Sikkim Tour Itinerary and Travel Tips - your destination for this holiday season

How to reach Gangtok, Sikkim

By Air: Siliguri or commonly know as Bagdogra is the nearest airport.

From the airport prepaid taxi is available to Gangtok

Source and Destination city for flight: Pune(PNQ) --> New Delhi(DEL) --> Siliguri(IXB)

The price of prepaid taxi was fixed, I was charged 2200 INR for private taxi in December 2016.

It took around 4.5 hours to reach Gangtok from Bagdogra. Checked into the pre-booked hotel.

Interesting facts that I got to know about Sikkim during this journey were:

a)Vehicles of other Indian states are not allowed in Sikkim for sightseeing . Vehicles of other states can enter the state only to drop off the passengers at their hotel/home. Drivers should very well know the local routes and respect army restrictions which is otherwise a punishable offence.

Reaching Lachen (base village for Gurudongmar lake)

By road is the only available mode. Private or shared cabs can be hired from Gangtok. I chose for private cab from Sikkim Tours and Travels. 7 hours journey covering distance of 95 KM.

Why special visit to a lake:

i. It is one of the highest lakes in the world located at an altitude of 17,800ft

ii. It's proximity to Chinese border

iii. It's sacred nature due to the legends associated with Guru Padmasambhava and Gurunanak.

We were riding on SUV owing to the difficult terrain that was waiting to be conquered. Sikkim has mountainous terrain with lush greenery and waterfalls all over.

Gangtok was windy at 19°C while in Lachen mercury had dipped to 11°C. Our body had to acclimatise both to mountain sickness and the temperature. We had early dinner in hotel and marked it end of day.

Our ascent to Gurudongmar

We began our journey at 4 in the morning when temperature was negative and we were shivering. It took 4 hours of treacherous ride through snow clad peaks to reach the lake.

Yumthang valley and Zero point

We reached Lachung previous evening and stayed overnight at the hotel. We started by cab for Yumthang valley after breakfast and stopped for necessary permit check. The roads were like what we had seen during our ascent to Gurudongmar lake.

Yumthang is also known as valley of flowers off which season is March - mid June. As we went in December, we saw bushes.

There were few shops for refreshments, souvenirs (hats, stoles/muffler, jackets) and most importantly to rent snow boots.

Further ascent began around noon towards Zero Point which took about 2 hours.

It was second consecutive day when we saw temperature changing from positive to negative within span of few hours. But the view at Zero Point was worth to this fluctuation. Second time in as many days, I was close to international border.

On our way back to the hotel, stopped at Yumthang Valley for couple of minutes to return the snow boots. We began our descent journey from Lachung after having late lunch in the hotel. Reached Gangtok at night, checked in to a prebooked hotel and dozed off. Actually took bath after 3 days, couldn't gather the courage to do so in Lachen and Lachung :)

Nathula pass, Tsomgo lake and Baba Mandir(temple)

Nathula pass can be visited only by Indian citizens after obtaining permit from Gangtok with the help of local tour operators. Photography is allowed only till car parking. The place fills every individual with pride, after witnessing the harsh climatic condition, low oxygen level that soldiers face here. Second half of December on wards, it's covered with snow.

Post this went to Baba Mandir, shrine built in honour of late Indian army men who lost his life in 1969 during one of the wars between India and China.

Tsomgo lake can be visited by both Indian and foreign nationals after obtaining permission. It is located at an altitude of 12000+ feet and remains frozen during winters.

Hello to a sunny day in Namchi

Few interesting aspects of this day -

i.From Samdruptse hill, you can see the gigantic statue of Lord Shiva built in Char-Dham. Similarly when you're in Char-Dham can see the statue of Guru Padmasambhava built at Samdruptse.

ii.Guru Padmasambhava, founder of Tibetan Buddhism is the same guru after whom Gurudongmar lake has been named.

iii.Char dham contains the replica of 4 dhams, 12 jyotirlinga and sai-baba spread across length and breadth of the country. The followers of Hinduism believe that in order to attain salvation one should do pilgrimage at all the four dhams. After visiting this place, I felt I was done with my share of visits needed by a hindu. :)

In the evening, checked in to our hotel.

Descent continues to Ravangla at 7000 ft

It took an hour to reach Ravangla from Namchi. Our 1st stop for the day was "Buddha Park".

Spent more than a hour there, then moved to Ralang monastery. One goes to a holy place to seek peace but every bit of me was in peace since last 7 days. That is the kind of impact this state to offer.

Left from Ravangla via private cab and headed for Bagdogra from where our return flights were booked. Took 4 and half hour to reach there