Drukgyal Dzong sits at the head of the Paro valley, where the road into upper Paro narrows toward the Tibetan border. The original fortress was built in 1649 to defend the valley from northern invaders, and on clear days you can see snowcapped Mount Chomolhari (7,326 metres) framed beyond its walls — one of the great long-view photographs in Bhutan. The dzong burned to the ground in 1951 and was abandoned for decades; reconstruction work that began in 2016 has now restored most of the structure.
Even before reconstruction the site was worth the trip for the views alone, and the rebuilt walls now allow you to walk around the inner courtyards as you would a working dzong. A small village sits below the fortress, and the road continues north into hiking country toward the Tibetan border, including the popular trek to Jhomolhari Base Camp.