Try "Sandakphu", "toy train", "homestay", "Gangtok in April"
The Dooars & Siliguri · Comfort trip
An easy family trip through the Dooars' two rhino parks, with your own car and private safari jeeps: two nights in the best cottages at Murti for Gorumara and Chapramari, then two at Madarihat for Jaldapara's grassland. Short drives, afternoon rests and good chances of rhinos. About ₹26,000 per person, twin sharing. Parks close mid-June to mid-September.
Photo: Joydeep · CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
With children or grandparents, the cheap way round the Dooars, trains and shared jeeps and early waits at counters, wears everyone out. This plan keeps one car and driver for five days and books private jeeps for each safari, so you leave when you are ready and come back when the children are tired. The longest drive, Murti to Madarihat, is about 2.5 hours.
Murti's forest corporation cottages sit on the river between Gorumara and Chapramari; book the better grade. At Madarihat, stay at the WBTDC lodge near the gate or a good private hotel on the highway. Jaldapara's roughly 330 rhinos give the best odds in the region. The park was shut for a time after the October 2025 floods; check current status before you travel.
NJP railway station or Bagdogra airport to NJP railway station or Bagdogra airport · Reserved car
Your driver meets you at NJP or Bagdogra. Cross the Teesta on the Coronation Bridge at Sevoke and drive through the Apalchand forest to Murti, arriving for lunch. Check into the best-grade cottage at the forest corporation's Murti Banani centre. After a rest, walk down to the riverbed with the children to skim stones and watch kingfishers and wagtails. An early dinner, since tomorrow starts early.
Spend today: Included
The driver takes you to the Lataguri counter for a private morning jeep to a Gorumara watchtower, such as Jatraprasad or the Rhino Observation Point, where rhinos, gaur and peafowl come to the salt lick. Back for breakfast and a long midday rest. Visit the forest department's elephants at Dhupjhora if bath time suits. In the late afternoon, take the Chapramari slot to the waterhole tower for gaur herds and, often, elephants.
Spend today: ₹300 snacks
A relaxed breakfast by the river, then drive east through Chalsa, Nagrakata and Birpara, past long stretches of tea garden; stop to watch plucking if the season is on, March to November. Check into the WBTDC Jaldapara Tourist Lodge or a good hotel in Madarihat. Confirm tomorrow's safari and ask at the forest office whether elephant safaris are running. Evening at leisure.
Spend today: ₹500 lunch
Take a private jeep for the first safari slot at dawn into the Torsa grasslands, where rhinos graze in the open and hog deer and peafowl move along the edges. If elephant safaris are running, they usually start at first light too; the forest department allocates seats. Back for breakfast and rest. In the afternoon, an optional drive to Totopara, home of the Toto community, visiting quietly.
Spend today: ₹300 snacks
After breakfast, drive back west along the highway through tea gardens and forest to Siliguri. Stop at Chalsa or Malbazar for lunch. Reach NJP or Bagdogra by mid-afternoon. Keep a two to three hour buffer before an evening flight or train; highway traffic near Siliguri can be slow, especially on Sundays and holidays.
Spend today: ₹350 lunch + driver tip
The route
Questions people ask
Very. Drives are short from Siliguri, safaris are an hour or two long, and children usually love rhinos and elephants. Lodges sit on flat ground with simple food. Plan rest in the middle of the day, since safaris start at dawn and end at dusk.
A reserved car with driver from NJP for five days in the Dooars costs roughly ₹13,000–16,000 in 2025–26, depending on the vehicle and season. That covers the transfers, local runs to safari gates and the drive back. Split between two adults, it is about ₹7,000 each.
With children or older people, a private jeep means you leave and return on your own schedule, choose your seats and can ask the guide to wait at a sighting. A six-seat jeep with fees costs about ₹2,500–4,000. For a family of four, it is often close to the cost of four shared seats.
There is usually no minimum age for jeep safaris, though very small children may find dawn starts and long waits hard. Elephant safaris may have age rules set by the forest department. Keep children seated and quiet in the jeep.
The WBTDC Jaldapara Tourist Lodge at Madarihat is close to the safari gate. Private hotels and resorts on the highway cost about ₹1,500–4,000 a room or more. Hollong, the old lodge inside the park, burned in June 2024; do not book it unless the forest department confirms it has reopened.
It varies. Jaldapara's elephant safaris run only when the forest department allows and have been suspended in some seasons. When running, they cost about ₹800–1,000 per person for Indian nationals, indicative. Ask your hotel and the forest office; check current status before you travel.
Yes, especially in the evenings and after rain. Carry repellent, wear long sleeves at dusk and ask for nets or plug-in repellents. Malaria is less common than it once was in the Dooars, but ask your doctor about precautions for children.
December and January mornings are cold and misty, around 8–12 °C, warming to 22–25 °C by afternoon. Open jeeps at dawn feel colder; bring jackets, caps and a blanket for small children. February and March are mild and pleasant.
Yes. NJP and Bagdogra serve both. Many families do the Dooars first, then go up to Darjeeling or Kalimpong, or the reverse. Book that part separately; this plan ends back at NJP or Bagdogra.
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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.
