Paro Taktsang (Tiger's Nest Monastery)

Paro Taktsang, known as the Tiger's Nest, is a monastery built in 1692 on a cliff face at about 3,120m in the upper Paro valley, Bhutan's most sacred site.

According to legend, Guru Padmasambhava, who introduced Buddhism to Bhutan, flew here on the back of a tigress and meditated in a cave that the monastery's four temples now enclose.

The walk is the thing: about 900m of climb from the car park, four to six hours up and back, with a cafeteria near the halfway point and ponies available for the lower section only. A fire in 1998 destroyed much of the interior, and the monastery was rebuilt and reconsecrated by 2005. From the last viewpoint the path drops several hundred steps and climbs again to the door. Bags, cameras and phones are left at the entrance. Most itineraries place it late in the trip, so that the days in Thimphu and Punakha have done the acclimatising.

All four HSJ Bhutan tours include the Tiger's Nest climb: The Essence of Bhutan (5 days), Bhutan: Valleys and Tiger's Nest (7 days), The Hidden Valleys of Bhutan (8 days) and The Grand Journey Through Bhutan (9 days).