The Druk Path follows what was genuinely once a working trading route between the Paro and Thimphu valleys, used by traders, monks, and travellers before modern roads connected the two cities. The trek begins above the National Museum in Paro, climbing through apple orchards and the smallholdings of Damchena village into pine forest, reaching the ruined Jele Dzong — a small 15th-century fortress perched on a grassy ridge at roughly 3,490 metres, housing a lhakhang with a statue of Buddha Sakyamuni, and offering, on clear days, sweeping views of both Paro town below and Mount Jomolhari (7,315m) to the north.

From Jele Dzong, the trail climbs above the treeline through alpine forest and dwarf rhododendron, crossing several ridges and yak pastures to reach Jangchulakha, then descends to the trek’s signature lake: Jimilang Tsho, meaning “Sand Ox Lake.” According to local tradition, the lake takes its name from a massive bull said to have emerged from its waters to join the herd of a nomadic family that grazed cattle on its shores. The lake is also genuinely famous for its giant trout, stocked in these high-altitude waters generations ago and now thriving undisturbed.

Continuing past Janetso Lake through more dwarf rhododendron forest, the trail reaches Simkotra Tsho (4,110m), a smaller but equally striking lake near the ruins of a roughly 600-year-old dzong, before the route’s highest point: Phume La (or Labana La), at approximately 4,210 metres, sometimes noted in local accounts as a rarely-used sky burial site. From here, on a clear day, Mount Gangkar Puensum (7,570m) — Bhutan’s highest peak and the world’s tallest unclimbed mountain — becomes visible.