The Bhutan Jungle Lodge in Punakha

This comfortable and unpretentious eco lodge is one of our best kept secrets along the Laya-Gasa trail. Built with local timber, bamboo matting, stone and other natural materials, it sits at the upper, densely forested fringes of Punakha where the Mo Chhu river valley narrows and the forest thickens to hide the property's location along what used to be one of the most adventurous trekking routes to Laya before the new road changed all that.

This part of Punakha also falls inside the southern boundaries of Jigme Dorji National Park, Bhutan's largest protected wilderness, a nearly 4,300-square-kilometer sweep of subtropical jungle, blue pine forest, and alpine scree that rises unbroken from 1,400 meters to the 7,000-meter summits along the Tibetan frontier.

Around the lodge, the jungle presses close and alive. Rhododendron and chir pine give way to dense broadleaf canopy hung with moss and orchid, the air thick with the resinous scent of cypress after rain. The park is home to Himalayan langurs that move through the upper branches at dawn; leopard cats and red pandas and the extremely rare White Bellied Heron. This is one of the last strongholds of the Bengal tiger at altitude, along with snow leopard, takin, and musk deer at higher elevations.

Rooms open onto the sound of the Mo Chhu below and the forest above. In the evenings, woodsmoke and the cold clean air off the glacier-fed river settles over the property, and the lodge becomes a resting place for those who have come this far by choice. It's a wonderful place to stop and warm yourself amid relaxing nature sounds after spending time at altitude in Laya. You can rest at the lodge, lie in a hammock beside the river, or take a short walk to a gorgeous waterfall nearby, a delicious way to spend a couple of easy nights if you're on a typically busy Bhutan travel schedule.