Gangtey Trips & Tours

Stealing top prize for Bhutan’s most picturesque region, Gangtey, or the Phobjikha Valley, is the Bhutan of postcards (if there were any). Flanked by the towering Black Mountains, the enormous glacial valley is completely free of trees and is instead, a quilt of bucolic fields, farmed by rosy-cheeked villagers and criss-crossed by epic hiking trails. Surveying the scene is the Gangtey Monastery. Perched high up in hills, it’s an important outpost for Nyingma Buddhism, the oldest of all the Tibetan schools, and a dawn visit in summer will reveal the monks chanting their morning prayers and playing marbles. In winter, it’s all about the black-necked cranes. Celebrated across the country as symbols of peace and longevity, the birds migrate to the valley to escape the Tibetan chill and their arrival is said to announce a good harvest. The best perch to spot them is probably the Gangtey Nature Trail (pack your walking boots) but the RSPN Crane Centre has a good selection of telescopes for a closer look.