Bhutan

Bhutan is unlike anywhere else in the world. A small Himalayan kingdom wedged between India and Tibet that has consciously chosen its own path: sustainable development, culture protection, high-value low-impact tourism. The result is a country that seems frozen in time yet looks to the future with clarity. The concept of Gross National Happiness is not marketing: it is state policy. 72% of the country is forested (mandatory by constitution). Plastic is banned. Dzongs—fortress-monasteries at the heart of each valley—still function as they did centuries ago. Bhutanese wear traditional dress (gho and kira) daily, not for tourists. Tiger's Nest (Taktsang) is the country's icon: a monastery clinging to a cliff at 3,120 metres, where Guru Rinpoche arrived flying on a tigress. But Bhutan is much more: Punakha Valley with its spectacular dzong, Bumthang with ancient temples, tsechu festivals where monks dance with centuries-old masks.