largest hospital in the east; about 7 hours by road from Bumthang over the Thrumshing La pass
ལྷུན་རྩེ
Lhuentse
Lhuentse
Usage
District in northeastern Bhutan, its seat at about 1450m. Regarded as the ancestral home of the royal family and famed for kishuthara handwoven textiles
བཀྲིས་སྒང
Trashigang
Trashigang
Usage
The largest district in eastern Bhutan, the town at about 1070m. The transport hub of the east, where the roads to Yonphula airport and to the Indian border at Samdrup Jongkhar diverge
བཀྲིས་གཡང་རྩེ
Trashi Yangtse
Trashi Yangtse
Usage
District in Bhutan's far northeast, the town at about 1750m. Known for its wooden bowls (dapa) and for the Bomdeling wetlands where black-necked cranes winter
པདྨ་དགའ་ཚལ
Pemagatshel
Pemagatshel
Usage
District in southeastern Bhutan, its seat at about 1700m. One of the smallest dzongkhags, on the road linking Mongar and Samdrup Jongkhar
བསམ་གྲུབ་ལྗོངས་མཁར
Samdrup Jongkhar
Samdrup Jongkhar
Usage
District and border town at Bhutan's southeastern corner, at about 200m. The land gate into Assam in India and the usual exit point after touring the east
ཕུན་ཚོགས་གླིང
Phuentsholing
Phuentsholing
Usage
Border town in Chhukha at about 293m, separated from Jaigaon in West Bengal by a single gate. Bhutan's main land entry point; Thimphu is about 170 km away, 5 to 6 hours by road
དགེ་ལེགས་ཕུ
Gelephu
Gelephu
Usage
Border town in Sarpang at about 250m with a gate into Assam and a domestic airport. The southern way into central Bhutan
བྱ་དཀར
Jakar
Jakar
Usage
Main town of Bumthang at about 2580m, in the Chokhor valley. The base for Jakar Dzong and Bumthang's ancient temples, with Bathpalathang domestic airport nearby
ཆོས་འཁོར
Chokhor
Chokhor Valley
Usage
The widest of Bumthang's four valleys, at about 2600m. Centred on Jakar and holding the main temples — Jambay Lhakhang and Kurjey Lhakhang among them
ཆུ་སྨད
Chhume
Chhume Valley
Usage
The westernmost of Bumthang's four valleys at about 2700m — the first you reach coming over the pass from Trongsa. Known for yathra woollen weaving
སྟང
Tang
Tang Valley
Usage
The remotest of Bumthang's four valleys at about 2750m. Too cold for much farming, so herding dominates; site of the sacred Mebar Tsho, the "burning lake"
ཨུ་ར
Ura
Ura Valley
Usage
The highest and easternmost of Bumthang's four valleys at about 3100m. The east–west highway climbs from here to the Thrumshing La; known for the spring Ura Yakchoe festival
ཕོབ་སྦྱིས་ཁ
Phobjikha
Phobjikha Valley
Usage
Broad glacial valley in Wangdue Phodrang at about 2900m. Black-necked cranes winter here from late October to February; about 30 minutes off the east–west highway
སྒང་སྟེང
Gangtey
Gangtey
Usage
Village on the ridge overlooking the Phobjikha valley at about 2900m. Grew up around Gangtey Goenpa and is the trailhead for the valley walks
གནམ་ཐང
Namthang
airport
Usage
The general word for airport. Bhutan has no railway at all, and only four airports — Paro for international flights and three domestic strips
སྤ་གྲོ་རྒྱལ་སྤྱིའི་གནམ་ཐང
Paro Gyelchi Namthang
Paro International Airport
Usage
Bhutan's only international airport, at 2235m on a valley floor ringed by peaks over 5000m — one of the hardest approaches in the world. Operations are daylight visual-flight only and only a handful of pilots are certified for it, so weather delays and cancellations are common. About 1 hour 15 minutes by road to Thimphu
བུམ་ཐང་གནམ་ཐང
Bumthang Namthang
Bumthang (Bathpalathang) Airport
Usage
Domestic airstrip near Jakar in Bumthang at about 2680m, opened in 2011. A 30-minute flight from Paro replaces a two-day drive
དགེ་ལེགས་ཕུའི་གནམ་ཐང
Gelephu Namthang
Gelephu Airport
Usage
Domestic airstrip at Gelephu in Sarpang, at about 90m — the lowest in the country. Close to the Indian border and the air route into southern Bhutan
ཡོངས་ཕུ་ལ་གནམ་ཐང
Yonphula Namthang
Yonphula Airport
Usage
Domestic airstrip on a ridge near Kanglung in Trashigang at about 2740m — the only air link to eastern Bhutan. The runway is short and weather cancellations are frequent
ཤར་ནུབ་གཞུང་ལམ
Shar-Nub Zhunglam
East–West Highway
Usage
The roughly 700 km trunk road running the length of Bhutan, opened in the 1960s. With no railway in the country it carries all people and freight; crossing pass after pass, end to end takes about three days by car and monsoon landslides close it periodically
གཞུང་ལམ
Zhunglam
highway / main road
Usage
The word for a national or trunk road. With no railway in Bhutan, all travel depends on this road network
ས་མཚམས
Satsham
border
Usage
The word for border. Foreigners may cross by land only at the three Indian-side gates — Phuentsholing, Gelephu and Samdrup Jongkhar. The frontier with China (Tibet) is closed
ཕུན་ཚོགས་གླིང་ས་མཚམས
Phuentsholing Satsham
Phuentsholing Border Gate
Usage
The gate separating Jaigaon in India from Phuentsholing. Bhutan's busiest land crossing and the route for most imports; foreigners clear the immigration office in town before heading north
ལ
La
mountain pass
Usage
The word for a mountain pass, appended to place names (Dochu La, Chele La). Passes are the only links between Bhutan's separate valleys, and they close for winter snow and summer rockfall
རྡོ་ཆུ་ལ
Dochu La
Dochu La Pass
Usage
Pass on the road between Thimphu and Punakha at 3100m. Lined with the 108 Druk Wangyal chortens, with a Himalayan panorama on clear mornings; about 1 hour from Thimphu
ཆེ་ལེ་ལ
Chele La
Chele La Pass
Usage
Pass between Paro and Haa at 3988m — the highest point on any Bhutanese road. Views of Jomolhari and a forest of prayer flags; about 1 hour 30 minutes from Paro
པེ་ལེ་ལ
Pele La
Pele La Pass
Usage
Pass on the east–west highway between Wangdue Phodrang and Trongsa at 3420m. It marks the divide between western and central Bhutan; the turn-off for Phobjikha is just before it
ཁྲུམས་ཤིང་ལ
Thrumshing La
Thrumshing La Pass
Usage
Pass on the east–west highway between Bumthang and Mongar at 3780m, the highest point on the trunk road. It separates central from eastern Bhutan, and the eastern descent is a long stretch of sheer cliff road
རྫོང
Dzong
dzong (fortress-monastery)
Usage
The fortress that houses both the district administration and the monastic body — one in each of the 20 dzongkhags. Only parts are open to visitors, and long sleeves with a collar are expected
ལྷ་ཁང
Lhakhang
lhakhang (temple)
Usage
The word for a temple, appended to place names such as Kyichu Lhakhang. Photography inside is usually prohibited and shoes come off at the door
བཀྲ་ཤིས་ཆོས་རྫོང
Tashichho Dzong
Tashichho Dzong
Usage
Dzong on the west bank of the Wang Chhu north of central Thimphu, holding the King's offices, the main ministries and the central monk body in summer. Visitors are admitted after office hours on weekdays and during the day at weekends
རིན་སྤུངས་རྫོང
Rinpung Dzong
Rinpung Dzong
Usage
Dzong of 1644 above Paro town, its name meaning "fortress on a heap of jewels". Venue of the spring Paro Tsechu; the traditional covered wooden bridge Nyamai Zam crosses the river below
སྤུངས་ཐང་བདེ་བ་ཆེན་གྱི་ཕོ་བྲང
Pungthang Dewachen Phodrang
Punakha Dzong
Usage
Founded in 1637, the second oldest and second largest dzong in Bhutan; its formal name means "palace of great bliss". It stands at the confluence of the Pho Chhu and Mo Chhu and hosts the central monk body in winter, with jacaranda in bloom each spring
ཆོས་འཁོར་རབ་བརྟན་རྩེ་རྫོང
Chokhor Rabtentse Dzong
Trongsa Dzong
Usage
The largest dzong in Bhutan, cascading down a ridge above the Mangde Chhu gorge. By tradition each king serves as Trongsa Penlop before accession; the watchtower Ta Dzong above it is now a museum
བྱ་དཀར་རྫོང
Jakar Dzong
Jakar Dzong
Usage
Dzong on the ridge above the Chokhor valley in Bumthang. Its name means "castle of the white bird", after the legend that a white bird chose the site; reachable on foot from Jakar town
སེམས་རྟོགས་ཁ་རྫོང
Simtokha Dzong
Simtokha Dzong
Usage
Built in 1629 and the oldest dzong still standing, on a hill about 5 km south of Thimphu guarding the road toward Punakha. It now houses the Institute for Language and Culture Studies
འབྲུག་རྒྱལ་རྫོང
Drukgyel Dzong
Drukgyel Dzong
Usage
Dzong at the head of the Paro valley, raised in the 17th century to mark the repulse of a Tibetan invasion, gutted by fire in 1951 and since under reconstruction. On clear days Jomolhari shows at the end of the valley
བཀྲིས་སྒང་རྫོང
Trashigang Dzong
Trashigang Dzong
Usage
Dzong at Trashigang, the hub of eastern Bhutan, perched on the tip of a rock spur above the Drangme Chhu with cliffs on three sides. It serves as both district office and monastery for the east
སྤ་གྲོ་སྟག་ཚང
Paro Taktsang
Paro Taktsang (Tiger's Nest)
Usage
Monastery clinging to the cliff of the Paro valley at 3120m, some 900m above the valley floor. Two to three hours on foot each way from the trailhead, with ponies available part way; no photography inside and bags are left at the entrance
སྐྱེར་ཆུ་ལྷ་ཁང
Kyichu Lhakhang
Kyichu Lhakhang
Usage
One of the oldest temples in Bhutan, in the Paro valley, traditionally ascribed to the 7th-century Tibetan king Songtsen Gampo. About 10 minutes by road from Paro town
བྱམས་པ་ལྷ་ཁང
Jambay Lhakhang
Jambay Lhakhang
Usage
Temple of the 7th century in Bumthang's Chokhor valley. Its autumn Jambay Lhakhang Drup festival includes a midnight rite in which dancers pass through a burning gateway
སྐུ་རྗེས་ལྷ་ཁང
Kurjey Lhakhang
Kurjey Lhakhang
Usage
Complex of three temples in Bumthang's Chokhor valley enshrining the rock said to bear the body imprint left by Guru Rinpoche in meditation. The royal cremation ground adjoins it
གཏམ་ཞིང་ལྷ་ཁང
Tamshing Lhakhang
Tamshing Lhakhang
Usage
Temple in Bumthang's Chokhor valley, across the river from Kurjey Lhakhang. Founded in 1501 by Pema Lingpa and still holding wall paintings from that time
འཆི་མེད་ལྷ་ཁང
Chimi Lhakhang
Chimi Lhakhang
Usage
Small hilltop temple of the late 15th century in Punakha, linked to the "Divine Madman" Drukpa Kunley and visited for fertility blessings. About a 20-minute walk through the rice terraces from the main road
སྒང་སྟེང་དགོན་པ
Gangtey Goenpa
Gangtey Goenpa
Usage
17th-century monastery on the ridge above the Phobjikha valley at about 2900m. The only large Nyingma monastery in western Bhutan; in winter black-necked cranes gather in the marsh below
སངས་རྒྱས་རྡོ་གདན་མ
Buddha Dordenma
Buddha Dordenma
Usage
Bronze seated Buddha about 51.5m tall on the Kuenselphodrang ridge south of Thimphu, completed in 2015 and housing over a hundred thousand smaller statues inside. Some 20 minutes by taxi from town
རྒྱལ་ཡོངས་དྲན་རྟེན་མཆོད་རྟེན
Gyalyong Dreten Chorten
National Memorial Chorten
Usage
Stupa in central Thimphu raised in 1974 in memory of the Third King. Local elders circumambulate it clockwise from morning to dusk — the city's everyday place of prayer
ལྕང་སྒང་ཁ་ལྷ་ཁང
Changangkha Lhakhang
Changangkha Lhakhang
Usage
The oldest temple in Thimphu, on the ridge overlooking the town and dated to the 12th or 13th century. Parents bring newborns here to receive a name; reachable on foot from the centre
གངས་དཀར་སྤུན་གསུམ
Gangkhar Puensum
Gangkhar Puensum
Usage
At 7570m the highest mountain in Bhutan and the highest unclimbed peak on earth. Bhutan forbids climbing above 6000m on religious grounds, so no one has stood on its summit
ཇོ་མོ་ལྷ་རི
Jomolhari
Jomolhari
Usage
Sacred peak of 7326m on the border of Paro and Haa with Tibet. Visible on clear days from the Chele La and Drukgyel Dzong, and the goal of the Jomolhari trek
ཆུ
Chhu
river
Usage
The word for river or water, appended to place names such as Mo Chhu and Paro Chhu. Bhutan's valleys are defined by these river courses
མོ་ཆུ
Mo Chhu
Mo Chhu
Usage
The "mother river", rising from the glaciers of Gasa — the western of the two streams that meet at Punakha. It runs past Punakha Dzong and carries a rafting stretch
ཕོ་ཆུ
Pho Chhu
Pho Chhu
Usage
The "father river", fed by the glacial lakes toward Lunana and joining the Mo Chhu in front of Punakha Dzong. It has a recorded history of glacial lake outburst floods
སྤུ་ན་གཙང་ཆུ
Puna Tsang Chhu
Puna Tsang Chhu
Usage
The river formed where the Mo Chhu and Pho Chhu meet at Punakha. It flows south past Wangdue Phodrang and is known as the Sankosh in India; major hydropower plants sit along it
དབང་ཆུ
Wang Chhu
Wang Chhu
Usage
The river running through Thimphu, past Tashichho Dzong and on through the Chhukha hydropower plants into India. Also called the Thimphu Chhu
སྤ་གྲོ་ཆུ
Paro Chhu
Paro Chhu
Usage
The river of the Paro valley. The airport, Rinpung Dzong and the Taktsang trailhead all lie along it, and it joins the Wang Chhu downstream
མང་སྡེ་ཆུ
Mangde Chhu
Mangde Chhu
Usage
The central river that runs directly below Trongsa Dzong, cutting a deep gorge south into Zhemgang. The east–west highway makes a long detour around its valley
ཨ་མོ་ཆུ
Amo Chhu
Amo Chhu
Usage
River rising in Haa and running south past Phuentsholing into India, where it is called the Torsa
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