Accommodation:

• 29 rooms and suites, including: '
• 9 Superior Doubles (25sq metres): These comfortable double rooms overlook the pine forests and feature a king-sized bed, handpainted traditional Bhutanese wall designs and a well-appointed bathroom with combined shower-bathtub.
• 9 Deluxe Rooms (32sq metres) Larger than our Superior Rooms, Deluxe Rooms provide undisturbed views over the Paro Valley. Rooms feature a king-sized bed and generous bathroom with bathtub and separate shower stall.
• 2 COMO Suites (95sq metres): The oversized COMO suites have separate dining, sitting and study areas as well as a kitchenette. The bright bedroom features 180-degree views of the Paro Valley. Suites can be interconnected with a Deluxe Room.
• 8 One-bedroom Villas (92sq metres): These spacious freestanding villas feature a separate bedroom and sitting area with a traditional Bukhari woodburning stove as well as a private spa treatment area. All villas offer personal butler service.
• 1 COMO Villa (300sq metres): The stately COMO Villa features one king-sized and one twin bedroom, a living area with panoramic views of the Paro Valley, an outdoor hot stone bathtub, a private spa treatment area and an open-air courtyard with fire pit and personal butler service.

Room Facilities:

• Dual line phone with voice mail
• Satellite TV -DVD player
• Electronic personal safe
• Minibar -Complimentary coffee/tea making facilities
• Umbrellas
• Yoga mat
• Hairdryer
• COMO Shambhala bathroom amenities
• High speed Internet access (Superior Rooms, Deluxe Rooms and Suites only)
• Wireless Internet access (Villas only)

Guest Services:

• Fully licensed as a travel agency and ground handler in Bhutan
• Concierge and butler services
• Trekking, travel and tour assistance
• Foreign Exchange
• Multilingual hotel staff
• Business Centre with Library and Internet service
• Babysitting (on request, with 24 hours notice)
• Private cars and drivers -Boutique

Executive: Chef: Jillene Slui

Restaurant: ‘Bukhari’, serving wholesome, Bhutanese-Indian cuisine and inspired Western cuisine

Bar: Offering all-day dining.

Dining Options: Breakfast, lunch and dinner In-room dining from 6.30am to 10.30pm

Meeting Facilities: Meeting room for 12 people, with dedicated staff

Guest Wellbeing: ‘COMO Shambhala Retreat, Uma Paro’

Treatments: Asian-inspired holistic therapies developed by COMO Shambhala, including reflexology, Ayurveda, massage and facials

Retreat Facilities:

• Four treatment rooms
• Yoga Studio
• Separate male/female steam rooms
• Two private Hot stone bath house treatment rooms (90 sq metres)
• Gym (67sq metres) -Indoor pool (46sq metres) with outdoor sundeck
• Yoga Weeks led by world-renowned teachers

Outdoor Activities:

• Overnight camping treks
• Guided day/half-day walks
• Mountain biking and sightseeing by bike
• Custom-designed cultural/special interest tours -Museum, monasteries and temple tours
  

Resort Synopsis: Uma Paro, Bhutan

Since 2004, COMO Hotels and Resorts – also behind private island resorts like Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos, as well as city hotels in Bangkok and London – has operated two Uma resorts, Uma Paro in Bhutan and Uma Ubud in Bali. The latter are both inland retreats dedicated to COMO Hotels and Resorts’ understated philosophy of quiet comfort in culturally rich locations.

Uma Paro is in the extraordinary Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan. It is landlocked, with India to the south and Tibet to the north. The topography is dramatically varied, featuring pine-clad valleys, terraced hills and towering, snow-tipped mountain ranges with impenetrable heights. Monasteries cling to cliffsides and rivers snake through valleys. Orchards line their banks. Villages and towns are unspoilt, and the economy almost exclusively rural. The entire nation is Buddhist, and retains deep respect for religious tradition.

The hotel is located on a 38-acre site atop a gently sloping tree-clad hill, overlooking the town of Paro in the valley below. The rich Paro Valley is one of the main cultural centres of Bhutan situated towards its western border. It is also where the nation’s only airport is located, with flights to Bangkok, Calcutta, Delhi, and Kathmandu, serviced by Bhutan's national airline, Druk Air. Thimpu is the capital. Bumthang lies towards the east, and Punakha at the country’s centre.
Paro derives its name from ‘Pardhu.’ ‘Par’ means ‘handful’ and ‘Dhu’ means ‘dragon.’ The town is flanked by rice paddies, wheat fields, trout-filled streams and scattered settlements. The surrounding region is known as the Paro Valley, through which the Paro Chuu flows from the watershed in the Jomalhari mountain range.

At Uma Paro, there are 20 rooms and nine villas (including one two-bedroom COMO Villa), fashioned by traditionally-trained Bhutanese artisans alongside Cheong Yew Kwan, architect of COMO Shambhala Estate in Bali, as well as private residences at Parrot Cay in the Turks and Caicos.

Cheong’s respect for indigenous styles accounts for the resort’s references to a local Bhutanese village, melding into the blue pine forest on the cliffs above. The landscaping is soft, with orchards, lawns and ramped pathways preserving the original contours of this rugged land. Each villa is loosely placed at different levels, in glades and clearings planted with Azaleas, Rhododendrons, Camellias and Hydrangeas, giving the resort an organic, unstructured sensibility. Materials include stone, wood and tiles – handcrafted, using age-old techniques. The main building, formerly the home of a Bhutanese nobleman, forms the visual focus of the resort. Peach-flowering climbing roses decorate walls, and there are glorious Magnolias.
Uma Paro is committed to developing wildflower meadows, organic gardens and more mixed species woodland, using oak, hemlock, fir and maple saplings. These measures are attracting an even greater number of birds than the existing blue pine forest.

Kathryn Kng, also behind the contemporary-styled Metropolitan Bangkok, designed the interiors. The combination of clean-lined modernism with local detailing accounts for a fresh, original look that feels sleek while recognising Uma Paro’s cultural context.

This Bhutanese vernacular is strongly felt in the timber darkened by smoke from wood fires, and white walls vividly handpainted by local artists with flower motifs. Furniture, made from Shesham wood, is also decorated in this manner. Bedcovers in natural Indian cottons have been hand-stitched with patterns paying homage to Bhutan’s Buddhist culture and Bhutanese colours; likewise, the hand-knotted rugs sourced from nearby Nepal. Rooms, are clutter-free and spacious, and feel warm and cosseting. Each villa contains a traditional ‘bukhari’ wood burning stove. The design maximises views – of forest, mountains and the Paro Valley – and guest comfort. The nine Superior doubles are 25sq metres with views of the surrounding pine forests, featuring bathrooms and a modest sitting area. The nine Deluxe doubles have the same facilities, but are larger at 32sq metres; six have balconies, and all have stunning views of the Paro Valley. In the two suites there are separate sitting, dining and study areas as well as 180 degree views of the landscape from the bright corner bedrooms, while the eight one-bedroom villas enjoy a private treatment room. The stately two-bedroom COMO villa occupies 300sq metres, with an outdoor hot stone bath-tub, private spa facilities and an open air courtyard with fire pit.

Uma Paro might lie in a hidden Himalayan kingdom, but when it comes to detail, guests are used to the highest standards of luxury and will feel completely at home. In-room facilities include high speed internet access (in the main building only, Villas have WiFi access), satellite TV, DVD players, an electronic personal safe, Yoga mats and minibars.
As with all COMO Hotels and Resorts, cuisine is considered a crucial element of the guest experience. At Uma Paro, the restaurant, called ‘Bukhari’, is housed in a circular pavilion set among tall pine trees with floor-to-ceiling windows and a ‘bukhari’ fireplace at its centre. Guests can also dine at Uma’s central courtyard or at the lobby bar, and for quiet nights of total privacy, the resort offers in-room dining until 10.30pm. At Uma Paro, the chef is Jillene Slui, a New Zealand chef previously with Parrot Cay in the Turks & Caicos, also owned by COMO Hotels and Resorts.
Slui’s approach is modern, light and respectful of local nuances. At Uma Paro, her menus revive traditional Bhutanese offerings. Specialities include ‘sicum paa’ or dried local pork with Bhutanese chilli, and ‘bathup,’ a hearty soup based on handmade noodles. She also provides a contemporary interpretation of neighbouring cuisines, with a strong Indian bent.
These include dishes cooked in the charcoal tandoor oven, West Bengali mustard-seed sauces, and desserts like ‘misthi doi’ (a fresh sweetened curd made in handmade clay pots – silky smooth and rich, similar to a creme brulee).
Dishes are wholesome and nourishing, relying on organic produce grown in the surrounding valleys. Slui uses hand-churned butter, hand-moulded farm cheese (known as ‘dasti’), apple vinegar, and a spectacular honey sourced from hives in the wildflower-strewn Bhumthang Valley. Wild mushrooms feature, as well as red rice grown in the fields below, and ‘churu’, a locally harvested riverweed similar to wakame.
COMO Shambhala Cuisine – designed to maximise energy and wellbeing with the use of raw, organic foods rich in vitamins and living enzymes – is integrated into Uma Paro’s menus. Blended nut milks replace cow’s milk and genetically-tampered soy alternatives. Honey replaces processed sugars.

Bhutan’s sense of peace is one of the country’s most compelling characteristics. In recognition, Uma Paro has developed a substantial COMO Shambhala Retreat, designed for guests seeking greater health through Yoga and Asian-inspired treatments. There is a Yoga room overlooking the Paro Valley that can be opened up to catch mountain breezes, an indoor pool with outdoor sundeck and gym. In the pine forest, find a 90 sq-metre hot stone bath house, which includes two private massage rooms for couples.

Therapies range from specific body treatments to facials and sophisticated massages, including the COMO Shambhala signature massage, delivered by experienced practitioners who customise treatments according to individual needs. There is a particular emphasis on Ayurveda, the ancient Indian tradition of healing drawn from the 3,000-year-old Vedic culture. It aims to restore the body to its natural state of equilibrium by rectifying imbalances in the three doshas – vatta, pitta, and kapha – that make up our bodily constitution.

Yoga tuition is available for all levels. In addition, guests can partake in dedicated Yoga Weeks led by internationally acclaimed teachers. Guests can also combine various outdoor activities with holistic therapies at COMO Shambhala Retreat.
As with every Uma property, English-speaking, Uma-trained local guides provide intelligent access to the region’s land and culture. Excursions include guided day walks, camping treks, mountain biking and sightseeing by bike. Cultural activities include visits to key monasteries and festivals as well as villages, markets and museums. The Activity Team can also arrange white water rafting, kids’ camps, fly fishing, a round of golf, lessons in the national sport of archery, traditional music and dance performances as well as a Buddhist blessing in a local monastery. All day trips include lunchtime picnics prepared by Uma Paro’s kitchen.

In addition, Uma Paro organises both group adventures and privately-guided packages. The set departure group ‘Adventure Retreats’ are available throughout the year and have the added benefit of fully inclusive prices (excluding flights and beverages). They are designed to give travellers greater access to the country’s farther reaches while keeping the itinerary within a reasonable budget. The monthly series varies so as to suit all travellers from bikers to botanists, culture seekers to trekkers, photographers to Yogis. They are suitable for groups of friends, families or individuals. Uma Paro’s exclusive, privately-guided packages range from three to 12 nights either staying at Uma Paro throughout or combined with nights under canvas and at other hotels across the kingdom. These can be designed to reflect a guest’s particular wishes while making full use of our expert guides and their in-depth, on-the-ground knowledge of logistics, sites and journeys.

INFORMATION PROVIDED BY UMA RESORT PARO