The Tiger's Nest is a working Buddhist monastery clinging to a sheer granite cliff 900 metres above the Paro Valley. There is no road. The hike begins at a car park about ten kilometres north of Paro town and climbs steeply through blue-pine forest hung with prayer flags, with the monastery visible across a deep gorge for most of the second half. Allow four to five hours round-trip including the visit; a teahouse roughly halfway makes a good rest stop with the best photographic view of the building.
The trail is exposed in places and the altitude — finishing above 3,100 metres — is the harder part of the climb for many visitors. Shoes with grip matter; the final stretch is a flight of stone steps cut into the cliff. Inside, several small temples are interconnected by ladder-like wooden staircases. Cameras and phones must be left at the lower checkpoint, which has the side benefit of forcing a slow look. The atmosphere inside the cave shrines is unlike anything else in the country.