Start your day with a hearty breakfast followed by a 1.5-hour drive to Chele La Pass, the highest road pass in Bhutan. Once there, choose between a 1.5-hour hike along the mountain ridge (dress warm and bring your hiking poles!) through the forest to an ancient nunnery where around 30 nuns live in self-imposed isolation, or take a car directly there. If the weather gods are in your favour, you’ll be able to spot the snow dome of Bhutan’s second highest peak, Mount Jumolhari (7,326m).

Enjoy a picnic lunch before continuing the drive to Haa valley to meet with your second Bhutanese family. You may like to spend the night with them in their rustic, colourful farmhouse built with mud and stones – and without any nails. Learn more about their way of life over a cup of milk tea and try your hand at archery, the national sport.

Thimphu, the vibrant capital of Bhutan, awaits. The drive there will take approximately 4.5-hours and you can visit the villages of Jabana, Sususa and/or Dogokha en route. Time permitting, you can meet families living in the area and chat with them over a cup of tea or araa. Lunch will be at a local restaurant where you can sample local delicacies like beef bathup, and if you feel like stretching your legs after the long drive, you can do so from Buddha Point to Changgangkha temple.

Come evening, opt for some R&R or explore the town. A visit to the National Memorial Chorten for a glimpse of Bhutanese prayer life is worthwhile. Your dinner companion will be a renowned historian and adviser to the royal family, where you can get all the As to your Qs about the House of Wangchuck, folktales, art and more.

This morning, enjoy the thrill of rafting down Punakha river. The waters are relatively calm but the ride will deliver the adrenaline rush you crave. The water is cold so be sure to layer up under your lifejacket.

After taking on the rapids, brace yourself for another heart pumping experience as you cross the longest suspension bridge of its kind (160m) in Bhutan, which brings you to villages on the other side of the Pho Chhu riverbank. Some of our local friends will greet you there with lunch. A 3.5 to 4-hour drive will then take you back to Paro where a relaxing night is in order for the lead up to the Bumdra trek the next day.

Today you’ll make the pilgrimage to Tiger’s Nest, starting with a 2-hour descent down from the campsite to Zangdopelri Monastery, a temple dedicated to Guru Rimpoche. Another hour of walking will bring you to the sacred cliffside temple where the supreme beauty of the structure is so mind-boggling, the image of it will stay imprinted in your mind long after you leave. Feel free to take your time admiring the thousands of prayer flags framing a 200-foot waterfall below the site, or the tsa-tsas (small reliquaries) containing ashes of the dead on ledges in the vicinity before we make a 1.5 to 2-hour trek downhill.

A car will be waiting to take you to your lodge, where you’ll be treated to quintessentially local red rice beers – made with a specialty grain – to commemorate the end of your journey.