If you chose Damchen Resort as your stay option in Punakha, you’ve made a good choice.
1) Punakha is warmer (than Thimpu, Paro, Ha…) and hence living besides the river with the option of water frolic just a minute away is quite worth it. Other Hotels in Punakha are all on the hills (just like so many other hotels in all of Bhutan) and hence this made sense to me.
2) Its just 15 mins straight line drive to the most important place in Punakha – The Dzong. It is also nearest to the town, if you can call Punakha that.
3) The hotel has a nice sit out area near the river, serves basic food but cooks that well, has clean and simple rooms (mine was the only one on the 3rd floor, and extremely big, thanks to my tour guides). So essential travel worries of clean rooms, hygienic bathrooms and safe food etc are taken care of. You will notice that many large tourist groups routinely land into this Hotel, which indicates that they are pretty well maintained on tourist needs.
4) The staff was very helpful (isn’t it that way for everyone in Bhutan) at each and every corner.
5) Enough parking.
A few things to note as well –
1) The TV (and it is a big reason in the evenings when you may not practically have anything to do) wasn’t relaying the channels and I was told that the cable is broken.
2) Wi-Fi is either at the lobby, or in the dining hall. Works well though, but yes it’s not everywhere.
3) There would be mosquitoes, many of them in the evenings especially and that is not the Resort’s doing, it’s the place.
4) The river water is quite cold (I went in May) and stones at the bank slippery. Be careful.
So, I hope you find this as good as I found it and have a great time in Punakha.
Room Tip: Look for the 2nd or 3rd floor and rooms overlooking the river. They have large glass walls and the views are quite nice