Tango & Cheri Monasteries

Tango and Cheri sit in the forested hills at the head of the Thimphu valley, about half an hour north of the city and a steep walk up from the road. Cheri was built in 1620 by Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal, who ordained thirty monks here and so founded the monastic community that became Bhutan's Central Monastic Body.

Tango was founded in the 13th century by Phajo Drugom Zhigpo and rebuilt in its present form in 1688 by Tenzin Rabgye. It is now the country's main Buddhist university: senior monks, the Je Khenpo among them, complete at least nine years of training here. Both are working institutions rather than monuments, and the walk to each takes about an hour uphill.