Punakha is the old capital of Bhutan and is located in the warmest of the country’s valleys. Bhutan’s famous red rice is grown in the lush green paddy fields that cover the town’s outskirts.

The Punakha Dzong is widely regarded as Bhutan’s most beautiful with stunning woodcarvings, murals and rows of Jacaranda trees that burst into an explosion of purple in full bloom. The Dzong is also the site for the coronation of Bhutan’s first king, Ugyen Wangchuk.

The Khamshung Valley Temple is among Bhutan’s most elaborate and is known for its gorgeous, highly intricate murals as well as traditional paintings of Buddhist deities and saints. Your guide will be at hand to explain their complex symbolism.

The highly intriguing 15th century Chimi Lhakhang commemorates the Buddhist saint Drukpa Kinley or the Divine Madman whose teachings inform Bhutanese Buddhist faith to this day. An unusual spiritual teacher, Drukpa Kinley used cutting irreverence, ribaldry and sexual freedom as tools to teach Buddhist philosophy and help his flock sever their ties with the material world. Bhutan owes its continuing practice of decorating the eaves of residential houses with phallic symbols to the maverick teacher. Along with frescos and murals deoicting the master’s exploits, Chhimi Lhakhang is known for the silver handled wooden phallus in its sanctum sanctotum. It is said that the Guru himself carried it back from Tibet and to this day, childless women pray to the phallus in the hope that some of its virility will rub off on them and their partners.