Katsho Village and Farmsteads
Located just north of the central township, Katsho is a traditional farming village that showcases the authentic, unhurried pace of everyday life in western Bhutan. The village is characterized by grand, two-to-three-story rammed-earth and timber houses featuring intricate hand-painted eaves, open drying attics for winter hay and chillies, and wood-fired hearths. This is the heartland of Haa’s distinct agricultural heritage, centered on high-altitude crops like bitter buckwheat, sweet buckwheat, and turnip greens.
Staying in or walking through Katsho offers travelers an unfiltered look at semi-nomadic rural traditions. Local families frequently welcome visitors into their timber-paneled kitchens to sample regional specialties found nowhere else in the kingdom, including haapi hoentay (steamed buckwheat dumplings stuffed with aromatic turnip greens, dried cheese, and poppy seeds) and freshly churned yak butter tea.
