Try "Sandakphu", "toy train", "homestay", "Gangtok in April"
DarjeelingSikkimDooars
Shared jeeps, the toy train and family homestays, from the rhino grass of the Dooars to the Kanchenjunga ridge. Every trip shows its full cost, line by line, before you pay a rupee.
Photo: Shahnoor Habib Munmun · CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons
The climb
Scroll up the hills the way the road does: elephant grass and rhinos first, then tea, then monasteries, then the ridge where you see four of the five highest mountains on Earth.
Sal forest green and elephant-grass gold
The doors to Bhutan. Dooars, or Duars, comes from the word for doors or gateways. The name meant the passes through which trade and armies moved between the Bengal and Assam plains and the hills of Bhutan; there were eighteen of them by the usual count, eleven on the Bengal …
Monastery maroon and orchid
From Bhutan's hills to the wool road to Lhasa. The first people of these hills were the Lepcha, who call themselves Rongkup. In the late 17th century the Lepcha chief Gaeboo Achyok held a principality from his fort at Damsang, above Pedong, and fought the Bhutanese for these ridges. Bhutan won, executed him and ruled …
Mirik lake teal and Sittong orange
The middle hills between the plains and Darjeeling. Kurseong was hill country that changed hands more than once before the British arrived. Nepal's Gorkha armies took the area around 1780; the Treaty of Titalia in 1817 handed it back to Sikkim; and from 1835, when the East India Company took the Darjeeling tract as …
Tsomgo turquoise and prayer-flag yellow
From Lepcha forest to a border state. The first people of these hills were the Lepcha, who call Sikkim Nye-mae-el, and the Bhutia, who came from Tibet and call it Denjong, the valley of rice. In 1642 Phuntsog Namgyal was consecrated the first Chogyal at Yuksom, and his dynasty ruled Sikkim for 333 …
Steam-engine blue and Kanchenjunga dawn
From Dorje-ling to the tea hills. The name is usually traced to Tibetan: dorje, the thunderbolt sceptre of Buddhist ritual, and ling, a place. Local tradition holds that a small Buddhist shrine called Dorje-ling once stood on Observatory Hill, where Hindu and Buddhist priests today share the Mahakal temple. Before the British, …
Butter-lamp ochre and cardamom green
Three lamas, a stone throne and two lost capitals. In 1642 three Tibetan lamas met in the forest at Yuksom: Lhatsun Chempo, Kathok Kuntu Zangpo and Ngadak Sempa Chempo. They had come over the mountains by different routes, and the local story says they were looking for a fourth man, from the east, to rule …
Rhododendron red and ridge slate
A border ridge, a poison hill and forty old jeeps. The ridge you walk was bought. In 1882 the British government purchased the Singalila tract from the Sikkim Durbar and notified it as reserve forest, which is why the slopes above Maneybhanjan are still oak, rhododendron and silver fir instead of tea. Thirty-four years earlier the …
Glacier ice and primula violet
Where Sikkim's oldest promises were made. Sikkim's own founding story starts here. In the 13th century, the Lepcha chief and seer Thekong Tek and Khye Bumsa, a prince from Kham in eastern Tibet, swore blood brotherhood at Kabi Lungchok, 17 km north of present-day Gangtok. Stone pillars still mark the spot. The …
Siliguri jeep stand
Shared jeeps leave when they are full, from stands in Siliguri and NJP. These are the indicative fares and times from our route notes, not a tour operator's mark-up.
| From | To | How | Time | Fare |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SILIGURI | DARJEELING | Shared jeep | 3–3.5 h | ₹250–350 |
| SILIGURI | KURSEONG | Shared jeep | 1.5–2.5 h | ₹150–200 |
| SILIGURI | MIRIK | Shared jeep | 2–2.5 h | ₹150–200 |
| SILIGURI | LAVA | Shared jeep via Kalimpong | 5–6 h with a change | ₹350–480 IN TWO |
| SILIGURI | MANEYBHANJAN | Reserved car | 3.5–4 h | ₹3,500–4,500 CAR |
| SILIGURI | GANGTOK | Shared jeep or taxi | 4–5 h | ₹350–500 |
| SILIGURI | PELLING | Shared jeep | 5.5–7 h with a change | ₹450–600 DIRECT, |
| SILIGURI | LATAGURI | Reserved car | 2–2.5 h | ₹3,000–3,500 CAR |
| SILIGURI | JALDAPARA NA | Reserved car | 3.5–4 h | ₹4,000–5,000 CAR |
| SILIGURI | SAMSING | Reserved car | 2.5–3 h | ₹3,500–4,500 CAR |
From our route pages. Fares change with fuel prices, season and demand: check current status before you travel.
Trips with the fare printed
Every trip lists what goes where: jeeps, beds, food, permits. Shoestring, Value or Comfort, and changeable before you book.
Shoestring
Darjeeling3 nights · Mixed
Darjeeling ridge and Ghoom on a shoestring
Darjeeling · Ghoom
₹8,000per person
Value
Darjeeling5 nights · Reserved car
Lamahatta, Tinchuley and Peshok
Lamahatta · Tinchuley · Peshok
₹19,000per personComfort
Darjeeling5 nights · Reserved car
Darjeeling, Takdah and Tinchuley for two
Darjeeling · Takdah · Tinchuley
₹30,000per person
Value
Kurseong & Mirik3 nights · Reserved car
Latpanchar hornbills and Ahaldara dawns
Latpanchar
₹12,500per person
Value
Kalimpong5 nights · Mixed
Neora Valley birding from Lava and Kolakham
Lava · Kolakham
₹18,500per person
Shoestring
Singalila8 nights · On foot
The full Singalila Ridge on a shoestring
Maneybhanjan · Tumling · Kalipokhri · Sandakphu
₹19,000per person
Value
Gangtok5 nights · Reserved car
Gangtok, Pakyong and Aritar for families
Gangtok · Pakyong · Aritar
₹19,000per person
Value
North Sikkim4 nights · Reserved car
Lachung with the family, four sharing a car
Singhik · Lachung · Mangan
₹15,000per person
Value
West & South Sikkim6 nights · On foot
Dzongri trek from Yuksom
Yuksom
₹20,000per personThings the guidebooks skip
Pulbazar, the market village on the road down to Bijanbari, takes its name from the bridge: pul means bridge in Nepali and Hindi, and bazar means market.
Kurseong · 1,482 mSarat Chandra Bose bought the Giddapahar house in 1922; Subhas Chandra Bose was held under house arrest there in 1936, and it opened as a museum around 2000.
Ramdhura · 1,525 mRamdhura sits at about 1,525 m (5,000 ft), roughly 280 m above Kalimpong town, and about 15 km from Deolo hill.
Tumling · 2,970 mTumling is administratively part of Ilam district in Nepal, yet the only motor link is the Land Rover track from Maneybhanjan in India.
Kabi Lungchok · 1,500 mKabi Lungchok is 17 km north of Gangtok on the North Sikkim Highway, and it gives its name to one of Mangan district's three assembly constituencies.
Rinchenpong · 1,700 mRinchenpong Monastery, built in 1730, keeps a statue of Adi Buddha (Kuntuzangpo) in yab-yum, the union of male and female, a form rarely displayed in Sikkim's monasteries.
Season almanac
Darker squares are the best months. Clear Kanchenjunga mornings come mostly from October to early December and in March and April; the Dooars parks close for the monsoon.
| Hill | Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Darjeeling | ||||||||||||
| Kurseong & Mirik | ||||||||||||
| Kalimpong | ||||||||||||
| Singalila | ||||||||||||
| Gangtok | ||||||||||||
| North Sikkim | ||||||||||||
| West & South Sikkim | ||||||||||||
| Dooars |
Things to do
Food · 2–3 hoursAn evening on MG Marg and Lal BazaarGangtok · Free · food ₹200–400
Culture and history · 3 hoursHMI and the Himalayan zoo in one morningDarjeeling · ≈ ₹100–150 joint ticket (Indian visitor…
Viewpoints · 1–1.5 hoursSleeping Buddha sunrise from the summitSandakphu · Free
Monasteries · 2 hoursMorning prayers at Zang Dhok Palri on DurpinKalimpong · Free · donation welcome
Culture and history · 30 minutesWalk around the black pond at dawnKalipokhri · Free
Monasteries · 1.5 hoursLachung Monastery in the quiet hoursLachung · Free · donation welcome
Ways to travel
Sleep among the bushes that make the tea
Way to travelToy trainTwo-foot gauge, a UNESCO line since 1999
Way to travelTreks and walksFrom one-hour ridge walks to Sandakphu
Way to travelHomestaysA room, two meals and a family kitchen
Way to travelMonasteriesGompas, morning prayers and butter lamps
Way to travelKanchenjunga viewsWhere to stand for the world's third-highest peak
Way to travelWildlife and birdsRhinos below, red pandas above
Way to travelFamily tripsShort drives, warm rooms, easy walks
Stories from the hills
The eight hills
DarjeelingSteam-engine blue and Kanchenjunga dawn
Kurseong & MirikMirik lake teal and Sittong orangeKalimpongMonastery maroon and orchidSingalilaRhododendron red and ridge slate
GangtokTsomgo turquoise and prayer-flag yellowNorth SikkimGlacier ice and primula violetWest & South SikkimButter-lamp ochre and cardamom green
DooarsSal forest green and elephant-grass goldPlan with a local
Where you want to go, how many of you, and roughly what you want to spend a day. A planner who lives in these hills replies within one working day with a route and every rupee written down.