Hotel Lobesa

Overlooking the gorgeous Punakha valley, Hotel Lobesa is a charming, family-owned boutique hotel, north of Thimpu in Bhutan. On arrival at this humble abode past cobbled pathways, you’ll be welcomed by Passang Drukgyel and his hospitable team, with mint tea and butter biscuits. The golden-yellow tinted hotel, built in traditional Bhutanese style, offers 14 extremely spacious rooms with balconies, most of them presenting vistas of the mountains and beyond through characteristic trefoil windows. All rooms are well-furnished with simple warm wood interiors, paintings of local folklore, and a host of modern comforts including attached baths, daybeds, and WiFi. Delight yourself with a sumptuous spread of traditional Bhutanese cuisine and a selection of fine whiskeys of the region, at their restaurant, or their terrace cafe dotted by picnic tables. Discover treasured antiques and artifacts from the owners’ farms, displayed all over the property. You’ll get to try on traditional Bhutanese costumes too for your travel photos. Notice wooden pink phalluses hanging from eaves, and similar esoteric illustrations on walls – depicting fertility, attributed to Chimi Lhakhang, the Temple of Fertility in the neighborhood.