About Darjeeling: Situated at 7,000 feet above sea level at the foothills of the Himalayas, Darjeeling is an important part of West Bengal that connects places like Sikkim, Nepal and Bhutan by road.
From being part of Sikkim and Nepal to eventually being part of India, Darjeeling has come a long way in terms of history.
The name ‘Darjeeling’ came from the Tibetan words, ’dorje’ meaning thunderbolt and ‘ling’ a place or land, hence ‘the land of the thunderbolt’.
Our trip was booked through We Care Holidays. This was the 2nd time we had travelled through this travel agent and their service is really good. For bookings / travel queries: Contact: Shuku +91 6296 904 163
Driver + Tour guide (Darjeeling): Urgen Sherpa 080162 29271.
How to reach Darjeeling:
By Air: Bagdogra Airport is around 70-75 km roughly from Darjeeling and is the nearest airport. There are options to travel via prepaid taxi; private/ sharing cabs, etc. from the airport.
By Train: New Jalpaiguri is the nearest station around 75 km from Darjeeling. Vande Bharat train is a good option from The first train from Kolkata starts at 5:55 am and reaches New Jalpaiguri station around 1:30 pm roughly.
Darjeeling local sight seeing places to cover:
1. Tiger Hill: This place offers the best sunrise view of the highest peaks in the world. On a clear day, Mt. Kanchenjunga (3rd highest peak in the world) is strikingly visible and even Mt. Everest can be seen which looks shorter than Mt. Kanchenjunga.
Tiger Hill should not be missed but it is advisable to check on the weather a day before, else one might feel dejected by waking up early and nothing is visible.
The best time for Tiger hill view as suggested by locals is October and November months. Unfortunately, we were unable to visit Tiger Hill this time due to the weather.
2. Tea Garden: Darjeeling is famous for stunning Tea plantations. There are plenty of Tea gardens within Darjeeling. You will come across varieties of organic tea i.e. milk, black, green tea, etc.
3. Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park: A must visit place if you are travelling Darjeeling for the first time. I have provided more details below in the day wise schedule.
4. Darjeeling Toy Train Ride: As a tourist and first time visitor in Darjeeling, this experience is different and worth if the sky is clear. The DHR runs between New Jalpaiguri station and Darjeeling. Built back in 1881, It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1999.
The journey is quite adventurous and on a clear day Mt. Kanchenjunga is visible from Batasia Loop and Ghum stations.
Tickets are available on IRCTC site; depending on the weather you can book the tickets a day prior as per the train timings.
Experience: Our original plan was to start our trip with Sikkim cover Changu lake to experience the snowfall and then spend couple of nights in Darjeeling.
However unfortunately, we had to change our plan couple of days before the trip as Changu lake was inaccessible due to heavy snowfall.
The switch in plan to tour Darjeeling only worked well for us; by no means we were disappointed; we had a wonderful winter experience in Darjeeling; my wife reckoned her birthday was celebrated very well here.
Day wise trip details as below:
Our day as per the itinerary was packed, we did cover places as per our itinerary.
Lepchajagat Pine View: Ticket Rs. 20 per person
The lush pine forest is beyond description, offering tranquility like no other. A good stopover for photography.
Mirik - A small town located roughly around 50 km from Darjeeling town. The centre of all attraction is the Sumendu lake surrounded by a garden on one side and pine trees on the other. One can enjoy the Boating experience at Sumendu lake.
Pashupati Market (Nepal) - Situated on the India-Nepal border, Pashupati Market is a bustling place with lines of shops and street vendors displaying their wares. One of the most peaceful borders I have ever come across within India. We were in Nepal but looked like as if we are still in India. The atmosphere was great. We were unable to explore the market well as the visibility was low due to fog all around.
Visitors are required to show Photo ID card and enter the details in the register at the border Check Post in case you want to cross over the border and visit the shops.
Note: Only Indians and Nepalese are allowed to cross over the border area. Foreign nationals are not allowed to access the border.
There are a lot of imported stuff available in the market at discounted rates.
While returning back; we had asked Urgen ji (Guide cum Driver) about the availability of Tongba (local Nepali Drink) and he found a local place offering the drink.
Darjeeling Ropeway: We started our day to experience the gondola ride in Darjeeling. The Gondola ropeway starts at 10 am and tourists queue up 1-2 hours in advance.
Tickets: Rs. 260 per adult covering 2 way.
A 40 minutes 2 way ride which passes through Tea gardens.
I would suggest to experience the Gondola ride on a clear sunny day, otherwise it is not really worth.
Peace Pagoda: Darjeeling Peace Pagoda is one of the Peace Pagodas designed to provide a focus for people of all races and creeds to help unite them in their search for world peace.
We then headed to our hotel and enjoyed the leisure time.
In the morning around 7 am during the morning walk I noticed the weather got clearer and our favourite Mt. Kanchenjunga was suddenly visible. That was a great moment for us as we were finally able to view the mighty peak before our departure.
Upon arrival we were picked from Bagdogra airport and dropped at our hotel Gakhil Boutique which was walkable distance to Darjeeling Mall chauk bazaar.
By the time we checked into the hotel it was 4:30 pm but looked like 10 pm. There was too much of fog around and low visibility we tried to explore the near by market areas.
For information: Tongba is a organic millet-based alcoholic beverage found in Nepal; Darjeeling and Sikkim.
Served usually in a bamboo or silver mug. We really enjoyed the drink.
Padmaja Naidu Himalayan Zoological Park
Tickets for Indians: Rs. 110 per Adult.
The park is so huge that it could take around 3-4 hours to visit everything and total value for money. It is divided into sections:
1. Himalyan institute and museum: It is worth visiting the Museum, you can actually get a great knowledge about the highest peaks in the world; a lot of information about the Mountaineer Tenzing Norgay.
2. Zoo: The zoo is superbly maintained with great species of wild animals: Royal Bengal Tiger, Siberian Tiger, Snow Leopard; etc. I was stunned to see Snow Leopard in real for the first time. It was a wonderful experience. The other section covers Red Pandas, Birds, etc.
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