Try "Sandakphu", "toy train", "homestay", "Gangtok in April"
Kurseong, Mirik & the tea valleys · Shoestring trip
A backpacker's loop through the middle hills on about ₹2,000 a day. Two nights in Kurseong, one in the orange village of Sittong, two in Mirik, travelling by shared jeep and sleeping in family homestays with meals. From about ₹11,500 per person.
Photo: Mayukh Ghose · CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons
This is the cheapest way we know to see the best of this land. You use shared jeeps for almost every leg, stay in family homestays with dinner and breakfast included, and walk to most sights. The only car is a pooled one out of Sittong.
It suits students, solo travellers and couples who do not mind basic rooms and early jeeps. You still see the big things: Netaji's house, the toy train bazaar, Makaibari, Sittong's orchards, the Tingling tea bowl and Mirik's lake and monastery.
NJP railway station or Bagdogra airport to NJP railway station or Bagdogra airport · Mixed
Shared jeep from Siliguri to Kurseong, ₹150–200. Check into a homestay, then walk the bazaar and watch for the toy train. Climb Eagle's Crag for sunset and eat momos and thukpa near the station.
Spend today: ₹200 jeep + ₹150 lunch + ₹120 momos
Walk up to Giddapahar for Netaji's house, about an hour each way, checking opening days first. After lunch, take a local jeep down the Pankhabari road to Makaibari and walk the garden roads; ask at the factory about a short visit in season.
Spend today: ₹80 jeeps + ₹150 lunch + ₹200 tasting
Take the afternoon village jeep from Kurseong to Sittong over the Bagora ridge; ask at the stand in the morning for the time. Spend the morning before it walking up Dow Hill Road into the forest. In Sittong, walk the orchards at dusk and eat with your host family.
Spend today: ₹150 jeep + ₹150 lunch
Walk part of the way down towards the Riyang river at dawn and buy oranges in season. Then leave for Mirik: either share a car with other homestay guests, or take the morning village jeep to Siliguri and a Mirik jeep from there, via Dudhia, Tingling and Sourenee. Ask the Mirik driver to pause at Tingling.
Spend today: ₹600–900 transport + ₹150 lunch
Walk round Sumendu Lake at dawn. Climb to Bokar Monastery for prayers and on to Rameetay Dara. In the afternoon, walk out along an estate road into the tea and orange slopes.
Spend today: ₹150 lunch + donation
Take a morning shared jeep down to Siliguri, ₹150–200, and continue to NJP or Bagdogra by auto or taxi. Keep a buffer for traffic.
Spend today: ₹200 jeep + ₹150 lunch
The route
Where you sleep
Questions people ask
Yes. ₹11,500 is per person on twin sharing for Indian nationals, from NJP or Bagdogra and back, as an indicative 2025–26 figure. Solo travellers pay more for rooms and cars; groups of four sharing a car pay less. We round to the nearest ₹500.
Yes. Bagdogra is about 30 minutes from Siliguri and a little further from NJP. Shared autos and taxis link the airport to the Siliguri jeep stands. With a reserved car, the fare from Bagdogra is about the same as from NJP.
Yes. Add a night where you want more time, usually in the village stops, or drop one on a tight schedule. Keep at least two nights in any place where you want a clear dawn view, since weather can spoil one morning.
Yes, in 2025–26, if you use shared jeeps, stay in homestays with meals and eat lunch at stalls. The pooled car out of Sittong is the biggest single cost. Solo travellers pay a little more for single rooms.
Solo women generally find these hills safe and the homestays welcoming. Shared jeeps are normal for everyone. Use ordinary care after dark, avoid walking forest roads alone late in the day, and keep family informed.
Hire a car from Kurseong for about ₹1,800–2,500, or share one with other travellers. Your Sittong homestay can often arrange a pick-up. Ask for jeep times the day before to avoid this.
Yes. A night with a Makaibari tea family is easier to reach from Kurseong and costs about the same. You lose the orange orchards and the village jeep adventure, but gain a dawn plucking walk.
A small backpack, layers for cold nights, a light rain jacket, good shoes, a torch, a water bottle and cash. Leave big suitcases behind; jeeps have little space on the roof.
November to January for oranges and clear views, and March to May for spring and tea. Avoid July and August, when jeeps are slowed by landslides and village paths are slippery.
Other tickets
Shoestring
Kurseong & Mirik3 nights · On foot
Dow Hill and Chimney forest walks
Kurseong · Chimney
₹7,000per personValue
Kurseong & Mirik4 nights · Mixed
Kurseong and Mirik tea valleys
Kurseong · Mirik
₹13,000per personComfort
Kurseong & Mirik3 nights · Reserved car
Kurseong heritage stay with tea tastings
Kurseong
₹21,000per personPlan 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.