Rinchengang

Rinchengang is unusual in Bhutan, where houses are normally spread across their fields: here about sixty houses are packed tightly together on a slope with narrow lanes between them, which the villagers explain by their trade. The community are traditional stonemasons and builders, called on for dzong and temple construction across the country for generations, so the men were often away and the houses were built close for security and mutual help. The buildings are rammed earth with timber frames in the standard vernacular, and the lanes are steep and unpaved. A short climb from the road brings you into the village, which looks across the valley to the dzong at Wangdue. Visits are informal and depend on villagers being willing, so a guide who knows the place matters.

What you actually see

• Tightly packed houses - about sixty dwellings clustered on the slope.
• Narrow lanes - steep unpaved passages between the buildings.
• Rammed-earth building - the vernacular technique the masons practise.
• The view across - Wangdue Phodrang dzong on the opposite ridge.

When to go

March to May and September to November. Mornings are best for light and for finding people at home. The climb is short but steep and hot at midday in this low valley.

Honest expectations

This is a lived-in village, not a heritage site: people are going about their day and photographing houses and residents needs asking. There are no facilities. Lanes are rough and steep. Some houses are modernising, which changes the look year by year.

Nearby

Wangdue Phodrang Dzong is across the valley; Punakha lies north.