Laya Village

Laya sits above 3,800m in Gasa district, close to the Tibetan border, and is among the highest permanently settled villages in Bhutan. Its people, the Layap, are yak herders who call their own country Be-yul, the hidden land, and who live off the animals: yak hair for cloth and tents, and cheese, butter and dried meat traded down the valley.

Layap women are known for the conical bamboo hats they wear, which have become the shorthand image for the place. Since 2016 the Royal Highland Festival has been held here each October, with yak and horse events and highland mastiffs. Laya is reached on foot, usually as part of the Laya Gasa trek, and there is no road to it.