Uma Paro opened in November, five months after Amankora. It is part of Singaporean hotelier Christina Ong's Uma brand. Here, designer Kathryn Kng has successfully married traditional Bhutanese features, such as wood-burning stoves with modern elements. Pitch-pine floorboards from old farmhouses (swapped for modern floors, to the farmers' delight) have been cleverly used as room dividers, and the whole space smells comfortingly of log fires and essential oils. The enthusiastic staff can arrange activities such as mountain biking, monastery visits, archery lessons, walks and picnics. The Shambhala spa has a juice bar, infinity hot tubs, a heated indoor swimming pool and complimentary yoga twice a day. A hot-stone bath house provides Bhutanese herbal treatments. There is a cosy (but poorly lit) library with books about the region, games and complimentary Internet access. All 18 rooms, two suites and nine villas have views of a vast valley and snowcapped mountains. Meals, overseen by a team of Australian and Indian chefs, are a highlight (yak burgers, chai-spiced hot chocolate, green-tea Martinis, Asian pear-and-rice tart with yogurt, saffron sorbet and coconut-mint emulsion) and a triumph in a country where access and ingredients are otherwise limiting. Two smaller Uma lodges are planned for Bhutan and should open towards the end of 2006.
WHEN TO GO
Avoid the light monsoon in summer and the very cold winter
ROOM TO BOOK
Room 34, one of the two suites, with full-height windows
CONTACT
Uma Paro, Paro, Bhutan (00 975 8 271597; fax: 271513; www.uma.como.bz). Doubles from US$250; suites from US$475
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