Taj Tashi

Thimphu has no traffic lights. A policeman in white gloves directs the cars at the main junction, and a few hundred metres away the whitewashed walls and painted timber of Taj Tashi rise in the manner of a dzong, the fortress-monasteries that govern each valley of Bhutan. The hotel opened in 2008, the year the country held its first parliamentary election and crowned its fifth king, and it was the first hotel in the capital built to the standards of an international luxury group.

History

The Tashi Group, one of Bhutan's largest private companies, partnered with the Indian Hotels Company, owner of the Taj brand, to build the house. Bhutan had admitted tourists only since 1974 and still limits them through a daily fee, so the project was as much a statement about the country's opening as a commercial venture. The hotel became the address for the coronation guests of 2008 and for the diplomats, development agencies and visiting dignitaries who pass through the capital. It sits within the Taj group's luxury tier and is marketed as its only hotel in the kingdom.

Architecture and design

The building follows dzong architecture: sloping white walls, a dark band of ochre and red beneath the roofline, wide timber windows framed in the traditional painted style, and roofs of overlapping tiers. Inside, the lobby and corridors were painted by Bhutanese artists with murals of Buddhist iconography, the Four Friends and the lotus, in the same mineral colours used in the monasteries. The hotel's own description is of a modern interpretation; the painting is not.

Rooms and suites

There are 66 rooms and suites, laid out over the upper floors with views of the Thimphu valley and the hills behind the city. Rooms have hand-painted motifs, timber floors and a sitting area, and many have balconies facing the valley. The suites on the top floor look towards the Tashichho Dzong at the north end of town.

Dining

The hotel's Bhutanese restaurant serves the national cooking, built around ema datshi, the chilli and cheese stew, red rice and buckwheat, with butter tea and ara, the local rice spirit. The all-day restaurant handles breakfast and international and Indian dishes, and the bar serves whisky distilled in Bhutan. The names of the outlets are not confirmed here.

Wellness

The Jiva spa, Taj's own brand drawn from Indian wellness traditions, has treatment rooms and offers the Bhutanese hot-stone bath, in which river stones heated in a fire warm the water of a wooden tub. There is a heated indoor pool and a fitness centre.

Weddings and events

The hotel has function rooms for conferences and receptions and has hosted government and diplomatic events since the coronation year. Weddings at the hotel are rare for foreign couples, since Bhutan does not perform civil marriages for visitors, but receptions and private dinners are held. The facts file records no capacities.

Location

The hotel is on Samten Lam in the Chubachu district, in the centre of Thimphu, with the main street and the weekend market within walking distance. The Tashichho Dzong, seat of the government and the king's office, is at the north end of the valley; the Buddha Dordenma statue, 51 metres high and completed in 2015, looks down from the hills to the south. Paro International Airport, the only international airport in the country, is around 55 kilometres away, an hour and a quarter by road. It is the one luxury hotel in Thimphu that most tour operators book for the capital nights of a Bhutan itinerary.