Amankora
Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, Gangtey and Bumthang · Bhutan
Bhutan’s first international luxury property, and the originator of the lodge-to-lodge journey that is now how most visitors see the country.
- Typical stay
- 7–12 nights across several lodges
- Nearest airport
- Paro International · PBH
The short version
Who this house is for
Somebody who wants to move through a country rather than sit in one hotel, and who accepts that this is the most expensive way to see Bhutan and the least compromised. Five lodges across five valleys, joined into one itinerary, with the traditional medicine offered seriously rather than as a spa item.
The signature
The multi-valley journey, with hot-stone baths and Sowa Rigpa consultations built into the itinerary.
The setting
Bhutan, and what is practised here
High peaks above the valley — Bhutan Himalayan medicinal plants — Bhutan A lake in the mountains — Bhutan
These photographs show Bhutan and the disciplines practised at this house. They are not photographs of the property — we would rather show you the place honestly than dress a stock picture up as a room you have not been sold.
What it is known for
Why this house has the reputation it has
- Five lodges across five valleys, opened from 2004, with 72 suites in total — a deliberately small footprint for a country that prices tourism to keep numbers down.
- The lodge-to-lodge format it invented is the reason a Bhutan trip reads as a journey rather than a hotel stay.
- Sowa Rigpa treatments and the traditional hot-stone bath are offered with practitioners rather than as a spa item.
- Its architecture — rammed earth, deliberate austerity — set the visual language every subsequent Bhutanese property has worked against.
What we would tell you on the phone
This is luxury travel with wellness in it, not a wellness programme. The Sowa Rigpa here is a well-delivered guest experience rather than a course of treatment, and we would not send anybody to Bhutan for the medicine alone. Add the SDF and it becomes one of the most expensive weeks on this site.
Your accommodation
The rooms, and which one to ask for
- 01
Lodge suite
The single category at each lodge — a bukhari wood stove, a daybed in the window and rammed-earth walls. Uniform across the five valleys by design.
- 02
Two-bedroom suite
Available at some lodges for families or two couples travelling together.
Categories and names are as published by the property and are confirmed in writing at the quote. Where we would take a different room from the one the programme is quoted in, the note says so.
Wellness at Amankora
Who is actually here
Sowa Rigpa practitioners work with the lodges — Bhutan is one of very few countries where traditional medicine is integrated into the public health service, trained at a national institute and dispensed from state-manufactured pharmacopoeia. Treatments here are offered with practitioners rather than by spa therapists.
We do not publish clinicians' names anywhere on this site. They move, which makes a named page quietly untrue, and naming one invites you to book a person no house can promise will be on shift — assignment is made on arrival, from your examination. What is worth knowing is how many there are and what they hold.
What the building contains
- Five lodges — Paro, Thimphu, Punakha, Gangtey and Bumthang
- Spa and traditional hot-stone baths at each
- Yoga and meditation spaces
- Libraries and living rooms with open fires
- Guides and vehicles between valleys
At the table
Eating here
On a prescribed programme the food is part of the treatment rather than a choice — which is worth knowing before you arrive expecting a wine list.
- The lodge dining rooms
A daily set menu of Bhutanese and western dishes, eaten communally or privately. Ema datshi is on the table and should be tried once.
Between treatments
How the days go
What there is to do here when you are not being treated, on site and within reach of it.
- Guided treks including Taktsang
- Dzong and monastery visits
- Hot-stone baths
- Archery
- Farmhouse visits
- Textile workshops
Where it is
Bhutan, Bhutan
Famous for a policy rather than a treatment — and one of the very few states that dispenses a traditional medicine free, alongside biomedicine.
- Nearest airport
- Paro International PBH
- Transfer
- Ten minutes to the Paro lodge; the circuit moves between valleys by road with the guide
| Destination | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| BhutanBhutan | Jan: perfectly good | Feb: perfectly good | Mar: book this | Apr: book this | May: book this | Jun: we would talk you out of it | Jul: we would talk you out of it | Aug: we would talk you out of it | Sep: book this | Oct: book this | Nov: book this | Dec: perfectly good |
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