Zhingkham Resort

The hotel is located up a steep hill which provides a beautiful view of the valley and the Punakha Dzong. This is especially beautiful at night when it is all lit up. The property itself is not the highest in design or construction...lacking in the Bhutanese style..relatively nondescript. But the view makes up for its faults. However this can also be a disadvantage since the walk up the hill is an exercise in itself.

It's main selling point is the view day or night over the town and valley. The downside means that it is quite a steep walk to and from the town. Some quests struggled with the steps if their room was a further 2 or 3 levels up from reception. The room itself was large with a king size bed, a/c, tea & coffee, TV, very strong shower (in a modern bathroom) and a balcony to sit and watch the lights come on at sunset. Dinner was buffet style (you could order al a carte but make sure the hotel knows this beforehand as it can be a long wait for you food otherwise), breakfast was a simple affair

The view is unbeatable. The room is spacious. The air conditioner works well. The food is ok. Issues: 1. Water: they pick up used plastic bottles and refill them with filtered water. We asked how they clean the plastic bottles and they said they rinsed them with soap and water. No disinfection!! Unbelievable!! If they had used glass bottles and disinfect them thoroughly, then it would be acceptable. This way is disgusting. We brought our own water. 2. WiFi: there are two WiFi networks with the SAME name and different passwords!! So one has to constantly FORGET the network and re-enter the two different pwd depending where one is on the property. 3. Massage/Spa: the sole masseur there is obviously very skilled. However, there is no one to take appt except him. And he is in session with clients most of the time . The front desk won’t help. All they do is pass the msg to him. We are only there one or two days so it is hard to get a confirmation if we have an appt or not. There’s supposed to be another masseur but we never really found out if that is true. I was the last client of the night and the masseur was obviously tired. My friend who had him earlier in the day had a great experience. For me, he kept putting layer after layer of oil on my back and just rubbed it around. By the 5th layer, I told him to stop and actually do some massage work. Annoying but understandable. 4. Housekeeping: I can’t believe that the maid would come in to take the garbage out, replace the towels and NOT make the bed. 5. Restaurant: we had some soda. Day 1 was 100 each. Day 2 was 200. No idea why. All in all, management can be improved at this hotel which has a commanding view of this beautiful valley.

- Nice view overlooking Punakha Dzong as the resort is located above the hillside - It is not walkable out of the resort by yourself, do take note. - The room is spacious and clean. - From the rooms to the dining room, there are a lot of stairs between, do cater time to travel between both places.

It was a disappointment. I understand the hotel is owned by a cousin of the royal family. What a terrible representation of a beautiful country. Complete shoddy construction. The doors were off track. The bathrooms had holes in the wall. The WiFi was slow and the electricity went out twice. The saving grace to this place is the wonderfully kind staff, the fantastic spa and the view. The owner missed the mark with poor infrastructure which spoiled it for us.

Our room have beautiful view of Punakha Dzong. We enjoyed our morning coffee on the balcony, listen to birds singing. We were there at off season, very quiet. The room was clean and smell good. Wifi was not working in our room, only work outside ,front door of our room. So if we need to use wifi to contact our family at home, we had to go out of our room and sit at the chairs near the stairs way. The hotel itself is 5 stars to me. But 1 of the front desk lady is not friendly to my family. I think because we look Asian. She was very friendly and nice to other guests (white looking people) But was not happy to help me When I ask questions ,she was kinda didn't want to answer me, she look other way ,tried to ignore me and the other nice lady and gentleman helped me.