The Himalayan Issue

We begin the Himalayan Issue in the one country that has decided fewer visitors is the point. Bhutan reopened its post-monsoon skies this month, and October is when it shows itself: the peaks return over the Dochula pass, the valleys dry out, and the masked festivals fill the dzongs. It is also the month the arithmetic bites hardest, because the Sustainable Development Fee — around a hundred US dollars a night for most of us — is charged every day you are there. We wanted to look at both the country and its price plainly.

This issue is built around a single, unhurried week in the west. We land at Paro, the only international airport, and work east through Thimphu, over the pass to Punakha's great river-fortress, and out to the high, open bowl of Phobjikha. That is four valleys, two or three beds, and a pace set by mountain roads that measure distance in hours. We have left the central valleys, Bumthang above all, for a second trip. Trying to fold them in is the commonest way to turn a good week into a long drive.

We are firm about a few things. The famous views are a seasonal privilege, absent for much of the summer, and October buys them. The Tiger's Nest is a real climb, best saved for the end when your lungs have caught up. The top lodges — Amankora, Six Senses, COMO among them — are expensive, and the family-run hotels most travellers actually use are warmer than their price suggests. And the fee is what keeps the valleys from filling up.

A word on how we travel here. Bhutan has loosened its old rules, but for a first visit a licensed guide and driver remain the sensible way through, and the country repays the deference — a festival watched as a guest, the temple etiquette kept without fuss. Settle into the place for seven days, count each one because you are paying for it, and you come away having seen a country that chose to stay rare. That is the whole issue, really.

Vivienne Hartwell, Editor-in-Chief