Tango and Cheri Hike

Tango and Cheri are two monasteries at the head of the Thimphu valley, each about an hour’s climb from the road on opposite sides of the river. They make the standard half-day walk out of Thimphu. Allow half a day for one, a long day for both.

How hard is it, really?

Steep and short. From where the vehicle stops at Begana, it is roughly an hour uphill to each monastery on a stone-and-earth path, and appreciably less coming down. There is no scrambling, no exposure and no route-finding — it is a sustained climb and nothing more technical than that.

If you walk hills at home you will be fine. If you don’t, you will still get there, more slowly, and the monks will have seen worse. What it is emphatically not is a gentle stroll — if that’s what you’re after, the Wangditse hike above the takin preserve is near-level and does the same job for the view.

Take walking shoes, water and a layer. The path is shaded most of the way, which is a mercy in May and a nuisance in January, when the shaded sections hold ice.

What’s at the top

Cheri — properly Chagri — is the older claim on Bhutanese history. Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyal established it in 1620, at twenty-seven and four years after arriving in the country, and in 1623 he founded Bhutan’s first Drukpa monastic body here with thirty monks. That body is the direct ancestor of the Central Monastic Body that now summers at Tashichho Dzong and winters at Punakha Dzong. The Zhabdrung himself spent three years in strict retreat here and came back throughout his life.

Tango is older still as a site — founded by Phajo Drugom Zhigpo in the 13th century, and rebuilt in its present form by Tenzin Rabgye, the 4th Desi, in 1688. The name means “horse head”, for Hayagriva, the horse-headed protector. The Zhabdrung meditated in its cave in 1616, the year he arrived in Bhutan, and it has been the country’s senior Buddhist college since the 64th Je Khenpo restarted the shedra there in 1966.

Both are working monastic institutions with young monks studying in them. Dress covers shoulders and knees, shoes come off at temple doors, and photography stays outside.

Which one, and when

If you have time for one, ask us on the day — the honest answer depends on the weather, the state of the path and what else is in your itinerary. Broadly: Cheri for the history, Tango for the living college.

March–May and September–November are the seasons. Start in the morning: the climb is more pleasant before the day warms, and it leaves the afternoon free.

The drive north is about 30 minutes to Begana, roughly 14–15 km, and it passes Pangri Zampa, the college of astrology, which is a natural ten-minute stop on the way back down.

See things to do in Thimphu for how the rest of the capital compares.