Nearby Attraction
Buddha Dordenma
10 minutes from Hotel Babesa
The statue that watches over an entire kingdom.
Standing 54 metres tall, gilded in bronze and gold, and visible from almost every corner of Thimphu — the Great Buddha Dordenma is not something you stumble upon. It stops you. Perched on the hills of Kuensel Phodrang, this extraordinary statue fulfils an 8th-century prophecy that said a great Buddha would be built here to bring peace and happiness to the world. Inside the base, 125,000 smaller Buddha statues have been individually cast in gold and bronze. Beneath it, a meditation hall draws those seeking quiet in the middle of a Bhutan itinerary that rarely slows down.
The views from this hilltop are among the finest in Thimphu and the entire valley is laid out below, mountains on the horizon, prayer flags catching the wind. Come at sunrise if you can. Come at any time and you will still leave changed by it.
Tashichho Dzong
15 minutes from Hotel Babesa
The Fortress of the Glorious Religion — and the seat of a kingdom.
There are fortresses, and then there is Tashichho Dzong. Sitting magnificently on the banks of the Wang Chhu River, this whitewashed fortress is the beating administrative and spiritual heart of Bhutan and home to the office of the King, the throne room, the summer seat of the Je Khenpo and centuries of living history behind its walls.
First built in 1216 and rebuilt and expanded through the centuries, the dzong in its present form was completed in 1965 under the third king of Bhutan. It is immense, immaculate and alive where monks chant within its courtyards, government offices operate in its wings and once a year the streets outside fill for the Thimphu Tsechu festival, one of the most spectacular religious events in the Himalayan world. Visit in the late afternoon when the light turns the whitewashed walls gold and the fortress reflects in the river below.
National Memorial Chorten
15 minutes from Hotel Babesa
A monument to peace, in the heart of the city.
In the middle of Thimphu’s busiest roundabout, something extraordinary happens every morning. Dozens of elderly Bhutanese arrive before dawn, prayer beads in hand and begin their slow, reverent clockwise circles around the National Memorial Chorten, just as they have done for decades. This gleaming white stupa, built in 1974 by the late Queen Mother in memory of the third Druk Gyalpo, is dedicated to world peace.
It is not the largest monument in Thimphu but it may be the most alive. The smell of juniper incense, the low murmur of prayers, the spin of copper prayer wheels — this is not a tourist attraction staged for visitors but it is a genuine, uninterrupted expression of Bhutanese Buddhist life, happening in real time, every single day. A short walk inside the Chorten reveals vibrant murals and tantric iconography that rewards those who take the time to look.
Changangkha Lhakhang
20 minutes from Hotel Babesa
Thimphu's oldest temple. Still the most loved
Long before Thimphu was a capital city, there was Changangkha Lhakhang. Built in the 12th century on a rocky outcrop overlooking what is now the heart of the city, this ancient temple is one of the oldest and most revered religious sites in Thimphu and still the place where Bhutanese parents bring their newborns to receive blessings and be given a name.
The walk up to the temple takes you past strings of prayer flags, through courtyards draped in offerings, to a small but profoundly atmospheric sanctuary where an 11-headed, thousand-armed statue of Chenrezig presides. The monks are unhurried. The air is thick with incense and the sound of distant bells. From the temple’s position on the ridge, you look down over the rooftops of the city that grew up around it over eight centuries — a view that puts Thimphu’s extraordinary pace of change in quiet and humbling perspective.
Motithang Takin Preserve
20 minutes from Hotel Babesa
Meet Bhutan's most unusual national animal.
The takin is a large, golden-furred creature that looks, honestly, like it was assembled by committee — part gnu, part goat, part something that exists nowhere else on earth. Which is fitting, because the takin exists nowhere else on earth. Bhutan’s national animal has been the stuff of legend since Drukpa Kunley, the great Buddhist saint affectionately known as the Divine Madman — is said to have created it in the 15th century from the bones of a cow and a goat.
At the Motithang Takin Preserve, a short drive from Hotel Babesa, a small herd of takin live within natural forested habitat. Gentle, curious and entirely unperturbed by visitors, they are one of those encounters that you will not see replicated anywhere else in the world. Bring a camera and take your time. This is Bhutan’s most improbable wildlife experience and somehow, entirely in keeping with a country that has always refused to be ordinary.
Dochula Pass
35 minutes from Hotel Babesa
108 chortens. 7,000 Himalayan peaks. Zero words adequate.
On a clear morning and in Bhutan, they come — the drive from Thimphu to Dochula Pass at 3,100 metres above sea level delivers a view of the Himalayas so sweeping and so sharp that even seasoned travellers stop the car and step out in silence. The entire Eastern Himalayan range unfolds across the horizon: peaks rising above 7,000 metres, draped in glacial snow, catching the early light.
At the pass itself, 108 memorial chortens — known as the Druk Wangyal Chortens stand in quiet formation, built by the eldest Queen Mother in honour of Bhutanese soldiers who gave their lives in 2003. The Druk Wangyal Lhakhang temple sits beside them, its walls covered in extraordinary paintings. On clear winter days, the view from Dochula is among the finest Himalayan panoramas accessible by road anywhere in the world. Hotel Babesa’s location makes this a natural morning drive — out early, back for lunch and the mountains with you for the rest of the day.
Ask our front desk team for directions, timings and current entry requirements.