Dzongs

Now these sites are really screaming to be a WHS. The dzongs of Bhutan are iconic buildings, they are of critical importance for the history of Bhutan, they are a blueprint for the whole bhutanese architecture and they are also just really beautiful buildings ! They are impressive from the outside, all with quite picturesque locations, and they are impressive from the inside, as they are full of decorated courtyards and colorful temples. And all are still actively used as religious and administrative centers, with wonderful festivals inside of them. Now that's how to be a worthy WHS site, you hunting grounds and vineyards !
I visited three of the Dzongs, had a look at the forth and didn't found out much about the fifth. Here are my thoughts on the individual locations:

• Paro Dzong (The close one): You will probably see this one even before touchdown, as it is quite close to the only international airport of Bhutan. It is probably the one which resembles a castle the most: There is a keep in the middle, a strong ring of walls, a moat and guarded entrance doors. It doesn't have as many courtyards as the other Dzongs, but is still a very fine building, with lots of wooden decorations and towering walls. You shouldn't feel too bad if this is the only Dzong you can visit, as it's a good example of the dzong style.
• Punakha Dzong (The beautiful one): This one is advertised as …

I only visited the Paro Dzong and I found it adequate to get an idea of them. You would have to be blind to miss it: a massive structure not in height a la Manhattan skyscrapers but wide, sloping along the relative large hill and compared to the small modest houses Bhutanese live in it looks like a palace. You can see it from the plane, from the airport, probably from EVERY house in Paro, maybe from space? ;) It is, however, not a palace but the government office.

The first time is on the obligatory tour. I say obligatory but actually you can select the itinerary if you have a private tour and this is just one of the must-do things in town and it is totally worth it. The dzong is still in use by the government, or religious government, and you cannot visit anything but the entrance hall and courtyard plus one of the temples. If you think stepping through the gates is already impressive just wait for the view from the terrace. Of course the guides can tell you everything you want to know. Try asking something about the place you think they wouldn't know after the hundredth or thousandth tour they have done - they will maybe not be able to tell you due to the language barrier but not because they don't know. I also loved that the driver drops you at the top of the hill's parking lot and you can descend …

The “Dzongs of Bhutan” came 12th in our 2014 vote on the most significant sites “missing” from the WH list. Way back in the autumn of 2001 we visited 4 of the 5 included in this T List entry. 4 of them (Dagana Dzong is the exception) sit on a natural East/West route along or near the main “lateral highway”. In sequence from the West - Paro, Punakha, Wangdue Phodrang and Trongsa are c350 kms apart and will be passed anyway if you want to visit another fine area of Bhutan further east at Bumthang - where Bhutan’s T List site of Tamzhing is also situated and also where some rather fine tshechu festivals take place.

In 2001 this highway was undergoing significant work (a glance at a map of Bhutan will show it to be the only route into the country’s centre and east other than by travelling up from India) but is apparently still largely a difficult single track east of Thimpu subject to landslips etc. The terrain is mountainous and heavily forested but runs south of the snowcapped peaks - it crosses several passes at around 3000/3500m. A trip from Paro to Bumthang, taking in the other 3 dzongs is going to take 2 days each way with stops at/near Punakha/Wangdue out/back. Unfortunately Wangdue suffered a major fire in Jun 2012 (yet another Bhutanese T List site thus impacted – ICOMOS will have to pay careful attention to fire protection if any of these sites get nominated!) …